Twenty-seven-year-old Jonah Berele died in Lake Michigan recently under unclear circumstances, abruptly ending the life of a local Orthodox Jew who began life as Sarah Berele — and who, from there, as his family and friends put it, went on to exemplify a generosity and compassion that he did not always find in his own…
Like most such institutions, the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Skokie boasts an extensive permanent exhibition of artifacts from the Shoah, along with recollections of Illinois residents who experienced or witnessed the atrocities in Europe 70 years ago. But that is only part of its mission. The other part is to transform the…
The posts on The New Spirituality blog are responses to Rabbi Sid Schwarz’s lead essay in his book, Jewish Megatrends: Charting the Course of the American Jewish Future (Jewish Lights). In that essay, which was posted on this site on May 5, 2016, Schwarz argues that any organization that hopes to speak to the next…
Like many people, I belong to a book club. We’re group of five women that meet over salads or sushi once a month for a lively discussion and lunch. My book club is comprised of educated, smart people who, while working and taking care of their families, also enjoy good books and lively discussions. Recently,…
From now until August 14 at the Art Institute of Chicago, there is a quiet yet remarkable exhibit of 100 photographs by the American artist Aaron Siskind (1903-1991) taken from the Institute’s extensive holdings of his work. The work feels like a retrospective as the photographs show such breadth and range in his images, and…
Ysoscher Katz, in his Aug 3 article “We Won’t Give Up On Israel, Even If American Historians Do,” bemoans that American Jewish historians are jumping ship in regards to Israel as a Zionist and democratic entity. He is referring to Hasia Diner’s and Marjorie Feld’s Aug 1 opinion article in Haaretz, “We’re American Jewish Historians….
The Yale Center for British Art has just reopened after an extensive building conservation project. On the fourth floor is Paul Mellon’s British art collection, and on the third floor, now through August 21, is the opening exhibition, “Modernism and Memory, Rhoda Pritzker and the Art of Collecting.” Seventy-two paintings, drawings and sculptures were gifted…
In every Torah portion, there’s an alcoholic drink just waiting to be discovered. So says amateur bartender Andrea Frazier and her fellow Kiddush Club devotees on Chicago’s South Side. Frazier has created a boozy, parsha-themed blog, “Tippling Through The Torah,” whose premise is that the weekly Torah portion can best be appreciated when accompanied by…
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