Arts & Entertainment
“What I Wish They Would Have Taught Me in Sunday School About Science, the Bible and God,” (Grace Publications) explores the fundamental concepts of Judaism.
As a life-long fan of the Chicago Cubs, a team that has not reached the World Series since 1945 or won it since 1908, Jerry Jacover is no stranger to suffering.
"Hana's Suitcase" depicts what happens when Japanese students and their teacher.
Musicians not so long ago would be regarded as colossal sell-outs for licensing their work for use in a TV commercial.
Statman to perform selctions from his two new releases: Awakening from Above and East Flatbush Blues
Reading and adhering to the mother of all books, the most influential bestsellers of all times—the Hebrew and Christian Bibles.
As interfaith marriage rates are on the rise, rabbis are taking new measures to help their congregants meet Jewish singles.
Course in Positive Psychology taps scientific research and Jewish background to fight modern stress and depression, release creative energy and foster happiness in others.
Graphic novel wins in Children’s and Young Adult Literature category; published by local press.
Goldie’s Lox and the Three Bagels: Fractured Jewish Fairy Tales by Jeffrey and Lila Dubinsky. New York: Citadel Press
Several fast-food franchise restaurants are going kosher.
Located in the Crowne Plaza Chicago Metro Hotel
Easy recipies for holiday treats.
Yearnings: Embracing the Sacred Messiness of Life (Hyperion; September 2007; $13.95)
Amateur chefs compete in semifinals to create unique, easy kosher dishes
Performing for a citywide teen concert as part of a yearlong celebration of “Israel at 60.”
Winnetka resident tells the tale of her family’s immigration from Ukraine to North America
“Hours of Devotion: Fanny Neuda’s Book of Prayers for Jewish Women
At the center of the controversy are movies quite opposite in mood and tone.
A new documentary, “My Kid Could Paint That,” by Amir Bar-Lev.
They look nothing like monsters — but appearances can be deceiving.
Berg portrayed Molly Goldberg as a Jewish character in an age of widespread anti-Semitism in the United States.
Papers and die cuts decorated with pastel menorahs, golden photographs of bagels and challah and monochromatic shofars — material to be used as backdrops in Jewish photo albums.
Once immersed you’ll manage to float like a matzah ball
Fellowship a direct outgrowth of student responses from on-going evaluation process.
Unveil the riches of the a cappella Jewish tradition.
Dreams inform and shape the soul.
18 films are scheduled for this year’s Chicago Festival of Israeli Cinema, which plays in the Chicago area from Oct. 18-28.
'Tis the season for new calendars.
Lauren Mangurten Lewis Summer Intern As the High Holidays approach each year, many community members turn to reading to supplement their understanding of the holidays. “There is no shortage of
Josie A.G. Shapiro My childhood was spent with Baked Apples and Chicken on Rosh Hashanah and Brisket with Prunes on Yom Kippur. I’m not saying these dishes weren’t delish, and I’m not saying
Laura Brown Researcher Writer 1932 Olympic gold medal winner Lillian Copeland. When Shuli Eshel and Dr. Linda Borish began collaborating on a documentary about the role of Jewish women in American sport, they
The “virtual cinema” film digitization project at the Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has been completed.
Bryan Schwartzman The blogosphere, MySpace, YouTube. As the World Wide Web continues to evolve at a breakneck pace, it can be daunting just keeping up with what’s happened, let alone venturing a
Hate and terror-related sites on the Internet has increased to more than 7,000
Jewish American poet best known for the poem “New Colossus,” which appears on the base of the Statue of Liberty
Jewish life on campus is the topic of this edition of Sanctuary.
About ten kilometers west of Jerusalem is the beautiful landscaped national park of Ein Hemed (Spring of Delight).
Last Thursday, Walt Whitman and The Soul Children of Chicago visited to the Shoshana Absorption Center in Kiryat Gat, JUF JF's Partnership 2000 region. Whitman and a delegation of
The bat mitzvah herself wants the band to play Justin Timberlake. Her parents, however, do not want to “bring sexy back” to their family event, and want the band to play Debbie Friedman.
