Jewish groups from across the religious and political spectrum in the United States and Israel are voicing concerns about the ongoing conflict in Israel and the Gaza Strip. Synagogues and organizations in Greater Phoenix followed their lead in addressing the situation with statements offering support for Israel, prayers for peace and hopes for a cease-fire and peaceful resolution soon.
The Union for Reform Judaism stated that it is âdeeply concerned and pained by the spiraling violence happening over the last several days in Jerusalem and beyond. At this challenging moment we want to emphasize that attacks perpetuating the cycle of violence delay peace and increase bloodshed.â
Jewish Ledger
West Hartford day school gets set to welcome new head of school
By Stacey Dresner
WEST HARTFORD – Rabbi Jonathan (“Yoni”) Berger has been named new Head of School at Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Hartford. He succeeds Andrea Kaspar, who is relocating to Europe with her family. Rabbi Berger will start at Schechter on July 1.
Born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Berger, 45, grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey, where his father, Kenneth Berger, was rabbi of Congregation Beth Sholom and his mother, Cheryl Berger, was a Jewish day school teacher at Solomon Schechter Day School of Bergen County.
“She was actually my teacher in fifth and sixth grade. So, I grew up in a home where there’s a lot of love of Judaism and love of learning, and good Jewish joy,” says Berger, who went on to attend the Frisch Yeshiva High School and then the University of Michigan, where he earned his undergraduate degree. He then received an MA in Bible and rab
Honors
The Teen Initiative Community Convening on Racial Justice, sponsored by S.F.-based Jewish LearningWorks, took place on April 21 and included the presentation of awards to three Bay Area Jewish youth professionals.
Devra Aarons received the 2020 Award for Excellence in Jewish Youth Education and Engagement,
Rick Concoff received the 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award in Jewish Youth Education and Engagement, and
Zephira Derblich-Milea, youth program manager at Shalom Bayit, was awarded the 2021 Award for Excellence in Jewish Youth Education and Engagement.
Analucia Lopezrevoredo, founder and executive director of Jewtina y Co. and the Shamash project director at Bend the Arc, spoke to attendees about “getting started along the long road to racial equity.”
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Rabbi Harry Rosenfeld will be retiring after 40 years in the rabbinate, the past 10 at Albuquerque’s Congregation Albert. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Albuquerque Journal)
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. It was a rabbi at Congregation Brith Emeth, a reform synagogue in Cleveland, who took a young Harry Rosenfeld under his wing – or prayer shawl – and predicted, perhaps nudged, the young man toward a life in the rabbinate.
Rosenfeld, 66, is retiring in June after 40 years as a rabbi and a decade as the religious leader of Albuquerque’s Congregation Albert.
His successor, Rabbi Celia Surget, will be the first female rabbi to lead the congregation of about 600 families, although the temple has had female cantors for many years.