Rebecca Spence
By Rebecca Spence
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News Black, Jewish Vote for Obama May Signal a Renewed Tie
After months of predictions to the contrary, American Jews voted for president-elect Barack Obama in higher proportion than any demographic group besides African Americans. For many Jewish liberals, this was a watershed moment, marking a return to the days when blacks and Jews were thought to have a special relationship founded on a shared language…
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News After Jewish Battle, Prop. 8 Passes
Los Angeles, Calif. — With California Jews lining up on either side of a heated gay marriage debate, those opposed to gay nuptials were vindicated November 5 when a ballot initiative banning same-sex marriage passed by a narrow margin. Proposition 8, which calls for amending California’s state constitution to define marriage as solely between a…
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News Angry Over Attack Ads, Obama Campaign Yanks Reps
Los Angeles — The presidential campaign of Senator Barack Obama is refusing to participate in debates with representatives of a Republican Jewish group that is behind an advertising blitz attacking the Democratic nominee. In mid-October, the Obama campaign instructed its representatives not to participate in forums with representatives of the Republican Jewish Coalition. So far,…
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News Angry Over Attack Ads, Obama Campaign Yanks Reps From Planned Debates
Los Angeles — The presidential campaign of Senator Barack Obama is refusing to participate in debates with representatives of a Republican Jewish group that is behind an advertising blitz attacking the Democratic nominee. Earlier this week, the Obama campaign instructed its representatives not to participate in forums with representatives of the Republican Jewish Coalition. So…
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News New Publications, Launched With Fanfare, Find They Can’t Survive
Los Angeles — During the past decade, as the Jewish world buzzed about a cultural renaissance, and Jewish themed T-shirts sold like brisket before Passover, a spate of new Jewish publications came into existence, aiming to feed the apparent hunger for Jewish culture. Now, the heady goals of those publications have been brought down to…
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News Savings Hit Hard by Economic Meltdown, Elderly Wait and Worry
Los Angeles — In the past six months, 96-year-old Dan Chapman has lost $12,000 from a certificate of deposit that he had to withdraw from Washington Mutual bank before it came due, and he’s seen his mutual funds decline precipitously. “If it keeps on, it will be precarious,” the one-time Jewish fundraiser said while sitting…
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News Near the Arctic Circle, the Jews of Syktyvkar Dream of a Fancy JCC
In a heavily forested region of Russia, stretching at points above the Arctic Circle, is the vast and frigid Komi Republic. And if one of this remote republic’s Jewish inhabitants has his way, its capital city will one day have a Jewish community center. Leonid Zilberg, a longtime Jewish community leader in Syktyvkar, is hoping…
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News Leaders of Indie Prayer Groups Get Grants, Become Mainstream Darlings
Los Angeles — Independent minyans — those scrappy, do-it-yourself Jewish communities that have sprung up from Boston to Seattle and many places in between — largely have been defined by a central characteristic: They exist in the margins of the mainstream Jewish world. But that may be changing. If the past year is any indication,…
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