Category: B'nai B'rith Magazine

B’nai B'rith Magazine Details Evolution of American-Jewish Theater

6/15/2015

Summer 2015 Issue Also Examines Integrated Jewish-Arab Schools in Israel

The roots of American-Jewish theater spring from Yiddish immigrant culture. Recent headlines, however, have focused on controversies in the Washington, D.C. scene.

But there is much more to the story. Today, the art form is thriving and evolving into new forms. Increasingly, efforts like the Jewish Plays Project competition search for emerging artists and plays seek to engage the Jewish community. Writer Barbara Blank explores the past, present and future of American-Jewish theater.

State-supported Hand in Hand operates five Israeli schools with 1,100 Jewish and Arab students learning together. Writer Michele Chabin examines the challenges the schools face as they continue their mission of creating a more inclusive society.
B’nai B’rith International President Allan J. Jacobs explains the organization’s ongoing role at the United Nations to counter the U.N.’s blatant bias against Israel.

Through the use of personal stories, B’nai B’rith Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin reminds us to honor Holocaust survivors and to keep alive the memories of those we’ve lost.

Joined by a similar love for country, Christian and Jewish Zionists in Israel seem to find a common bond. While some Christians in Israel seek to convert Jews, most see their mission as one of religious purpose and cultural understanding. Writer Hillel Kuttler tells the stories of these Christian Zionists living in Israel, shining a light on their incredible journeys.

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B’nai B’rith Welcomes Spanish Vote to Grant Citizenship to Jews Expelled During Inquisition

6/12/2015

B’nai B’rith International has issued the following statement:

B’nai B’rith welcomes a new Spanish law that would allow descendants of Sephardic Jews to apply for citizenship.

This is an important gesture acknowledging not only the expulsion of Jews from 15th Century Spain, but also the importance of Jewish heritage to the country’s history.

In recent years, the Spanish foreign ministry has established Casa Sefarad to promote Sephardic Jewish culture worldwide. The organization describes itself as “a bridge between Spain and the Jewish world,” and has run important cross-cultural programs.

Citizenship will not be awarded automatically. Applicants will have to certify their Sephardic ancestry during the online application process, and will have to pass language and history proficiency tests. The law will allow applicants to retain their current country of citizenship.

We are pleased that Spain’s Jewish community will be involved in the process of vetting applications, as their participation can be helpful in optimizing the law’s implementation.

Click here to read B’nai B’rith’s analysis of this topic from May:
http://www.bnaibrith.org/expert-analysis/five-centuries-later-spain-making-amends-with-jewish-community

Click here to read “The Jews of Spain” from the winter 2014 issue of B’nai B’rith Magazine: http://www.bnaibrith.org/magazine-articles/the-jews-of-spain-once-many-now-few-and-under-the-radar

B’nai B’rith Magazine Honored With Two Rockower Awards

6/4/2015

The Simon Rockower Jewish Journalism Awards, presented annually by the American Jewish Press Association, recognize the best in Jewish journalism. This year, B’nai B’rith Magazine was honored to win two awards.

To view and read the award-winning entries, please click the links below:

Trendy, Yet Traditional: Jerusalem Market Becoming One of Israel’s Hot Spots

First Place Award for Excellence in Photography: Debbie Zimelman

View B'nai B'rith Magazine Article

My Great-Aunt Itel and the Rise and Fall of the Maidenform Bra Company

Second Place Award for Award for Excellence in Writing About Women: David Laskin

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B’nai B'rith Magazine Features Jews Of Color: A Growing Minority Within A Minority

3/23/2015

Spring 2015 Issue Also Highlights the Fast-Growing Metropolis of Beersheba, Ben Gurion University and Louis Armstrong

Jews of color are a growing segment of the American-Jewish community. A 2011 survey by the UJA-Federation of New York found that 12 percent of Jewish households identified themselves as non-white. Angela Warnick Buchdahl, who became the senior rabbi of the Central Synagogue in midtown Manhattan last July, was the first ordained Asian-American rabbi in 2001.

The increasing diversity of Jewish culture is also reflected in popular culture by people like Grammy-award winning rapper Drake and Fox News reporter Geraldo Rivera. While the reality may be changing, perceptions of “what a Jew looks like” have not yet caught up. Writer Miranda S. Spivack looks into the reality of being a Jew of color.

In the spirit of Passover, B’nai B’rith International President Allan J. Jacobs reviews B’nai B’rith International’s role in attaining freedoms for Israel and Jewish people around the world.

Over the last decade, Ben-Gurion University has done revolutionary research on neurological conditions like, dementia, concussions and autism. Despite the fact that its student population has tripled to more than 20,000, it is ranked number one in Israel for ambience and individual attention. Writer Maayan Jaffe highlights the country’s fastest growing institution of higher learning.

