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Ruth Ellen Gruber
Ruth Ellen Gruber
An inside view of the synagogue in Casale Monferrato, Italy, which dates to the 16th century. (Wikimedia Commons/via JTA)
December 17, 2017, 1:16 pm
It’s always Hanukkah in this picture-perfect Italian town
The Festival of Lights is commemorated nonstop in Casale Monferrato, with a year-round exhibit featuring dozens of hanukkiyot in one of Italy's most beautiful rococo synagogues
By Ruth Ellen Gruber
John Glenn responded to Ruth Ellen Gruber’s letter to him, which she wrote as a young girl. He included a pamphlet on NASA’s Project Mercury. (Courtesy of Ruth Ellen Gruber)
December 10, 2016, 3:45 pm
That time John Glenn wrote me a letter in 1961
The late astronaut's reply to a young girl's letter: "I must say, when you dream you dream 'way out.'"
By Ruth Ellen Gruber
The pioneering photojournalist Ruth Gruber, left, and the longtime JTA European correspondent Ruth Ellen Gruber met at a book launch party in 1992. (Courtesy of Ruth Ellen Gruber)
November 22, 2016, 8:14 pm
One Ruth Gruber says goodbye to another
She shared a name and much more with the trailblazing photojournalist who recently died at age 105
By Ruth Ellen Gruber
Shaul Bassi, the 'Merchant in Venice' Project Director and coordinator of the Venice Ghetto 500 anniversary committee, on the Ghetto Nuovo bridge in Venice, Italy, July 2016. (Ruth Ellen Gruber)
August 3, 2016, 4:19 am
Venice welcomes back Shylock in marking its Jewish history
Audiences gathered for six sold-out shows of controversial play in secluded main plaza of city’s historic Jewish Ghetto
By Ruth Ellen Gruber
American rapper Kosha Dillz performing at the Tempel Synagogue during Night of the Synagogues in Krakow, Poland, on June 4, 2016. (Ruth Ellen Gruber)
June 6, 2016, 10:13 pm
In Krakow, Night of the Synagogues bolsters Jewish pride
Houses of worship transformed to house art exhibits, concerts and movie showings in one-night mini-festival organized by community leaders
By Ruth Ellen Gruber
Pope Francis addresses the crowd during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square in the Vatican on November 18, 2015. (AFP/Andreas Solaro)
January 16, 2016, 5:52 am
What Pope Francis synagogue visit says about Catholic-Jewish relations
Pontiff to meet with Rome's chief rabbi, solidifying interfaith relations that started with John Paul II's visit 30 years ago
By Ruth Ellen Gruber
Tourists at Auschwitz photographing the 'Arbeit Macht Frei' gate, July 2015. (Ruth Ellen Gruber/JTA)
September 10, 2015, 3:31 am
Auschwitz ‘showers’ highlight challenge of Holocaust tourism
The well-being of visitors and the integrity of the historical commemoration is a difficult balance for emotionally charged WWII sites
By Ruth Ellen Gruber
The College of Charleston's new dining hall is modeled after Grins Vegetarian Cafe, a popular kosher eatery at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. (Courtesy of Grins Vegetarian Cafe/ JTA)
May 18, 2015, 6:33 pm
If you build a kosher cafeteria, they will come
In South Carolina, a kosher-vegetarian dining hall seeks to bring diverse populations to the table
By Ruth Ellen Gruber
Revelers dancing at the Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow, one of many Jewish culture festivals in Poland. (Photo credit: Wojciech Karlinski)
November 22, 2014, 2:55 pm
New museum reflects growing Polish interest in all things Jewish
Thousands have toured POLIN's galleries telling the story of 1,000 years of Jewish life in the country
By Ruth Ellen Gruber
A small crowd attends the dedication ceremony of a monument at the Jewish cemetery in Rychwal, Poland. (Ruth Ellen Gruber/JTA)
July 12, 2014, 3:28 pm
Has Poland become a model of Holocaust memorials?
A renewal of memory -- from Belzec to Rychwal -- leaves room for optimism, says chief rabbi Michael Schudrich
By Ruth Ellen Gruber
Bride Katka Reszke and groom Slawomir Grunberg, made their wedding a celebration of Polish Jewish revival, June 22, 2014. (Ruth Ellen Gruber/JTA)
June 28, 2014, 6:07 am
Big fat Polish Jewish wedding celebrates communal renewal
Couple turns nuptials into open-air public event with klezmer bands, kosher food and two officiating Orthodox rabbis
By Ruth Ellen Gruber
Passersby look at the Holocaust-related and other memorabilia left by citizens protesting the monument to the 1944 German occupation, under construction behind sheeting across the street in downtown Budapest. (Photo credit: JTA/Ruth Ellen Gruber)
June 13, 2014, 4:35 pm
Boycotting state Holocaust commemorations, Hungary’s Jews forge new path
Groups refuse nearly $1 million in government grants to protest what they see as the whitewashing of country's complicity in Shoah
By Ruth Ellen Gruber
Pope Francis greets people during a meeting with members of the associations founded by Blessed Luigi Novarese at Paul VI audience hall on May 17, 2014 at the Vatican. (Photo credit: AFP Photo/Tiziana Fabi)
May 24, 2014, 4:48 am
‘Outreach’ and ‘interfaith’ buzzwords for Pope’s Israel trip
Argentina's Rabbi Abraham Skorka and Sheik Omar Abboud join former colleague on visit; pinnacle to be ecumenical joint prayer service at Jerusalem's Holy Sepulcher
By Ruth Ellen Gruber
Pope John Paul II places a letter between the stones of Jerusalem’s Western Wall on March 26, 2000. (photo credit: Amos Ben Gershom/Israel Government Press Office via Getty Images/JTA)
April 25, 2014, 10:40 pm
From pope to saint: Two men who revamped Jewish-Catholic ties
On the even of Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Vatican will canonize two former pontiffs who focused on reconciliation
By Ruth Ellen Gruber
Author Adam LeBor (photo credit: Szabolcs Dudas)
June 22, 2013, 7:24 am
New novel gives spy games a feminist sabra spin
Creating a modern Israeli heroine, author Adam LeBor crosses Lisbeth Salander with biblical Yael and lets her loose at the UN
By Ruth Ellen Gruber
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