Washington Jewish Week back issues from May 2007:
Shauli's 'holy purpose'
May 03, 2007; ... Deceased teen left an indelible impression The story of Shauli Mordehai "would take a book longer than War and Peace to tell," said Rabbi Zev Katz, principal of the girls division of the Yeshiva of Greater Washington. And yet, the real-life protagonist of such a tome never ...
Back to roots
May 03, 2007; ... AJCongress: 1st Amendment our priority The new president of the American Jewish Congress wants to return the organization to its roots. After de-emphasizing many areas of domestic policy during the past few years, AJCongress needs to "reclaim our place as the attorney general of ...
CORRECTION
May 03, 2007; ... CORRECTION - Last week's article, "Tracking Jewish money," should have identified Richard Schifter, past president of the American Jewish Committee ...
Healing the world 101
May 03, 2007; ... Immigration, foreign policy top ADL confab list The fight to thwart bigotry and other forms of injustice as well as blunt global strategic threats took center stage at the Anti-Defamation League National Leadership conference held earlier this week in Washington. The list of ...
WJW gets 1st-place press award
May 03, 2007; ... Washington Jewish Week has received a first-place award in the Maryland, Delaware, D.C. Press Association's 2006 Editorial Contest. The award was given for a Sept. 21 editorial, "Casting aspersions?" written by editor Debra Rubin and focusing on then Sen. George Alien (R-Va.) and his ...
Celebrating Israel's birthday, embassy arranges family reunion
May 03, 2007; ... Israeli embassy officials wanted to do something a little different for their annual party celebrating their nation's independence - something in addition to the usual remarks by the ambassador, an administration representative and a lawmaker. They arranged a family reunion that left a ...
This Torah to travel
May 03, 2007; ... Two scrolls dedicated, one donated to JWB When Carol and Dick Fine, longtime members of Rockville's B'nai Israel Congregation, were looking for an appropriate way to honor the memory of her brother, Isadore Friedman, who died last year, they went to their rabbi, Jonathan Schnitzer, for ...
City's first Jewish funeral home named historic site
May 03, 2007; ... The D.C. building that housed the city's first Jewish funeral home has been designated a historic site by the District of Columbia Historic Preservation Office. Harry Wardman, whose buildings still stand throughout the city, developed the four-story, red brick structure at 3501 14th St., ...
Rabbi takes communitarian perspective on bioethics, medical access
May 03, 2007; ... Hear the phrase Jewish medical ethics, and issues such as the religion's view on organ transplants or euthanasia usually come to mind. But Rabbi Elliott Dorff wants to broaden that discussion. He believes that such matters as most efficiently distributing limited health care resources ...
In Focus: Barry Talesnick
May 03, 2007; ... Barry Talesnick's lifelong love of basketball has become even more intense during the seven years that he has served as one of the three team physicians for the Washington Wizards. "Before, I was only a fan, but being involved with the team brings you closer to the sport," says ...
9 million is 'not OK'
May 03, 2007; ... Interfaith vigil spotlights the many lacking insurance Twelve-year-old Prince George's County resident Deamonte Driver died Feb. 25 due to complications from a simple tooth abscess. Though the seventh-grader had complained of a toothache weeks earlier, his family's Medicaid had recently ...
Gravel: I'll bring peace to Israel
May 03, 2007; ... If he is elected president, Mike Gravel will bring peace to Israel, "even if it takes my life to do it." The longshot Democratic candidate, a senator from Alaska ( 1969-1981 ), says one method he will use to bring peace is to tell American Jews, "Don't just write a check, [but] use your ...
Rabbinical Assembly opens convention
May 03, 2007; ... Arnold Eisen twice brought a room of Conservative rabbis to their feet in his inaugural address to the movement's rabbinical association on Monday. Speaking at the annual Rabbinical Assembly convention in Boston, the chancellor-elect of the Jewish Theological Seminary called for a wide ...
Judge rules for prison kashrut
May 03, 2007; ... Based on the case of an Orthodox Jewish man, a judge has ruled that a state prison must allow religious inmates to keep special diets. The Associated Press reported Tuesday that U.S. Magistrate Judge James Muirhead ruled in favor of inmate Albert Kuperman, who was receiving prepackaged ...
British Library shows scrap of Dead Sea Scrolls
May 03, 2007; ... A scrap of the Dead Sea Scrolls never exhibited reportedly is on display at the British Library. The European Jewish Press reported that the exhibit, which opened April 26 ...
German Jews launch political group
May 03, 2007; ... Jews have formed their own political subgroup within Germany's Social Democratic Party. The Caucus of Jewish Social Democrats chose founding members Frankfurt city councilor Peter Feldmann and Berlin lawyer Sergey Lagodinsky as its speakers. "The SPD greeted us with open arms," Feldmann ...
