We're in this for the Long Haul
When the “who is a Jew?” controversy cascaded onto the Jewish body politic years ago, we lobbied against it with others and did “damage control” because many believed the UJA Campaign represented the State of Israel. Under then president Murray Laulicht and our founding chair, Cynthia Plishtin, we established a religious pluralism initiative that has been among the most successful in the U.S. In the aftermath of the Beit Shemesh debacle, I asked Amir Shacham, one of the architects of this program, to provide perspective on our experience. more

Being Proud of Being Jewish
I don’t know about your family, but when I was growing up, my grandmothers, who were very dear friends, played an ongoing game of “did you know?” — as in, “Did you know that Christopher Columbus was Jewish?” This could go on for hours, and I always wondered why it was so important to them. I guess I’m getting to be more like my grandmothers, because I had an experience this weekend that brought this old game to mind. more

Washington (JTA) — An Iranian nuclear weapon would be a "red line" for Israel and the United States, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said. "We share the same common concern," Panetta told CBS News in an interview broadcast Monday. "The United States does not want Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. That's a red line for us and that's a red line, obviously, for the Israelis. If we have to do it we will deal with it." more

Three years after receiving a significant portion of a $478,492 federal grant and extensive assistance from MetroWest Jewish agencies, an aging-in-place program in Caldwell — like its counterpart in Parsippany — is now officially independent. more

local news courtesy of New Jersey Jewish News