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Interviews and Profiles

Interviews and Profiles

New Book By Rabbi Moshe Meiselman On Torah, Chazal And Science

By Rabbi Raphael Fuchs

"Toras Hashem temimah” – The Torah, in all aspects, is perfect and complete. It need not bend or comply with any other system. In fact, since the Torah is the blueprint according to which the universe was created, other systems should be judged by their agreement with the Torah.

Interviews and Profiles

Reb Shlomo Carlebach’s Early Years in New York

By Jewish Press Staff

On February 4, 1939, Rabbi Naphtali boarded the RMS Queen Mary from Southampton, England, and arrived in New York on February 9. Shortly thereafter, the rest of the Carlebach family set sail on the Queen Mary on March 18 and arrived in New York on March 23, 1939.

Interviews and Profiles

From Near Death In Gaza To The NYC Marathon: An Interview with IDF Lieutenant Aharon Karov

By Daniel Retter

Twenty-seven-year-old IDF Lieutenant (res.) Aharon Karov completed the New York City Marathon earlier this month, less than five years after an explosion in Gaza left him near death.

Interviews and Profiles

Writing Divrei Torah To President Clinton: An Interview with Rabbi Menachem Genack

By Elliot Resnick

Rabbi Genack first met Clinton at a fundraiser in New Jersey in 1992. “At the time,” Rabbi Genack recalls, “there was a lot of discussion about President Bush’s lack of vision, so when I introduced Governor Clinton I said, quoting a pasuk from Mishlei, ‘Where there is no vision, the people perish.’ Clinton liked the remarks and said, ‘You know what? I might use that in my acceptance speech at the convention.’ He did, and ever since Rabbi Genack and Clinton have been friends.

Interviews and Profiles

‘Where Are Israel’s Enemies Of Centuries Past?’ An Interview with Pastor John Hagee

By Steve K. Walz

I love being in Jerusalem. The first time I visited the Holy City and the Western Wall I was filled with overwhelming joy. God is everywhere, but I feel his presence especially strongly in Jerusalem.

Interviews and Profiles

One Life At A Time: Dr. Rick Hodes Is Changing Lives

By Rhona Lewis

In 1989, when Ethiopia and Israel agreed to restore the diplomatic relations that had been broken off by Ethiopia in 1973, thousands of Ethiopian Jews (aka Beta Israel) flooded to Addis Ababa. A year later, Dr. Hodes, an observant Jew from Long Island, N.Y., was hired by the JDC to be the medical director in Ethiopia and oversee their care. The original six-week contract was to morph into nearly twenty-three years...and Hodes is still counting.

Interviews and Profiles

Torah And Job Leads Go Hand In Hand At JELN

By Sandy Eller

He is a trial lawyer, a radio personality, a motivational speaker, an author of two newsletters and the founder of an organization dedicated to offering both Torah studies and professional networking opportunities to young Jewish men, but Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Bregman views himself as just "a nice guy with a good heart."

Interviews and Profiles / Politics

Brooklyn-Born Candidate Running for Efrat City Council Seat

By Jewish Press Staff Reporter

Avraham Ben-Tzvi believes the Eitam hill, Efrat’s only remaining land reserve, must be developed urgently, or the town will lose it for good.

Interviews and Profiles

For Legendary Camp Owner Irv Bader, Death Of Ex-Knick Was Hard Blow

By Hillel Kuttler

Dean Meminger sat in owner Irv Bader’s office at Camp Seneca Lake and talked of his girlfriend, her battle with lupus and their plans to marry.

Interviews and Profiles

‘Modern Science Is Discovering What The Torah Said Thousands Of Years Ago’: An Interview with Rabbi Yosef Bitton

By Elliot Resnick

The age of the universe. Fifteen billion or less than 6,000? The debate shows no signs of letting up in the Orthodox community. One of the latest to toss his hat in the ring is Rabbi Yosef Bitton, formerly chief rabbi of Uruguay and today the head of a Syrian community in Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn. […]

Interviews and Profiles

An Interview With Dr. Eli Schussheim, Chairman Of Agudat Efrat.

By Sarah Pachter

Q: It is unusual to find a doctor who devotes an enormous amount of energy into preventing abortions. What motivates you?

Interviews and Profiles

He Who Saves The Life Of Even One Jew Is Likened To One Who Has Saved An Entire World

By Sarah Pachter

Rosh Hashanah, the start of the High Holidays, was fast approaching. I had promised myself that this year would be different. For years I have followed their activities with a mild interest, just an observer, as though their concerns were not my own, but this year, in the wake of recent media storms and false accusations, I promised myself that I would finally take a stand. I would go down to their Jerusalem office and see for myself. And I did. As I pushed open the doors of their rather nondescript office I took a deep breath - welcome to largest life saving industry in all of Israel – Agudat Efrat.

