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Violet Spevack, weekly chronicler of Cleveland Jewry for 50 years, dies at 107
(Cleveland Jewish News via JTA) — Violet Spevack, whose popular society column ran in the pages of the Cleveland Jewish News for nearly 50 years, died Sept. 7. She was 107.
Spevack, who started writing “Cavalcade” on March 5, 1965 — six months after the creation of the weekly Cleveland newspaper — wrote more than 2,500 columns and hundreds more feature stories on her manual typewriter until her retirement in January 2015. She was one of the longest continuously published columnists in the country.
Spevack’s weekly descriptions of events in Greater Cleveland brought her fame and recognition her own right. Among the celebrities included in her column over the years were Don Rickles, George Burns, Milton Berle, Monty Hall, Buddy Hackett, Joan Rivers and Henny Youngman.
Spevack was inducted into the Cleveland Press Club Journalism Hall of Fame in November 2014.
The CJN also honored her at an event in 2011 called “Vi-Vi-Vi-vacious! A Cavalcade of Memories in Celebration of Violet Spevack’s 95th Birthday.” Gossip columnist Rona Barrett was the guest speaker, with 730 people attending.
“Violet, you put all of us to shame,” Barrett said. “If I ever reach 95, I hope to look as great and feel as good as you do tonight.”
Spevack also was recognized at an ice cream social in commemoration of her retirement in May 2015 at Temple Emanu El in Orange Village, Ohio, where she and her husband were founding members.
“I’ve had the time of my life covering our Jewish community through the lens of my society column, first called Cleveland Cavalcade and then just Cavalcade. I’ve had the great fortune of chronicling events throughout the Jewish community over six decades, rubbing elbows with local dignitaries as well as national celebrities who came to town,” she wrote in her farewell column.
The CJN has an editorial internship named for her — the Violet Spevack Editorial Intern.
Spevack began her career writing “Green’s Pasture,” a column for Temple Emanu El, and also wrote for her high school newspaper, The Glenville Torch, at Glenville High School in Cleveland. The CJN’s first editor, Arthur Weyne, launched her professional career.
“He hired me on the spot,” Spevack said in 2015. “I think I got $6 per column, maybe $5. I worked for every editor the paper has had — Arthur Weyne, Jerry Barach, the incomparable Cindy Dettelbach, Michael Bennett, and now Bob Jacob.”
Spevack and her husband, Dave, who died in 2013 at 101, were married for 72 years. He and Evel Barcus, a longtime friend who died in September 2016 at 99, accompanied Spevack to many events.
Those in the CJN newsroom remember the days when Spevack used to bring her typewritten columns into the office, and then in later years, she had someone send her columns via email.
Spevack, whose maiden name was Goldhammer, was born in Denver. Her paternal grandparents came from Austria-Hungary in the 1860s to look for gold.
Spevack grew up in the Glenville area of Cleveland in the 1930s, which was then considered a middle-class Jewish neighborhood. She learned Hebrew at The Jewish Center, now Cory United Methodist Church.
Although she came from what she called “the Wild West,” she was passionate about Cleveland.
“I remember the versatility of this community and all of the different wonderful people who have been in the arts, in books and religion, and active in the community,” she told the Cleveland Plain Dealer in a video in 2015. “I have been very energized by a community that has, I think, been one of the best communities in the country.”
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The post Violet Spevack, weekly chronicler of Cleveland Jewry for 50 years, dies at 107 appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Germany’s Halt to Arms Exports to Israel Is Response to Gaza Expansion Plans, Chancellor Says
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz attends a cabinet meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Aug. 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Liesa Johannssen
Germany’s decision to curb arms exports to Israel comes in response to Israel’s plan to expand its operations in the Gaza Strip, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Sunday in an interview with public broadcaster ARD.
“We cannot deliver weapons into a conflict that is now being pursued exclusively by military means,” Merz said. “We want to help diplomatically, and we are doing so.”
The worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and Israel’s plans to expand military control over the enclave have pushed Germany to take this historically fraught step.
