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.S. military has never been more urgent.

His Card Sat on My Desk introduces Spectrum — and traces, with photos published here for the first time, the personal and political history that led editor Diane Joy Schmidt to assign and publish the profile of Haas that follows.

Then the third article, our next Spectrum profile, written by veteran reporter Ellen Marks, is Jeffrey Haas: Civil Rights Lawyer, anti-Zionist.

Then ta-da! With great pleasure we publish Judith Fein and Paul Ross's literary and visual tour de force SNAILS, AN ANTI-SEMITIC PLAY, ROMAN SOLDIERS, A SEDER,  AND CATALONIAN SECRET JEWS, their experience in Spain attending an Easter pageant performed continuously for the last 600 years. And Gail Rubin, our community's very own "Doyenne of Death ®" introduces films from her new book 98.6 Mortality Movies to See Before You Die. We share a new column from Merilee Dannemann about how our NM voting system is top rated nationally, even if a certain party pooper tries to say it ain't so.

And then there's this: The 2026 Awards for NM Jewish Journal Are Starting to Roll In! Seventeen so far: Nine from the Society for Professional Journalists, and eight 1st place from NM Press Women with more placements to come, and now we await news of the toughest, the international Rockowers, the "Jewish Pulitzers." Oh The Suspense!

For last minute folks, you might still find a seder in our very first Guide to 15 Seders in New Mexico, link reposted again. And, we have flyer events galore from our Community Supporter Advertisers. Be sure to show your interest by clicking on them!

From the Reagan White House to a Watchdog for Religious Freedom: The Life and Times of Mikey Weinstein in

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 Iraqi that had

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His Card Sat on My Desk: Introducing the Spectrum Series

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 knew him

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Jeffrey Haas: Civil Rights Lawyer, Anti-Zionist

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

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SNAILS, AN ANTI-SEMITIC PLAY, ROMAN SOLDIERS, A SEDER, AND CATALONIAN SECRET JEWS

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

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Jewish Funeral Traditions on Film

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

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Republicans for fair elections?

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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New Mexico Jewish Journal: The 2026 Awards Are Already Rolling In

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

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15 PASSOVER SEDERS TO ATTEND IN NEW MEXICO & Trinidad, CO!

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!

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The March 16 Newsletter has story links going back to February. See what you missed!:

AND, did you know, we have a whole tab showing our PAST ISSUES.

Past Issues - New Mexico Jewish Journal

New Mexico Jewish Journal

Just in case you haven't been keeping up with all the news, be sure to regularly visit our unique signature post: More Than 50 Reliable and Varied Sources of News and Opinion about Israel and the U.S.

https://jccabq.org/meeting/mah-jongg

In Person from Boston Author Allegra Goodman JCC APR 23rd @ 3 PM

JCF of NM - 2026 COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP APPLY NOW THRU APRIL 27th:

JCFNM LIFE and LEGACY Happy Passover & Create Your Legacy

UPCOMING MAY 10th Israeli reporter for the NEW YORK TIMES
Isabel Kershner, Israel Today: And the Battle for Its Inner Soul

TEMPLE BETH SHALOM - COME AS YOU ARE - SANTA FE

UPCOMING: JUNE 7th NMJHS Annual Business Meeting, 1 pm
SARA KOPLIK - THE JEWS OF AFGHANISTAN 1:45 at
Temple Beth Shalom Santa Fe

JUNE 14 Jewish Ethics and Warfare with Jonathan Crane, Emory University, in an interview with Halley Faust