Jessie Kahnweiler is on a mission. When her grandmother died two years ago, she left Jessie a sum of cash that could only be redeemed if she could prove to her Bubbe’s rabbi that she could live “Jewish” for one year. Jessie explained, “Of course I freaked out because, like most Jews my age, the only thing I knew about being Jewish was eating bagels and having thick leg hair.” From this grew her web series, "Dude, Where's My Chutzpah?" an only slightly fictionalized version of her …More

A schoolteacher enters his classroom one morning with a new method of education: "I won't be teaching you in person today," he tells his students. "Instead, I'll be leaving you with a recording of the class I've prepared." Later in the day, he stops by the classroom to check up on his students...what a sight! There is not a student to be found--12 empty desks stand, each with a recorder, taping the information blaring from his own audio player. The world we live in has become a systemized one; void of the …More

Two brothers--one rich and childless, the other poor but a parent of many--once struck a deal. The wealthy man, who desperately wanted a child, would pay a million dollars in exchange for one of his brother's children. A day before the exchange was to take place, the poor brother suddenly canceled the agreement. "But why, what changed?" asked the rich brother. "Until now, I always thought I had ten children," began the poor man, "but I've suddenly come to the realization that, in truth, I only have one--only …More

The Cohen’s are as typical a Jewish family as their name except for one catch—they own a strip club. Shawney Cohen turns immigrant-does-good tale on its head with his examination of the effect of the business on his nice Jewish family. “The Manor,” screening at Canada’s Hot Docs film festival this week, is so painfully honest that the strippers aren’t the only one’s getting naked. Jspace caught up with the director to find out more about the intersection of Jewishness, …More

Binyamin Kagedan, JNS.org As is the case for many holidays in the Jewish calendar cycle, Lag B’Omer (April 28 this year) carries within it not one, but multiple and distinct layers of meaning. Mystical significances, historical memories, and moral reflections all meld together into the contemporary notion of what makes this day special, the product of nearly two millennia of overlaid and interwoven innovations in tradition and observance. One of the most prominent themes describes that the 33rd day of the …More

A man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking up starfish that had washed ashore, and throwing them back into the ocean. "What are you doing?" asked the man. "The surf is up and the tide is going out," replied the boy, "if I don't throw them back, they'll die." "Son," said the man, "don't you realize there are hundreds of starfish out there? You can't make a difference!" After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it back into the ocean. Smiling at the …More

Portuguese researchers have catalogued hundreds of secret markings that Jews left on structures in Seia in the 16th century following their forced conversion to Christianity. A three-member team said it found 500 markings in Seia, a north Portugal municipality, including coded Hebrew letters and words carved into walls of homes where converted Jews used to live. Alberto Martinho, Jose Levy Domingos and Luiza Metzker Lyra, the research team, said they also found distinctive indentations in stone door frames where …More

St. Louis native Tom Newmark does more than write a check to his favorite environmental charity. The grandfather and attorney works tirelessly to protect the environment, tending his own organic farm in Central America. Newark, who is also the founder of Sacred Seeds, a St. Louis based seed bank, said he has always been fascinated by the outdoors. “I spent a lot of time hiking the rivers and exploring the ponds of our area, a lot of time in the Ozarks, a lot of time in the less developed areas of the …More

On a corner in the heart of the former Jewish ghetto here, David Popovits sits down for some matzah ball soup and super-sized dumplings at his newly opened kosher-style restaurant. A burly, 40-year-old Hungarian Jewish businessman, Popovits used to eat in the restaurant as a boy, when its former owners ran a “dirty little place that smelled like oil but had good Wiener schnitzel,” as Popovits puts it. It wasn't the memories but the location that convinced Popovits to gut the place and reopen it two …More

The government of Belarus announced plans to renovate one of the country’s oldest synagogues and turn it into a Jewish museum. The museum will be housed this year inside the restored ruins of the main synagogue in Bykhaw, a town located some 150 miles east of Minsk, Belarus’ minister of culture, Boris Svetlov, told the Belarusian Telegraph Agency. The synagogue of Bykhaw, a tall, square building with three arched windows in each façade and a tower in one of its corners, is part of Bykhovsky …More

A Tunisian government committee rejected a proposal to allocate a bloc of seats in parliament to Jews. The proposal, which had been opposed by Tunisia's Jewish leadership, was rejected by the National Constituent Assembly's committee on legislative and executive powers on the grounds that it would create unnecessary divisions among Tunisians, committee member Walid Bannani told Tunisia Live. “This suggestion has no aim, and this is a civil country where the rights and duties of each citizen are determined …More

US senators support Israel’s right to defend itself. [Jerusalem Post] Itzhak Perlman will perform at this year’s Boston Jewish Music Festival. [Boston Globe] An American Jew living in Cambodia finds commonalities between Holocaust and Khmer Rouge prison survivors. [Tablet] Netanyahu struggles to organize Jewish Home and Likud-Beytenu in coalition, due to rising opposition between the two parties. [Times of Israel] A key witness in prosecution against former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert passed away, …More