2021

From left, Laura King, John Buhler, Deputy Israeli Consul General Alex Gandler, Gov. Kay Ivey, Israeli Consul General Anat Sultan-Dadon, Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Parker and wife Dottie at May 2021 signing of resolution expressing Alabama’s support for Israel during its recent operation against […]

By Lee J. Green A significant “Television Event” will kick off the Sidewalk Film Festival’s Homecoming to downtown Birmingham in 2021 and the documentary’s Jewish director is excited about the big-screen debut of the film, which examines 1983’s television movie that shook the world – […]

By Richard Friedman As Isabel Rubio readies to step down after 20 years as the founding executive director of the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama, she’s become intrigued by an unusual Jewish story that courses through her family’s history, and that she did not know about until […]

This transmission electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2—also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19—isolated from a patient in the United States. Credit: NIAID-RML via Wikimedia Commons. With much less organized activity during the summer, increasing vaccination rates and Covid cases on a major decline, […]

At the opening retreat last fall for the 2020-21 Avodah Service corps members in New Orleans On July 21, the 2020-2021 cohort of Avodah’s New Orleans Service Corps celebrated the culmination of their service year as part of an online national celebration. Avodah New Orleans […]

Team Israel baseball at the Tokyo Olympics. Source: Team Israel Baseball/Facebook. The clock struck midnight on Team Israel’s run in the Olympics, as the team placed fifth in the six-team field of Olympic baseball, going 1-4 overall. Analysts had given Team Israel a 45 percent […]

Florida license plate; one will soon feature a boost to Israel, December 2020. Credit: Courtesy. By Faygie Holt (JNS) — The state of Florida notified Unilever, the parent company of Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream, on Aug. 3 that it has 90 days to cease its […]

From top left to bottom right: Bennie Goodman, Cab Calloway, Artie Shaw, Louis Armstrong. (Wikipedia) By Richard Friedman  Jews and jazz. They go together and are inextricably linked. Jewish jazz musicians, performers and promoters have had a heavy influence on this uniquely American genre as it […]

Becky Seitel (right) with husband Alan and survivor Ilse Nathan. (BHEC photo) By Richard Friedman  There are those who pursue their creative talents for personal fulfillment. Then there are those who use their gifts to change the world. Birmingham’s Becky Barker Seitel, who died July 24, did both. […]