GOP, Democratic conventions will gain Jewish focus for similarities and gaps



WASHINGTON — A political double feature with much of the same plot, but with different outcomes for the issues that tend to preoccupy Jewish voters, is unfolding. The same key words and themes – “pro-Israel,” “marriage,” “Jewish vote” and “abortion” – bouncing around Jewish events at the Republican National Convention in Tampa will be heard in conjunction with the Democratic […]

For Sheldon Adelson, political & Jewish giving are intertwined



WASHINGTON – Call it the Adelson conundrum: What happens when the guy who acts as if he owns the room really does? In March at TribeFest, the annual gathering of young adults organized by the Jewish Federations of North America at the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas, Sheldon Adelson walked in on a surrogate debate between Matt Brooks, who directs […]

School, JCC preschool & temple share campus

JCC Suncoast buys temple preschool, leases classroom site from temple

After more than three decades of operation, Temple B’nai Israel in Clearwater no longer runs a preschool – but it would be hard to know that from a visit to the preschool classrooms on weekdays. They are filled with some of the same children as last year, and the teachers and director are the same. The difference: On Aug. 11 […]

Just a nosh…



Youkilis to play for Israel in World Classic Chicago White Sox third baseman Kevin Youkilis says he will play for Israel at the World Baseball Classic. Youkilis, formerly a Boston Red Sox All-Star, told Israel Sports Radio Aug. 22 that he would play for Team Israel if he is healthy. This season Youkilis is hitting .241 with 15 home runs […]

Hebrew charter school opens in Clearwater with 70 students



When Ben Gamla Charter School opened in Clearwater on Aug. 20, it became Pinellas County’s first public school to offer Hebrew as a second language – a development Rabbi David Weizman, president of the county’s Board of Rabbis, views as a positive development for the Jewish community. “We feel it is good for the community. The loss of the Pinellas […]

U.S. seizes $150 million in Hezbollah-linked funds



(JTA) — U.S. authorities announced the seizure of $150 million allegedly linked to a moneylaundering scheme by the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah. The Lebanese Canadian Bank and other unidentified institutions sent nearly $330 million to the United States between 2007 and 2011 to finance the purchase of used cars that were shipped to West Africa, according to the Manhattan U.S. […]

Hamas top official: Kill every Jew and American



(JTA) —A senior Hamas official said in a televised sermon that he wished for the annihilation of every single Jew and American. The sermon by Sheik Ahmad Bahr, deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, was broadcast earlier this month on Hamas’s Al-Aqsa TV. “Oh, Allah, destroy the Jews and their supporters” and “the Americans and their supporters,” he was […]

Swedish solidarity ‘kipah walk’ unites Jews, non-Jews



(JTA) – Several hundred kipah-wearing Jews and non-Jews marched in Sweden as a sign of solidarity with Malmo’s Jews. Some 400 marchers gathered earlier this month outside the synagogue in Malmo and walked to Mollevangs Square, a part of the city with many Muslim immigrants from the Middle East. Speakers included Brigitta Ohlsson, minister for European Affairs and Social Democratic […]

Tribal understandings: Jewish and Navajo spiritual leaders speak of sacred lands



LOS ANGELES – A Reform rabbi, a Navajo medicine man and a professor walk into a museum. It sounds like the opening of a joke, but on a recent Shabbat at Window Rock, AZ, capital of the Navajo Nation, it’s the beginning of a cross-cultural discussion that pondered the question “What makes land sacred?” The dialogue featuring the spiritual leaders […]

Campfires, meditation, mountain trails – alternative High Holiday celebrations



Throughout the day they dropped slips of paper into the beehiveshaped basket – snippets on which they had written the sins for which they were seeking forgiveness. At nightfall, the group of about 15 people sat in a circle reading aloud the sins and then tossing the papers into the campfire. This wasn’t the typical recitation of Al Chet, the […]