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Jewish Journal •

Explorers makes retirement a time for exuberant living for North Shore seniors - Jewish Journal

Gay Porter doesn’t believe that aging means life must get dark, dull or lonely.
“The retirement years can be everything you might not be able to do during your working years,” she says. “It’s full of joy and color and new things – new people and new ideas and new subjects. I think that’s mostly what lifelong learning is about: you are never too old to learn!”
For five years now, Porter, 81, has been president of the Explorers Lifelong Learning Institute at Salem State University, a program that...
Jewish Journal •

How an unstoppable Black Jewish woman from Brookline became a voice for Israel - Jewish Journal

In a Tel Aviv mall sometime in 2017, Noa Fay saw a Black girl at the register, and a thought struck her: That person is probably Jewish.
That thought mattered because Fay herself is Black and Jewish. Growing up in Brookline’s Coolidge Corner, she knew she stood out from her white Jewish peers. Even in an explicitly Jewish space like synagogue, strangers never assumed she was Jewish like they did her white friends. Once at a shul event in Lexington, a woman tried to explain to her what a rabbi wa...
Jewish Journal •

Students facing on-campus antisemitism gain strength during trip to Israel - Jewish Journal

Six Boston-area Jewish students – among a delegation of around 20 from throughout the United States – recently met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a part of an Olami student leaders’ mission to Israel.
Olami is an organization devoted to sustaining Jewish community around the world, and imbuing young people with a strong, positive connection to Judaism.
“The goal of the government of Israel is not only to serve the people in Israel, it’s to serve the people of Israel, which mea...
Jewish Journal •

Epstein Hillel school after-school program gives kids the chance to grow - Jewish Journal

Epstein Hillel School, the North Shore’s only Jewish day school, has launched a new, revamped after-school program that offers a wide range of clubs, activities and fun learning opportunities for kids of all ages.
The Marblehead day school has had an after-school program for around three years, but last year, Head of School Amy Gold appointed Jessie and Lea Winkler – two sisters who have worked at the school for more than a decade – as the new co-directors of the program.
Since then, the Winkler...
Jewish Journal •

Marblehead High student peacefully resolves contested curriculum on Israel - Jewish Journal

David Magen, a 14-year-old Israeli-American, came home one day this past October during the fall of his freshman year at Marblehead High School, and showed his mom one of his homework assignments. It included an abbreviated history of the Jewish people. In it, they described the land that Abraham went to as “Palestine.”
“This summary was talking about 2000 B.C. until 515 B.C.,” David said. “Literally, the word Palestine did not exist in that time period, as that name was only given to the land b...
Jewish Journal •

Graduation season turns into fear and chaos for Jewish college students - Jewish Journal

On a warm spring morning, Marilyn Meyers, 22, a Jewish senior set to graduate from MIT, sat at a picnic table a little way from a pro-Palestinian encampment.
The encampment – which has since been disbanded by police – was a quiet plot of tents and tarps, encircled by a metal barrier fence hung with cardboard, hand-painted posters: “MIT, there is blood on your hands;” “No peace during genocide;” “MIT Jews say: Not in our name;” “Free Palestine.”
A sign at the front entrance said protestors were d...
Jewish Journal •

Mass. teachers accuse labor union of promoting antisemitism during webinar - Jewish Journal

The Massachusetts Teachers Association, the umbrella labor union for public school educators, has come under fire in recent weeks after a webinar titled “The Struggle Against Anti-Palestinian Racism” triggered an already-growing movement of Jewish teachers in the state to warn of antisemitism.
The MTA’s Anti-Racism Task Force has scheduled webinars intended to “deepen our understanding of racial injustice and liberation from an intersectional lens, and inspire action,” according to its website....
Jewish Journal •

Online summit to address antisemitism in Massachusetts schools - Jewish Journal

The Lappin Foundation, the American Jewish Committee, and the Anti-Defamation League will hold a virtual summit April 9 on the National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism in K-12 schools.
Even before the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, Deborah Coltin, president and executive director of the Lappin Foundation, recalled receiving a growing number of requests from schools to help them figure out how to deal with the rise in hate.
After Oct. 7, she described the increase in requests as “a tidal wave.”
“I rea...
Jewish Journal •

As anti-Israel furor escalates, Jewish students face crisis of faith on campus

Among non-Jewish students on American college campuses across the country, 29 percent do not want to be friends with students who support the existence of Israel as a Jewish state.