Interfaith conference in Ukraine
May 03, 2007; ... Christians, Jews and Muslims met last week for an interfaith conference in Ukraine. More than 200 representatives of the country's three major faiths met on Wednesday and Thursday of last week in Kiev to discuss issues of interfaith agreement, religious extremism and hate crimes. The ...
French police checking attack reports
May 03, 2007; ... French police are investigating a young Jewish woman's claim that she was attacked by Arabs in Marseilles. The woman, 22, said on Thursday of last week that she was attacked by two Arab men who tore off her shirt and drew a swastika on her stomach, yanked off her Star of David necklace and cut ...
To Russia, with love
May 10, 2007; ... JDS kids spend time in Moscow Sam Neuberg says it was pretty exciting to see a Jewish community as vibrant and full of life as the one in Moscow. What makes it even more remarkable is how new it is. "The entire Russian Jewish community is as old as we are," the 16-year-old ...
Whither the Jews?
May 10, 2007; ... AJCommittee explores the future What will become of the Jewish people? As attendees at the American Jewish Committee's recent 101st annual meeting in Washington learned, the answer to that age-old question is variously disquieting or encouraging, and it involves issues of ...
CORRECTION
May 10, 2007; ... CORRECTION - Last week's article about the Torah donated by Congregation B'nai Israel to the Jewish Welfare Board ("This Torah to travel") incorrectly stated that both ...
Fanning a European spark
May 10, 2007; ... U.S.-born rabbi nurtures emerging Polish Jewry Rabbi Michael Schudrich is fond of telling stories that illustrate the extraordinary staying power and transformative punch of the pintele Yid, that essential spark of Jewishness that manages to survive even in those with only a tenuous ...
Tower of Babel planned
May 03, 2007; ... A monument to Isaac Babel will be erected in Odessa. Babel, a Jewish playwright and short story writer, was born and worked in the Black Sea port city. According to the Odessa City Council, the city department on architecture and ...
Edwards' prayer 'in Christ's name'
May 03, 2007; ... Is Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards sensitive enough to other religions? A columnist in The Politico newspaper is wondering that after the North Carolinian delivered a public prayer "in Christ's name" on the night of the Virginia Tech shootings at an event in ...
Obama: Blame Palestinian leaders
May 03, 2007; ... Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has clarified and put into context his remark ear lier this year that "nobody is suffering more than the Palestinian people." Responding to a question at last week's Democratic debate, Obama explained, "What I said is, nobody has suffered more than the ...
Hillary does domestic at NJDC
May 03, 2007; ... While most of the candidates who preceded her at the National Jewish Democratic Council policy conference last week concentrated on foreign affairs, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) devoted most of her address to domestic issues popular with Jewish Democrats, such as education, health care and the ...
New home for historians
May 03, 2007; ... The Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington has purchased a building only steps away from its Lillian and Albert Small Jewish Museum, a historic synagogue building, at Third and G streets in the District. Currently housed adjacent to the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, JHSGW ...
Hagel: Not 'automatic'
May 03, 2007; ... Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) told the Arab American Institute's annual dinner last week that he believes Israel and the United States have a "special relationship," but that he resented being told by a pro-Israel activist that if he wants backing from the pro-Israel community, his support for ...
Romney calls Iran 'irrational'
May 03, 2007; ... Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, in a speech last week at Yeshiva University's Sy Syms School of Business, outlined his plans for countering Iran's nuclear program and the threat of jihad. Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, called for tightening sanctions on Iran, isolating ...
More security funds released
May 03, 2007; ... The Homeland Security Department has released $24 million in funds for securing nonprofits. The move on Friday was the second such release of monies; most of an earlier allotment of $25 million went to securing Jewish institutions. The delay in ...
Moving forward on genetic discrimination
May 03, 2007; ... Hadassah is praising the House of Representatives for passing a genetic nondiscrimination act. The legislation, which passed last week by a vote of 420-3, would "afford its citizens protection from discrimination based on genetic information by insurance carriers and employers," ...
Olmert should go
May 03, 2007; ... Should Prime Minister Ehud Olmert resign? That would seem to be the unspoken opinion of the preliminary report by the five-man Winograd Commission, which blasted the Israeli prime minister, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and former Chief of Staff General Dan Halutz for their incompetence during ...
Sometimes friends have too much in common
May 03, 2007; ... Washington Watch One of the most effective themes employed by pro-Israel lobbyists has been "They're like us" - the idea that Israel and the United States are bound together by shared values of democracy, freedom and a Judéo-Christian heritage. But a less flattering similarity ...
Detail gives a new perspective on the media
May 03, 2007; ... Capital Schmoozing I had already written this month's column, which was to be based on my recent experiences while on "detail" (a temporary transfer in governmentspeak) from my agency's regulatory policy office to its press office, when the tragedy at Virginia Tech changed my plans, just ...