David Broza is one of Israel’s most popular musical exports.
Bibliophile/longtime Jewish book group leader recommends Jewish-themed titles to tote to the beach.
The 2007 Chicago Festival of Israeli Cinema will celebrate the best of Israeli films in Chicago and the suburbs for 11 days in October.
Jewish 20-something strives to find love and fame on YouTube reality show
At a Manhattan party one night, Jewish comedian Judy Gold mentioned to her friend Kate Moira Ryan that she needed a break from working the comedy club circuit. Hearing her desperation, Ryan, an Irish-Catholic playwright, suggested that they team up to write a one-person show about Jewish mothers, starring Gold. That night, while downing martinis, the two writers jotted down 25 questions for Jewish mothers on a cocktail napkin. The little napkin inspired their five-year odyssey around the country interviewing a diverse sampling of more than 50 Jewish mothers.
Many college students head south during spring break. So when Sarah Mayhan, Lila Miller, and Max Vilenchik were asked what they were doing and gave their answer, most people’s response was, “You’re going where for spring break?”
The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra (JSO), the oldest musical institution in Jerusalem, is in danger of closing down on the eve of its 70th anniversary due to severe budget cuts at the Israel Broadcast Authority (IBA).
Baseball is making aliyah. America’s favorite pastime is coming to Israel, as the inaugural season of the Israel Baseball League (IBL) gets under way this month.
Jewish teens tune in to positive hour of broadcasting on the ‘Midwest NCSY Radio Hour’
As we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem, it is important to remember the other reunification that Israel has made possible—that of the Jewish people. This
Free Jewish children’s books introduce Jewish tradition, create positive memories
Paul Wieder Lexxi has some wild friends, and we don’t mean they like to have parties Lexxi, who lives in Crystal Lake, Ill., helps animals at the Valley of the
When Gunter Grass, Nobel laureate and arguably Germany’s best-known postwar author, revealed in 2006 that at the end of World War II he had been conscripted into Hitler’s infamous Waffen SS, a tsunami of indignation rocked intellectual circles in Germany and around the world.
Each time Aaron Elster tells his story of struggle and survival during the Holocaust, he is a small, frightened 10-year-old boy again. Today, more than 60 years after the war, he still feels the insufferable pain of hunger, hears the rain beating on the roof above his attic hiding space and recalls the daydreams that helped ease his unbearable loneliness.
A Blessing to One Another: Pope John Paul II and the Jewish People
Exhibit Set to Open April 14, 2007
Graphic novel on history of Israel, HOMELAND now available
If you are a fan of Central European literature on the lines of Joseph Roth, Stefan Zweig or Arthur Schnitzler, then Professor Jakob Allerhand was exactly the person you'd have wanted to meet in Vienna, mainly because he seemed to come from an age now consigned to novels such as th
Jewish journalist shares conversations with 62 famous Jews about their Jewish identity
On Feb. 11, the Grammy Awards will air their 49th annual broadcast. Which means the Grammys are going to be 50
Three organizations—the Society for the Preservation of Hebrew Books, a nonprofit organization devoted to the preservation of old Hebrew texts; dtSearch Corp., the manufacturer of the dtSearch product line; and Ligature Ltd., the manufacturer of multilingual OCR products—have announced that over
In The Know
Aaron B. Cohen
Executive Editor
Gorgeous is a word Chana Zelig isn't afraid to use, and for good reason. Her latest creation—ten stained-glass windows set astride the ark in the sanctuary of Temple Beth El in Northbrook—transforms light into a serenely gorgeous revelation about f
There’s a joke floating around JUF’s Young Leadership Division (YLD) office that the slogan for LEADS–a program designed to acquaint Jewish young adults with the Jewish community–ought to be “Be engaged, get engaged" because
Leadership plays a central role in Jewish history as well as in contemporary Jewish life. “From Sanctuary to Boardroom: A Jewish Approach to Leadership"–the new book by Hal M. Lewis, associate professor of Jewish Studies and the Dean of Public Programming at Spertus Jewish Studies in Chicago (a JUF/JF partner in serving the community)–explore
Abigail Pickus grew up surrounded by books.
