WALTHAM, Mass. (JTA) – When Jonathan Sarna was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 1999 at the age of 44, it changed his life. Already a highly regarded historian at Brandeis University, Sarna was in the midst of writing his seminal study of American Jewish history when he realized with alarm that he might never finish…
Quickly assuming the mantle of Donald Trump’s chief Jewish advocate, Las Vegas billionaire Sheldon Adelson has reached out to Republican Jewish leaders asking them to follow his lead and contribute to Trump’s presidential campaign. “Like many of you, I do not agree with him on every issue,” Adelson wrote board members of the Republican Jewish…
A wealthy and politically connected leader of the Williamsburg-based Satmar Hasidic sect drowned May 17 in Miami Beach, Florida. Yitzchak Rosenberg, 67, was the president of Congregation Yetev Lev D’Satmar, the central religious organization in Brooklyn of the followers of the Kiryas Joel, New York-based Grand Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum, and a founder of the sect’s…
The pro-Donald Trump right-wing polemicist who coined “renegade Jew,” the anti-Bill Kristol slur of the moment, is not your everyday Breitbart bloviator. In successive posts Sunday and Monday, David Horowitz attacked Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol for his last-ditch efforts against Trump, tagging him a “renegade Jew” in his headline and claiming that his opposition…
The date of Ernest Michel’s death was fitting, somehow. A Holocaust survivor and former executive vice president of UJA-Federation of New York from 1970-1989, Michel died at home on May 7, in the week between Yom Hashoah and Yom Ha’atzmaut. Michel was a Jewish communal executive for more than 60 years when such work was…
Rabbi Cece started working at our synagogue when I was a freshman in high school, four years ago. I had been a madricha and attending our teen program for a year before she arrived, and once she took over the education director position, I saw changes immediately. She connected so well with kids of all…
Rabbi Jacobs made it possible for me to establish my dream of creating a kosher food pantry in Plantation. I am not a religious guy and was never really involved in Judaism. But she never judged me. She just accepts me, and she understood my passion — to feed people. She has so much experience…
Rabbi Liz Bolton is the most inspirational and beloved rabbi I have ever met. In the three years since she arrived in Ottawa, she has transformed our congregation, grown relationships both to the entire Jewish community and with a broad array of other faiths and sparked a new enthusiasm for both Judaism and social justice…
Rabbi Mackler came to the temple right after her ordination. She brought with her not only her extensive academic knowledge of Judaism, but also the heart of Judaism. Her kindness knows no bounds and always, always reminds us of what it means to be a Jew in these often dangerous times. She shows me on…
My wife and I live in Connecticut and visit Coastal Georgia a few times a year. We previously attended services haphazardly at Temple Beth Tefilloh in Brunswick over the years. When Rabbi Rachael came, the synagogue became alive with people and ruach. We now attend every Rosh Hashanah and even had Rabbi Rachael renew our…
We met Rabbi Lobb when she officiated at the funeral of my grandfather in Port St. Lucie. We came from New York and had not met her before, but she showed an intuitive understanding of the complexities of various family dynamics and crafted a service that was so poignant and relevant we were all astounded….
