Happy Passover and Chag Sameach! Seven new stories! Our new series, New Mexico Jewish voices across the Spectrum, is introduced with three articles. The first Spectrum profile, by Ron Duncan Hart, highlights the work of Mikey Weinstein, Military Religious Freedom Foundation founder, whose battle against religious coercion in the U.
SPECTRUM: Profiles
By Ron Duncan Hart I first learned about “Mikey” Weinstein and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation from a Harper’s Magazine article entitled, “Jesus Killed Mohammed: The Crusade for a Christian Military.” In that 2009 article the author Jeff Sharlet wrote about an American military squadron in Iraq that had
SPECTRUM: Profiles
Editor's Letter by Diane Joy Schmidt Preparing for presenting the article about Jeffrey Haas that appears in this issue was difficult for me on both a personal and political level. His life had cast a shadow on mine twice before, though we never met until this year. I
SPECTRUM: Profiles
By Ellen Marks If it’s noon on Wednesday, you’re sure to find Jeffrey Haas at the corner of Paseo de Peralta and Old Santa Fe Trail in Santa Fe, protesting on behalf of Palestinians. The 83-year-old Jewish co-founder of the group now called Santa Feans for Justice in
Traveling while Jewish
by Judith Fein When I met an affable local guide in Catalunya, I innocently asked if anything unusual was happening during the current Semana Santa or Holy Week, which included both Easter and Passover. “Well,” she began, “perhaps you have heard of the Catalonian desserts called brunyols, which are fried
Jewish Films
By Gail Rubin, CT, The Doyenne of Death ® Gail Rubin’s new book, 98.6 Mortality Movies to See Before You Die will be published April 16. It is available now for pre-sale at: https://agoodgoodbye.com/product/pre-sale-98-6-mortality-movies-to-see-before-you-die/The Albuquerque Chevra Kaddisha will hold its (very approximately!) annual meeting
by Merilee Dannemann President Trump is talking publicly about his plans to undermine the 2026 midterm election. I’m relieved. Why relieved? Because now that he is talking about it openly, we are also starting to hear about what’s being done, mostly by the states, to counteract those plans.
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Oh the Suspense! We have preliminary results from two professional journalist contests for our stories published in our second year: the regional Society of Professional Journalists and the New Mexico Press Women awards – 17 first-place and recognized entries so far, with more to come. And we will also be hearing
15 Passover Seder events are listed in our Passover Seder Guide to NM, w RSVP deadlines. First Night Seders are April 1st. Second Night, April 2nd. Also, an early Community seder March 28 and a Pesach BBQ April 5th. Sign up to read and receive our newsletter and future Holiday Resource Guides!
“You’ll never get out alive. You’re Jewish. You’re female. They’ll behead you, and they’ll post it on youtube.” "There’s NO American Embassy. You’ll rot in a rat-infested jail for the rest of your life” Those were some of the cheery reactions my friends had when I said I was going to Iran.
by Ron Duncan Hart Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi was a unique influential rabbi of the late twentieth century, and his foundational book, Fragments of a Future Scroll: Hasidism for the Aquarian Age, published in 1975, has just been republished after fifty years.[i] Reb Zalman was born in Poland in 1924
Senate Bill 1 passed to bring NM into the interstate licensure compact for doctors. Unfortunately, 8 other compacts failed to pass for psychologists, counselors, EMTs, PAs, speech therapists & audiologists, physical & occupational therapists, & dentists. They should be passed in a special session.
By Norma Libman He was born in Boston and has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in Eugene, Oregon, in Los Angeles, and in Israel. But before all that, he lived in Albuquerque. He grew up in Albuquerque, in the arms of Congregation Albert – in those
... about Walter Benjamin and the perfect place, the Neue Galerie, where I found his book, The Story Teller: Tales out of Loneliness.
...to think of its aftermath, the sharp contrast between this celebration of life painted by Klimt and the Nazi wave of hatred that would destroy the Jewish life
Story and Photos by Diane Joy Schmidt Day of Celebration and Reflection February 4, 2026 was declared New Mexico Jewish Community Day at the Roundhouse in Santa Fe, while the legislature was in session. Some twenty Jewish community organizations set up tables throughout the day in the West Hall — though
by Corinne Joy Brown What happens when a professor of Spanish literature and language becomes a character in his own graphic novel, functioning as both author and subject? Nothing less than the creation of a story that holds more suspense and depth than the best “who-dunnit” ever written, one where
By Jonah Wald During December of 2025 and going into the January of 2026 I went with my family to Barcelona, Spain. We learned a lot about the rich history of this area and I became very interested. These are some things I learned on my trip. The Spanish Inquisition
By Merilee Dannemann Some years ago, New Mexico’s Senate Judiciary Committee had the nickname Fernando’s Hideaway. The nickname came from a song called “Hernando’s Hideaway,” published in 1954, from a Broadway musical comedy called “The Pajama Game.” The song, with an enticing tango rhythm, is still a