Seventy-five years ago, when the Jewish Children’s Home in New Orleans closed its doors, a new social service agency, Jewish Family Service, began. Now the Jewish Family Service of Greater New Orleans, the agency is celebrating its Platinum Jubilee anniversary with a brunch gala, “Decades of Service for the Decades Ahead: 75 Years of Jewish Family Service,” at The Ritz-Carlton on June 25 at 11:30 a.m. The nonprofit agency was founded to help World War II refugees resettle in the United States. Today, the agency offers a variety of services, regardless of religion, such as affordable counseling ..read more

File photo Ilse Goldberg, considered to be Mississippi’s last Holocaust survivor, died on April 4 in Greenwood. Born in Reichenbach, Germany, she moved to Breslau at age nine. Soon after, Nazi restrictions on Jews were introduced in the region. In November 1938, the Nazis came to their home and took everything. The next morning, she awoke to Kristallnacht. The day after Kristallnacht, her father was arrested and spent five weeks at Buchenwald. He was released because he had his discharge papers with him from when he fought for Germany in World War I. Still, he had to check in with the Gestapo ..read more

Jonathan Van Ness does Dan Stein’s hair, including a beard shave and a uh, knee scrub. Courtesy of Netflix By Mira Fox (The Forward) — Dan Stein is a beloved figure in New Orleans. The NOLA subreddit is full of people not only drooling over the sandwiches from his store, Stein’s Market and Deli, but also extolling his kindness and laughing at his curmudgeonliness. That’s why, when the NOLA Redditors realized Netflix’s hit makeover show Queer Eye was coming to their city, they all nominated Stein. But the Fab Five weren’t so into Deli Dan. As they panned over the deli’s walls, full of posters f ..read more

Photo: DJ Corey By Lee J. Green The Broadway in Birmingham musical “On Your Feet! The Story of Emilio and Gloria Estefan” is close to the heart for actress Cami Taleisnik, who grew up in Argentina’s Jewish community. The show opens May 9 and runs through May 14 at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex. Featuring Miami Sound Machine hit songs “The Rhythm is Going to Get You,” “Conga” and “Get On Your Feet,” the original production debuted in Chicago, then a few months later in 2015 first hit Broadway. “I feel like I am telling their story by telling my story,” said Taleisnik, who grew up ..read more

Cantor Jessica Roskin will be the interim cantor at Temple Beth El in Charlotte, N.C., this coming year. The 850-family congregation made the announcement on May 5 in an email from President Alan Kronovet, Rabbi Asher Knight and COO Jonathan Friedman. They said Roskin “will focus on supporting our B’nei Mitzvah program, leading Shabbat and Holiday services with our clergy team, and offering pastoral care.” In late January, Cantor Mary Rebecca Thomas, who has served the congregation for 20 years, announced that she was stepping down to become the placement director for the American Conference o ..read more

For the second year in a row, GiveNOLA Day on May 2 was down slightly from the previous year, with some Jewish institutions seeing increases and some seeing decreases. Overall, the 24-hour online fundraiser coordinated by the Greater New Orleans Foundation raised $7.779 million through 54,561 donations to 951 organizations, according to preliminary numbers. Last year’s event raised $7.91 million through 57,700 donations to 947 organizations. There were 15 organizations in the Jewish community that participated. The Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans continued its run of coming in third o ..read more

A statement was issued by the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans, and the Anti-Defamation League, following the recent proliferation of antisemitic flyers in the Bywater area of New Orleans, from the Goyim Defense League. Dear Jewish Community Members, We were deeply saddened to learn of an incident over the weekend where antisemitic flyers were placed on doorsteps throughout the Bywater neighborhood. These flyers contained hateful and offensive language directed towards the Jewish community, and we want to assure you that the matter is being tak ..read more