(JTA) — The youthful group of 60 drew their chairs around tables strewn with jars of markers and the occasional Rubik’s Cube, nearby chalkboards at the ready for jotting down big ideas. The conference hall was suffused with a can-do vibe that wouldn’t have seemed out of place in Silicon Valley. But high-tech was not…
Alan Gross did not warn his family he was launching a hunger strike, but hearing the news, they understood why: The U.S. government subcontractor languishing in a Cuban prison feels forgotten. Gross, a 64-year-old Jewish father of two from Potomac, Md., is currently serving a 15-year sentence in Cuba for “crimes against the state.” He…
For months, Russia has wielded charges of anti-Semitism to undermine and discredit Ukraine’s pro-Western interim government. Now it’s the Kremlin’s turn to feel the heat. Masked men in Donetsk, which is controlled by pro-Russian separatists, distributed fliers this week ordering Jews over the age of 16 to register with the new authorities (for a $50…
South Dakota State University’s Hillel affiliate, B’rith Sholom is more than the only Jewish cultural club in the entire state; its nine members constitute a unique diversity among America’s Jewish organizations, since about half of them identify as Messianic Jews, or those who engage in Jewish practices and accept Jesus as the Messiah. Messianic Jews…
The Seesaw is a new kind of advice column in which a a broad range of columnists will address the real life issues faced by interfaith couples and families. Join the discussion by commenting on this post, sharing it on Facebook or following the Forward on Twitter. And keep the questions coming. You can email…
In 2009, Csanad Szegedi was euphoric when Jobbik, the radical right-wing nationalist party he co-founded, placed third in Hungary’s elections for the European Parliament, winning enough votes to send three representatives to Brussels, including himself. But after Hungary’s elections for parliament April 6, Szegedi is shaken. The party, many of whose leaders are seen as…
Just hours after a white supremacist allegedly murdered three people at a Jewish community center and a Jewish retirement home outside Kansas City, the local police chief insisted that nothing could have been done to stop the shootings. “This was, unfortunately, totally unexpected,” Overland Park Police Chief John Douglass told a news conference. “If we…
(JTA) — Every Friday at noon, my 2-year-old daughter and I rush through the doors of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City here to meet my father for lunch. We are usually late, and the JCC’s Heritage Center, catering to active seniors (and their preschool-aged guests), is only our first stop. Vivien refuses to…
The shootings at the Kansas City Jewish Community Center and nearby retirement home coincided with the birthday of Joseph Paul Franklin, a white supremacist executed in Missouri in November, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. Frazier Glenn Cross, also known as Frazier Glenn Miller, the longtime white supremacist arrested by police following the shootings,…
Jewish community leaders were stunned by the shooting rampage at two suburban Kansas City Jewish institutions on the eve of Passover — but urged Jews to continue with their preparations for the holiday. “Our hearts go out to the families who have suffered loss on this tragic day,” the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas…
When is a legume not necessarily a legume? When it’s a min kitniyes, might be the Yiddish answer, which could be translated as, “When it’s a whatchamacallit.” And why is that? The week of Passover is a good time to ask. As the more ritually meticulous among you are aware, legumes — which is to…
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