Interviews and Profiles

Interview With Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes

By Jewish Press Staff

Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes, now in his sixth term, was first elected in 1989. He is a candidate for re-election in the September 10 Democratic primary. Hynes recently sat down with The Jewish Press.

Interviews and Profiles

‘Malki Loved Israel With A Pure And Passionate Love’: An Interview with Arnold Roth About the Daughter He Lost to Terrorism

By Rabbi Dr. David Nesenoff

On August 9, 2001, Malka Chana (Malki) Roth stopped by the Sbarro restaurant on the corner of King George Street and Jaffa Road in downtown Jerusalem. A suicide terrorist wearing an explosive belt with nails, nuts and bolts entered and detonated his bomb. Fifteen Israelis were killed, including Malki; 107 were injured.

Interviews and Profiles / Judaism 101

Back on the Field Again

By Rabbi Michoel Gros

Shlomo Veingrad has traveled further for his speaking engagements than even during his days in the NFL, crisscrossing America and speaking around the world.

Interviews and Profiles

Yishai and Walid Schmoozing

By Guest Author

Our Radio guy Yishai Fleisher is joined by Walid Shantur, an Arab American hailing from a village near Ramallah whom Yishai had met in Ithaca, NY.

Interviews and Profiles

Healing And Connecting The World: An Interview with Dr. Mehmet Oz

By Boaz Bismuth

Dr. Oz, who is visiting Israel this week with his wife, Lisa, and their four children, is not just any physician. A cardiac surgeon by training, he is the most watched physician in the United States. Millions of Americans view his television program. “The Dr. Oz Show” is broadcast to more than a hundred countries, including Israel’s Health Channel. His books, which have been translated into dozens of languages, including Hebrew, are runaway bestsellers.

Interviews and Profiles

‘Everybody’s Aware That Israel’s Power Is Growing’: An Interview with Writer P. David Hornik

By Elliot Resnick

Writing about Israeli politics can sometimes be a depressing endeavor, but P. David Hornik has been doing it consistently for over a decade for such media outlets as FrontPage Magazine, Pajamas Media, American Spectator, and The Jewish Press.

Interviews and Profiles / Judaism 101

From Center Field To Center Stage: The Journeys Of NFLer Alan Veingrad

By Rabbi Michoel Gros

In 1992 the Dallas Cowboys won Super Bowl XXVII. Among the members of the team was a young Jewish man named Alan Veingrad. Alan, now Shlomo, became frum several years later and found a much more significant calling: as an in-demand speaker he captivates Jewish and non-Jewish audiences around the world with lessons from his football days and from his teshuva journey.

Interviews and Profiles

Alan Moskin: Speaking Out So We Never Forget

By Ita Yankovich

In a time when service to one’s community seems to be a forgotten ideal, it is our pleasure to continue sharing with you the stories of those men and women who were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for freedom.

Interviews and Profiles

Reaching Behind The Iron Curtain: An Interview with Soviet Jewry Activist Rabbi David Hill

By Elliot Resnick

With almost all of world Jewry located in liberal democracies today, it is easy to forget that a mere 25 years ago, 1.5 million Jews lived under a totalitarian Soviet regime that suppressed Judaism. In the Soviet Union, even procuring a siddur or Jewish calendar could be a clandestine affair filled with fear.

Interviews and Profiles

Otsar: Unlocking the Hidden Treasures Within

By Sandy Eller

Growing up in the 1970's, I remember hearing the whispered words from friends and neighbors in shul. “She has a brother,” the words would be said with a knowing look. “He doesn't live with the family, he is in a...,” another furtive glance to make sure no one was listening. “A home.”

Interviews and Profiles

The Intersection Of Online Hate And Free Speech: An Interview with ADL National Director Abraham Foxman

By Alina Dain Sharon

Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), has a new book coming out next week, Viral Hate: Containing Its Spread on the Internet, co-written with attorney Christopher Wolf, a pioneer in Internet law. The book discusses how racists and anti-Semites are using the Internet to disseminate their hateful information and poses tough questions about the responsibility of the public to fight against this phenomenon in the U.S., where the law is highly protective of free speech.

Interviews and Profiles

A Hero When Jews Desperately Needed One: An Interview with Hank Greenberg Biographer John Rosengren

By Elliot Resnick

To his parents’ friends, he was “Mrs. Greenberg’s disgrace,” but to sports fans he is one of the greatest – if not the greatest – Jewish baseball players of all time. Long before Sandy Koufax, Hank Greenberg excited Jewish sports fans with his prowess on the baseball diamond.

Interviews and Profiles

Mark Treyger Visits The Jewish Press

By Jewish Press Staff

Mark Treyger, a candidate for city council in New York City’s 47th council district, met recently with the editorial board of The Jewish Press at the newspaper’s Boro Park office.

