I have been counting down the months, now the days to July 1 — the day a new president takes the reins of leadership at our shul. Little did I know last August, when I had the idea to organize the shul’s library, a small independent volunteer job with little commitment, that I would end up here as your newly elected president. When I asked how I would coordinate entry to the synagogue building to [...]
Please join us for Congregation Tifereth Israel’s JOURNAL LAUNCH COCKTAIL PARTY This year’s Honorees: Synagogue Member Ann Hurwitz And Community Member Linda Kessler When: Sunday July 26, 2026 4 to 6 pm Where: Congregation Tifereth Israel Andrew Levin Park 519 4th St, Greenport NY Please RSVP by July 19 $36 per person Catered by Ben's Deli Cocktails and Mocktails by Doublespeak Craft Cocktails Live Music
The shul’s Tikkun Olam Initiative (TOI), chaired by Veronica Kaliski, has contributed to the Butterfly Effect Project in Riverhead. This program focuses on creating safe spaces for young people to dream and succeed, with a special commitment to those whose voices are often overlooked or opportunities limited. The program provides them with the tools to achieve emotionally strong, self-confident futures. This is done one child at a time, creating a ripple effect that strengthens the [...]
The painting shows a girl in a bonnet and her younger brother staring across the Normandy coast toward an unknown horizon. The artwork was acquired in Paris for Adolf Hitler, one of countless works swept up in the Nazi plunder. In May, the piece went on permanent display in a new room at the city’s Musée d’Orsay as part of France’s reckoning with Nazi-era looting. The gallery is given over to the orphaned masterpieces of [...]
On an unseasonably warm Friday evening, 40 people gathered for a Kabbalat Shabbat service in a grove of redwoods and California live oaks. A group of musicians led the congregation in singing Hebrew tunes as an owl made his presence known from above. The service was part of Makom Shalom, a forest shul that launched during the High Holidays last year and has grown to 83 adult members. Rabbi Zelig Golden leads the nondenominational congregation in [...]
Jeffrey Salkin/For ‘Religion News Service’ One of my adult students recently asked me, “You know how God spoke to Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob, Moses, Isaiah, and the rest of the prophets? Why doesn’t God speak anymore?” It is a truly good question. A quick answer: After Malachi, there was no more prophecy, and God stopped speaking. But the Talmud has a different answer: Even though Prophecy had ended by that time, the voice of [...]
Community leader Sonia Spar was named the 2026 Champion of Diversity for Suffolk County Legislative District 1, it was announced at the May 4 Southold Town Board meeting. The honoree, who moved to Southold from Colombia 20 years ago, has helped run a shelter for victims of domestic violence on the East End, assisted those coping with mental health or substance abuse challenges, and is an advocate for educational outreach.
Greg Hyman, an electronics wizard and toy inventor who was a creator of Tickle Me Elmo, the giggling red plush Muppet when it appeared in 1996 and became a runaway success, died on May 1 at his home in Boca Raton, FL. He was 78. Elmo was a bundle of red fluff and googly Muppet eyes. He giggled and said “That tickles.” What followed was retail mayhem. The first 400,000 sold out by Black Friday. [...]
Barney Frank, the brassy, lightning-quick-witted former Massachusetts senator, who for decades was the most prominent gay politician in the country and who was an author of the most significant overhaul of the nation’s financial regulations since the Great Depression, died on May 19 at his home in Ogunquit, Maine. He was 86. Mr. Frank, a liberal Democrat, represented a diverse suburban Boston district for 32 years, starting in 1981. A Harvard-trained lawyer, Mr. Frank “bristled [...]
Nicole Hollander, a biting cartoon artist, whose comic strip “Sylvia,” about a big-haired, cigarette-smoking, cat-loving, hyper-opinionated feminist, made her a singular voice on the funny pages for more than 30 years, died on April 23 in Chicago. She was 86. Ms. Hollander made Sylvia a tart-tongued, witty, loquacious single mother who held court — sometimes from her bathtub — on sex and relationships, politics, health care reform, the environment, and other hot-button issues. The strip [...]
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