Israel’s first large-scale foray into Holocaust-era Jewish property restitution is ruffling some feathers within the Jewish establishment and among Eastern European countries. The government of Israel, in cooperation with the Jewish Agency for Israel, recently announced the launch of Project HEART, the most robust attempt yet to document and pursue Jewish assets lost during World…
One of the world’s largest and most valuable private Judaica libraries is up for sale, again. To the consternation of Judaeophiles and scholarly libraries around the world, public access to the Valmadonna Trust Library — or even knowledge of its whereabouts — was feared to have been lost last December, with the selection of an…
Kaya Stern-Kaufman is graduating from rabbinical school this spring, but she says she will not always be called “rabbi.” Instead, the 47-year-old mother of two will also use the title “rabba,” making her the first woman to specifically choose this Hebrew feminized version of “rabbi” as a preferred moniker. Just what this will mean, however,…
News of the killing of Osama bin Laden sent many out to the streets and glued many others to TV screens. But for some in the Jewish community, the news offered an opportunity to revisit an event that touched them individually more than it did most others. Bereaved Jewish families who lost loved ones in…
An Israeli diplomat issued a stark warning to a roomful of Jewish communal professionals at a major Jewish convention last fall. The campaign to impose boycotts, divestment and sanctions on Israel, he said, amounts to putting “a practical warhead on the tip of an ideological rocket.” The Israeli official, a public diplomacy officer with the…
Laura Taishoff never intended to stay in New Orleans beyond her year with Avodah, the national Jewish service corps. “I decided to stay because I felt really comfortable here,” the Katonah, N.Y., native said. “I felt like I was developing here Jewishly more than I ever had anywhere else, and I knew that I had…
A million answers have been given (and a million jokes cracked) around the Passover question “Why is this night different from all other nights?” But this year, my Passover truly felt different. This year, for the first time since I became a vegetarian — nearly 11 years ago — I ate meat at the Seders….
Updated May 4, 2011, 6:30 p.m. EST Kaya Stern-Kaufman is graduating from rabbinical school this spring, but she says she will not always be called “rabbi.” Instead, the 47-year-old mother of two will also use the title “rabba,” making her the first woman to specifically choose this Hebrew feminized version of “rabbi” as a preferred…
The main synagogue in this dusty, potholed capital city is a white, two-room chapel that calls to mind an old Quaker meetinghouse. Sitting next to a gazebo-covered courtyard, it feels like an oasis compared to the rundown conditions of nearby properties. A cracked blue-and-yellow Star of David hung askew on the front of the gazebo,…
This week on the Reporters’ Roundtable, host Josh Nathan-Kazis speaks with Forward editor Jane Eisner about the future of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the U.S. role therein, following an announcement that Fatah and Hamas would form a national-unity government. Josh is also joined by contributing writer Maia Efrem to discuss the decision by Maine…
Meg Wolitzer writes in spaces where women’s emotions run high: She has tackled wives overshadowed by their husbands, as well as career woman who became stay-at-home moms. In her new novel, “The Uncoupling” (Riverhead), she investigates sex by creating characters who stop having it altogether when a spell enchants their suburb. The magic begins —…
