NEW YORK (JTA) — To those she met accompanying her husband on university business, she was the elegant woman known simply as Mrs. Lamm. To her four children and 17 grandchildren, she was a loving mother who took them on regular outings to Broadway shows and the opera. For years, Mindella “Mindy” Lamm had a…
A gathering of young men in front of the Chabad movement’s Brooklyn headquarters led to a scuffle with police, who have been permitting prayer services there for a month despite the ban on gatherings amid the coronavirus pandemic. The incident highlighted the attempts by law enforcement to balance the devout community’s spiritual needs with safety…
T’ruah, a nonprofit that trains Jewish clergy to work on human rights campaigns, has a somewhat unusual funding structure. A third of its annual revenue— about $1.4 million in 2018, according to tax filings — comes from foundations, which normally make up a larger portion for Jewish organizations of its size. The rest comes from…
Through the dark forest, my parents and I inched our way over rocks and twigs, to a clearing surrounded by a short fence edged with unlit candles and flowers, some fake, some wilting. My feet pressed into the spongy weeds as our group gathered to hum a niggun, then say Kaddish. Huddled near my parents…
The gift she hoisted with a string onto the balcony of her two-bedroom condo was the closest to human contact Ursula Israelski had come in a month. It was a face mask sewn by Sandy Scheller, former wardrobe tech for Cirque du Soleil’s “Zumanity” in Las Vegas, and it came with the bonus of a…
Since July 1 of last year, Jami Goldstene, a former public relations executive, had spent seven days a week running Solomon’s Delicatessen in Sacramento a long-awaited Jewish deli she co-owns that had finally opened after years of delays. Then came Covid-19. On March 15, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that restaurants had to shift to…
(JTA) — Isaiah Kuperstein was known for his big, booming voice and even bigger personality. But those close to him appreciated his softer side, a quality that came across in the way he treated his wife, Elana. Even after 43 years of marriage, Kuperstein still called her his “bride” and often held her hand in…
(JTA) — John Adler was a descendant of Hasidic royalty, tracing his family lineage back to Reb Shmelke of Nikolsburg, one of the earliest Hasidic rabbis. But for years, Adler was estranged from Jewish practice. That changed some time after he arrived in Bristol, England, where for nearly three decades he worked in the drama…
(JTA) — BERKELEY, Calif. (J. Weekly via JTA) — Alby Kass, one of the founders of the Russian River Jewish Community some four decades ago, has died March 31 of complications from COVID-19. He was 89. After spending the past year battling a number of other illnesses, he succumbed in a San Leandro hospital bed…
It was around 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 12, when the wheels of an El Al jet touched down at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. The plane, void of passengers, flew to Detroit from China on what could be considered a humanitarian aid mission. Inside the Israeli jet were 3.5 million surgical and KN95 protective masks, face…
On the Friday after my daughter, Orli, received a new liver, in a new city, a doctor appeared in the doorway bearing a small sack. He was, it turned out, the husband of one my 8th grade Camp Ramah counselors—and also the head of the medical ICU. In the bag was… Shabbat, a vegetarian soup,…
