Forward.com

Doctors Look To Raise Tay-Sachs Awareness Among Louisiana’s CajunsTay-Sachs disease has been significantly curbed in the Ashkenazic Jewish community, thanks to increased awareness and a comprehensive screening process — which is especially popular in Hasidic communities.…Read more

September Named Tay-Sachs Awareness MonthThe Senate this July voted unanimously to name September National Tay-Sach’s Awareness Month. The resolution was introduced by Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio and co-sponsored by Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana. At this point, Tay-Sachs, a hereditary degenerative neurological disease, has no cure. The National Tay-Sachs & Allied Diseases Association, Inc., the oldest genetic disease organization in America, has endorsed Brown’s resolution.…Read more

Program Aids College-Bound HasidimYoung men and women raised in Hasidic communities face unique challenges if they want to attend college: Their devoutly religious primary and secondary schools often avoid secular subjects, and many of these schools teach classes in Yiddish rather than English. Students who wish to leave their insular religious communities to study at a university often find themselves ill prepared and unable to gain admission.…Read more

Study Provides Snapshot of Struggling Supplementary SchoolsAmerica’s Jewish supplementary schools are struggling to remain relevant as a torpid American economy and higher rates of intermarriage and religious apathy take their toll. Many Conservative and Reform Jewish parents are opting out of giving their children a religious education.…Read more

‘Jewish Jordan’ Teaches B-Ball for PeaceLakers basketballer Jordan Farmar is headed to Israel to teach his game of choice to Israeli and Palestinian kids, reports Brad Greenberg, a blogger for Los Angeles’s Jewish Journal. Farmar will attempt to show the youths that zealous combat should be reserved for the basketball court. …Read more