Forward.com

Ashkenazim Prove Central in Pancreatic Cancer StudyPancreatic cancer, an often fatal disorder affecting about 1% of the American population, is not usually considered a “Jewish” genetic disease, but researchers at the National Familial Pancreas Tumor Registry at Johns Hopkins University would beg to differ. The NFPTR operates a special sub-registry to specifically track pancreatic cancer patients and their relatives among the Ashkenazic Jewish community, and researchers at the registry are gradually making inroads in deciphering the disease’s genetic roots.…Read more

Two New Gaucher Meds on HorizonTwo new oral treatments for Gaucher disease, the most common of the Jewish genetic diseases, have reached Phase II clinical trials and could be on the market within the next few years. Two pharmaceutical companies, Genzyme and Amicus Therapeutics, are each developing their own oral drugs and have taken very different approaches to tackling the enzyme deficiency that is at the root of the disease.…Read more

Orthodox Pols’ Meeting Raises Ire in N.J.A photograph that appeared in a local newspaper last month, depicting a meeting of mostly Orthodox New Jersey politicians, has sparked controversy in the suburb of Teaneck, heightening existing tensions between the Orthodox and non-Orthodox communities in the town of 39,000.…Read more

Hands-On Workshops Spice Up ClassesEvery year, nursery school students at the Hebrew Academy of Morris County, a community day school in Randolph, N.J., put down their pencils and crayons and spend a few hours learning about Judaism in a more unusual way. Sometimes, they dive into bowls of flour and water and make homemade matzo, and other times they dip wicks into multicolored wax to make Havdalah candles.…Read more

Sherwin Wine, Founder of Humanistic JudaismRabbi Sherwin T. Wine, a writer, scholar and community leader who founded the first congregation of Humanistic Judaism, died Saturday. He was 79.…Read more