The Jewish Federation of Greater Portland raised $4,853,583 in its most recent fund-raising cycle.

That total includes $4,243,583 raised in the regular JFGP Annual Campaign—up $148,583 or 3.6 percent from the previous year—and another $658,292 in the Israel Emergency Campaign to help Israel address needs arising from last year's conflict in Lebanon.

WASHINGTON (JTA)—Tony Blair brings a lot to his new job as a peace envoy: His hands-on experience as British prime minister in dealing with Middle East issues, the confidence President Bush places in him as a loyal supporter of the Iraq war, and a long-held view that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is vital to stabilizing the region.

Members of Portland's Jewish community joined with delegates of the Unitarian Universalist Association convention in Portland and the Portland Coalition for Genocide Awareness to rally June 24 at Portland's Oregon Square Courtyard to help focus public attention on the continuing genocide in Sudan's Darfur region.

The Jewish Review recently placed news boxes on the streets of five small cities in Oregon well outside the Portland metropolitan area. This is the first time the Review has reached out in this way to potential readers far beyond Portland.

JERUSALEM (JTA)—Three weeks after the Palestinian political map was redrawn after Hamas' violent takeover of Gaza, the uncertain future of the Palestinian polity is complicating Israel's plans to forge new ties with the Palestinian Authority.

WASHINGTON (JTA)—Following a string of conservative rulings in the closing weeks of this year's Supreme Court session, some Jewish officials are suggesting that they may be forced to abandon their decades-long strategy of relying on the courts to protect liberal gains on a host of issues.

Sydney Mesher steps to the front row to perform with seven other junior hip-hop dancers at a recent recital.

How long have you been with your partner? One year? Fifty-one years?

Either way or in between, you've probably experienced moments of starry-eyed love, fiery anger and just plain boredom.

JERUSALEM (JTA)—For years the "two-state solution," envisioning Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace, has been the almost exclusive formula for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

WASHINGTON (JTA) —Democrats raced to voice public outrage after Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives voted two weeks ago against a foreign operations bill with money for Israel.