Sue Fishkoff

3 weeks ago | cddrl.fsi.stanford.edu | Sue Fishkoff

Both Southern California and Israel suffered disastrous wildfires this year. In January, the Palisades and Eaton fires in Los Angeles killed 29 people and destroyed thousands of buildings, spurring a United Nations report titled “Once-in-a-generation events now happen frequently.”In late April, a huge wildfire in central Israel threatened Jerusalem, caused nearby towns to evacuate and led to a national emergency.

1 month ago | berkeleyside.org | Sue Fishkoff |Zac Farber

Editors’ note: This story was first published by J. The Jewish News of California. Sasha Velour is one of the most imaginative drag stars working today. Known for her fantastical, multimedia shows, she’s a storyteller at heart whose theatrical performances routinely surprise and move her audiences. But before she became Sasha Velour, she was young Alexander (Sasha) Hedges Steinberg, who celebrated a bar mitzvah and confirmation in Urbana, Illinois, and was always finding ways to get on stage.

Mar 27, 2025 | berkeleyside.org | Sue Fishkoff |Zac Farber

After 10 years of meeting, planning and fundraising, shovels finally hit dirt at the symbolic groundbreaking for Berkeley Moshav, the nation’s first Jewish urban cohousing complex, with 36 privately owned units. “Such an important dream is coming true,” said Rabbi Dev Noily of Piedmont’s Kehilla Community Synagogue at the celebration on Sunday, offering a blessing that “this way for Jews to live is a good way.”This story was first published on J.

Feb 24, 2025 | jweekly.com | Sue Fishkoff

Patrons attending two sold-out performances of the Batsheva Dance Company at UC Berkeley over the weekend had to run a gauntlet of anti-Israel protesters outside the venue. Some 40 or 50 protesters flanked police barricades set up outside Zellerbach Hall on Saturday evening, flying Palestinian flags and shouting anti-Israel slogans, decrying Cal's hosting of an Israeli modern dance company they consider "ambassadors of Israeli genocide," according to one protester's sign.

Feb 6, 2025 | forward.com | Sue Fishkoff

This article originally appeared on J, The Jewish News of Northern California, and was reprinted here with permission. David, an 89-year-old Iranian Jewish refugee, landed in Washington, D.C., last month on a plane with 17 fellow Iranians fleeing religious persecution. They were Baha'i, Christians and members of other minority faiths. David was the only Jew. It was Jan. 17, three days before America shut its doors to all refugees.