AllJewishLinks.com Newsletter Issue # 36 – June 27, 2012

Forty years ago this past week, Rabbi Sally Priesand was ordained as a Reform rabbi,thus making her the first woman rabbi to be ordained after the Holocaust. And in the years that followed, the Conservative movement continued to ordaining women, Recently Modern Orthodoxy has given women new leadership roles.

While the government tries to find a way to accommodate Jewish and Muslim ritual slaughter and at the same time conform with what they see as acceptable limits on cruelty to animals, schools across London are taking pork sausages which is a long-time staple in meals, off the menu.

ConAgra Foods Inc is being sued by consumers who said that the hot dogs and other products sold under the Hebrew National brand are not kosher. According to the lawsuit alleges that meat processing services provided to ConAgra fell short of the standards necessary to label Hebrew National products as kosher.

According to new census data, Australia’s official Jewish population has risen to nearly 100,000 about 10 percent in the last five years. Released in June 22 by the Australian Bureau of Statistics,showed the Jewish population to be 97,335.

Michigan State Representative Lisa Brown became a new heroine of the pro-choice movement, she achieved this status by invoking her Judaism and using the word vagina on the State House Floor, during a heated debate of an omnibus anti-abortion bill.

What I love most about the Jewish tradition, is about the dance of life and its cycles. It’s a wonderful interplay between tradition and innovation. From the time of the first temple to the twenty-first century, the Jewish people have celebrated, reconciled, uplifted, and honored that tension.

Drawing with crayons on hot wood, is a great little craft activity for the whole family (excluding toddlers), although this craft does require caution due to the very hot wood, it is just so completely satisfying to draw with crayons that melt as you apply them to your hot surface.