It may have been raining outside, but the Philadelphia 76ers were in for a bright surprise. Our favorite Miss Israel, Yityish “Titi” Aynaw, dropped in on their practice this week during her tour of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. The first woman of Ethiopian descent to win the competition in Israel is touring America…
A Philadelphia grand jury has decided not to bring criminal charges against the Hasidic owners of an abandoned factory that burned down in Philadelphia in April 2012, causing the deaths of two firefighters. District Attorney Seth Williams announced that an investigation failed to produce sufficient evidence of guilt against Michael and Nahman Lichtenstein, members of…
The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia has reportedly appointed Naomi Adler as its first female CEO. Adler, 47, has been selected as CEO, the Jewish Exponent reported. The wife of a Reform rabbi, Adler left a career in law to pursue a calling in nonprofit fundraising and management. She currently serves as president and CEO…
Pete Seeger, California, 1950s / Public Domain In the spring of 1998, Pete Seeger headlined a free concert in Central Park celebrating Israel’s 50th birthday, sponsored by the Cantors’ Assembly. The event prompted a critical press release from the Zionist Organization of America, protesting the Cantors’ Assembly’s giving a platform to a harsh critic of…
(JTA) — Fittingly, Harvey Pollack was the one who scribbled the number 100 on the most famous photograph in basketball history: Wilt Chamberlain holding the piece of paper signifying his astounding point total in a 1962 game for the then Philadelphia Warriors. After all, Pollack is basketball’s ultimate numbers and public relations man. But the…
When you undergo a traumatic experience, especially at a young age, you remember details of that experience for the rest of your life. And so it was for so many on the day of the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy: Friday, November 22, 1963. I was an eighth-grader at Akiba Hebrew Academy, in Merion,…
Rocker Lou Reed, the frontman of the 1960s band The Velvet Underground who died last week, left his estate to his wife and his sister, according to a will filled in a New York court. The performer, whose solo songs include “Walk on the Wild Side” and “Perfect Day,” died of liver disease at the…
(JTA) — Lou Reed’s death on Sunday has made me think not just of his music but of his life, and specifically about when his life and mine briefly intersected, back when my brother Frank and I entertained him at our parents’ Philadelphia home, unbeknownst to mom and dad. It was 1969 and Frank, then…
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