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Liza Wiemer’s monthly recommendation: Purim for young children 

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“What Do You See? On Purim,” by Bracha Goetz, published by Judaica Press  This is the perfect introduction to Purim for infants to toddlers. This board book highlights everything that is needed to celebrate Purim. Photographs of children in costumes, ingredients to bake hamantashen, different megillahs to read, graggers to count, items for mishloach manot, money to put in a tzedakah box, and a yummy holiday meal to enjoy fill the pages. Highly recommend for home and school.  “Happy Purim, Grover!” by Joni Kibort Sussman, illustrated by Tom Leigh, published by...

My Uncle Jake: The Jewish Fruit Peddler  

My Uncle Jake: The Jewish Fruit Peddler  

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My grandma Bessie Wolkenstein had three brothers: Max, Charlie, and Jake Katz. Max was married and he and Ida had a house on the north side of Milwaukee. Charlie and his wife Ruth lived on the west side, but I didn’t know where Jake lived. Max owned a heating and sheet metal shop, Charlie worked […]

First grade teacher Tova came home 

First grade teacher Tova came home 

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Meet Tova (Noll) Tornek, a first-grade Judaic Studies teacher at Bader Hillel Academy and a Hebrew school teacher for 4- and 5-year-olds at Milwaukee Community Hebrew School. Tornek grew up in Glendale, traveled for a few years and recently returned  to the Milwaukee area in June 2023.  Teaching has always been Tornek’s passion, she said. […]

2024 guide to Wisconsin Jewish Summer camps

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  Here is our up-to-date list of Wisconsin Jewish camps! The camps are: Beber Camp, Mukwonago, WI Camp Chi, Lake Delton, WI Camp Moshava, Wild Rose, WI Camp Ramah, Conover, WI Camp Shalom and Camp Shalom Noar-Bogrim,Verona, WI Camp Young Judaea  Midwest, Waupaca, WI Chabad – Lubavitch of Wisconsin • Camp Gan Israel, Bayside, WI […]

Jewish Artists’ Exhibition was held at The Shul Center in Bayside

Jewish Artists’ Exhibition was held at The Shul Center in Bayside

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Jewish artists stood beside their art and chatted with one another and with art fans. It was a Sunday afternoon devoted to art, and some respite from the troubling news facing the Jewish people in recent months.  The Jewish Artists’ Exhibition was held Feb. 18, 2024, at The Shul Center in Bayside. The theme was […]

IN PICTURES: ‘The Chosen” in production 

IN PICTURES: ‘The Chosen” in production 

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“The Chosen” will be performed at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, March 5-31, 2024 , at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater. The show is presented by the Milwaukee Jewish Federation. Above are Hillel Rosenshine and Eli Mayer in rehearsal for “The Chosen.” The photo below is a set model, in preparation for the show.  

Oct. 7 survivors spoke at the JCC

Oct. 7 survivors spoke at the JCC

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They keep telling their story, over and over, with multiple trips from Israel to points overseas. They endure the pain, the memories, and push through, for the third time in a day, to share what happened.   They do it to bring the Jewish people together at a difficult time and in an effort to bring […]

Happy staff, happy campers

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A study grounded in research involving the Foundation for Jewish Camp has found a key to increased well-being at camp, something sorely needed for today’s post-pandemic campers, according to a news release.  The study suggests that increased staff well-being and feelings of support are related to increased youth well-being at camp. The study was published […]

Gan Ami Early Childhood Education says the field ‘chose her’

Gan Ami Early Childhood Education says the field ‘chose her’

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Shelly Eiland, educator of 3- and 4-year-olds at Gan Ami Early Childhood Education in Whitefish Bay, was going to school for social work when she decided to switch to a career in early education.   Twenty-five years later, Eiland is still loving the profession that she said “chose her.” While attending class at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee […]

Camp Young Judaea Midwest is connected with nature, Israel 

Camp Young Judaea Midwest is connected with nature, Israel 

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In her new role as camp director of Camp Young Judaea Midwest since November 2022, Rabbi Hannah Wallick, formerly of Milwaukee Jewish Federation, works year-round recruiting campers, hiring staff, and building the program calendar. All of these separate puzzle pieces ar meant to contribute to making sure camp feels magical.   Although her daughter attended Camp […]

Josh Nankin joined religious pilgrimage to Ukraine, after bout with addiction 

Josh Nankin joined religious pilgrimage to Ukraine, after bout with addiction 

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Josh Nankin does not flinch from telling his story: He grew up in Milwaukee, was enmeshed with Jewish life here, went out into the world, and fell into the dark pit of a terrible addiction. Then his marriage “fell apart,” he said.  But now, thanks to a strain of Jewish thinking called “Breslov,” he’s feeling […]

Cantor Berman to receive lifetime impact award 

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For decades, Congregation Shalom Cantor Karen Berman had her hand in education, from teaching music to coordinating and teaching the synagogue’s b’nai mitzvah tutorial program.  For her work, Berman will receive the 2024 Salute to Jewish Educators Lifetime Impact Award.   The award ceremony will be held at Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center […]

Wisconsin-born playwright brings “The Chosen” to Milwaukee  

Wisconsin-born playwright brings “The Chosen” to Milwaukee  

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“The Chosen,” the story of a pair of Jewish boys growing up in Brooklyn in the 1940s, began life as a novel by Chaim Potok, first published in 1967. It was adapted into a movie in 1981 and then, in 1999, Aaron Posner worked with Potok to turn it into a stage play.   That play […]

Wohlfeiler Memorial Scholarship Fund supports college scholarships for high school students, emphasizing immigrant families

Wohlfeiler Memorial Scholarship Fund supports college scholarships for high school students, emphasizing immigrant families

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A child who grows up in a Jewish home will typically get the message that getting a good education is key. My parents were Jewish immigrants from Poland, who survived the atrocities of World War II, and the emphasis on education was more than key. It was of utmost importance!   If I brought home a […]

From opposing sides of the conflict, they talk 

From opposing sides of the conflict, they talk 

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In the aftermath of Hamas’ attacks, two panelists who worked on opposing sides of Israel-Palestine peace negotiations spoke at Congregation Sinai, and they agreed on more than you might think.  “What Hamas did on October 7th can only be described as one thing. It is terrorism, nothing else,” said Ghaith al-Omari, who once worked for […]