Just this past spring, Cantor Nancy Abramson, a Milwaukee native, retired from her role as director of the H. L. Miller Cantorial School and College of Jewish Music of The Jewish Theological Seminary, New York. On May 1, The Jewish Theological Seminary held a ceremony in her honor. At the beginning of her speech, Abramson showed the audience a retirement gift she received: a necklace that shows a woman gracefully diving off a cliff. “The gift made me realize I have had a career of metaphorically jumping off cliffs, mostly with grace and success,” Abramson said. Indeed, venturing into...
WHITEFISH BAY – One of the motorcycles zoomed into the JCC parking lot bearing a pair of large, flowing Israeli flags, fluttering off the ends of poles at the back of the chopper. Wendy and David Hefter rode the bike all the way from Baltimore. “It’s a privilege and an honor,” David said. “It’s a […]
The Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Wisconsin Madison is hosting its 23rd Annual Greenfield Summer Institute, “Jews and Leisure,” from July 17-20, 2023. The summer institute features different topics relating to Jewish life and culture each year. This year’s programming will feature different scholars who will discuss the ways in which Jews […]
Neither the air pollution nor the clouds blocked the view of the Tien Shan mountains on the Sunday when I took a bus across Almaty to find the grave of a famous Hasidic rabbi. I paced outside the cemetery while translating the Russian sign on the gate. The sign said the cemetery was closed on […]
The details were exquisite, right down to the miniscule, rolled up papers, each smaller than an eraser head. The rolls, all violet, made up a three-inch model of a Torah cover – with one yellow roll for each of the Torah handles. Students at Torah Academy of Milwaukee created massive art banners, three-dimensional models and […]
It was the summer of 1956, and I was already driving my 1954 Ford, but playing occasional band gigs on Saturday nights was my only source of income. My dad mentioned that Abe Borkin was looking for a part time employee for the summer at his Shell service station at 49th and Center streets. I […]
One Saturday morning, so many decades ago, AV was not there when I arrived for work. Abe told me that AV’s car wouldn’t start and he was going to take the wrecker (tow truck) and go get the car and AV and so he did. I watched the two guys push the car onto the […]
During World War II, Milwaukee’s very own Harley-Davidson produced the U.S. Army’s Liberator, a motorcycle that soldiers drove into Holocaust camps to liberate them. “Just imagine you’re a Holocaust survivor. You’re in a camp and you hear a motorcycle, and it’s not the Germans. It’s the Americans coming,” said Samantha Abramson, executive director at Nathan […]
Michelle Brafman’s Judaism informs the plots and characters of her novels, the latest of which comes out on June 13. In “Swimming with Ghosts,” the former Milwaukee resident offers a summer read that tackles serious issues while also seeking to deliver a highly readable, page-turning story. Set in her current hometown, Washington, D.C., during the […]
University of Wisconsin-Madison students Carly Shindler and Jacob Mandel help set the tables for the first of three Passover Seders held at the UW Chabad, where 750 students participated.
WHITEFISH BAY – CAFĀ B DATA at the Jewish Community Center opened in recent months under new management, after remaining mostly closed through much of the pandemic. Cold deli items, salads and hot soups are mong the items being served. Also, hot food is being served, with Mediterranean, healthy and Ashkenazi options. The restaurant is […]
“The Prince of Steel Pier,” by Stacy Nockowitz, published by Kat-Ben Publishing Winner of the National Jewish Book Award for Middle Grade Literature and a Sydney Taylor Notable Book, “The Prince of Steel Pier” will transport readers to 1972 and Atlantic City. Along with his immediate family, post-bar mitzvah boy, Joey, spends the summer helping […]
Ten students in Madison have been meeting with Holocaust survivors nationwide, by Zoom, as part of Chabad’s Stories That Live program. Chabad at the University of Wisconsin-Madison offers the program in Madison. Stories That Live is a program that connects students with Holocaust survivors. Started at a Chabad that serves students in Pennsylvania, the programming […]
Third grade was a hard time for Milwaukee Jewish Day School teacher Linsey Kimmel. Her teacher made her feel inadequate. The teacher was not good at differentiating and made Linsey feel incapable. In fifth grade, she had a teacher who empowered her by calling her a “shining star.” She decided to become a teacher so […]
Hundreds of teachers from around the state gathered for the annual conference of the Wisconsin Council for the Social Studies, the organization’s first since a law mandating Holocaust education went into effect, marking a critical juncture for an ongoing effort to get educators acclimated with the challenging topic and its relevance. During the three-day conference […]
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