This is one of many findings from a new study by Eitan Hersh, funded by the Jim Joseph Foundation. Hersh, with the survey and analytics firm College Pulse, surveyed about 1,000 Jewish students ranging from religiously affiliated pro-Israel activists to secular/unaffiliated and unpolitical self-identifying Jews, as we
Jewish Journal •

These Hebrew schools have become joyful places where kids learn community

Sylvie Gordan and Noa Lewis are friends from temple. Sylvie, 10, lives in Beverly, and Noa, 11, in Gloucester, but on Tuesdays and Sundays, they find themselves in the same space at the Sylvia Cohen Family Learning Project at Temple Ahavat Achim in Gloucester.

On Tuesdays, it’s close to a 40-minute drive from the public school that Sylvie attends in Beverly, but it’s the only place that she gets to be with other Jews during the week. She knows only a couple of Jewish students at her school, and
Jewish Journal •

At JCC panel, college students encourage Jews to stand up for themselves

MARBLEHEAD – “If the world is divided into the oppressed and the oppressors, where do the Jews fit in?” asked Jillian Lederman.

Lederman was speaking at the Jewish Community Center of the North Shore (JCCNS) on Jan. 4 as part of an event titled “College Students Speak Out About College Campus Antisemitism.” She is originally from Marblehead and is currently a senior at Brown University, as well as chair of Hillel International’s Israel Leadership Network and president of Brown Students for Isra
Jewish Journal •

Tensions remain high at Harvard after Gay’s departure

Claudine Gay has resigned as president of Harvard University, but the tumult of her departure has only just begun.

The news came during increasingly publicized and heated allegations of plagiarism in Gay’s scholarly work, nearly a month after the former president’s tepid responses in the Congressional hearing on antisemitism on college campuses, and after Harvard’s board assured the world she would remain in office. She is the second to resign of the three presidents who testified before Congre
Jewish Journal •

Elite colleges like Harvard and MIT face the ‘task of educating a generation’ about antisemitism

CAMBRIDGE – Talia Khan spoke on the phone from a hotel room in Brazil. She was there for a conference she attended as a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and at the same time, she was fielding calls from the press.

Khan, it seems, has become the de facto speaker, public relations contact, and champion for Israel and Jewish students at MIT. “I get texts and emails every single day from current students, telling me about another antisemitic event,” she said from the c
Jewish Journal •

Brandeis continues to grapple with fallout from censoring pro-Palestinian group

Seven people – including three students – were arrested on Brandeis University’s Waltham campus on Nov. 10 in relation to a protest against the university’s decision to derecognize the campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).

Six of the seven were arrested during the police-enforced dispersion of the protest, and the seventh was arrested earlier in the afternoon for trespassing. All seven pleaded not guilty in court on Nov. 13 to charges including disorderly conduct, unlawful
Jewish Journal •

From Israel to Jewish day schools

In the middle of the night on Oct. 7, Rebecca, a grandmother who lives in Swampscott, got a call from her daughter in Israel.

“Something is very wrong,” her daughter said.

Rebecca, who requested her last name not be used for security concerns, was born, raised in and spent much of her life in Israel before moving to the United States 20 years ago. She has lived through war in her home country, and she recognized the signs of Oct. 7. What she saw – as confusing and chaotic as the news was at th
Jewish Journal •

Student Senate’s refusal to condemn Hamas causes uproar on Brandeis campus

WALTHAM – Brandeis University’s Student Union posted a statement on Instagram, attesting that it condemned the actions of Hamas on Oct. 7.

