In May, Jennifer Gorovitz became a communal pioneer as the first woman ever to head a big-city Jewish philanthropic federation. Now, two months later, she has become the first woman heading a big-city federation to implement major layoffs in the face of a budget shortfall. And that is just the latest crisis she has faced…
At first glance, the contention that a construction equipment company in Peoria, Ill., is implicated in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict seems strange. But earlier in July, the largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States adopted a resolution that strongly criticized Caterpillar Inc., the manufacturer whose tractors, bulldozers and mining equipment help build and farm America, for…
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced July 18 that he would oppose a controversial bill dictating who could perform conversions in Israel by saying that it would “tear apart the Jewish people.” This particular turn of phrase and the fact that Netanyahu’s opposition has now effectively derailed the progress of the bill mark a clear victory…
On the ocean side of the famed Atlantic City boardwalk, between New York and Kentucky Avenues, sits a 60-by-40 foot blue and white pavilion. It is a shaded alcove that serves as a respite for the sun or slots weary, those wishing to drown their sorrows in a rainbow-sprinkled ice cream cone or light up…
Under the current system, Israelis who wish to convert to Judaism must go before a state-run Conversion Authority, which operates under the supervision of the country’s avowedly Orthodox Sephardic chief rabbi, Shlomo Amar. Amar appoints the members of the authority — only male rabbis, of course — and has the final say on all matters…
Two self-described pro-Israel groups are trading barbs and pointed advertisements in a dispute over the record of Rep. Joe Sestak, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Pennsylvania. The dueling advertisements, sponsored by the left-wing group J Street and a new right-wing group called the Emergency Committee for Israel, present diverging views of Sestak’s positions on…
When the board of the American Jewish Congress decided to suspend its operations, it didn’t give its staff much notice. Employees were notified on July 13, that Thursday, two days later, would be their last day and that they then would receive their final paychecks. Whereas those laid off in previous rounds of cuts received…
Art Spiegelman Takes Comic Character Hapless Hooligan Out of the Strip and Onto the Stage With Pilobolus Dance Theater In keeping with the adage “A picture is worth a thousand words,” one minute of watching the Pilobolus Dance Theater’s staging of the Art Spiegelman-inspired “Hapless Hooligan in ‘Still Moving,’” at the Joyce Theatre, trumps any…
‘I do a lot of things,” Claude Berger said as he slipped into his restaurant’s kitchen for a glass of red wine. “I’m a writer, I play the flute and I’m a singer. I used to own another Yiddish restaurant before Le Train de Vie. But it closed.” He poured the wine, then paused. “And…
My daughter, Orli, has reached the ripe old age of 18 months. She’s sure on her feet now: She runs, she hops, she climbs, she twirls. She can be the sweetest child that you’ve ever met, especially if she greets you at the door with arms and mouth wide open for an embrace and a…
A cabbage harvest in July? In California, it works. (We planted late in a mild winter.) That means just in time for outdoor Shabbes dinners, we have the basic ingredient for coleslaw. But with this gem-like vegetable sitting on my kitchen counter, I couldn’t bear the thought of traditional coleslaw: cabbage shreds drowned in mayonnaise…