Shawn Green's trip to Washington
May 03, 2007; ... Shawn Green of the New York Mets is one of the few Jewish professional athletes who won't hide his religion. Green made national news when playing with the Los Angeles Dodgers by saying he wouldn't play on Yom Kippur even though his team was locked in a tough pennant race. He also has ...
Leopold Laufer, State Department official, activist, 81
May 03, 2007; ... Leopold Yehuda Laufer, formerly of Washington, D.C., an Agency for International Development (AID) official at the State Department who was committed to Jewish causes and social justice, died April 23 at his home in Jerusalem. He was 81 and suffered from Parkinson's disease. Laufer was ...
David Halberstam, journalist, 73
May 03, 2007; ... It may not be a mark of career success when the president of the United States himself advocates for your dismissal. But it was for David Halberstam. The author and journalist won a Pulitzer Prize by the time he was 30 for his aggressive coverage of the early years of the Vietnam War. He ...
A man with a Mona Lisa smile
May 03, 2007; ... A man with a Mona Lisa smile 'I Am My Own Wife' gives fascinating peek at unusual character Theater Review Arnie Burton has a Mona Lisa smile: sly, closemouthed, tipped up at either corner, a bit shy, leavened with a touch of feyness. That smile makes Charlotte, ...
'Everyone was a giraffe'
May 03, 2007; ... 'Prada' author addresses Hebrew Home event Author Lauren Weisberger claims that when she worked as assistant to the editor in chief of Vogue magazine, she was the "shortest and heaviest girl" there. "Everyone was a giraffe," she quipped last week at the Hebrew Home of Greater ...
Tribute to Jerusalem Day
May 03, 2007; ... Israeli pianist to play at Beth El in Bethesda When Victor Goldberg finishes performing next week at Congregation Beth El of Montgomery County in Bethesda, he'll be physically and emotionally spent. "Music is such a unique thing, combining intellect and emotions," says the ...
Jewish Arts Around Town
May 03, 2007; ... Author talk, play at DCJCC Author Grace Tiffany will discuss her book. The Turquoise Ring, at the Washington DC Jewish Community Center on May 14 at 5:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. The talk will be followed by a buffet dinner (tickets are $20) and a staged ...
Celebrations
May 03, 2007; ... Erin Helene Marill Anne (Berman) and Anthony Marill of Rockville have announced the birth of their daughter, Erin Helene, on Sept. 9. She weighed 7 pounds, 4 ounces, and was 19 3/4 inches long. Also welcoming Erin are her sister, Hannah, and grandparents, Toby and Philip ...
Lag B'Omer - the brightness of spring amid darkness
May 03, 2007; ... Lag B'Omer is a life-affirming day amid the 49 days of mourning that recount our wanderings in the dessert. It is a day commonly marked by weddings, especially in Israel, celebrations of all kinds and lots of outdoor activities. When 1 was a child, 1 thought it was a day that marked the first ...
Five congregations to host festival
May 03, 2007; ... Five Montgomery County congregations - Chabad of Upper Montgomery County and Chabad of Germantown, in conjunction with the congregations of Kehillat Shalom and Shaare Torah of Gaithersburg and Temple Beth Ami of Rockville - are joining to create a Lag B'Omer festival on Sunday afternoon in ...
JCCGW to mark Veterans Day
May 03, 2007; ... More than 200 seniors from the former Soviet Union living in the Greater Washington area are expected to attend a Veterans Day celebration on Tuesday at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Allied Forces' ...
Veteran reporter to be honored at JCA dinner
May 03, 2007; ... Veteran journalist and NPR senior news analyst Daniel Schorr will be honored by the Jewish Council for the Aging at its 14th annual Productive Aging Award Dinner, to take place Monday, May 14, at the Marriott Bethesda North hotel and Conference Center in North Bethesda. Schorr's career ...
Study retreat offered in Leesburg
May 03, 2007; ... "The Prophet Isaiah: Jewish and Christian Perspectives" will be the focus of this year's Memorial Day Study Retreat offered by the Foundation for Jewish Studies and set for May 27-28. Professor Kenneth Holum of the University of Maryland and Pastor Robert Holum of Luther Place Memorial ...
Goethe-Institut offers walking tour
May 03, 2007; ... A guided walking tour in downtown Washington, D.C., to view the neighborhoods where the many German-Jewish immigrants of the 19th and early 20th centuries once lived, worked and worshipped will be offered Tuesday, May 15, by the Goethe-Institut Washington-Thé German Cultural Center, located in ...
Hebrew Home seeks health care volunteers
May 03, 2007; ... The volunteer department at the Hebrew Home of Greater Washington in Rockville is seeking health care professionals to become patient service representatives in the Rakusin Rehabilitation Center. Individuals with backgrounds in medicine, nursing, physical therapy and other health fields may ...