The chancellor said in the interview that the expansion of Israel’s operations in Gaza could claim hundreds of thousands of civilian lives and would require the evacuation of the entire city of Gaza.
“Where are these people supposed to go?” Merz said. “We can’t do that, we won’t do that, and I will not do that.”
Nevertheless, the principles of Germany’s Israel policy remain unchanged, the chancellor said.
“Germany has stood firmly by Israel’s side for 80 years. That will not change,” Merz said.
Germany is Israel’s second-biggest weapons supplier after the US and has long been one of its staunchest supporters, principally because of its historical guilt for the Nazi Holocaust – a policy known as the “Staatsraison.”
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Newsom Calls Trump’s $1 Billion UCLA Settlement Offer Extortion, Says California Won’t Bow
California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks at a press conference, accompanied by members of the Texas Democratic legislators, at the governor’s mansion in Sacramento, California, U.S., August 8, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
California Governor Gavin Newsom said on Saturday that a $1 billion settlement offer by President Donald Trump’s administration for UCLA amounted to political extortion to which the state will not bow.
The University of California says it is reviewing a $1 billion settlement offer by the Trump administration for UCLA after the government froze hundreds of millions of dollars in funding over pro-Palestinian protests.
UCLA, which is part of the University of California system, said this week the government froze $584 million in funding. Trump has threatened to cut federal funds for universities over anti-Israel student protests.
“Donald Trump has weaponized the DOJ (Department of Justice) to kneecap America’s #1 public university system — freezing medical & science funding until @UCLA pays his $1 billion ransom,” the office of Newsom, a Democrat, said in a post.
“California won’t bow to Trump’s disgusting political extortion,” it added.
“This isn’t about protecting Jewish students – it’s a billion-dollar political shakedown from the pay-to-play president.”
The government alleges universities, including UCLA, allowed antisemitism during the protests and in doing so violated Jewish and Israeli students’ civil rights. The White House had no immediate comment beyond the offer.
Experts have raised free speech and academic freedom concerns over the Republican president’s threats. The University of California says paying such a large settlement would “completely devastate” the institution.
Large demonstrations took place at UCLA last year. Last week, UCLA agreed to pay over $6 million to settle a lawsuit by some students and a professor who alleged antisemitism. It was also sued this year over a 2024 violent mob attack on pro-Palestinian protesters.
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Trump Nominates State Dept Spokeswoman Bruce as US Deputy Representative to UN
FILE PHOTO: U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce speaks during her first press briefing at the State Department in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
President Donald Trump said on Saturday he was nominating State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce as the next US deputy representative to the United Nations.
Bruce has been the State Department spokesperson since Trump took office in January.
In a post on social media in which Trump announced her nomination, the president said she did a “fantastic job” as State Department spokesperson. Bruce will need to be confirmed for the role by the US Senate, where Trump’s Republican Party holds a majority.
During press briefings, she has defended the Trump administration’s foreign policy decisions ranging from an immigration crackdown and visa revocations to US responses to Russia’s war in Ukraine and Israel’s war in Gaza, including a widely condemned armed private aid operation in the Palestinian territory.
Bruce was previously a political contributor and commentator on Fox News for over 20 years.
She has also authored books like “Fear Itself: Exposing the Left’s Mind-Killing Agenda” that criticized liberals and left-leaning viewpoints.
In a post after Trump’s announcement, Bruce thanked him and suggested that the role was a “few weeks” away. Neither Trump nor Bruce mentioned an exact timeline in their online posts.
“Now I’m blessed that in the next few weeks my commitment to advancing America First leadership and values continues on the global stage in this new post,” Bruce wrote on X.
Trump has picked former White House national security adviser Mike Waltz to be his U.N. envoy. Waltz’s Senate confirmation for that role, wherein he will be Bruce’s boss, is still due.
Waltz was Trump’s national security adviser until he was ousted on May 1 after he was caught up in a March scandal involving a Signal chat among top Trump national security aides on military strikes in Yemen. Trump then nominated Waltz as his U.N. ambassador.
