NJJN | New Jersey Jewish News

Probably the most indelible image of an American Thanksgiving is Norman Rockwell’s painting of a proud matriarch placing a plump turkey before a tableful of beaming relatives. What’s often seen as a quaint portrayal of Americana was actually a bold political statement.

When Benjamin Raskin-Gross, now 13, was born, his mother knew something was wrong. But the doctor picked up the baby and told her, “This is a perfectly normal newborn,” and sent them home from the hospital.

Three days after being a guest at the White House, Lori Klinghoffer said she is “still flying high.” Klinghoffer was one of 50 Jewish leaders to attend a reception at the State Dining Room on Nov. 9 with President Barack Obama and eight of his key advisers.

While New Jersey Democrats tried to minimize their loss, Republicans said the defeat of Jon Corzine by former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie is spelling a new era of success for the state’s GOP and perhaps greater support among Jews.

Despite the persistent rain, a noisy and enthusiastic crowd of 1,000 turned out at Rutgers Hillel Oct. 28 to “drown out the hate” espoused by an extremist anti-Semitic and anti-gay group picketing nearby.

It was hateful on one side of the street, haimishe on the other, as six members of the Westboro Baptist Church picketed the Cooperman JCC in West Orange Oct. 27.

The Race for Governor 2009 - Coverage of the New Jersey gubernatorial election

Some grandchildren of Holocaust survivors are using a Facebook group to keep alive both ethnic pride and the memories of their grandparents’ bitter experience.

From Oct. 19 to Nov. 17, volunteers from Central New Jersey are planning to join Jews around the world in a global campaign of doing good. Those dates span the Jewish month of Heshvan, dubbed Jewish Social Action Month, or JSAM.

Jewish organizations and others involved in the battle against anti-Semitism are puzzling over assertions by a New Jersey blogger and broadcaster that he was paid by the FBI to make violent anti-Jewish and anti-black statements.

Precautions ranging from a race for an effective swine flu vaccine to the installation of hand sanitizers in the classroom were on the minds of Jewish educators as they prepared for the first day of school.

Mendham native’s play deals with Israel and identity

Mitchell Brown, a 32-year-old father of two small children, has not responded to conventional chemotherapy in his battle with non-Hodgkins lymphoma.