From Mt. Sinai to cyberspace
May 03, 2007; ... This week's Torah portion is Emor,Leviticus 21:1-24:23. This week's Torah reading, Emor, mentions the countdown we are currently engaged in from Passover to Shavuot. In Leviticus 23:15-16, we learn: "And from the day on which you bring the sheaf of elevation offering - the day after the ...
Just A Menschen
May 03, 2007; ... Four to represent their state and school Four sixth-graders from Silver Spring's Hebrew Day Institute have been selected to represent their school and the state of Maryland at the 2007 Junior National Young Leaders Conference (JrNYLC) taking place this summer in Washington, ...
Repairing the world, one house at a time
May 03, 2007; ... Scores of volunteers from 24 synagogues throughout Greater Washington turned out on Sunday for the annual Sukkot in April, a project coordinated by Yachad, the Jewish House and Community Development Corporation of Greater Washington. Other volunteers came through the Jewish Federation of Greater ...
KIDDISH
May 03, 2007; ... Jewish Kids' Fun Page Seven Years Adapted from Midrash Zuta Ruth 4. Asher picked up the heavy plowshare and heaved it into the ground. No, not deep enough. He wriggled the plowshare to get it out, and tried again. It hadn't always been like this. Once, he had been ...
Letters of love
May 03, 2007; ... I had the privilege of peeking into the private correspondence of a World War II medical officer to the love of his life. The letters that Dachau liberator George Tievsky wrote to Priscilla during the war are filled with stories of broken bodies and broken souls, stories of Jewish horrors and ...
Assessing Judaism, Burg stresses humanism, pluralism
May 10, 2007; ... If the Jewish community continues "with business as usual," Avraham Burg believes, "there is a fair chance that we won't be." The former speaker of Israel's Knesset with the Labor Party was in the area last week to discuss "Assessing Jewish History-A Vision for the Future," and though he ...
A land beyond the Beltway
May 10, 2007; ... Students reflect on first-ever class trip to Israel Although Israel is the Jewish state, polls say nearly 60 percent of American Jews have never been there. Until last month, Jessica Attas was a never-been. So was Samantha Levinson. Their status - and apparently their ...
The underground ad war
May 10, 2007; ... Jews to counter pro-Palestinian Metro blitz The D.C.-area war of words over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is escalating. The first salvo was fired in late March when the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation announced that, beginning Sunday, some 20 downtown Metro ...
Kosher feta
May 10, 2007; ... B'nai B'rith series focuses on Greek Jews Oh, I didn't know there were Jews in Greece." Athens native Nina Kaplanides, 78, has heard the comment frequently since she arrived in the United States in 1950. The Potomac resident usually points out that not only are there Jews in ...
Hate crimes go beyond individual victims
May 10, 2007; ... In a victory for civil rights, the House of Representatives last week passed expanded hate crimes legislation that significantly enhances the ability of federal law enforcement to assist in the investigation of a wide range of violent hate crimes. Most Jewish groups were on board in ...
It's time to get out of Iraq
May 10, 2007; ... Washington Watch Iraq may never be the showcase for democracy that the Bush administration promised when it invaded four years ago, but it has become the epicenter of international terrorism. Though President George W. Bush eventually admitted there was "no evidence" of Iraqi ...
Let's celebrate multiple anniversaries
May 10, 2007; ... For the next year, the Greater Washington community will gear up for an extensive celebration for Israel's 60th anniversary of statehood, which occurs a year from today. This anniversary deserves a monumental celebration considering how much Israel has accomplished in its six ...
Shabbat on Demand: Test your movie knowledge
May 10, 2007; ... Capital Schmoozing Spring has arrived at last - at least the two days we get of it here in Washington, before the humidity starts to suffocate us. After a prolonged winter, we finally can enjoy birds chirping, tulips sprouting and hours of fresh air (for those of us not yet burdened with ...
David Sklar
May 10, 2007; ... When David Sklar was a teenager growing up in Livingston, N.J., he had a chance to go out on a sailboat. It was the beginning of a long love affair. "In the course of 25 years, I went through eight boats," he said, spending as much time as he could on the water. He bought his first boat ...
MDs across the Green Line
May 10, 2007; ... D.C. Jew tapped for cross-border medical effort Dr. Hiyam Marzouqa, a pediatrician at Caritas Baby Hospital in Bethlehem, said his facility needs more pediatricians with subspecialties, including cardiology, gastroenterology and hematology. The medical needs identified by Dr ....
On the fun side
May 10, 2007; ... On the fun side So, you always wanted to be a Jewish mother The Portable Jewish Mother: Guilt, Food ... and When Are You Giving Me Grandchildren by Laurie Rozakis, Ph.D. Avon, Mass.: Adams Media, 2007. 280 pp. $12.95. Book Review This is a silly book, full of cliches. Wait, ...