Families

Members of a Far-Flung Family to Reunite in Baltimore

By:

Rachel Vigoda, JE Feature

Laya Bitman is expecting 75 people at her family reunion in Baltimore this weekend. The other 15,925 can't make it. For the past 17 years, Bitman has been constructing her family tree, tying together 16,000 relatives from Philadelphia, where she grew up, and Baltimore, where she now lives, as well as New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Virginia, Georgia, Florida,...

Synagogue Life

Finding the Path to Inclusion for Intermarrieds

By:

Bryan Schwartzman

Just a few months ago, InterFaithways seemed like the next big thing. The one outlet in the region devoted exclusively to helping interfaith families feel more welcome in the community had secured prior funding from the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia. With the release of the 2009 "Jewish Population Study of Greater Philadelphia" -- and its startling statistics on intermarriage...

Interfaith Families

Intermarriage: No Laughing Matter

Numbers in the population study are nothing to clown around about

By:

Bryan Schwartzman

It doesn't happen often that a pop-cultural milestone like the 20th anniversary of "The Simpsons" dovetails with the release of a new Jewish demographic survey. But that's exactly what happened when the plot of the Jan. 10 episode revolved around the marriage of a Jew and a Congregationalist, who also happen to be a clown and a princess, respectively. When...

Families

Teacher Ties the Knot at the School That 'Saved Her'

By:

Rachel Levy Lesser, JE Feature

In lieu of snack time this past Monday morning, 130 or so toddlers gathered in the sanctuary of Temple Beth Hillel/Beth El in Wynnewood to attend a wedding. For most of the children, it was their first such ceremony -- and it was a distinctly special one. They had gathered to watch the synagogue's early-childhood center's assistant teacher, Janine Neff,...

Jewish Federation

Another Incentive to Attend Summer Overnight Camps

By:

Lynn B. Edelman

Three charitable organizations -- the Neubauer Family Foundation, the Foundation for Jewish Camp and the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia -- have joined forces to make attendance at Jewish overnight camps more affordable for families in the Greater Philadelphia area. The 2010 Overnight Camp Incentive Program will provide a grant of up to $1,000 to 185 first-time campers, ages 8...