(JTA) — Chaim Topol won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of an immigrant to Israel, stepped off the stage in London to fight for his country and had his sketches of Israeli presidents turned into postage stamps.

(JTA)  In the early 1960s, a Bulgarian-born scientist named Raphael Mechoulam was caught carrying five kilograms of, as he called it, “superb, smuggled Lebanese hashish” on a bus from Tel Aviv to Rehovot. But he wasn’t planning on smoking the stuff.

 Leslie Alan Waltman, of Boynton Beach, Florida, formerly of Cincinnati, Ohio, age 80, passed away suddenly on Sunday morning, February 19, 2023, at Delray Medical Center. He was born on August 4, 1942, in Brooklyn, New York, and was predeceased by his parents Jack and Hilda (Suntag) Waltman…

 (JTA) In Judith Heumann’s 2020 memoir, the lifelong advocate for people with disabilities describes feeling shocked upon being invited to read from the Torah at her synagogue in Berkeley, California. Not only were women permitted to carry out the sacred task, unlike in the Orthodox synagogu…

George Stewart passed away February 6, 2023, at the age of 95. He lived a life filled with gusto. He packed many things into this life; his main passion was his family.

 (February 20, 2023 / JTA) 

“She was a woman of deep and equal measures of strength and kindness,” wrote Rabbi Lewis Kamrass, Senior Rabbi of Isaac M. Wise Temple, who knew Beatrice R. Winkler (known as “Bea”) for nearly four decades. “Her intellect, talent and seichel (good sense) made her a force of nature who could …

(JTA) — Songwriter Burt Bacharach,  who with his longtime lyricist Hal David turned out a string of hits in the 1960s and ’70s — including “Alfie” and “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head” — died on Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 94.

(JTA) — Ira “Bob” Born, the son of the Russian Jewish immigrant who founded the company that makes Peeps candies, has died. He was 98.

SHAFER, Sam, age 82, passed away January 17, 2023, beloved husband of Nancy Shafer, devoted father of Scott (Gina) Shafer, Marilyn (Mike) Plaatje, Debbi (Marc) Witorsch, and Allison (Marc) Lippman, loving grandfather of Aaryn, Rebecca, Brianna, Sam, Kacy, Jesse, Alden, Evie, and Shannon, dea…

David Jeremy Schear, age 27, passed away January 14, 2023, beloved son of Rick (Paul Cauthen) Schear Cauthen and Lisa Graceman Schear, devoted grandson of Ron (Joanne) Graceman, the late Judith Graceman, Vivian Schear, and the late Melvin Schear. David was loved by many. Services were held W…

Barbara Anne Harshman of Cincinnati, Ohio, aged 89 passed away on January 7, 2023. She was born in Crossville, Tennessee but moved to Dayton, Ohio when she was young. She was the daughter of Walter and Nina Elmore, the youngest of nine siblings.

(JTA) — Dick Savitt, the Jewish tennis champion who won both the Australian Open and Wimbledon Championships in 1951, died Jan. 6 at 95 at his home in New York. He was the first Jewish athlete to win either tournament.

Slava Slevin, 99, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, aunt, cousin and friend, passed away peacefully at home on Saturday, January 7, 2023. 

(JTA) — Jewish groups are among those marking the death of Benedict XVI, the Catholic pontiff who died Saturday at 95, a decade after shocking the world by becoming the first pope since the Middle Ages to resign.

Julius H. Braverman, age 85, passed away on December 26, 2022, beloved husband of Cathy Daniels.  He was the son of the late Sidney and Anne Braverman, devoted father of Lori (Ted) Cole, Brian (Hazel) Braverman, and Jami (Chris) Archiable, dear brother of Barbara (Dr. Edward) Spievack and th…

(JTA) — Barbara Walters, the iconic newswoman and celebrity interviewer who made history for women and Jewish anchors on mainstream American news television, died at 93 on Friday.

(JTA) — Jim Carr was close to death from myeloma, a blood cancer, when he gave one of his last interviews to the Canadian national broadcaster, the CBC.

(JTA) — Robert Crumb put the “x” in comix by setting to paper his basest sexual longings, including strong-legged Jewish women who were cowgirls and who went by the name Honeybunch Kaminski.

Lillian Hartman, age 100, passed away on December 9, 2022, at Hospice of Cincinnati. Lil was deeply loved, appreciated and admired; she will be profoundly missed by family, friends, neighbors and the community. Lil’s mother, Dena Leitz Roth, was born in Cincinnati; her father, Harry Roth, in…

 (JTA) — Nothing riled Steven Salen like a powerful man in a bad suit.