In this video, Minnesota Sen. Al Franken endorses marriage eqaulity. He notes that he and his wife, Franni, have been married for 36 years — “many of them happy.”
“I think everybody should be able to marry the person they love,” says Franken:

The video appears on the Web site of the Human Rights Campaign.

The Sabes JCC will host the eighth annual Celebration Showcase 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 29 at the Marriott Minneapolis West, 
9960 Wayzata Blvd., Minnetonka. Attendees can 
find everything needed to plan a special celebration.
There will be a wide selection of invitations, entertainment, photographers, DJs, caterers, venues and more. The event [...]

By DIETER GRAUMANN
(JTA) — It has taken decades for the international community to deal with the Holocaust in a really serious way. Perhaps a new generation first had to emerge with sufficient courage to ask about the causes of the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question in Europe” and to look into the abyss of [...]

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Talks between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators leading to full peace talks have ended with no progress, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said.
Abbas, following a fifth meeting between the sides, met Wednesday with Jordan’s King Abdullah before announcing that the exploratory talks were concluded.
He said he would discuss Feb. 4 with the Arab [...]

NEW YORK (JTA) — U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot by a gunman last January, announced that she will resign from Congress.
In a two-minute video (above) released Sunday, Giffords, D-Ariz., said she will step down as she continues her recovery.
“I have more work to do on my recovery, so to do what is best [...]

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The owner of the Atlanta Jewish Times apologized for an opinion column in which he counted President Obama’s assassination as among Israel’s options in heading off a nuclear Iran.
“I very much regret it, I wish I hadn’t made reference to it at all,” Andrew Adler told JTA on Friday.
He said [...]

Mona Lyn Reese has been composing professionally for more than 35 years, including a stint as composer-in-residence at the Minnesota Opera from 1991-1999. Her most recent album is a dramatic oratorio titled Choose Life, Uvacharta Bachayim, an interfaith commemoration of the Holocaust, which Reese composed with librettist Delores Dufner, OSB. The ambitious work was recorded [...]

A nonviolent revolutionary who inspired generations of political activists to speak out and confront injustice
By MORDECAI SPECKTOR
Marv Davidov, the most prominent face of the local peace movement, began his decades-long career as an activist for peace and social justice in 1961. He was part of a group of six young Minnesotans (including three [...]

Comedy in a Minor Key, by Hans Keilson, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 135 pages, $13
Reviewed by NEAL GENDLER
For many Jews, comedy — even in the constant unease of a minor key — won’t mean laughing aloud while reading Hans Keilson’s charming novella about a young Dutch couple hiding a Jew during the war.
The [...]

Yuval Ron Ensemble will welcome local Jewish performers, and others, for a concert in Stillwater
By DORIS RUBENSTEIN
Jews in Stillwater? Yes, there’s a small Jewish community on the St. Croix River, but on Sunday night, Jan. 22, the Jewish population in the “birthplace of Minnesota” is likely to boom thanks to Yuval Ron.
Israel-born, Los [...]