A growing number of American Jews have chosen to retire to Mexico. Two of the largest expatriate communities, in San Miguel de Allende and Ajijic; have experienced contrasting experiences while attempting to establish spiritual leadership.
Compared with the millennia of Jewish history, the scant few centuries of Jewish settlement in the Western Hemisphere is like a drop in the ocean those Jews had crossed from Europe. The history of the Jews in the American colonies is even shorter: more than 100 years before the Jews of Newport, R.I., built their synagogue (now the oldest continuously active synagogue in the United States), the Jewish community of the Caribbean island of Curacao had built theirs — Congregation Mikve Israel, which holds the record as the oldest synagogue in continuous use in the Western Hemisphere.
Kosher has come a long way from designating merely a set of obscure dietary restrictions that are strictly observed by only a minuscule fraction of the world\’s population. According to a 2005 Mintel Organization International report, Kosher is a $14.6 billion industry and ranks among the fastest-growing segments in the retail food business.
For someone only in his 40s, actor-director Robby Benson already has had a busy career. He also has had his fill of Hollywood.
Campus activist groups — led by Arabs in Students for Justice in Palestine and Jews for a Free Palestine — had been gaining ground in their campaign for divestment from Israel, to the point where the UCLA Daily Bruin editorially endorsed divestment last July.
\”I\’m still only in the thinking and talking stage,\” said the outspoken Republican. \”No exploratory committee has been formed. I won\’t announce that until I am close to being certain. I don\’t want to disappoint people who have invested hopes.\”
When B\’nai B\’rith International needs a headliner to attract people to a fundraising dinner, it knows where to turn.When B\’nai B\’rith International needs a headliner to attract people to a fundraising dinner, it knows where to turn.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.