RSS
Rabbi Laurie Phillips, founder of a Manhattan ‘synagogue without walls,’ dies at 55
(JTA) — Rabbi Laurie Phillips, whose search for a new model of Jewish engagement led her to found the New York-based “synagogue without walls” Beinenu, died Nov. 26 at her childhood home in Southfield, Michigan. She was 55.
The cause was complications from leiomyosarcoma, a rare cancer, according to an obituary prepared by her friends Debbie Mukamal and Rabbi John Franken.
Starting in 2014, Beinenu (which means “between us” in Hebrew) offered Jewish worship and celebrations in intimate spaces. Phillips and her co-director, the musician Daphna Mor, also led High Holidays services at the JCC Harlem, which had begun catering to a growing number of Jews, including Phillips, who were living in the Manhattan neighborhood.
“Ever sure of herself, she preached from her heart, without notes, sometimes sharing some of her rawest life experiences, such as undergoing chemotherapy and the benefits of wearing good red lipstick,” according to the obituary by Mukamal, who was Phillips’ neighbor when she lived in Brooklyn, and Franken, rabbi of Temple Adas Shalom in Havre de Grace, Maryland.
“Her blunt truth-telling could unleash uproarious laughter as well and many thought she should moonlight in stand-up comedy,” they added.
Phillips also initiated, in 2017, the “Be Kind” campaign, distributioning bright red pins with the slogan and urging those who wore it to use it as a conversation-starter with friends and strangers.
Before launching Beinenu, Phillips served as the associate director for the Mandel Center for Jewish Education at the JCC Association of North America, where she co-created Lechu Lachem, an immersive program for Jewish camp directors. She also helped create, with the JCC Manhattan and three nearby synagogues, the Jewish Journeys project, which provides personalized alternatives to synagogue-based supplementary Jewish schooling.
Growing up in her Detroit suburb, Phillips attended Hillel Day School and was active at Temple Adat Shalom of Farmington Hills. She majored in special education at Michigan State University and later earned a master’s degree in educational leadership from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland. She was ordained at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles in 2003 and served as director of education at Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles and at Congregation Habonim in Manhattan.
Phillips said her participation in the mid-1990s as a counselor at what is now known as the Ziering Brandeis Collegiate Institute, a West Coast summer retreat program for young adults, inspired her “to merge her passion for Judaism and education,” according to the Beinenu web site.
In spite of her illness, Phillips was officiating at b’nei mitzvah as recently as mid-November, according to Mukamal and Franken.
“I am so lucky to have found a partner with whom I could create my dream version of a Jewish community in NYC, led through the heart, held by music, genuine love, and joy,” Mor said in statement to JTA. “Laurie’s legacy of light, love and kindness keeps shining through all the people whose lives she touched.”
Phillips is survived by her father Dennis, siblings Beth Phillips and Michael Phillips, and her stepson, Adam Cohen. Here marriage to Howard Cohen ended in divorce. Her mother, Judith Caplan Phillips, died in 2007.
—
The post Rabbi Laurie Phillips, founder of a Manhattan ‘synagogue without walls,’ dies at 55 appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
RSS
After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
RSS
Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
RSS
Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.