The Temple Beth Am-Pressman Academy gala was held on June 14 in honor of outgoing Temple President Jacqui Jacobs and the outgoing chair of the Conservative congregation’s Education Cabinet Shani Fisher. Appropriately, the event’s theme was “Leadership with Heart.” Temple Beth Am-Presman Academy Gala Co-Chair Joanna Kasirer, Honoree Jacqui Jacobs, Honoree Shani Fisher and Gala […]
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Jew-haters are going crazy. After having the field to themselves for three years, convincing much of the world that Israel rhymes with genocide, a quirky non-Jewish artist from London has rattled them. He’s rattled them not just with a fabulous song with a cool reggae beat. He’s rattled them with six words: You say genocide, […]
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In the late 1960’s, when my grandparents emigrated from Israel to Australia, they lived in Hurstville. Their house was steps away from the Georges River in the quiet, idyllic Southern suburbs of Sydney. The only drawback was the distance. Hurstville was 15 miles away from Bondi and the Eastern suburbs, the center of Jewish life […]
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At gatherings of university leaders, my fellow college presidents and I would regularly review data on how Americans felt about higher education, and shake our collective heads. Each year the percentage of U.S. adults who said that they had either “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in this country’s colleges and universities […]
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What will it take? What needs to happen before Jews finally take full measure of the meteoric rise in antisemitism around the world—and start taking it personally? How close to home must it hit? Since October 7, 2023, when violence and incitement against Jews became casually accepted as a social justice prerogative, far too many, […]
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I don’t care if he’s a mayor, an activist or a CEO. I do care that his video singling out and attacking the world’s only Jewish state got 90 million views; and that a few days later, a man yelling “Allahu Akbar” stabbed a Jew wearing a yarmulke on the Upper West Side. I do […]
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Rabbi Laura Geller, who has been breaking down barriers for Jewish women since becoming the Reform movement’s third woman rabbi 50 years ago, told The Journal a story only a woman could tell. “Picture this” she began. “I am 23 years old, in a class [at Hebrew Union College] where the other 29 students are […]
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Rabbi Brad Artson, American Jewish University’s Goldstine Distinguished Scholar, received the Mathilde Schechter Award from the Women’s League for Conservative Judaism (WLCJ) during the organization’s international convention, which was held this month in Alexandria, Va. “I am grateful beyond words to my friends in Women’s League for Conservative Judaism for the honor of receiving their […]
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Va’etchanan — I entreated (Deuteronomy 3:23–7:11) As one who follows the teachingsof Jewish theologian and scholar Mick JaggerI have learned the Torah ofnot always getting what I want. I’m at the point where it sometimes feels likenot always becomes rarely ever. I have learned,like Moses, to ask earnestly, but, like to Moses,the response is uncomfortably […]
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“Here Where We Live Is Our Country: The Story of the Jewish Bund” by Molly Crabapple. Random House, NY (2026) Rummaging through her great-grandfather’s obscure past, Molly Crabapple transports herself back to the tumultuous world of Eastern European Jewry: a world of national awakenings, pogroms, emerging modernity, democratic ferment and revolutionary struggle. It was a […]
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