Community News

A Night of Sirens: On the Ground in Paris

By Amy Sams
Special to HAKOL

Opportunity knocked at the end of October. A request came to my husband Rick, to be in Paris in just nine days to meet with a customer. Travelling on such short notice is something that has become routine as a requirement of his computer consulting job, but his …

Federation to Celebrate Day 60 at Israeli Cabaret

By Stephanie Smartschan
JFLV Director of Marketing

As a thank you to donors and volunteers who have taken the 60 Day Challenge, the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley will host a free cabaret on Dec. 1 featuring Israeli singer Hadar. 


Hadar (Hadar McNeill) is an R&B, soul and pop sin…

BAS-CBS Families Bond at Shabbaton

By Jennifer Lader
Congregation Brith Sholom

Imagine spending two days immersed in Jewish life while in a totally stress-free setting. A dozen religious school and Jewish Day School families from Congregation Brith Sholom and Bnai Abraham Synagogue got to do exactly that during a Shabbaton t…

Rubina Tareen: What It’s Like to Be a Muslim Woman

By Laura Rigge
HAKOL Editor

On Nov. 8, a crowd of over 200 people gathered at Congregation Keneseth Israel to learn about the status of women in Islam. The featured speaker of the evening was Rubina Tareen. Originally hailing from Pakistan, Tareen works as an interfaith chaplain at Alvernia…

A Wonderful Time with our Friends in Yoav

By Alan Salinger
Special to HAKOL

This summer we visited Israel to share in the wedding of Jeremy Vaida and Meidan Keidar. You may know Jeremy as David Vaida and Cantor Ellen Sussman’s son and Meidan as the former shlicha who spent time promoting Israel’s and Yoav’s relationship with …