Other News

NEW YORK (JTA)—On Jan. 27, President Donald Trump made Mark Hetfield’s job impossible. Hetfield is the president and CEO of HIAS, an organization that resettles refugees in the United States. A week into his presidency, Trump issued an executive order barring refugees...

NEW YORK (JTA)—The vast majority of Reform and Conservative rabbis affiliate as Democrats, according to a new study. The study, published this month by Yale University, found that more than 80 percent of Reform rabbis, and about 70 percent of Conservative rabbis,...

The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) is responding to catastrophic flooding and mudslides in Sri Lanka, the result of the worst storms to hit the island nation since 2003. JDC, together with its local partner Sarvodaya, a Buddhist-inspired...

Sitting in front of my grandparents’ black and white television set watching Abba Eban’s unforgettable speech before the United Nations General Assembly is certainly one of my most distinctive memories of the Six-Day War. Just 10 years old and not able to fully...

(JTA)—The first thing Carl Reiner does every morning is pick up the paper and read the obituary section to check if he’s named there. “If I’m not, I’ll have my breakfast”—or so he says in the charming and appropriately titled HBO documentary If You’re Not in the Obit,...

Lisa’s* face lit up with joy when she reflected on visits to the “Big Top” with her son until his untimely death to cancer several years ago. She described happier times gone by, but her voice reflected sadness, as if she had already accepted that her circus days were...

Past presidents of the Simon Family JCC gathered last month for an update about changes and developments at the Simon Family JCC. “We wanted our past presidents to learn about the exciting new programs we are implementing at the JCC, including Camp JCC, membership...

David Abraham, CEO of Beth Sholom Village and his entire team—everyone from director of nursing to dietary and maintenance—all interact with residents and family members to have a good handle on the day-to-day operations. Watching and being “hands on” is not enough,...

My annual July pilgrimage to Israel, the land where our people came to be and where I had the privilege to grow up, proved again to be a rewarding experience. It was an opportunity to reconnect with family, friends, sites and food, practice almost exclusively my...

These are the watchwords for the Days of Awe or the High Holy Days between the start of Rosh Hashanah and the conclusion of Yom Kippur. All are examined whether they have lived by these words in the past year and whether they promise to live by these words in the...

The Max Japha Volunteer of the Year award is presented annually by Jewish Family Service of Tidewater to honor an outstanding volunteer for his or her commitment to JFS. This year’s award was presented to Rita Brannan at the JFS Volunteer Appreciation Lunch last...

JFS recognizes and honors employees for longevity ‘Kind, caring and extremely efficient.’ That’s how one patient recently described Sharon Williams, JFS home health aide, and one of the many reasons she was selected as the JFS Home Health Aide of the Year for 2013....

For several years the Simon Family JCC has received requests not to close for so many Jewish holidays and to expand its Shabbat hours. The growth in the Kids Connection program and the Infant Care Center meant the closings had an even greater impact on the ability to...

“We met a real celebrity!” At least that’s how students at the Strelitz Early Childhood Center felt at the end of the school year after spending time with Emily Aronoff Teck of Miss Emily Celebrates. Aronoff Teck is a Jewish music educator and early childhood...

WASHINGTON (JTA)—A slight bump up on affirmative action, a plunge on voting rights, and on gay marriage, the mountaintop: federal legitimacy. It was a week of roller-coaster highs and lows at the Supreme Court for liberal Jewish groups. Their collective pledge: Stick...