Rabbi Brian Comrov wouldn’t normally make a phone call during Shabbat, but a life was on the line. Comrov, who works as a chaplain, is an Othodox rabbi who observes the sabbath. In keeping with that practice, Comrov abstains from a variety of activities from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday. But Comrov was caring for a woman experiencing suicidal ideation, and he wanted to ensure her welfare. In addition to his day job as a chaplain employed by Brighton Hospice, Comrov also is a chaplain in the U.S. Navy Reserve. Many tasks fall to Comrov in that role, including supporting the...
MILWAUKEE – When Israeli Gal Dahan came to America to play basketball for Cardinal Stritch University in Glendale, she came, at least in part, for the superior American basketball facilities. “They call America the land of opportunity, not for nothing,” Dahan told the Chronicle, when she was a 24-year-old junior, back in 2021. Maybe it’s […]
WHITEFISH BAY – More than two years ago, Meyers Leonard uttered an antisemitic slur while live-streaming his video game play. Since then, he’s met with rabbis, gone to Chabad Shabbat dinner, cried, and apologized repeatedly, even as he was shunned by his NBA team at the time, the Miami Heat. Now with the Milwaukee Bucks, […]
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 […]
It is not every day that hundreds of Northwestern Mutual employees gather for an event that moves many of them to tears while pulling them closer to their colleagues and their community. But that is exactly what happened months ago when Holocaust survivor Eva Zaret told her moving story about her childhood in the Budapest […]
Halfway through college Miles Guralnick realized that he wanted to become a doctor. After graduating last year, his current internship at Hadassah’s Biological Psychiatry Lab in Jerusalem is putting him one step closer to doing so. “It’s psychiatric research that is working towards being able to better treat all sorts of mental illnesses, including depression, […]
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 […]
The last group of slaves in the United States were officially freed after Union troops finally won the Civil War and arrived in Galveston, Texas, to share the news on June 19, 1865. Juneteenth commemorates that day. And where 2,000 Union troops brought the news to Galveston, one woman heralded the celebration in Milwaukee: Margaret […]
Jonah Geller wants to help the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center put “the ‘J’ back into the JCC.” Geller started in January as the organization’s new chief innovation officer. In that role, Geller said he is charged with overseeing some of the JCC’s programs – such as its food pantry and inclusion […]
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 […]
Members of the Milwaukee Jewish Teen Philanthropy Board met with the members of Dugri, a visiting rap duo that seeks to bring understanding between Jews and Palestinians in Israel. Coby Wertz, Jennifer Saber, Sameh Zakout (from Dugri), Jake Bernstein and Ben Yopps met with the group at a performance March 21, 2023.
Eva Zaret, who lived through the Holocaust in the Budapest Ghetto, lights a candle at the annual community event to commemorate the Holocaust on erev Yom HaShoah, April 17, 2023. Held at the JCC, the event was a project of the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center, Milwaukee Jewish Federation and the Nathan […]
“I’m a big advocate for anyone who needs one.” Matty Powell is a gift to the children in our Jewish community, looking out for their educational and social-emotional needs. In her fourth year on the staff of Congregation Shalom, Matty teaches 5th-grade Hebrew and the Hebrew Through Movement Specialty. Matty found her way to synagogue […]
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