Iron dome anti-missile system fires interception missiles as rockets fired from Lebanon, as it seen over the Hula Valley, April 13, 2024. (Photo credit: Ayal Margolin/Flash90 via JTA.org) Iran launched missiles and more than 100 drones at Israel late Saturday, in an attack that marks the first time that Israel’s most powerful enemy has directed weapons directly toward Israeli territory. Israelis in the north, the center and south were told to head to bomb shelters, and sirens and explosions were heard in much of the country, including in Jerusalem, as Israel and its allies worked to shoot down ..read more

Sara Kapner, left, Jake Horowitz, center, and Michael Perrie Jr., right, in Theater J’s production of Hester Street, playing through April 28. Photo credit: Ryan Maxwell Photography The beloved 1975 film “Hester Street” has been given a new life as a stage play with music. Running through April 21 at the Goldman Theater of the Edlavitch DCJCC, this world premiere production at Theater J is an unadulterated hit. Independent filmmaker the late Joan Micklin Silver’s 1975 black-and-white period piece tells the spare and intimate story of Jake and Gitl, Lithuanian-Jewish emigres trying to build a n ..read more

The post Read the April 11 WJW Digital Magazine by clicking here appeared first on Washington Jewish Week ..read more

Ilana Kornblatt. Photo Courtesy. Ilana Kornblatt is living a childhood dream come true. Kornblatt, a Bethesda resident, has long been involved in Jewish activities in the area, working for BBYO in Baltimore, and most importantly, going to Capital Camps, a Jewish summer camp located in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, that draws a significant portion of its campers from the DMV area and has its offices in Rockville. Now, Kornblatt is celebrating her 20th year at Capital Camps and is nearing her second year in the DMV area serving in the role of assistant camp director, where she works to provide the c ..read more

Some of Tikvat Israel Congregation’s younger members enjoying one of the synagogue’s youth programs. Courtesy of Tikvat Israel Congregation Tikvat Israel Congregation in Rockville is experiencing a huge shift in its membership and other programs as the result of a new dues model that has given young people a better path to join regardless of their respective financial situations. The synagogue is shifting to a “Pay From the Heart” dues model where they looked at their costs and went to have one-on-one conversations with every member to show them what they previously paid in dues and ask them w ..read more

The Orthodox Union’s Rabbi Moshe Hauer addressing the media, flanked by letters to be delivered to the White House. Photos courtesy of the Orthodox Union. A recent campaign organized by the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America (Orthodox Union) garnered 180,000 physical letters that were hand delivered to the White House on April 3, asking President Joe Biden to do everything possible to secure the release of the hostages still being held by Hamas. The OU’s “180 for 180” national letter-writing effort culminated with the delivery of the letters and a press conference on the 180th d ..read more

Rabbi Arron Alexander. Photo Courtesy of Adas Israel. Rabbi Aaron Alexander has served as the co-senior rabbi at Adas Israel Congregation in Washington, D.C., since 2017 after initially joining the staff in 2015, but his path to the pulpit wasn’t one that Alexander himself ever imagined he’d take. Alexander was born into a household that centered their Jewish identity largely around Israel, family and the Holocaust. And while he participated in plenty of important Jewish activities, such as the March of the Living Holocaust education program in Poland, he said his religious interest didn’t pea ..read more

Several hundred people gathered at a rally in Washington, D.C., on April 5 to protest budget cuts that would negatively impact local preschools. Photo credit: Heather M. Ross About 300 people of all ages came together on Friday morning, April 5, in Samuel Gompers Memorial Park in Washington, D.C., to protest the proposed elimination of the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund. The fund brings early childhood educators’ salaries in Washington, D.C., up to be on par with those of the District’s public school teachers — eliminating a pay disparity for early childhood educators. D.C. Mayor Mur ..read more

More than 1,000 people took part in the March to Free the Hostages in Washington, D.C., on April 7. Photo credit: Suzanne Pollak More than 1,000 people waving Israeli and American flags marched from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial on April 7 chanting “Bring Them Home Now,” and “We Demand a Deal Now.” The “March to Free the Hostages” was held six months after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking 240 hostages. Relatives of family members still being held in Gaza read the names of the remaining 133 hostages. The crowd then joined in counting to 184 – th ..read more

Max Brian Rothschild of Germantown, MD, passed away on March 25. Loving brother of Lindsay Campanella. Survived by Lynda Rothschild (mother), Rich Rothschild (father), and Helene Bass (grandmother). In lieu of flowers, please make donations in Max’s name to The Triangle Club’s LGBTQIA Recovery Community of Washington, D.C. (triangleclub.org). The post Max Brian Rothschild appeared first on Washington Jewish Week ..read more