Uriel Heilman RSS

is JTA's senior writer and former managing editor. Follow him on Twitter at @urielheilman

Latest

• Dershowitz backs Avi Weiss in dispute with Israeli Rabbinate

  November 11, 2013 1:52pm

  Attorney Alan Dershowitz is asking Israeli President Shimon Peres to intervene in the case of the apparent blacklisting of Rabbi Avi Weiss by Israel’s Chief Rabbinate.

• Jerry Silverman: Not just talk when federations meet in Israel for G.A.

  November 4, 2013 10:07am

  Jerry Silverman, CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America, says debate and action will distinguish this year’s General Assembly, slated for Nov. 10-12 in Jerusalem, from past G.A. conferences.

• With vacant space, Conservative and Reform temples turn to Orthodox

  October 31, 2013 12:22pm

  Saddled with excess space due to dwindling attendance, Reform and Conservative synagogues are reinventing themselves as homes for Orthodox Jewish institutions.

• Free Jewish preschool — sounds nice, but is it viable?

  October 28, 2013 10:15am

  A conservative estimate of the cost of providing universal free Jewish preschool is about $1 billion per year. Who is going to pay for that?

• Miami Beach loves the Jews, but it wasn’t always this way

  October 23, 2013 3:39pm

  Everyone knows that Jews and Miami Beach go together like matzah balls and chicken soup. But city hotels once bore advertisements like “Always a view. Never a Jew.”

• Sheldon Silver doesn’t like bugs in his Zomick’s challah

  October 23, 2013 11:37am

  The discovery of vermin in Zomick’s challah appears to have prompted New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to craft a new law about how health code violations should be disseminated to the public.

• Measuring success of Dothan’s $50,000 program

  October 16, 2013 4:04pm

  The program in Dothan, Alabama, to lure Jews with $50,000 grants has brought six new families to town in six years. Is this to be considered a success?

• At United Synagogue centennial, tough talk about need for change

  October 15, 2013 3:41pm

  Held under the shadow of a serious decline in the Conservative movement, the synagogue group’s three-day biennial focused not on celebrating the movement’s past century but ensuring it has a future.

• What’s your idea to save U.S. Jewry?

  October 10, 2013 11:22am

  JTA is interested in your ideas to stem the tide of Jewish assimilation in America. In 200 words or less, send them to jewishfuture@jta.org.

• At centennial, United Synagogue aims to retool Conservative Judaism

  October 8, 2013 3:52pm

  As Conservative Jewish leaders try to figure out how to revitalize their movement, they’re trying to co-opt successful congregations and institutions that have shunned the Conservative label, such as IKAR and Hadar.