It’s always natural at the end of the year to reflect on the previous 12 months. This year’s “a look back” is more pronounced than most Decembers, what with it also being the end of a decade, and the end of the first decade of the third millennium to boot. How did the many monumental events of this past decade affect the Jewish community? Read Ami Eden’s analysis, published in this week’s IJN.
Here on Rocky Mountain Jew we post a list of what we think were 2009’s top stories. Some are big, international stories, while others relate more directly to our community. Either way, these stories directly affected (and some continue to affect) the Jewish community. Here they are – the highs and the lows – in no particular order:
- Tel Aviv celebrated its centenary
- In Israel, tensions between religious and secular Jews turned violent
- Arnie Zaler was caught and tried
- Bibi made his comeback into Israel’s top seat
- After 125 years, Leadville’s Temple Israel came back to life
- A once-in-28-years ritual, Birchat Hachama (blessing of the sun) was marked
- Barack Obama was sworn in is as the US’ 44th president
- Jewish philanthropy and education saw deep cuts due to the financial crisis
- John Demjanjuk is brought to trial, in what could be the last major Nazi trial
- Protests broke out in Iran contesting June’s reelection of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
