Suzanne Pollak
By Suzanne Pollak
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Fast Forward Jewish Foundation Makes Waves With Plan To Convert Gentiles
(Washington Jewish Week) — Maybe it’s the centuries of living under Christian and Muslim rule. Maybe it’s the history of forced conversion. Maybe it’s that there’s no religion requirement for the Jewish afterlife. Whatever the reasons, Jews have traditionally been uncomfortable proselytizing. But a Maryland foundation is flouting the taboo by funding outreach programs to non-Jews…
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Fast Forward Alan Gross Opens Up on ‘Surreal’ Return to Normal Life
(Washingon Jewish Week) — Since being imprisoned in Cuba six years ago, Alan Gross says his life has been “surreal.” He feels disassociated from the causes of his five-year incarceration and from the resulting fame. He was locked up largely because of U.S.-Cuba relations, he says, and he is a public figure thanks to the…
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Life What Jewish Day Schools Are Teaching in Sex Ed
(Washington Jewish Week via JTA) — Just because Judaism permits sex only within the confines of marriage doesn’t mean Jewish day schools aren’t teaching how to put a condom on or what sexually transmitted diseases are. While abstinence and Jewish law are taught in Jewish day school classes, so are the reproduction system, menstrual cycles…
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Life Washington Jewish Women Reclaim Mikvah with Mural
(Washington Jewish Week via JTA) – When prominent Washington rabbi Barry Freundel was arrested last year for secretly videotaping dozens of women using the mikvah adjacent to his Orthodox synagogue, the sense of sacredness of the ritual of mikvah immersion was shattered for some local Jewish women. Local artist Rena Fruchter recently spearheaded a community…
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Life In Jennifer Weiner’s Hit Novels, It’s a (Jewish) Woman’s World
(Washington Jewish Week via JTA) — Jennifer Weiner wasn’t funny during our telephone interview, and she never once asked me about my weight. Could the author of a dozen very popular — pardon the phrase — “chick lit” novels not be the embodiment of the characters in her clearly autobiographical work? Weiner leaped out of…
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Life Jewish Women’s Eggs Are in Demand — But Are they ‘Kosher’?
(Washington Jewish Week via JTA) – Laura has donated her eggs four times to women who needed help having children. “It gave me a real sense of purpose,” she said. “It really is a great personal pleasure to know that I have something that changes someone’s life.” Laura, 28, from Manassas, Virginia, asked that her…
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