Local

For Two Painters, Art's All in the Family

By:

Daphna Berman, Jewish Exponent Feature

At the beginning, it didn't seem like Haim Maor and Khader Oshah had much in common. Although both are artists, Maor is a professor at Ben-Gurion University and his work, which explores Holocaust themes, has been on display across the United States and Europe. Oshah, meanwhile, was born in a refugee camp in Gaza, and now lives with his wife...

Local

Community Provides Some Solace After the Tragic Death of a Teenager

By:

Aaron Passman, Jewish Exponent Feature

Those who knew him well marveled at how Natan Luehrmann-Cowen always loved his synagogue. His family was a mainstay at Congregation Beth Or in Maple Glen, where the boy was involved in junior choir and regularly volunteered to help his religious-school teachers, even after he'd completed his Sunday-school education. His father, Ben Cowen, is the synagogue's treasurer, and was in...

Local

Facility One Step Closer to Merion Relocation

By:

Bryan Schwartzman

By receiving the approval of the Lower Merion Township Zoning Board, Stern Hebrew High School has cleared perhaps the last major hurdle in its effort to relocate from its current facility in Northeast Philadelphia to a 4-acre campus on the Main Line. If all goes according to plan, the institution will take over the building formerly occupied by Akiba Hebrew...

Local

Who's 'Kosher' at Hillel? New Guidelines Point the Way

By:

Aaron Passman

Hillel of Greater Philadelphia has adopted a new set of rules to help determine which speakers and programs will and will not receive official support -- in other words, who's kosher and who's not. The development comes after several months of heated rhetoric on Philadelphia campuses. These incidents include a fracas in November over the choice of speakers at Temple...

Local

In Turnabout, Politician Says 'No' to J Street

By:

Bryan Schwartzman

Two months after accepting an endorsement from J Street's political action committee, a local Democratic congressional candidate is disassociating himself from the upstart lobbying group. Doug Pike -- a former editorial writer for The Philadelphia Inquirer who is now seeking to unseat U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-District 6) -- asked J Street officials this week to remove him from its...