Your JCC’s preparing to welcome dozens(!) of new members for Friday night services and dinner tonight continues a longstanding tradition known as Oneg Shabbat, or Oneg Shabbos for the more Ashkenazically inclined. In early 20th century America, Blue Laws prohibited businesses from opening on Sunday. To put challah on the table, or more likely pay for...
With literal minutes to go until Shavuot starts (we’re still within the 18 minutes) and ChatGPT unable to compose a paragraph that brilliantly combines the holiday of Shavuot with our Bat Mitzvah Kayla Kleiman’s roots in Chicago, lets focus on what is important. Tonight, Thursday the community will bring in Shavuot with Cholov Yisroel (über...
Join us for an evening of art, music and the chance to contribute to a cause of your choice! View artwork and get the chance to purchase through auction a selection of paintings, calligraphy and photographs by JCJ members Peter Nadler, Tomoko Rosenfeld, Masa Ichikawa and Michael Rivkin as well as from local artist and...
A total of 359 anti-Semitic incidents were reported on U.S. college campuses during the 2021-22 academic year (source ADL). ADL report exhibits a snapshot of a growing campus radicalism that places opposition to Israel and Zionism as “core elements of collegiate life or as a requirement for full acceptance in the campus community.” Is “ostracizing...
“Without Jerusalem, the land of Israel is as a body without a soul.”Elhanan Leib Lewinsky; Hebrew writer & Zionist leader (1857-1910) “In a way, I was born twice. I was born in 1934 and again in 1955 when I came to Pittsburgh. I am thankful to say that I lived two lives.”Roberto Clemente; Baseball Legend...
Cartago Delenda EstCarthage Must be Destroyed The famous quote, at least famous to those who spent time in AP European History, was spoken by Cato the Elder in the 2nd Century BCE during a debate in the Roman Senate prior to the Third Punic War. Following that pronouncement, the Carthaginians led by Hannibal’s grandson Hasdrubal...
In the cavalcade of six Bat/Bar Mitzvahs that dot the calendar over the next eight weeks, we begin with the Fishelbergs, one of the finest families to come out of Middlesex County, New Jersey. While the Jewish history of the Garden State could fill several volumes, our tribesmen’s relationship to the Fishelberg Family favorite, the...
“To be free, we must let go of hate.”-Rabbi Jonathan Sacks zt”l In his 22 years as Chief Rabbi and until he died of cancer in 2020, Jonathan Sacks completely changed the global landscape with his uniquely inspirational, thought-provoking discourse that gave a Jewish response to contemporary issues without compromising religious ideals. Far from arguing...
What’s more Jewish? A Family-Owned Union Shop or Private Equity? In the late 19th/early 20th century, Jewish representation in organized labor was a given. Organizations like the Bund with origins in Europe or others like the Workmen’s Circle, United Hebrew Trades and the Jewish Labor Committee founded by European Jews in America focused their efforts...
As we set the tables and make final preparations, there is only one last borderline esoteric ritual left for Jewish communities throughout the world. Figure out how to get firstborn sons from having to fast the morning before Passover starts. Let’s back up. Among the minor fasts spread throughout the year including one before Purim...