Lana Gersten
By Lana Gersten
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Culture Scholar Probes the Way (and Not the Why) of Judaism
Jonathan Sarna, the Brandeis University scholar known best as a historian of American Jewry, departs from his usual field in his book “A Time to Every Purpose: Letters to a Young Jew,” set for release this month as part of Basic Books’ Art of Mentoring series. Rather than explore the popular question “Why be Jewish?”…
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Israel News In the Games: Week Two
Great Britain’s eight-man rowing team, which includes Jewish powerhouse Josh West, won silver in an impressive effort against the world champion Canadian team. Though Great Britain made up a lot of ground in the final stretch, the Canadian team started strong and never lost the lead. Deena Kastor, an American runner who won a bronze…
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Culture Milder Canavan Strain Opens New Possibilities
When Carly White was an infant, her parents, Jim and Dolores, noticed that she had trouble controlling the movement of her eyes. Three years later, a ballet teacher observed that Carly did not have much control over her legs. Trips to the pediatrician yielded no answers, but a visit to a neurologist ended in a…
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Culture Doctors Unveil Two Gaucher Studies
A broad screening program in Israel for Type 1 Gaucher disease, the most common of the Jewish genetic diseases, is proving controversial, Israeli researchers noted in a September 2007 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Screening programs are encouraged for severe diseases where couples at risk could be identified before giving birth…
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News Medical Meltdown: A Memoir
At the age of 12, Jennifer Traig was convinced she was dying of breast cancer. Certain that she was suffering from her first heart attack, at age 18, Traig had diagnosed herself with countless diseases, including meningitis, lupus and multiple sclerosis, before she had even graduated from college. In her brazen memoir, “Well Enough Alone:…
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Israel News Jewish Olympians Swim Like Fish
At 46.06 seconds, the fastest split of all time, Jewish athlete Jason Lezak swam the race of his life to achieve a gold medal for the American 4×100-meter freestyle relay team. In the process, he broke the world record and kept Michael Phelps’s bid for eight gold medals alive. At 32, making him the oldest…
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Culture Jewish Schools Feel the Pinch
By all accounts, Isaac Bitton had a pretty good summer in 2007. As owner of the commercial company Apex Suspended Ceilings, he was making enough money to live a comfortable life with his wife and three kids in suburban Los Angeles, and had just opened a new business installing swimming pools in residential properties. As…
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Culture High School Program Strives To Keep Teens Connected
A high-school program that builds upon the success of the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School, one of the largest networks of Jewish adult education, is helping to keep Jewish teenagers connected to their faith and heritage. The Florence Melton Communi-teen High School — named after the late Florence Melton, a pioneer in Jewish education — encourages…
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Fast Forward Why neo-Nazis marched in Ohio this weekend, and almost every weekend in the US
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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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Opinion Just about every interpretation of Trump’s narrow election victory is wrong
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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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Fast Forward Rep. Ritchie Torres, outspoken pro-Israel advocate, is dropping hints that he could run for NY governor
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Fast Forward A Jewish museum in Tulsa held a funeral for remains of Holocaust victims it kept for years
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Sports Texas A&M’s Sam Salz cherishes his first taste of DI college football — and the opportunity to inspire fellow Orthodox Jews
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