That Oct. 25 post came in response to a vote three days before by the student senate – a branch of the student union – during which senators voted down a resolution that would have condemned Hamas’s terrorism in the first place. The resolution failed in a closed-door executive session, and the decision quickly generated backlash from the student body and int
Jewish Journal •

War of words breaks out on college campuses in response to Hamas attack

About 500 Harvard protestors walked out of class on Oct. 19 in support of Palestinians at an event organized by the Palestinian Solidarity Committee (PSC) and Graduate Students 4 Palestine, according to the Harvard Crimson. This followed a “die-in” the day before, staged by the same groups, who also organized another march on Harvard’s campus on Oct. 20.

“Seeing people marching through the yard is definitely scary,” said Charlie Covit, a first-year Jewish student at Harvard. “I have no problem
Jewish Journal •

Women learn their Jewish heritage at Shirat Hayam’s pop-up Mishnah gathering

SALEM – Faith Kramer opened the door – the front of which was adorned in big, colorful letters spelling her name – clad from head to toe in bright turquoise, white hair curling at her ears, and said, enthusiastically, “Welcome to my house!”

The greeting was clearly a courtesy because few, if any, introductions were needed among Kramer and the women who crowded into her Salem home. Most had been there before, and they skipped over apparently unnecessary pleasantries, launching into discussions o
Jewish Journal •

New director of Peabody religious school follows in her father’s footsteps

PEABODY – As a child, armed with dolls and chutzpah, Alyssa Pessaroff Kischel would try to make her father laugh. As the cantor at Temple Ner Tamid in Peabody, Cantor Sam would do his best to ignore his youngest child and stay focused on his work. But every once in a while, to her great delight, she would catch his eye while he was davening on the bima, and he would crack a grin.

In May, Pessaroff Kischel accepted a role as director of Ner Tamid’s religious school, carrying on the 30-year legac
Jewish Journal •

Brandeis president apologizes after national ad campaign angers the school’s Orthodox community

The president of Brandeis University has apologized for a recent ad in The New York Times Magazine, that took aim at the school’s connection to Orthodox Judaism. The university came under fire for declaring in the title of the June 25 ad that Brandeis was “anything but Orthodox.” The ad angered observant students and Brandeis graduates, and brought international attention to the Waltham university.

The two-page spread appeared in The New York Times Magazine titled “Brandeis was founded by Jews.
Jewish Journal •

Antisemitism stuns Jewish communities in Taunton, Burlington

Antisemitism continued across Eastern Massachusetts this month, with swastikas being daubed in Taunton and Burlington. Meanwhile, an assistant to the Suffolk County district attorney was placed on paid administrative leave for allegedly making antisemitic comments during a 2016 interview.

On June 17, a swastika was found spray-painted beneath a Pride flag hanging at Congregation Agudath Achim in Taunton. Later in the day, racist and anti-LGBTQ+ graffiti was discovered on the side and back of th
Jewish Journal •

Mike Rosenberg cultivated the alumni connection at Maimonides School in Brookline

After 36 years working at Maimonides School in Brookline, alumni director Mike Rosenberg is retiring. He is the longest standing member on staff, and in his honor, the school has established “The Mike Rosenberg Fund for Alumni Engagement.” After his departure from Maimonides, Rosenberg will return to his former career as a journalist, writing for an online paper in Bedford, where he’s lived for 50 years.

Rosenberg, 74, has been a valued member of the Maimonides team since 1987, when he joined a
Women's eNews •

Saying Goodbye to Safety: All-Female Mills College Turns Co-ed

When Kate Valente packed for college, she did not pack pepper spray. Although the lists she consulted online for female college students always included pepper spray or mace for walking around campus alone, she said to herself, “That was not something I was worried about… I feel safe here.”

“Here” is the historically all-women’s Mills College in Oakland, California. Since its founding in 1852, Mills has prided itself as a pioneer for all-women’s higher education, and has attracted women seeking

When Sustainability Isn't Sustained: The Challenge of Environmental Activism in College

The Challenge of Environmental Activism in College

In the fall of 2014, Jay Feinstein was a Brandeis University sophomore taking a class called “Greening the Ivory Tower.” Professor Laura Goldin had been teaching the course for a decade and a half, having designed it to inspire students to create what she called an “environmental ethic.” Each semester, her students conceived and implemented an array of sustainability projects to solve environmental problems they saw on campus.

The class was re
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