When Rabbi Michael Goldman sat shiva for his mother last April, friends and relatives brought over noshes like chickpea kale stew and Israeli sweets. Goldman, who coordinates senior programs at Westchester Jewish Community Services, found himself crying and crying, he said, falling apart in front of guests — including some who he hadn’t known well…
(Ha’Aretz) — The University of Washington has put its five-year-old Israel Studies Program on hold after a major donor, angry about a professor’s criticism of Israel, took her money back. Becky Benaroya, a prominent Seattle philanthropist, gave $5 million in 2016 to create the program. But after a professor who held the Jack and Rebecca…
The cantor was singing a beautiful rendition of Oseh Shalom when Shelly Christensen, an author and advocate, happened to look at a woman sitting nearby. The woman, who lived in a facility for people with disabilities, had come to synagogue for a special service celebrating Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance, and Inclusion Month (JDAIM) — a…
A North Carolina Reform synagogue plans to vote Thursday night on hiring Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, who became an international hero after being taken hostage in his Texas synagogue during Shabbat prayer services last month. Gayle Goldsmith, a 20-year member of Temple Emanuel in Winston-Salem, N.C., said in an interview Wednesday that she and others met…
When Rabbi David Wolpe, the leader of Sinai Temple, accepted a free ticket to the Super Bowl he never imagined it would cause weeks of turmoil at his Los Angeles congregation. But Wolpe was forced to apologize after he posed maskless for a photo at the event — in contravention of Los Angeles County regulations…
On a typical television soundstage, a loud bell alerts the cast and crew that filming is about to begin and they must be quiet. On the set of “As We See It,” a new series streaming on Amazon Prime, Elaine Hall made sure the producers gave the actors warning before the bell rang — and…
This article originally appeared on Haaretz and was reprinted here with permission. With Russian troops moving into eastern Ukraine following Moscow’s official recognition of two breakaway separatist enclaves on Monday evening, local Jewish leaders have expressed concern not only that their constituents could be displaced by renewed fighting, but that the Kremlin may attempt to…
A group of American and European Orthodox leaders are heading to Israel on Tuesday for a 48-hour mission to lobby the government to shelve plans that would change the status quo on religious issues that are supported by liberal Zionists and the Reform and Conservative streams of Judaism. The mission is organized by Am Echad,…
An American Jew who settled in Iraqi Kurdistan and dedicated himself to preserving its Jewish history has been expelled from the country. Levi Meir Clancy said officials told him he was a security threat, but that he believes the real reason for his expulsion is his outspokenness about those in the region who falsely claim…
CORFU, Greece — The door of the Scuola Greca synagogue on the island of Corfu is painted emerald green with two Stars of David in the middle. When you push it open, the hallway leads to a low-ceilinged space where painful memories rest between the bricks: portraits of the island’s Jewish Holocaust survivors adorn the…
These French Jewish women felt left out. Though France is home to the world’s third largest Jewish community, Tali Trèves-Fitoussi, 29, and Myriam Ackerman Sommer, 25, had no place to seriously study Torah and Talmud with other women. They were looking for rigor, and the few programs organized for Jewish women in the past had…
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