Judy Lash Balint

Jerusalem Journalist

Jerusalem, Israel

Judy Lash Balint

Jerusalem Journalist

Jerusalem, Israel

Seattle Grant Brings Sephardi Treasures to Light
April 1, 2024 (JNS) Priceless artifacts had been languishing in boxes in the basement of the old library building for decades.
jns.org
National Library of Israel NLI Gaon Shalom Yehuda Sephardi archives
Featured
Displaced by War Israeli Women Business Owners Get Support
March 21, 2024. JNS.org Women entrepreneurs from the north and south of Israel forge ties to stay afloat.
JNS.org
Gaza war evacuees Galilee JNF-USA Negev Hezbollah
Jerusalem Biennale Showcases Israel's Resilience
March 17, 2024. (JNS.org) Between March 10 and April 29, the Jerusalem Spring Biennale is showcasing more than 30 art installations in some of the most interesting venues around the capital.
JNS
Jewish art Jerusalem biennale Rami Ozeri Gaza war
A Helping Hand from Afar
March 12, 2024. JNS.org "It’s so hard to be back in the United States and reading the craziness there and in the rest of the world and not being able to do anything about it. Here I can come and do something concrete, so my mental health is so much better,”
jns.org
Gaza volunteer bnei netzarim Oct.7
One Gaza-Egypt Border Community Returns Home
March 3, 2024. JNS.org “We’re coming back strong and proud, with our heads held high. We’re looking to the future,” says Shlomit resident Ariel Avchayon, who along with 82 other families was evacuated from the community on Oct. 8.
JNS.org
Gaza Oct.7 Shlomit
Researcher has sounded alarm for decades about hate in UNRWA camps
February 6, 2024 (JNS.org) David Bedein, director of the Nahum Bedein Center for Near East Policy Research, told JNS that his warnings have fallen on deaf ears.
JNS.org
UNRWA Gaza Hamas Oct.7
The focus of my attention on International Holocaust Remembrance Day
(Jan. 21, 2024. JNS) The deprival of family continuity that has impacted generations of survivors and their families is perhaps one of the most enduring crimes of the Nazis.
JNS.org
Auschwitz Leipzig UN International Holocaust Remembrance Day Israel
Bringing Laughter to the War Zone
Jan. 19, 2024 (JNS) “When you bring joy back into people’s lives, they can recover better,” says Comedy for Koby publicist of the Koby Mandell Foundation's plan to stage the act throughout Israel.
JNS.org
Gaza war Hamas Liberman Comedy for Koby Koby Mandell Foundation Israel
Homesick on the Home Front
Jan.7, 2024 (JNS) "Everyone from Yiftah has accepted that we’re not going home anytime soon.”
JNS
Hezbollah Israel Lebanon Be'eri Gaza war Hamas
Three Men and a War
(Jan.1, 2024.JNS) Heartfelt appeals address the formidable challenges facing a nation under attack on multiple fronts.
JNS.org
Gaza Hamas hostages bringthemhomenow Israel Aramean Christian
Signs of a Long War
(December 22, 2023 / JNS) It didn’t take long after Oct.7 to realize that this war would not be over in a couple of days. Routing out one of the best-funded and -equipped terrorist groups in the world and securing the release of an estimated 240 hostages would take months if not years.
JNS
Gaza Israel October7 Hamas
How Will this Chanukah Be Remembered?
(December 13, 2023 / JNS) As much of the world enters Christmas holiday preparation mode, focusing on gift-giving and sharing festive recipes, Israelis are connecting the dots to put this year’s Chanukah festival into context for our time.
JNS
Chanuka Hanukkah hostages Gaza IDF
Look who’s stepping up to fill the gaps
Nov.24, 2023 (JNS) Facing almost unfathomable economic and social needs, while some government programs have kicked in, it is Israel's civil society that is really making the difference.
JNS.org
The Unexpected Details of War
(November 30, 2023 JNS) The agonizing dilemmas faced by Israel’s leaders in dealing with Hamas’s evil manipulation of infants and the elderly are by now well known. Military and strategic analyses of the war against Hamas are widespread, but many no less important details of “Operation Swords of Iron” are still waiting to be told, and fill out the picture of a nation under duress, a nation with unique values.
JNS
IDF Gaza Hamas hostages
Israel transformed: Send in the trauma experts
November 16, 2023. (JNS) Over the five weeks since Oct.7, Israel has become a transformed nation. From a confident, optimistic, dynamic and expansive country, innovative in every way and convinced of the ability of the IDF to guarantee security, many now see a nation that has shrunk physically and emotionally but grown in resilience.
JNS.org
Thirty days, 85 years.
Nov.8, 2023 (JNS) This week marked 30 days since the Oct. 7 massacre. Jews traditionally divide mourning into three stages—one week of shiva, 30 days, known as shloshim, and one year, marking the end of the formal grieving period. The idea is that the intensity of the mourning is supposed to ease with the passage of time.
JNS.org

About

Judy Lash Balint

I'm a Jerusalem-based journalist, writer and author of Jerusalem Diaries: In Tense Times. (Gefen) and Jerusalem Diaries II: What's Really Happening in Israel (Xulon Press) I've been a contributor to the Fodor's Israel Guide (2006-2014) as well as the Peace Fire anthology (Free Association Books) and The Expulsion from Gush Katif (Southern Hills Press).

I blog occasionally at http://jerusalemdiaries.blogspot.com

In 2003 I won the Mosaic Award for Excellence in Feature Writing about Israeli Peoplehood, Culture and Society and took second place in the Jerusalem Foundation's Excellence in Jerusalem Reporting contest.

My work has appeared in the N.Y Post, Christian Science Monitor, Bookmarks Magazine, Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz Magazine, The Forward, Seattle Times, Seattle P-I, Montreal Suburban, Moment Magazine, Jerusalem Report, World Jewish Digest, Whistleblower Magazine, Midstream, Bnai Brith International Jewish Monthly, London Jewish Chronicle, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Jewish Action, Emunah Magazine, Amit Magazine and numerous US Jewish weeklies.