I first published this article in Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Oct 2, 2003
TEL AVIV, Oct. 1 (JTA) –
When Amiad Horowitz, 18, first came to Israel for Young Judaea’s Hamagshimim program, he was shocked to discover unorthodox views on Judaism and Israel among his non-Orthodox peers.
Raised in an Orthodox home in Philadelphia and New Jersey, Horowitz...
I first published this article in Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Jan 15, 2004
TEL AVIV, Jan. 14 (JTA) –
Sabra, an asthmatic from Tel Aviv, was at a nightclub enjoying live music when the man seated next to her lit up a cigarette.
Unable to breathe and unable to speak over the loud music, Sabra gestured to the man to let him know that the smoke was bothering...
I first published this article in Jewish Telegraphic Agency on June 9, 2004
TEL AVIV, Jun. 9 (JTA) –
Eitan Salman is at the far end of his store, leaning against a shelf lined with the new CD by Sarit Hadad, one of Israel’s more popular Mizrahi, or Eastern, singers. Business at Salman’s music store has fallen 80 percent over the last decade,...
I first published this article in Jewish Telegraphic Agency on July 6, 2004
TEL AVIV, Jul. 5 (JTA) –
For months, Palestinians have blasted Israel’s West Bank security barrier as an “apartheid wall” that will extinguish Palestinian national goals. But an Israeli ecologist says the fence’s potential impact on plant and animal life...
I first published this article in Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Nov 18, 2004
BERKELEY, Nov. 17 (JTA) –
“I can’t believe we’re here!” Sha’anan Streett exclaimed, standing before a screaming, sold-out crowd in a large hall at George Washington University. “More importantly, I can’t believe you’re here!”...
I first published this article in Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Jan 14, 2005
BERKELEY, Calif., Jan. 13 (JTA) –
As Jewish children around the world prepare to celebrate Tu B’Shevat by eating fruit and planting trees, students at the Jewish Community High School of San Francisco will take the holiday one step further. They’ll spend the holiday,...
I first published this article in Jewish Telegraphic Agency on March 21, 2005
NEW YORK, Mar. 20 (JTA) –
Pele Browner, a 19-year-old Jew of African-American and Native-American heritage, was playing basketball at his local Jewish community center in West Bloomfield, Mich, when one of the other kids on the court asked him if he was Jewish. “Yes,”...
I first published this article in Jewish Telegraphic Agency on April 19, 2005
TEL AVIV, Apr. 19 (JTA) –
Tradition teaches that on Passover, all Jews must embody the experience of Exodus, feeling as if we ourselves have gone through it. For the Karaite Jews from Egypt — a community that rejected rabbinic law from the start — no imagination is...
I first published this article in Jewish Telegraphic Agency on April 22, 2005
BERKELEY, Calif., Apr. 21 (JTA) –
For thousands of years, when storks flew overhead on their way back from Israel, Ethiopian Jews would turn their faces toward the sky and chant, “Shmella, shmella, agarachin Yerusalem behena” — Amharic for “Stork, stork,...
I first published this article in Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Aug 12, 2005
TEL AVIV, Aug. 11 (JTA) –
Ibtisam Mahamid is wearing a long salmon-colored dress, a white head covering and a soft pink scarf adorned with shiny circles, embroidery and fringes. She kneels comfortably on the ground, speaking to a crowd about why Muslim law requires women to be...