Filmmakers spin an Upper West Side fairy tale with L.A. Jewish Film Festival opener ‘Putzel’

By Naomi Pfefferman
Published on May 29, 2013

Principled rabbis; Important, but flawed statement

Published on December 11, 2012

I have celebrated Shabbat several times at Manhattan’s B’nai Jeshurun synagogue, affectionately known as BJ.

From Madoff to Sandy and on eve of GA, federations retool when crisis hits

Published on November 5, 2012

The national headquarters of the Jewish Federations of North America could not have been in a worse location when Sandy struck.

Jewish institutions remain closed due to Sandy

Published on October 30, 2012

Jewish institutions throughout the eastern United States remained closed following the onslaught of superstorm Sandy.

Jewish institutions shutting down for massive storm

Published on October 29, 2012

Jewish institutions throughout the eastern United States were closing in preparation for the onslaught of Hurricane Sandy.

Jewish school teacher arrested on possession of child pornography

Published on May 4, 2012

A teacher at a Jewish elementary school in the New York area has been arrested on charges of possessing child pornography.

Hurricane Irene takes a toll on Jewish community with three deaths, but institutions spared

Published on August 29, 2011

For some in the Jewish community, Hurricane Irene was a soggy inconvenience.

Irene downgraded as four million without power

Published on August 28, 2011

At least four million people are without power and nine dead in the United States in the wake of Hurricane Irene, which has been downgraded to a tropical storm.

2nd Avenue Deli is movin’ on up, to the East Side

Published on August 19, 2011

New York's Second Avenue Deli now has two locations -- neither of which is on Second Avenue. JTA has video of the new branch's opening, featuring a cameo by television and Yiddish stage star Fyvush Finkel.

To help with war trauma, Israeli soldiers take Manhattan

Published on August 8, 2011

When Israel wanted to help its troops, it sent them to America.

Fire ravages prominent N.Y. synagogue

Published on July 12, 2011

A fire has badly damaged one of New York City’s most prominent synagogues.

Lincoln Square Synagogue construction resumes

Published on April 4, 2011

Construction resumed on the new Lincoln Square Synagogue building in New York more than four months after it was halted due to funding problems. The building of the Modern Orthodox synagogue on the Upper West Side of Manhattan began anew Monday following a successful effort to raise $3 million by April 30, mostly from its 650-family membership -- the stipulation in order to access a $20 million pledge from an anonymous donor to complete the building .

Stolen Torah scrolls have new homes

Published on September 22, 2010

Two Torah scrolls rescued from thieves were given to the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, which has found new homes for them.

JCC leader advising couple behind Islamic center

Published on August 23, 2010

The head of the Manhattan JCC is advising the effort to build an Islamic cultural center two blocks from Ground Zero.

N.Y. nostalgia with an egg cream chaser

By Hank Rosenfeld
Published on October 9, 2008

"It's an attempt at a bit of nostalgia," said Abe Glazer (Haaren High School, '49) as he shuffled into a courtyard ringed with banners identifying high schools -- DeWitt Clinton, Erasmus Hall High, New Dorp -- where former bobby-soxers sat with Shofar hot dogs or lined up at a vintage Carvel Ice Cream cart as a sextet of alumni/musicians whomped out big band sounds.

Young Manhattanite’s diary of old is new again

By Sandee Brawarsky
Published on September 3, 2008

She learned that her building was expanding its bike room and had cleaned out an area where these trunks, whose owners had moved on, had sat unopened for decades. Amid the chaos, a building porter told her that he had found a young girl's diary and gave her the small book with its crackling leather cover and chrome lock.

Back to the future -- my trip to the Lower East Side

By Rob Eshman
Published on March 8, 2007

I'm standing on the balcony of a boutique hotel in New York's Lower East Side, looking down on Orchard Street, having a "Godfather" moment.

Q & A With Russian Jewish Author Gary Shteyngart

By Harry Wiland
Published on September 7, 2006

"Absurdistan" (Random House, $24.95), Gary Shteyngart's extraordinary new novel, takes us on a no-holds-barred journey from post-communist Russia to a mythical former Soviet Union state he calls Absurdistan, with stop-offs in between to his beloved New York City. Q & A session.

Andrea Bronfman, Charity Giant, Killed

By JTA Staff
Published on January 26, 2006

Andrea Bronfman, a giant in the world of Jewish philanthropy, was killed Monday when a car struck her while she was walking her dog in Manhattan. She was 60 years old.

Wandering Jew - A Nosh of the Big Apple

By Alina Tugend
Published on January 26, 2006

At one point the neighborhood was considered so dangerous, people were afraid to walk the streets at night, but now it is experiencing something of a renaissance among Jews and non-Jews alike.

We had no idea if we would be the only ones to brave the cold and damp but were pleasantly surprised; about 30 people made up our tour.

Spectator - The Taboo Expressionist

By Ariella Cohen
Published on November 10, 2005

Tattooing is an act of indelible self-expression. As such, it serves as an ideal vehicle for Jill Ciment's new novel, "The Tattoo Artist."

Bike the Big Apple

By Lisa Alcalay Klug
Published on October 20, 2005

Chasidic Williamsburg, Roosevelt Island and Long Island City are easily navigable by bicycle, but given New York's frenetic pace, you might prefer an expert take you there.

‘Oy Vey’  Such a Sign

By Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Published on October 6, 2005

A traffic sign with the words, "Leaving Brooklyn Oy Vey!" went up on the Williamsburg Bridge from Brooklyn into Manhattan.

A New Relationship

By Teresa Strasser
Published on July 1, 2004

It's been six months since I relocated for work, "taking a break" from the love of my life, Los Angeles.

Clarinetist Finds His Klezmer Voice

By Naomi Pfefferman
Published on March 11, 2004

"I came to klezmer quite by accident," said virtuoso clarinetist David Krakauer.

He was a noted classical musician around 1987 when a chance encounter on a Manhattan bus changed the direction of his career.

Baggage Claim

By Teresa Strasser
Published on December 25, 2003

I used to want things. One day, I realized the seven pairs of Puma sneakers and the Pottery Barn rug and the 8-pound "Columbia
Encyclopedia," those were just things to pack, and I didn't want them anymore.

Blood, Sweat and Tears of N.Y. Birth

By Howard Kaplan
Published on November 6, 2003

"City of Dreams: A Novel of Nieuw Amsterstam and Early Manhattan," by Beverly Swerling. (Scribner paperback, $15.)

John Irving, whose novels have the rare distinction of being widely praised, read and filmed, has said that he always follows havoc with healing. Spanning the destruction-filled years of 1661 to 1798, Beverly Swerling's sprawling and successful novel about the origins of Manhattan purposely offers her readers no such solace.

Out on a Limb

By Sandee Brawarsky
Published on August 1, 2002

At a time when many people are writing and publishing memoirs, Sternburg's "Phantom Limb" is uncommon.

Crises of Faith

By Julie G Fax
Published on November 15, 2001

What is most striking about all the photographs of lost souls that still line the streets of lower Manhattan, says Chaplain Gila Katz, is how many of those faces are young.

"There's a real crisis of faith, but also a crisis of wondering what is going to happen in the future," says Katz, director of Klein Chaplaincy Service of the South Bay, which services 500 patients. "People are just trying to figure out a way to deal with this. How do they go on with hope for the future; how do young women and men bring up children on their own?"