Interviews and Profiles

Yeshivat Otniel

By Malkie Schulman

Young men singing – Hodu laShem ki Tov- and gunshots. That was the tragic mix of sounds heard that Friday night ten years ago when two Islamic Jihad terrorists climbed up to the yishuv, cut the gate surrounding the yeshiva and entered through the kitchen door of בית ועד הר חברון, Hebron Hills Torah Academy, better known as Yeshivat Otniel.

Interviews and Profiles / NY

Bill De Blasio Visits The Jewish Press

By Jewish Press Staff

Bill de Blasio, one of the Democratic frontrunner in the race for New York City mayor, met last week with the editorial board of The Jewish Press at the newspaper’s Boro Park office. De Blasio is the New York City public advocate.

Interviews and Profiles

Elliott Abrams on Sharon’s English, Saudi Suspicions, and Mideast Peace

By Elliot Resnick

From December 2002 to January 2009, Elliott Abrams was an insider. As deputy assistant to the president and later deputy national security adviser – with the Middle East as his focus – Abrams interacted daily with such figures as President George W. Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Israeli Prime Ministers Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert.

Potpourri / Interviews and Profiles

The Ultimate Revenge: Erwin Weinberg Fights Back Against the Nazis

By Ita Yankovich

Not too many Jewish World War II survivors from Germany can say that they had the distinction of being both interned in a concentration camp and liberating the captives in that same camp. Erwin Weinberg did just that.

Interviews and Profiles

The Haredi MK Fighting Religious Separatism: An Interview with Rabbi Dov Lipman

By Elliot Resnick

Yesh Atid is sometimes perceived as avidly secular, but two rabbis currently serve in the party as MKs. One is Rabbi Shai Piron, Israel’s new education minister. The other is Rabbi Dov Lipman, the first American-born Knesset member since Rabbi Meir Kahane.

Interviews and Profiles

Will the Arab Spring Reach Jordan?

By Rachel Avraham

Jordanian-Palestinian activist Mudar Zahran says King Abdullah is seeking to save Himself by colluding with Islamists, Iran and Assad

Interviews and Profiles

March 31 and Dona Gracia

By Jewish Press Staff

March 31 is not a day that particularly stands out in Jewish memory at first glance, but it is actually a day of some significance.

Interviews and Profiles

Ehrlichkeit, Chumros, And Communal Unity: An Interview with South African Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein

By Elliot Resnick

The Jewish Press recently spoke with Rabbi Goldstein – author of the bulk of The Legacy: Teachings for Life from the Great Lithuanian Rabbis (Maggid Books). Rabbi Goldstein will be visiting Los Angeles and San Diego from April 11-16.

Interviews and Profiles

America’s Forgotten Posek

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman

How did America’s leading Posek fall into halachic obscurity?

Interviews and Profiles

‘Israel’s Supporters Need To Go On The Attack’: An Interview With Ambassador Alan Baker

By Sara Lehmann

As a former Israeli ambassador to Canada and an expert in international law, Alan Baker has been involved in the negotiation and drafting of agreements and peace treaties with Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and the Palestinians. Last year Baker was thrust into the spotlight when he was appointed by Prime Minister Netanyahu to the three-member committee chaired by former justice Edmund Levy to examine the legal aspects of land ownership in the West Bank. That produced the highly publicized Levy Report.

Potpourri / Interviews and Profiles

G.I. Bernie

By Ita Yankovich

Recently I had the opportunity to spend some times with Bernard (Bernie) Walz and get a glimpse of his war experiences.

Interviews and Profiles

A Messianic Vision: An Interview with Likud MK Moshe Feiglin

By Elliot Resnick

In an exclusive interview with the Jewish Press, newly elected MK Moshe Feiglin affirms he is still trying to revolutionize Israel.

Arts / Interviews and Profiles

‘Love Truth And Peace’: The Story Behind The Page 1 Artwork

By Shira Gabriela Salzman

Through her work "The Divine Within," artist Shira Gabriela highlights a literary parallel that exists between Megillat Esther and the Book of Zechariah.

Interviews and Profiles

One Hundred Miles And Counting

By Malkie Schulman

Dorit grew up in sunny Eilat. She was involved in sports since she was a young child. As a teenager she was the table tennis champion of Eilat, winning 2nd place in the southern regional competition and going on to win 3rd place in the national mixed double championship. At the same time, she was running marathons.

Interviews and Profiles

Yad Eliezer’s Big Brother Program: An Interview With Eli Yakobi

By Shalvi Weissman

A young man told me he wants to be a big brother. I asked how he heard of us, and he asked me whether I recognized him. Ten years earlier, as the son of divorced impoverished parents, he was suffering socially and academically, and had received a mentor from Yad Eliezer.

Interviews and Profiles

When Hatred Turns Lethal: An Interview with Filmmaker Gloria Greenfield

By Elliot Resnick

Although it was released in 2011, “Unmasked Judeophobia: The Threat to Civilization” is still playing to audiences across the world. As the title suggests, “Unmasked Judeophobia” examines the history of anti-Semitism and its alarming resurgence in the form of anti-Zionism in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Interviews and Profiles

When Daniel Moynihan Stood Tall at the UN

By Elliot Resnick

An interview with historian Gil troy on his new book, “Moynihan’s Moment: America’s Fight Against Zionism and Racism.”

Interviews and Profiles

Interviewing The Interviewer: A Conversation with Jewish Press Staff Reporter Elliot Resnick

By Jason Maoz

Resnick has collected five dozen of his best interviews in book format. Called “Movers and Shakers: Sixty Prominent Personalities Speak Their Mind on Tape” (Brenn Books), the collection includes updates on nearly every interviewee plus several questions that never appeared in The Jewish Press.

Interviews and Profiles / Israel Elections 5773

Rabbi Ben Dahan, Jewish Home: I’ve Worked Hard on Behalf of Women

By Naomi Klass Mauer

"When positions opened, if there was a qualified woman for the job I was inclined to hire her."

Interviews and Profiles

The Convert and the Gadol Hador

By Helen Zegerman Schwimmer

“When you are inexperienced and new to Yiddishkeit you figure, what do I have to lose? I think it’s called chutzpah!” With the honesty and good natured candor that have made her a much sought after lecturer across the Jewish spectrum, African-American convert Ahuvah Gray, recounts the remarkable story of her personal encounter with Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, z”tl.

Interviews and Profiles

Jack Abramoff: Americans Believe The System Is Rigged Against Them

By Elliot Resnick

Out of prison since 2010, Abramoff is committed to reforming the lobbying industry that he helped tarnish.

Interviews and Profiles

Stardom 101: Lipa Goes To College

By Sandy Eller

For the last two years, Lipa Schmeltzer has traded his microphones for textbooks and the concert stage for the classroom.

Interviews and Profiles

‘As A Boy, Eisenhower Thought All Jews Were Angels In Heaven’: An Interview with Author Denis Brian

By Elliot Resnick

That Israel and the U.S. share a special relationship is conventional wisdom in the 21st century. That the roots of this relationship extend to the very founding of the United States is perhaps less known. A new book, “The Elected and the Chosen: Why American Presidents Have Supported Jews and Israel – From George Washington to Barack Obama” (Gefen Publishing), attempts to highlight this relationship by describing various encounters American presidents have had with Jews and the support they extended to Israel. Its author, Denis Brian, has published 17 previous books, including “Joseph Pulitzer: A Life” and “Genius Talk: Conversations With Nobel Laureates and Other Luminaries.”

Interviews and Profiles

A Modern Chanukah Story Of Self-Sacrifice

By dvora

Hannah and her seven sons; Judith and the Greek commander she beheaded; the outnumbered but fearless Maccabees; the Jews who refused to give in to the decrees of the wicked Antiochus – Chanukah is a time for recounting historic deeds of self-sacrifice in the name of the God of Israel. The most recent one occurred in Israel on Dec. 1, a Shabbat.

Interviews and Profiles / US / Politics / News Briefs

Romney's Frum Adviser Sums Up Campaign

By Elliot Resnick

Had Mitt Romney won the presidential election, Tevi Troy would be director of domestic policy on his transition team.

Interviews and Profiles

From The Voice of Her Students: In Memory of Mrs. Chaya Newman

By Hannah Dreyfus and Leah Rothstein

A Sarah Schenirer of our times, Mrs. Chaya Newman was a trailblazer in the field of women’s Jewish education. She inspired and guided thousands of students and fellow educators with the careful curriculum she created, and example she set. She had the rare gift of bringing out the best in her students, commanding respect while remaining as loving and accessible as a grandmother.

Interviews and Profiles

Not the Typical IDF Soldier's Mom

By Anav Silverman, Tazpit News Agency

Anet Haskia is not the typical mom of a soldier serving in the Israel Defense Forces. A Muslim Arab, who grew up in a mixed Arab-Jewish city in the north, Haskia is breathing a little easier this week.

Interviews and Profiles

A Famed Political Pundit’s Musical Side: An Interview with Charles Krauthammer

By Elliot Resnick

Charles Krauthammer is widely regarded as one of the most influential political commentators in America today. A contributing editor to The Weekly Standard and The New Republic, Krauthammer is also a nightly commentator on Fox News’s Special Report with Bret Baier and a weekly panelist on PBS’s Inside Washington. Close to 250 newspapers carry his weekly column, which earned him a Pulitzer Prize in 1987.

Interviews and Profiles

Goodbye Dairy: Hello Tofutti!

By Sandy Eller

Tofu. For most of us, the word conjures up images of a spongy white unpalatable mass that is best left on the shelf of our local health food emporium. But for New Jersey resident David Mintz, tofu is a magical substance that holds endless possibilities, particularly for the kosher consumer.

Interviews and Profiles

‘We Have A Covenant With The Jewish People’: An Interview with Jewish National Fund CEO Russell Robinson

By Elliot Resnick

Mention the Jewish National Fund (JNF) and the image of a blue tzedakah box likely comes to mind. Starting in 1904, Jews throughout the world dropped coins into these blue boxes, helping the JNF buy and develop land in Palestine on behalf of the Jewish people. Although the state of Israel was founded in 1948, the JNF continues to function, helping develop the country in a variety of ways. It has planted 250 million trees in its 108-year existence and still owns 13 percent of the land. The Jewish Press recently spoke with JNF CEO Russell Robinson.

Interviews and Profiles

A Place To Call Home

By Sarah Pachter

Coming to Kever Rachel one cannot help but recall the traditional domed structure that once stood as a humble memorial to the greatest of women. Unfortunately a fortress like edifice of towering large concrete slabs has now replaced that familiar picture. It was here, at this holy site, that I first met Evelyn Haies, an American mother, grandmother, and globetrotter.

Potpourri / Interviews and Profiles

Writer’s Profile: An Interview With Erica Lyons

By Karen Greenberg

I grew up in Edison, New Jersey and lived in the same house until I left for college. My parent had moved in several years before I was born. I had the same rabbi for my baby naming, my bat mitzvah and my wedding (this was a first for him). My husband and I even brought our daughter back to my old ­synagogue for her naming.

Interviews and Profiles

A Labor Of Love

By Naomi Klass Mauer

I recently interviewed Mrs. Tziporah Lifshitz of Maaleh Adumim, Israel about the recent posthumous publication of the book A Day Is A Thousand Years, Human Destiny and the Jewish People, authored by her late father, Dr. Zvi Faier, and edited by Tziporah and her mother, Chaya.

Interviews and Profiles / Politics

‘Career Politicians Are What’s Killing Us’: An Interview with Councilman and Congressional Candidate Dan Halloran

By Sara Lehmann

New York City Councilman Dan Halloran is looking to pull off a BobTurner-like victory as a Republican congressional candidate in a predominantly Democratic Queens congressional district (the newly redistricted 6th CD).

Interviews and Profiles

‘Sometimes We Forget That We’re A Sovereign State’: An Interview with MK Danny Danon

By Elliot Resnick

Danon, 41, deputy speaker of Israel’s Knesset and chairman of World Likud, published his first book last month, Israel: The Will to Prevail (published by Palgrave Macmillan). In it, he outlines his vision for Israel’s future while also reviewing historical, religious, political, legal, and contemporary factors crucial for understanding modern-day Israel.

Interviews and Profiles

Rav Kook’s Secret Writings: A Drama In Several Parts

By dvora

JERUSALEM – Clandestine photocopying of tucked-away documents in Israel’s National Library, hurried text messages of selected passages verifying their pristine, unpublished condition, and question marks surrounding the editing and possible censorship practices of trusted editors from eighty years ago.

Interviews and Profiles

Behind The Mossad Curtain: An Interview with Author Dan Raviv

By Elliot Resnick

The mystique of the Mossad. Few can resist it. Hardly any Jew bears anything but affection and admiration for the foreign intelligence agency that produced Eli Cohen, kidnapped Adolf Eichmann, and attacked Iran’s nuclear program with a computer virus in 2009.

Interviews and Profiles

Language of The Heart: A Conversation With Rabbi Moshe Tzvi Weinberg

By Karen Greenberg

Rabbi Moshe Tzvi Weinberg, mashgiach ruchani of Yeshiva University’s SBMP (Irving I Stone Beit Midrash Program) was born and raised in Philadelphia. Rabbi Weinberg currently lives in Bergenfield NJ with his wife and three daughters.

Judaism / Interviews and Profiles

Behind The Name On The Cover: Jerome Schottenstein And His Sponsorship Of The ArtScroll Talmud

By dvora

With memories of the Siyum HaShas still fresh in people’s minds, many Jews around the world have been purchasing a Tractate Berachot in order to take part in the 13th cycle of Daf Yomi, the daily study of one daf of Talmud Bavli.

Interviews and Profiles

Opening Hearts And Winning Over A New Generation: A Profile Of Chazzan Netanel Hershtik

By Sandy Eller

Netanel Hershtik wears many hats but perhaps the one he is best known for is a soft, puffy headpiece known as a mitre, traditionally worn by chazzanim.

Interviews and Profiles

Memory And Belief In The Wake Of The Holocaust: An Interview with Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau

By Daniel Retter

Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, formerly the chief rabbi of Israel and currently chief rabbi of Tel Aviv, visited the United States recently to address the Siyum HaShas at MetLife Stadium and to appear at a Chabad Shabbos retreat in Fort Lauderdale.

Interviews and Profiles

Forester-For-A-Day: KKL-JNF Involves Citizens in Maintaining Israeli Forests

By Jewish Press Staff

KKL-JNF's ( Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael- Jewish National Fund) “Forester For a Day” program is a new ecological initiative that offers visitors a unique opportunity to assist in maintaining Israel's forests, prevent forest fires and promote an overall atmosphere of environmental awareness. The Jewish Press sat down with Revital Ovadia, the program's coordinator to find out more.

Interviews and Profiles

Shlomo Mostofsky for Civil Court Judge (Video Interview)

By Jewish Press Staff

The Jewish Press endorses Shlomo Mostofsky for Civil Court Judge in the 5th Judicial District in Brooklyn, New York. Mostofsky is a prominent attorney specializing in family law and served for eleven years as president of the National Council of Young Israel, representing the organization in national and international venues. This video interview took place at The Jewish Press office in New York.

Interviews and Profiles

A Different Kind Of Camp: An Interview with Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Kenneth Brander

By Elliot Resnick

Yeshiva University’s Center for the Jewish Future seems to expand with each passing year. Founded in 2005, the Center – among other activities – now educates hundreds of ordained rabbis through its Rabbinic Training Placement and Continuing Education program; sends 1,000 students every year to help communities around the world through its Experiential Education and […]

Interviews and Profiles

Using New Technologies to Promote Positivity

By Jewish Press Staff

The communication revolution - and the unprecedented access to information it brought - has ushered us into a new world. It is a world of wikipedia and youtube, but also a world of live-streaming al Qaeda beheadings and slow-motion car crashes. Positivecco, an ambitious online enterprise, seeks to harness the internet to promote positivity.

Interviews and Profiles

Through The Ages In Jewish Song: Itzhak Perlman on His New CD Collaboration with Cantor Yitzchak Meir Helfgot

By Naomi Klass Mauer

Internationally renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman and acclaimed Chazzan Yitzchak Meir Helfgot, chief cantor at Manhattan’s Park East Synagogue, have collaborated on a forthcoming CD titled “Eternal Echoes: Songs and Dances for the Soul.” The Jewish Press recently interviewed Perlman at his summer home in the Hamptons.

Potpourri / Interviews and Profiles

A Jewish American Veteran

By Ita Yankovich

They are known as the Greatest Generation, and for good reason. As children of the Depression, they learned to make do with little, and lacked, most significantly, a sense of entitlement. As they came of age, they were called upon to serve and defend their country, and they did so magnificently, many with their very lives. They then went on to raise families and build the country into the superpower it has become – all with little noise and fanfare; continuing, through it all, to quietly do their duty.

Interviews and Profiles

An Interview with Ayelet Shaked, Secular Candidate for HaBayit HaYehudi

By Yoel Meltzer

The co-founder and former chairman of the MyIsrael (Yisrael Sheli) national movement, the recipient of the 2012 Abramowitz Israeli Prize for Media Criticism and a close associate of Naftali Bennett – the two worked together in the office of Benjamin Netanyahu prior to the 2009 elections – Shaked is raising some eyebrows due to the fact that she, unlike Bennett, is a secular candidate for HaBayit Hayehudi -a traditionally religious party.

Interviews and Profiles

The Truth About Obama’s Political Roots: An Interview with Historian Paul Kengor

By Elliot Resnick

Arguably, no previous U.S. president has had as many disconcerting friends and associates as Barack Obama. Many Americans know of Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, and Rashid Khalidi, but few have heard of perhaps the most important figure in Obama’s life: Frank Marshall Davis.

Op-Eds / Interviews and Profiles

Fleisher on ShalomTV: 'Let’s Not Live in Fear, Let’s Live in Reality.'

By Alex Abel

Yishai Fleisher, managing editor of JewishPress.com, appeared on L’Chaim, a show that has been running on ShalomTV for years. “Fear is everywhere,” he told the interviewer, Rabbi Mark Golub. “People go silent when I talk about fear because they realize how much fear they live with…we need to be proud.”

Interviews and Profiles

Mendelevich: ‘Educating Young Jews Is at the Core of my Being’

By Fern Sidman

In Unbroken Spirit: A Heroic Story of Faith, Courage and Survival (Gefen Publishing), the newly released English translation of his memoir, internationally renowned former Soviet refusenik Rabbi Yosef Mendelevich tells a compelling story of struggle and victory. He spoke to The Jewish Press during his recent U.S. book tour.

Interviews and Profiles

An Anglo in the Knesset: Catching Up with Jeremy Saltan

By Jewish Press Staff

Saltan: "A big reason why I started the 'Knesset Jeremy' blog was to help Anglos learn about the political process by giving them information in English on every bill and every MK’s speech. I hope this will lead to Anglos learning more about the Israeli political process and help them take an active part and integrate."

Interviews and Profiles

The Evolution Of American Orthodoxy: An Interview with Yeshiva University Librarian Zalman Alpert

By Elliot Resnick

Books. Some people love them; others claim they can do without them. For Zalman Alpert, they are essentially his life. For the past 35 years, Alpert has served as a reference librarian at Yeshiva University (YU). Educated at Columbia University’s School of Library Services and New York University’s School of Education, where he attained a master’s degree in Modern Jewish History, Alpert is one of those individuals who knows a little (sometimes a lot) about everything. Over the years, he has contributed articles to such works as Encyclopedia of Hasidim; Jewish American History and Culture: An Encyclopedia; Encyclopedia of Jewish American Popular Culture; Midstream; and The Jewish Press.

Interviews and Profiles

State Senator Storobin on Gay Marriage and Simcha Felder as an Opponent

By Yafit Fishbach

The Jewish Press sat down in its Brooklyn offices with Republican State Senator David Storobin.

Interviews and Profiles

Turmoil In The Land Of The Pharaohs: An Interview With Former Egyptian Radical Dr. Tawfik Hamid

By Elliot Resnick

Egypt’s future remains in flux. On Sunday, Mohammed Morsi of the radical Muslim Brotherhood movement became Egypt’s new president, narrowly defeating the secular Ahmed Shafiq by 52-48 percent. Just two weeks ago, however, Egypt’s military council issued an interim constitution stripping the president of most of his powers. A few days before that, the Supreme Constitutional Court dissolved Egypt’s parliament, controlled by radical Islamic parties, on a legal technicality.

Interviews and Profiles

‘The UN Is No Longer Serious’: An Interview with Congressman Bob Turner

By Jewish Press Staff

New York City Rep. Bob Turner (R-Queens and Brooklyn) is a candidate for the U.S. Senate Republican nomination in the June 26 primary.

Interviews and Profiles

Talmudic, Tenacious, Tough-Minded: An Interview With Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

By Elliot Resnick

Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz is quite an accomplished personality. The author of over 60 books, Rabbi Steinsaltz has also translated the entire Talmud into Hebrew, a project he started in 1965 at the age of 28 and took 45 years to complete. To date, over two million copies of the Steinsaltz Talmud – in Hebrew, English, French, and Russian – have been sold. No wonder Time magazine once dubbed him a “once-in-a-millennium scholar.”

Interviews and Profiles

Rabbi Yosef Mendelevitch, Pioneering Russian Refusenik

By Yoel Meltzer

On his attempt to hijack an airplane in 1970 to bring attention to the struggle of Soviet Jewry: "Sometimes it happens in your life that you simply feel it’s the right thing to do."

Interviews and Profiles

‘U.S. Should Recognize Jerusalem As Israel’s Capital’: An Interview with Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries

By Jewish Press Staff

New York State Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn) is a candidate in New York’s 8th Congressional District in the June 26 Democratic primary.

Interviews and Profiles

‘I Will Be Reliable In Supporting Israel’: An Interview with Councilman Erik Dilan

By Jewish Press Staff

New York City Councilman Erik Dilan (D-Brooklyn) is a candidate in New York’s 7th Congressional District in the June 26 Democratic primary.

Interviews and Profiles

‘Respond Forcefully, Expose The Libel’: Interview w. Prof. Eunice Pollack

By Elliot Resnick

Husband and wife. Both Jewish. Both history professors. Both right wing. Both combat anti-Semitism on American college campuses. Meet Stephen H. Norwood and Eunice G. Pollack.

Interviews and Profiles

Meet Religious Zionism's New Hope

By Yoel Meltzer

"We need to work on instilling a good strong Jewish-Zionist identity in all of the children in Israel and not only in the religious ones. In other words we need to stop looking inward and start focusing on all of Am Yisrael."

Interviews and Profiles

Failing The Call Of The Hour: The State Department And The Holocaust

By Elliot Resnick

The Nazis perpetrated the Holocaust, but the indifference of onlookers facilitated it. One of the guiltiest parties in this regard, according to a new book by former federal prosecutor Gregory Wallance, is the U.S. State Department. In the book, America’s Soul in the Balance: The Holocaust, FDR’s State Department, and the Moral Disgrace Of An American Aristocracy, Wallance quotes Treasury Department lawyers who accused State Department officials of being “accomplices of Hitler” and “war criminals in every sense of the term.”

Interviews and Profiles

Lancman On Jerusalem: ‘No Other Capital City In The World Has Its Status Questioned’: An Interview with Assemblyman Rory Lancman

By Shlomo Greenwald

New York State Assemblyman Rory Lancman (D-Queens) is a candidate in New York’s 6th Congressional District in the June 26 Democratic primary. Lancman, who served as an officer in New York’s 42nd infantry division and as a local community board member, recently met with The Jewish Press Editorial Board. He addressed Israel and local issues.

Interviews and Profiles

YU’s Halpert: Molding Men Through Coaching

By Eli Chomsky

Yeshiva University men’s basketball coach Jonathan Halpert now has his signature on the school’s men’s basketball court. The Coach Jonathan Halpert Scholarship Fund, an endowment to be awarded annually to children of YU alumni living in Israel wishing to study at the university, now bears his name. Later this year Halpert, who earned his high […]

Interviews and Profiles

Ulpana Hill Residents Apprehensive But Hopeful As Deadline Approaches

By dvora

BEIT EL, ISRAEL – “Gush Katif number two.” “Another Amona.” “It will topple the government, split the nation, and drive an irrevocable wedge between the people and the leadership.”

Interviews and Profiles

Beyond Church And State: School Vouchers And The Blaine Amendment

By Rachel Wizenfeld

Like clockwork, the question of school vouchers makes a prominent appearance whenever the media focus on a statewide election in New York, particularly one in a heavily Orthodox district. The latest chime was sounded during the battle between Lew Fidler and David Storobin to fill an open state senate seat; both promised constituents that they would make the fight for vouchers and tax education credits their priority.

Interviews and Profiles

‘You Don’t Read A Terrorist His Miranda Rights’: An Interview With Professor Michael Widlanski

By Elliot Resnick

Michael Widlanski grew up on the West Side of Manhattan. He went to Ramaz Yeshiva and then Columbia University, writing for both school newspapers, before landing a job at The New York Times. He also studied Arabic in college, traveling to Cairo to master the language – and learning to chant the Koran while he was at it. Partly motivating him was his desire, as a ba’al keriah, to learn how to properly pronounce the Hebrew letters ayin and chet. “The Arabs do it better,” he said. Presently, Widlanski is a professor at Bar-Ilan University after having taught Middle East politics and communications at Hebrew University for 20 years. Last month, he published his first book, Battle for Our Minds: Western Elites and the Terror Threat.

Interviews and Profiles

The Republican Congressman Who Discovered He’s Jewish: An Interview with Representative Lee Terry

By Sara Lehmann

When Lee Terry began serving as a Republican congressman in 1999, representing Nebraska’s second congressional district, he didn’t realize he would become one of the House of Representatives’ Jewish members. Always a friend of Israel, Terry discovered his Jewish roots some ten years ago and began a personal odyssey to reconnect with his heritage.

Interviews and Profiles

Bet Din On The Clock: Nathan Lewin Wants Jewish Courts To Run More Efficiently

By Shlomo Greenwald

Like other chassidic dynasties, Bobov was not immune to one day experiencing a schism. When Rabbi Naftali Zvi Halberstam, the fourth Bobover Rebbe, died in 2005, a dispute arose over who would succeed him. Some chassidim sought to appoint his younger half-brother, Rabbi Ben Zion Aryeh Leibish Halberstam, as the next rebbe; and others sought out the fourth rebbe’s sons-in-law: Rabbi Mordechai Dovid Unger as the rebbe, and Rabbi Yehoshua Rubin as the Bobov rav (serving as head of the bet din and as the posek).

Interviews and Profiles

‘You Need 150 Salaries To Buy An Apartment – That’s Outrageous’: An Interview With Eyal Gabbai, Former Director-General of Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office

By Jewish Press Staff

This past summer, Israel made headlines for something other than the peace process or fighting terrorism when hundreds of thousands of its citizens took to the streets to protest social inequality and rising living costs.

Interviews and Profiles

Underreporting The Holocaust At The ‘Paper Of Record’: An Interview With Student Filmmaker Emily Harrold

By Elliot Resnick

If you asked someone to outline the profile of a director making a film on The New York Times’s coverage of the Holocaust, “non-Jewish,” “college student,” and “South Carolina native” would probably not be the first descriptors he would use. Yet, they perfectly fit the profile of Emily Harrold, a 21-year-old senior who is currently completing “Reporting on the Times,” a film inspired by Laurel Leff’s 2005 book, Buried by the Times: The Holocaust and America’s Most Important Newspaper.

Interviews and Profiles

When Terror Victims Fall Through The Cracks

By Elliot Resnick

The Second Intifada may have ended seven years ago, but countless Israelis injured during that harrowing period, and in the years since, continue to suffer.

Interviews and Profiles

HaMafteach: A User-Friendly Index Of The Talmud: An Interview With Author Daniel Retter

By Rabbi Raphael Fuchs

An index of the Talmud with more than 6,000 topical and 27,000 subtopical entries is a major undertaking and its publication a seminal event in Jewish scholarship.

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