Jennifer Siegel
By Jennifer Siegel
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News Synagogue Renewal Efforts Earn Mixed Results
A typical Friday night at Temple Micah, a Reform congregation in Washington, D.C., features the usual combination of prayer, conversation and pastry, but what is surprising is the order in which they come. While most congregations save the mingling until after services, in recent years the synagogue has made a special point of serving wine…
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News Wrestling ‘Kabbalah’ From Madonna, Britney
The likes of Madonna, Demi Moore and Britney Spears have brought the ancient Jewish mystical practice and teachings of Kabbalah into mainstream pop culture. The ladies are photographed wearing superstitious red-string bracelets; they drink specially blessed water and, most controversially, they have raised the profile of the Kabbalah Centre. The center, which is not tied…
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News School Offers New Degree in Spirituality
Rabbi Yakov Travis has a message for spiritual seekers: Come down from that mountaintop, move to Cleveland and go back to school. Travis, a professor at Cleveland’s Laura and Alvin Siegal College of Judaic Studies, has created America’s first nondenominational master’s degree program in spirituality. “This is about [the students’] own spiritual journey,” said Travis,…
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News Conference Focuses on Women’s Needs
Hundreds of women hoping to get in touch with their spiritual side are heading to California for a first-of-its-kind conference. Chochmat HaLev, a center for Jewish spirituality located in Berkeley, Calif., is organizing a Jewish Women’s Conference, slated for July in San Francisco. The one-day event is aimed at meeting the needs of women, who…
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Israel News Tinseltown Rabbi Saves a Prayer for Prime-time Show
Michelle Missaghieh is a rabbi. And she plays one on TV. On May 15, viewers of ABC’s hit medical dramedy “Grey’s Anatomy” will be introduced to Missaghieh on an episode titled “Save Me,” in which a newly Orthodox 17-year-old girl struggles with her faith when faced with a potentially fatal heart condition. The decision to…
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News New for Conservative Jews: Passover at Beach
The brochure promises the most lavish of vacation getaways. The hotel, gleaming with white walls, features a 60-foot glass atrium, a pool cascading with waterfalls, ocean views and access to five-star tennis courts. When it’s time to escape from the rigors of relaxing, afternoon tea or a massage are close at hand. But that’s not…
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News UJC Training Women To Be Top Leaders
In an effort to shatter its own glass ceiling, the country’s main Jewish philanthropic organization is tapping women to fill half the slots in a training program for top executives. The United Jewish Communities announced last week that 12 women will be selected to take part in a training program aimed at training future leaders…
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News Americans Back Gaza Plan
Jewish and non-Jewish Americans overwhelmingly support the decision of Prime Minister Sharon to remove Israeli settlers from Gaza, according to two recent surveys released Monday by organizations that back the disengagement plan. Two thirds of all Americans believe executing the withdrawal plan without a peace agreement with the Palestinians is a “bold step toward peace,”…
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Opinion The group behind Project 2025 has a plan to protect Jews. It will do the opposite.
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News Texas schools want to add Queen Esther to the curriculum. Here’s why Jews (and many Christians) are opposed.
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Film & TV Bonhoeffer biopic tells of a pastor turned would-be Hitler assassin — but is the story true?
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News What Mike Huckabee’s ‘Kids Guide to Israel’ says about his views
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News Adam Schiff, California’s Jewish senator-elect and Trump’s nemesis, says the US is ‘very much weakened as a democracy’
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