In the joyful month of May 2026 IYAR-SIVAN. NM Jewish Journal

We'd like to be festive. We're not sure we can let go for a second though or the whole place will unravel. My father used to say the only thing he could be sure of was the sun would come up in the morning. Now I

Finding Your Inner West: An Urban Cowgirl Conversation with Corinne Joy Brown

Interview by Gloria Abella Ballen How To Be An Urban Cowgirl & Find Your Inner West by Corinne Joy Brown has just been published, and we are delighted to share this interview excerpt conducted by Gloria Abella Ballen. TO ORDER: HOW TO BE AN URBAN COWGIRL  Gloria Abella Ballen: Corinne,

The Most Antisemitic Experience of my Life

By Judith Fein Photos by Paul Ross When someone asks me why I became a travel journalist, I say it’s because I love learning. Every day I try to learn something new, and traveling is the best way to learn many new things at the same time. What I

A Menorah in the Hallway

By Jackie Wald We are all part of the worldwide Diaspora. Some places have little pockets of Jews, others large concentrations—think New York, Los Angeles, London… If you’re like me, it feels as though we are always looking at those around us, thinking hmmm, I wonder if s/

LITTLE EDNA'S WAR: An Extraordinary Child in the Warsaw Ghetto

By Dianne R. Layden, PhD Janet Bond Brill spent 37 years with her mother-in-law Edna before losing her — and she refused to let Edna’s story disappear with her. The result is Little Edna’s War, a Warsaw Ghetto memoir written in Edna’s own voice as a child, with

Old People in Tennis Shoes, New Rules: 370,000 New Mexico Independents Can Now Choose

\by Karen Wentworth When I worked as a journalist many years ago for KOAT I covered the activities of many non-profit organizations. One of the most boring was the League of Women Voters. Year after year, they did the same things – put out Voter Guides with candidate questions and answers,

New Mexico Jewish Journal Wins 9 Awards — Four 1st Place — at the Society of Professional Journalists Top of the Rockies Contest in Denver — and the 2026 Season Is Just Getting Started

New Mexico Jewish Journal, in its second year, just took home 9 awards by 8 contributors – including 4 first-place wins – from the regional Society of Professional Journalists Top of the Rockies contest. Among 2,000 entries from 100 newsrooms across Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico, NMJJ competed in the

NM Jewish Journal Sweeps 2026 NM Press Women Awards, Wins First Prize Publication Award, with Ten First Places Among Forty Total

NM Jewish Journal Sweeps 2026 77th Annual NM Press Women Communications Contest. Wins FIRST PRIZE Publication with Ten First Place Awards and Forty Awards Total

LATE APRIL - EARLY MAY NM Jewish Journal ~ Iyar 5786

OUR CURRENT ISSUE War: A Mirror to Ourselves · New Awards · To Be a Jew Is a Verb: A Las Cruces Family’s Century of Showing Up. · Concert: Joni and Leonard at the KiMo · Yom HaShoah at the Roundhouse with the Mayor of Santa Fe and both Majority and Minority Democratic

War: A Mirror to Ourselves

By Ron Duncan Hart In 1901, shortly before becoming the 26th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican, famously said, “Speak softly and carry a big stick—you will go far.” He went on to say, “If a man continually blusters, if he lacks civility, a big stick

“To Be a Jew Is a Verb”: A Las Cruces Family’s Century of Showing Up

By the New Mexico Jewish Journal Debra Wechter Friedman grew up watching her parents build a synagogue from scratch in southern New Mexico. Now she’s asking what the next generation of Jewish giving looks like in a state that rarely makes the philanthropic map. Debra Wechter Friedman remembers exactly

A Rabbi, a Jazz Singer, and the music that binds them: Joni & Leonard take the stage at the KiMo

By Ellen Futterman Editor-in-Chief of the St. Louis Jewish Light where this story first appeared. For Danielle Wertz and Robbie Schaefer, the paths that led them to each other—and to their intimate cabaret show, “Both Sides Now: The Music and Lives of Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen”—are as