May 13, 2011

Montgomery Federation steps up to the plate

The Jewish Federation of Central Alabama, based in Montgomery, is reaching out to tornado-damaged communities in the central part of the state. Among the needs the Montgomery group has met is large plastic storage containers so those who live in tents can store their donated […]
May 12, 2011

New Orleans Offers Tornado Relief

The Jewish Endowment Foundation of Louisiana and the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans have each issued $1,000 grants toward the Alabama tornado relief efforts. According to the Foundation, “As a community that knows all too well the difficult road that lies ahead for those […]
May 5, 2011

Jewish Disaster Response Corps in Alabama

Elie Lowenfeld speaks with a volunteer at a food bank set up at the First Baptist Church in Pleasant Grove Elie Lowenfeld has been working disasters for five years, and even he hasn’t seen anything quite like what happened last week in Alabama. “You look […]
May 4, 2011

On the ground in Pleasant Grove

Rabbi Avi Weiss visits with J.D. Smith in Pleasant Grove this morning This morning, Rabbi Avi Weiss of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale accompanied Rabbi Eytan Yammer of Birmingham’s Knesseth Israel Synagogue and several volunteers from the Birmingham Jewish community on a visit to Pleasant […]
May 4, 2011

Tornado relief efforts continue

Tornado damage in Pratt City Across central and northern Alabama, tornado relief efforts are still in high gear as damage assessments continue. Tonight, Rabbi Avi Weiss of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale arrived in Birmingham for a program at Knesseth Israel. Rabbi Eytan Yammer has […]
May 1, 2011

Update on Tornado Relief

Offers of assistance have been pouring into Alabama from Jewish communities across the country ever since the rash of tornadoes that went through the state Wednesday. The outbreak has been described as historic. As of this morning there are 250 fatalities in Alabama, and hundreds […]
April 28, 2011

Tornadoes across Alabama

Thus far, there are no reports of injuries or fatalities in Alabama’s Jewish community following a tornado outbreak that is being described as historic, but there were apparently several close calls. The weather outbreak began around 5 a.m. yesterday as a line of storms went […]
April 1, 2011

Soul Queen Irma Thomas to headline JazzFest Shabbat

By Alan Smason Irma Thomas, “the Soul Queen of New Orleans” and the greatest export from Pontchatoula since the strawberry, will be the headliner of this year’s Jazz Fest Shabbat at Touro Synagogue. Thomas, a Grammy Award winner and inductee into the Louisiana Music Hall […]
March 29, 2011

CUFI Plans Alabama Night to Honor Israel

Christians United for Israel will have its first Alabama Night to Honor Israel, Sept. 22 at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. David Brog, CUFI executive director and author of “Standing with Israel,” will be the keynote speaker. The event was announced on March 22 at a […]