Andrew Guckes

On Dec. 2, Temple University and the United States Department of Education Office for Civil Rights announced that they have begun an agreement that will resolve an investigation started by the department in regards to potential civil rights violations on campus. The investigation found that Temple has done a good job of addressing individual incidents of hate on campus, but has not done an adequate job of ensuring that its approach was cohesive or comprehensive enough.

From left to right, Adam, Brian and Jonathon Levine (Photo by Brian Miller)

The front of the historic synagogue (Courtesy of Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel)

When Rabbi Ari Saks was a kid, there were so many rabbis in his family that he thought maybe his talents would be best served in a different profession. His father was a rabbi, as was his father before him. In addition, Saks had uncles and cousins who worked on the bimah.

On Sept. 19, Jewish Family Service of Atlantic & Cape May Counties held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new office at the Cape May Court House, which allowed the organization to increase its work in Southern New Jersey.

Jonah Abrams is a 33-year-old husband and father who was raised in a Reconstructionist family in Elkins Park. He spent many years dedicating his professional and personal time to Judaism before one day he decided that less might be more. The year was 2014, and Abrams — who at that point went by Jonah Adams before changing his name when he married his wife — was visiting Ukraine to attend a Jewish conference.

Cynthia Stein is currently the first woman president of the Golden Slipper Summer Camp in the Poconos, the most well-known offering from the Golden Slipper Club, a local Jewish nonprofit. Jewish summer camps might not come to mind for many as a frontier for feminism, but for those who were there back in the day, like Stein, the importance cannot be overstated.

Jonah Abrams is a 33-year-old husband and father who was raised in a Reconstructionist family in Elkins Park. He spent many years dedicating his professional and personal time to Judaism before one day he decided that less might be more. The year was 2014, and Abrams — who at that point went by Jonah Adams before changing his name when he married his wife — was visiting Ukraine to attend a Jewish conference.

This week, the Torah opens its curtain on a new act of Jacob’s life and introduces us to Joseph, his beloved son. Though the parasha mostly focuses on the beginnings of Joseph’s epic story, it begins with Jacob. Parashat Vayeshev is the bridge that connects father and son.

The year was 1958 and Susan Dorfman’s family had just bought a house in Warrington, Pennsylvania. The Dorfmans were driving around the neighborhood, looking to get acquainted with the area, when they saw a sign for a picnic. They followed the directions and ended up at the Cohen family house. The Cohens were members of a Conservative synagogue called Tiferes B’nai Israel. In fact, Harry Cohen began TBI in 1924 with a Torah scroll he brought from his homeland of Russia after traveling all the way to Pennsylvania. It just so happened that the Dorfmans were looking for a synagogue. The rest is history.