Demoz Deboch praying in the synagogue at the Jewish compound in Gondar, Ethiopia, in 2013. (Facebook)NEW YORK (JTA) — We met Demoz Deboch at services in Gondar, Ethiopia. It was Friday night in June of 2013 and we were surrounded by hundreds of white-clad...
In a previous blog post entitled “2 a.m. Friends,” I shared a concept that attendees of our retirement life-planning workshops have found compelling. Each of us should have a substantial number of the 2 a.m. friends, those people in our life who...
On most measures, the vast majority of Americans have seen their lives improve over the years. For example, in 1940, only about 40 percent of homes had central heating, 60 percent had flush indoor toilets, and 70 percent had running water, not to mention...
NEW YORK (JTA) — Ever since the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel began picking up steam three years ago, its proponents have brazenly declared the movement’s inevitable triumph. In April, for example, a pro-divestment group...
At a memorial in Rwanda to the victims of the 1994 genocide, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week wrote in the visitors’ book that he was “reminded of the haunting similarities to the genocide of our own people.”Certainly all instances...
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Our campus community is undergoing a much-needed period of healing. Racial protests, discriminatory bias and a toxic atmosphere of disunity have torn apart the fraternity of our school, threatening the core values upon which the University...
NEW YORK (JTA) — Last week, we watched in horror and dismay as violent event after violent event unfolded, each amplifying and recontextualizing the one before it. By Friday morning, July 8, five Dallas police officers were dead, three black men had...
By Cathleen Kronemer, NSCA-CPT, Certified Health Coach
• Published July 11, 2016
Now that our Independence Day has come and gone, the next country to be celebrating in a big way is France. July 14 is Bastille Day, a very big occasion throughout the country and especially in Paris. Why do I file these random dates in my head? Perhaps...
By Cathleen Kronemer, NSCA-CPT, Certified Health Coach
• Published July 8, 2016
You are unique, the only individual in the world who can be “you.” Even identical twins possess a few unique characteristics. So it is in the world of kinesiology and fitness; the same letter designation is not always indicative of the same title...
A few years ago, my wife, Marian, and I were invited by Noémi and Michael Neidorff, members of Traditional Congregation, to attend a lecture in New Jersey by Elie Wiesel. The Neidorffs were sponsoring the George Karpati Memorial lecture at Drew University...
By Rabbi Jeffrey Stiffman
• Published July 6, 2016
Elie Wiesel touched so many with his writings and his witness. I saw how the American Jewish community slowly began to understand his unique genius.As a student rabbi from 1960-65, I was offered a summer job in the library of the Baltimore Hebrew College....
The idea of Donald Trump as a crusading standard bearer for ordinary Americans — working class and middle class folks justifiably fed up with getting the short end of America’s economic stick — has always struck me as odd, almost to the point of...
