By ALAN SMASON, Exclusive to the CCJN
The Greater New Orleans Section of the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) honored its outgoing president and her board on Tuesday night, May 21, at its annual Closing Event. Held at the new Filmore in the Oaks facility in City Park, members...
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JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel is on red alert over outbreaks of fires across the country, some on a massive scale. At least one community, founded by the late Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, has been burned to the ground.
Fires on Thursday were out of control in the Jerusalem area, near Hebron...
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By RON KAMPEAS
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Al Sharpton appealed to Reform Jews for a united front in facing down anti-Semitism, racism and other forms of bias and acknowledged his role in stoking division, recounting how the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s widow reprimanded him for his “cheap” rhetoric.
The civil...
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By NICHOLAS HAMBURGER, Exclusive to the CCJN
Judith Viorst famously chronicled childhood with a series of picture books, most notably the acclaimed “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day,” and a pair of poetry collections, one of which is titled “Sad Underwear.”
But in recent years, Viorst has...
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By ALAN SMASON
Congregation Gates of Prayer held its annual gala on Saturday night, May 11, with a perfectly executed theme reflective of its own name and an homage to the opulence of the Roaring Twenties. Titled “The Great Gatesby,” the affair afforded congregants an opportunity to dress in period...
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By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“)
Just before every performance of “The Pianist of Willesden Lane,” the one-woman play based on the book she wrote with Lee Cohen (“The Children of Willesden Lane”), Mona Golabek holds onto a Magen David that hangs from her necklace. As she grasps...
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By DEAN M. SHAPIRO, Special to the CCJN
In Israel, one of the most solemn days of the year is immediately followed by one of the most joyous. Yom Hazikaron, a day of remembrance for the fallen soldiers of war and civilians killed in acts of terror (the 4th of...
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By ALAN SMASON
Georgia Hunter called her maternal grandfather Papa. He and her grandmother lived only about a mile away from her childhood home in a small Massachusetts town and they saw each other all the time. Despite spending holidays, sharing family meals and going on trips together as she...
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By YAAKOV LAAPIN
Events to commemorate the memories of 23,741 fallen soldiers and civilians began in Israel on Tuesday evening as part of Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism.
According to the Defense Ministry’s Families and Commemoration Department, 56 casualties were added to the count this year,...
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By SAM SOKOL
TEL AVIV (JTA) — After the weekend’s fighting between Hamas and the Israeli army, some Israelis have raised questions about the strength of their country’s missile defenses.
Over the course of the weekend, Hamas and Islamic Jihad launched nearly 700 rockets from Gaza at Israel, killing four people...
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