Twins rookie third baseman Danny Valencia is enjoying life on the upswing in the top tier of professional baseball

By MORDECAI SPECKTOR

Growing up in Boca Raton, Fla., Danny Valencia says he was “a huge baseball fan.” He recalls cheering for the hometown team, the Florida Marlins, when they played against Cleveland in the 1997 [...]

A new photo exhibit by Victor Bloomfield depicts remnants of Jewish communities that once thrived in two Baltic states
By DORIS RUBENSTEIN
As a professor of biochemistry at the University of Minnesota, Victor Bloomfield explored the properties of DNA using sophisticated laboratory equipment and theoretical insight. Now that he’s retired, Bloomfield is exploring the building blocks of [...]

Dr. Ofer Merin directed surgical activities at the Israeli field hospital in the aftermath of the January earthquake
By ERIN ELLIOTT BRYAN / Community News Editor
On a train bound for Auschwitz, a mother throws her 9-year-old son into the woods. He wanders into a small Polish village, where he is taken in by a Christian woman [...]

In this penitential season each and every Jew is called to make amends. Our tradition and the Scriptures instruct us to undertake heshbon ha’nefesh, soul searching, and to make the necessary course corrections to get back on track. Teshuva, which is often translated as “repentance,” literally means “turning,” in the sense of turning back to God, or [...]

Minneapolis native Baruch Frank knows everything there is to know about taking the perfect trip to Israel

By MAX JOHNSON

Traveling in Israel with a knowledgeable guide is an essential part of any Holy Land trip — there’s too much history and politics to depend solely on a guidebook. One can only hope to find a [...]

St. Paul’s Park Square Theatre presents Midwest premiere of Jennifer Maisel play
By DORIS RUBENSTEIN
We’ve all experienced it. If it isn’t the last seder with Dad or Zaide, it’s the last Thanksgiving with Mom or Auntie Freda. We dread it, knowing that the next time around, there will be an empty place in our hearts, if [...]

Gritty war film follows journey of a tank crew blasting its way through southern Lebanon in 1982

By MICHAEL FOX

Even if one did not know going in that Samuel Maoz’s stunning war movie, Lebanon, was based on his own chaotic, harrowing experience inside a tank in 1982, the attention to detail clearly conveys first-hand [...]

The Sway Machinery is a New York quintet formed in 2008 by prominent underground musicians from Balkan Beat Box, Arcade Fire, Antibalas and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The group’s songs are inspired by Jewish liturgical music, which is fused with blues, rock and West African grooves. The Sway Machinery, whose newest album is Hidden Melodies [...]