Larry Brook

Cooking out at the Chabad Center in Metairie As the initial recovery from Hurricane Ida continues in Louisiana, plans are being formulated for a High Holy Days in the diaspora, with so many community members still scattered around the country, and most of the New […]

The 5782 United Synagogue calendar features Barry Ivker and the 2020 Temple Beth-El Rosh Hashanah Prayer Walk at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens on its cover. The Covid resurgence with the highly-contagious Delta variant has thrown High Holiday plans into disarray once again. Some congregations have […]

Outside Temple Sinai in New Orleans Recovery from Hurricane Ida will be a long-term process for the Southeast Louisiana Jewish communities, but even though it will be nothing resembling the long-term displacement of Katrina, what the needs will be are not yet known. At an […]

Broward County Public Schools Department at Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Credit: YES Market Media/Shutterstock. By Sean Savage (JNS) — The Florida State Board of Education adopted new civics and Holocaust-education standards for Florida’s public schools in July, which had been pushed by the state’s governor, Ron […]

Empty ark: Rabbi David Gerber checked on the Gates of Prayer building in Metairie, noting how odd it was to see an empty ark in the darkened sanctuary, as the Torahs had been moved to higher ground in advance of the hurricane. Reports continue to […]

Courtesy Google Maps The former Karnofsky Shop, a landmark in the history of New Orleans jazz, was demolished by Hurricane Ida on Aug. 29. The building at 427 South Rampart Street, which was vacant, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. […]

By Richard Friedman  “Is it good for the Jews?” That’s a question Jewish people ask themselves when tumultuous events occur. There’s been nothing more tumultuous in college football — and maybe in all of sports — this summer than Texas and Oklahoma joining the Southeastern […]

Hoping there won’t be a repeat: Evacuating flooded Torahs from Beth Israel in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Jewish communities in Louisiana are bracing for Hurricane Ida, which is slated to make landfall on Sunday morning, exactly 16 years after the notorious Hurricane […]

Members of Gates of Prayer in New Iberia weren’t expecting to spend the past year renovating their building, but mainly, they’re just happy it is still standing. The renovations were made necessary after a fire broke out in the 1903 building the morning of April […]