MILWAUKEE – Rabbi Joel Alter stepped to the podium and asked six questions: “Are we celebrating? Are we joyful? Are we grateful? Are we furious? Are we frustrated? Are we grieving?”  Murmurs from the audience answered the six questions: “Yes.”  Alter agreed. It’s “yes,” he said, “to all of them.”  Speakers approached the podium with […]

Did you know that the hostages are not exclusively Israeli? As is often the case regarding the Middle East, not everyone knows the nuance.  In January, Israel and Hamas reached a tenuous hostages-for-ceasefire deal, with hopes for a staggered release of people held since the attacks of Oct. 7, 2023. As of Chronicle press time, […]

Ruth Schudson, who co-founded the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre in the 1970s and spent decades as a regular player at local theater venues, died peacefully on Dec. 19. She was 98.   In an interview conducted by Linda Marcus in May of 2005 for the Jewish Museum Milwaukee Archive’s video oral history project, Schudson said she couldn’t […]

The Rubenstein Family Kosher Oasis Café is open, offering a wide range of Jewish foods as one of the few Kosher restaurants in Milwaukee. The restaurant had closed during the pandemic and struggled with resulting staffing shortages.   The Café, located at Ovation Communities, a senior living facility on Prospect Avenue, is open to the public […]

Alan Wolkenstein, our treasured occasional columnist for the Chronicle, died Sept. 30. He is of blessed memory, and we are grateful for his contributions.   He brought a beautiful, folksy, old-world Jewish style to his work, grounded in truth and culture. He was so very real.  We remember him in this edition by presenting several of […]

MILWAUKEE – The Jewish Community Pantry, 2900 W. Center St., provides food and services to those in need – even as demand for help has increased and government assistance has withered. Meanwhile, the pantry is working on plans to expand.  The Jewish Community Pantry is a program of the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish […]