JEWISH COMMUNITY BLOG

Since I will be on sabbatical, I am writing this column in June shortly before my leave begins. Summer camp is well underway at Shalom Austin and both of our Texas overnight camps, Camp Young Judaea Texas and URJ Greene Family Camp, began their first session only a...

Austin's ShinShinim Eyal Yehonatan Butbul and Ariella Goldstein. Courtesy: Michal Ilali As a part of Shalom Austin’s Israel initiative, a Zeff family grant and generous local donors, for the second year in a row, two ShinShinim are coming to Austin. ShinShinim are...

The Israeli Tzofim Friendship Caravan visits JCamps. Credit: A.D. Schmidt By Jessica Ochs  The Israeli Tzofim Friendship Caravan came back to Austin, Texas this summer. The Austin community was so excited to welcome this group of Israeli teens for an extended stay in...

Reset & Refresh participants at the Austin Salt Cave. Courtesy: Alachua Haskins By Alachua Haskins    This summer, Austin had the opportunity to become one of the first four pilot communities to launch Reset & Refresh, alongside Portland, Oregon, Atlanta,...

Shalom Austin Legacy Donor Marianne Rochelle. Courtesy: Marianne Rochelle  Shalom Austin Board Chair Seth Halpern. Courtesy: Seth Halpern  As the end of the calendar year approaches, this is a time many people focus on charitable giving. While most people reach for...

Actors performing in the play "Right Before I Go" at the Georgetown Palace Theater. Credit: Jon Kniss By Amanda Mills    (CONTENT ADVISORY - Mentions of suicide.)  September is National Suicide Prevention Month – a time to acknowledge all who have died by suicide or...

Team Austin athletes competing at the 2024 Maccabi Games in Houston, Texas. Credit: Jolie Estes  By Mark Pattis and Thy Hooks  This summer’s JCC Maccabi Games in Houston, TX, brought together 1,500 Jewish teens from across the globe for a week-long Olympic style teen...

L-R: Jennifer Failla, Shana Creeger, Frances Meltzer at the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation.  Courtesy: Shana Creeger  “My most recent mission trip to Berlin and Israel left me with such pride and hope for all the hard work being done to build and protect our...

JRabbi Monty Eliasov z”l. Courtesy: Barbara Taft   By Abraham Davidson     Rabbi Arnold Montgomery Eliasov ( z”l), affectionately known as “Rabbi Monty,” passed away peacefully on Shabbat, July 20, 2024, after a sudden illness. In his final hours, he was surrounded by...

Campers2gether campers creating a bunk tallit for Shabbat t’filah blessings. Courtesy: URJ Greene Family Camp  By Allison Teegardin     In July, 26 Israeli teenagers who were displaced when their community Kibbutz Zikim was attacked on October 7, were welcomed to URJ...

Rabbi David N. Young and his wife, Cantor Natalie Young, in Chicago. Courtesy: Rabbi Young  By Corrie MacLaggan  Congregation Beth Israel has a new interim rabbi who believes passionately in making Judaism fun, leads a Dungeons & Dragons group for rabbis and...

Amit Kanfer and his family. Courtesy: Amit Kanfer    Twenty years ago, at the age of 22, right after the Israeli Army and just before college, Amit Kanfer was offered to travel to four states in the U.S. as part of the JCC Maccabi Games program. This offer didn’t come...

Trinidad Agosto will be King Ahasuerus. Courtesy: GSA  Queen Esther will be performed by Amy Selby. Courtesy: GSA  Austinite Ira R. Forman. Courtesy: Ira R. Forman  By Diane Radin    Many have read the whole megillah and watched a Purim spiel or two. What more is...

Top Row:  Joan Maniere, Marty Henderson, Rabbi Rebecca Reice, Sharon Krumholz, Ruth Ann Plotkin, Merle Dover, Beth Payan, Raquel Schuster, Marcelle Friedman, Melissa Drexler, Ettie Baranoff, Suzanne Newberg    Second Row: Michele Schwartz, Paula Friedman, Christine...

Lauren Halpern, Heilla Lain, Terry Benaryeh, and Michelle Rechenberg (far right) with an Israeli local. Courtesy: JNF  By JD Krebs     Terry Benaryeh, Lauren Halpern, Michelle Reichenberg and Heilla Lain have all known each other for decades. From Pilates classes to...

Goodman Family of five from left to right: Greg, Ezra, Meadow (z"l), Eden, and Lulu. Courtesy: Greg Goodman   By Debbie Cohen   (CONTENT ADVISORY - Mentions of suicide.)  In an extraordinary act of community support, Shalom Austin has provided a generous grant to fund...

Nancy Wolf, AJPR co-founder and board member, speaking about volunteer opportunities in front of a previous gathering. Courtesy: Bettie Forman  By Bettie Forman   Austin Jews and Partners for Refugees estimates they will be helping to support and settle around 200 new...

Frogby Sachs and Shayna Levy. Courtesy: Sandy Dochen    By Sandy Dochen Not one but two Austin teenagers who grew up at Temple Beth Shalom are serving as national board members this year for the National Federation of Temple Youth, or NFTY, associated with the Union...

Rabbi Monty Eliasov z"l. Credit: Tahni Handal  By Salkana Schindler, MSN, RN   Arnold Montgomery Eliasov (z”l), known to most as Rabbi Monty, was born in 1946 in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. He came from a family of Jewish merchants and farmers; he grew...

By Rabbi Amy B. Cohen Shalom Austin Jewish Family Service is thrilled to be opening their central office later this summer on the Dell Jewish Community Campus. The beautiful new building will house over fifteen staff members including counselors, case managers, the...

Team Upili from left to right: Peter Simiyu, Carla Birnberg and Mariam Ndegwa at Joytown Special School in Thika, Kenya. Credit: Carla Birnberg  For the past four years, Chief Storyteller for the Next Step Foundation, based in Austin and Nairobi, Carla Birnberg's...

As I write this column, the school year is ending, and preparations are underway for the summer season and camp. I am also preparing for a long-anticipated sabbatical, my first as I begin my 18th year in the rabbinate, that will begin in mid-June and conclude toward...

Cover Photo: From left to right: Rabbis & Rebbetzins Levi Levertov, Menucha Levertov, Nechomele Levertov, Shmuly Levertov, Rochel Levertov, Yosef Levertov, Mendy Levertov, Mussy Levertov, Rikki Hertz, Mendel Hertz, Mendel Marasow, Mussi Marasow. Not pictured are...

From left to right: Marty Davis, Robin Davis, Lainie Polland, Jonathan Polland.  Credit: Lindsay Thorne Photography  By Margaret Praderas  On Sunday, April 7, 2024, more than 1,000 community members gathered for an evening of celebration and commemoration at Shalom...

From left to right: Community gather in the Epstein Family Community Hall for Shalom Austin's 2024 Annual Meeting on May 21, 2024. Credit: Andrew Holmes By Wendy Goodman  Shalom Austin held their 2024 annual meeting on May 21 with more than 100 community members in...

Shalom Austin’s Impact Grants Categories for 2024 By Amanda Sokolosky    In a record-setting cycle, Shalom Austin recently distributed $269,000 in grants to twenty-one local nonprofit organizations whose missions and objectives align with six key focus areas...

Community members dance and enjoy musical performance by the Dayan Family at Yom HaAtzmaut celebration at the Dell JCC on May 19, 2024. Credit: Rebecca Golden By Alachua Haskins  The Jewish people are held by their calendar. They celebrate together, mourn together,...

(Left) Shalom Austin's Senior Israel Educator Michal Ilai. Credit: Andrew Holmes (Right) Shalom Austin's Public Affairs Director Emily Bourgeois. Credit: Andrew Holmes By Rachel Stern   Recently, Shalom Austin’s Bernard & Audre Rapoport Center for Jewish Culture...