50 years ago, Beersheba, a city in southern Israel, was not considered to be a substantial part of Israel. Today, it features a booming business district, the Soroka University Medical Center, a cyber-security industry and Ben-Gurion University. Writer Hillel Kuttler explores the transformation of Beersheba from a modest city into a burgeoning metropolitan area.

With spring upon us, B’nai B’rith Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin’s column turns to baseball. As a life-long fan, Mariaschin examines Jewish Americans’ cultural connection to the sport—and his own.

Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong is undoubtedly one of the most influential jazz musicians in history. As a child, he was part of an impoverished New Orleans family and was forced to work at a young age. But a Jewish family helped him along the way, cementing a lifelong bond with the Jewish people. Writer Sam Seifman details the story of Armstrong and the Karnofsky family.

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Feature Stories:

> Passover — A Time for Reflecting

> Jews and Baseball: An American
Tradition Continues

> Jews of Color

> Satchmo and the Karnofskys

> Ben-Gurion University

> Beersheba

> Passover Wine

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Israeli Hospitals Treating Syrian, Palestinian Patients: B’nai B’rith Magazine’s Latest Cover Story

12/2/2014

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Winter 2014 Issue Also Highlights the Jews of Spain and the Kosher Food Boom

In the face of seemingly endless conflict, Israeli hospitals continue to provide Syrian and Palestinian patients with high-quality, low-cost medical care. Writer Michele Chabin speaks with many of the medical professionals and patients. She reports that the patients, many of them children, receive high-quality, affordable care.

The Israeli institutions do this as an expression of “tikkun olam”—the Jewish commitment to repair the world. Medical personnel treat many patients with life-threatening conditions, transcending politics and national boundaries.

Elsewhere in the issue, writer Miranda Spivack explores why Spain has been largely immune to the anti-Semitic incidents and anti-Israel protests that spread across Europe this year. There is even talk of granting citizenship to Sephardic Jews who can prove ancestral links to Spain, thereby recognizing and making amends for its historic persecution dating back to the Inquisition and expulsion order of 1492.

The kosher food business in the United States—valued at more than $12.5 billion annually—is booming, according to writer Uriel Heilman, who reports that most of the customers for kosher food today are non-Jews looking for healthier, higher quality products.

B’nai B’rith International President Allan J. Jacobs devotes his column to Chanukah’s rich history and reviews the many accomplishments of B’nai B’rith this calendar year.

In his regular column, B’nai B’rith Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin discusses B’nai B’rith’s recent Policy Forum in Panama and the organization’s fight against anti-Semitism in Latin America.

Rachel Goldberg, B’nai B’rith’s director of aging policy, in her “About Seniors” section advises readers on how to prepare financially for retirement and discusses the growing issue of a retirement deficit.

All this and more can be found in the current issue of B’nai B’rith Magazine.

And for exclusive digital content, visit the magazine website: www.bnaibrith.org/magazines

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The Rise and Fall of Maidenform Detailed In B'nai B'rith Magazine

9/3/2014

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Fall 2014 Issue Also Tells the Story of Twin Brothers During WWI

Writer David Laskin’s Great-Aunt Itel was a Jewish immigrant from Belarus without a college education. Her story, featured in the fall issue of B’nai B’rith Magazine, is that of a rebellious, headstrong and fiercely intelligent woman who arrived in the United States nearly penniless and started the wildly successful Maidenform Bra Company.

Laskin chronicles his great-aunt’s remarkable life and the company’s rise under her stewardship. Itel’s company revolutionized the women’s apparel industry and created a highly-visible brand during the 1940s and 1950s.

In a similar vein, we follow the story of B’nai B’rith Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin’s immigrant parents who arrived in the United States with very little to their name. After years of working and raising a family in the New York area, they moved to a small town in New Hampshire and operated a women’s clothing store.

The fall issue then takes a look at ancestry through a different lens. In the spirit of L’Dor V’Dor (from generation to generation), B’nai B’rith International President Allan J. Jacobs relays the story of the honeymooning grandson of former B’nai B’rith President Frank Goldman, connecting the trip to his grandfather’s role in the founding of Israel.

A century ago, France entered World War I. Writer Gerard Leval, an American Jew of French descent, recalls his family’s sacrifices during what was first known as the Great War. Leval’s grandfather suffered serious injuries and the loss of his twin brother André in the fighting.

Elsewhere in the magazine, George Johnson details his journey to Israel—discovering the story of his ancestor Reuven Lehrer, who founded the town of Ness Ziona in the late 19th century. The investigation led Johnson to a treasure trove of family history connecting him with his Israeli roots.

Beryl Benderly tells the story of Copenhagen’s Danish Jewish Museum, which recounts the country’s long history of tolerant relations with its Jewish citizens. Designed by famed architect Daniel Libeskind, it depicts, among other things, the daring rescue of 7,220 Jewish Danes by their fellow citizens who organized a nighttime boatlift to Sweden—saving them from deportation to the Nazi death camps.