(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…
Jacob Bender is set to be the voice of Philadelphia-area Muslims, to take on discrimination they encounter in workplace and in the public sphere, and to fight expressions of hate. And his Jewish faith, Bender believes, can only help him do the job effectively. “The Muslim community is under attack from Islamophobic forces, and it…
For Israeli-American chef Michael Solomonov, this weekend’s dinner in an Israeli park had been in the making for 10 years – ever since his younger brother David was killed on duty in the Israel Defense Forces. Michael Solomonov, the owner of Zahav, an award-winning Israeli style restaurant in Philadelphia, was just launching his culinary career…
Most students on 10-day guided tours to Israel come to climb Massada, snorkel and visit iconic tourist stops. Ava Skolnik, on the other hand, spent her days sowing gardens and digging mud ovens for a town in Southern Israel. Skolnik, a student at Drexel University, and 15 other students from Philadelphia, were participants of “Philly…
Video: Nate Lavey The “Little Shul,” as its supporters call it, stands in the middle of a dense street of row homes. But in a big way, it stands alone. It is the last operating row-house shul in South Philly. During the early part of the last century, there were 155 synagogues like it in…
Philadelphia’s Jewish federation is facing a crisis of leadership. Home to the sixth-largest Jewish community in the country, Philadelphia has a new museum of American Jewish history, Jewish day schools, thriving synagogues, and a major liberal rabbinical seminary. Yet the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, Ira Schwartz, departed abruptly in early May,…
Author and professor Jeffrey Rosen has been named president and chief executive officer of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. “We are extremely proud to announce a CEO and President of Jeffrey Rosen’s caliber as a constitutional scholar, journalist, and educator,” said National Constitution Center Chairman Jeb Bush. “I look forward to working in hand…
The stories of Ariel Sharon and Happy Fernandez are a study in contrasts. Sharon, as we all know, is being kept alive in an Israeli hospital seven years after suffering a massive stroke. He was prime minister at the time, had just dramatically pulled Israel out of Gaza and founded a new centrist political party,…
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