Her family members were all voracious readers and her house was always filled with books, planting in Pickus a love for reading early on. Today, she has parlayed her bibliophile passion into a career in which she gets to read good books
Imagine the pain and exhilaration that comes with dating, but add to that, experiencing it in front of a camera, and that’ll give you a glimpse into the world as of late of Jewish singer-songwriter Lisa Loeb, who will headline the Greater Chicago Jewish Festival in June.
In Germany, North Shore Country Day School students grasp the tragic past and perform hope for the future in 'A Still Small Voice'
Physics professor by day, comedian by night offers a collection of Jewish jokes through space and time
The huge, borrowed 36-cup tin coffee pot had already been plugged in, bubbling out its old familiar hamish (homelike) fragrance which wafted down into the steep stairwell leading up to our cousins club rented hall.
Filmmakers are wrestling with four different projects to document or dramatize the story of Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter beheaded by Islamic extremists in Pakistan in early 2002, leaving behind a pregnant wife.
As Israel celebrates its 58th birthday, The Jerusalem Post's former editor Carl Schrag offers up his reading recommendations on Israel history and the conflict.
They came, trying to forget, trying to forge new pathways in their brains to erase the horrors filtering out of war-torn Europe about the fate of those they had to leave behind. Traveling by planes and trains to the southern end of Florida's Miami Beach, which had become the popular place to be for older Jewish people who appreciated the decent hotel rates and magnificent surroundings of sunshine, palm trees, and sweet-smelling ocean surf pounding just across the busy street called Ocean Drive.
Steven Spielberg shifted from black-and-white to color during the emotional coda to "Schindler's List." It showed the Jews lucky enough to survive the Nazi Holocaust in Europe thanks to Oskar Schindler walking forth to the strains of "Jerusalem of Gold" (sung in Hebrew), then, years later, standing at Schindler's grave in Jerusalem while Itzhak Perlman's violin played the movie's theme. Spielberg's latest film, "Munich," ends with similar heart-tugging music by John Williams. But its closing inverts the earlier one, as we see the Israeli hero of the film making his new home in Brooklyn -- across the river from a Manhattan where, it being the early 1970s, the Twin Towers still stand.
When all has been said about the 2005 White Sox, all fans will agree that the Sox brought them much happiness. Ask any fan to describe his or her happiness and you will hear a unique definition. Here are some insights regarding my personal Sox Happiness (Sox Simcha) and how this joy rates when compared to happiness in Jewish tradition and history.
The sleepy little shtetl-like town of Union Pier was a world unto itself for us, the summer vacationers of the fabulous '40s and '50s heyday.
Alfred Blum, a Chicago Jewish watchmaker, fled Germany with his wife just before World War II broke out. This profile pays tribute to Blum, who passed away on Sunday, April 10, at the age of 95. This article first ran in JUF News in September of 2000.
The sea of white tallises (prayer shawls), still fragrant from the cedar chests where they were reverently housed between wearings… the soothing, mournful hum of muffled chanting, with intermittent cries of strong masculine voices, betting to Got (pleading to God) for a good year for his family. Women, wiping away the silent tears of intense prayer, with crumpled, moist monogrammed handkerchiefs, apologetically excusing themselves right before the shofar was blown, to scurry home and, perhaps, increase the heat under the big pot of simmering matzo ball soup… the teenagers of South Shore.
Documentary chronicles Jewish immigrant entertainers' rise to the Great White Way
When author Alex Kotlowitz envisioned a book chronicling the true story of two African-American boys and other children growing up in the Henry Horner Homes a now-defunct Chicago housing complex on Chicago's West Side he suggested
Jeffrey A. Leon (Edited for general audience) I sat in a narcoleptic daze Somewhere between the twilight and the dawn. Sluicing through the air Cutting the zones of time like a scythe, Bridging the space Between future and past. Passengers dozed lazily In their shorts and Birk
Some 250 works of art created during the Holocaust by prisoners of Auschwitz can now be seen on the World Wide Web as the result of a three-year project by researchers and technology specialists at Northwestern University.
