RSS
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.”
—
The post Violet Spevack, weekly chronicler of Cleveland Jewry for 50 years, dies at 107 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.