For the second year in a row, the New Mexico Jewish Journal, founded in 2024, has won two Rockower Awards, for articles published in 2025, presented by the American Jewish Press Association at their 46th Annual Conference in New York City on Thursday, June 4th at the Center for Jewish
June · The Mexican Inquisition in Diego Rivera's murals sent one Jewish traveler on a quest · Another's trek into the Gobi Desert sent her to seek stars · An award-winning book of Jewish Latin American poetry sent a reader back across time · Shalom House has a gift for the Jewish community
By Judith Fein Photos by Paul Ross My husband Paul and I were dining in the Gastronomy Cooking School in Mexico City when I became captivated by a copy of a startling Diego Rivera mural that covered the entire back wall of the room. I could not take my eyes
By Jackie Wald Mongolia. What does the name conjure up? Remote, desolate, exotic — perhaps even that delicious dish, Mongolian beef. All are true. But Mongolia’s most striking feature is the Gobi Desert. Covering nearly a million and a half square kilometers, it is the world’s sixth-largest desert. Contrary
By Corinne Joy Brown I Am of the Tribe of Judah: Poems from Jewish Latin America, UNM Press, received the Multicultural Winner award at the 2025 New Mexico Book Awards, presented by New Mexico Writers. Some say poetry is making a comeback. I’d like to think it never left.
An in-depth article will follow exploring the carefully considered decision to sell Shalom House, which will continue as affordable senior housing for its current residents, and how proceeds will be invested back into the Albuquerque Jewish community. NMJJ is publishing this letter immediately upon receipt, as a service to the
We'd like to be festive. We're not sure we can let go for a second though or the whole place will unravel. My father used to say the only thing he could be sure of was the sun would come up in the morning. Now I
Interview by Gloria Abella Ballen How To Be An Urban Cowgirl & Find Your Inner West by Corinne Joy Brown has just been published, and we are delighted to share this interview excerpt conducted by Gloria Abella Ballen. TO ORDER: HOW TO BE AN URBAN COWGIRL Gloria Abella Ballen: Corinne,
By Judith Fein Photos by Paul Ross When someone asks me why I became a travel journalist, I say it’s because I love learning. Every day I try to learn something new, and traveling is the best way to learn many new things at the same time. What I
By Jackie Wald We are all part of the worldwide Diaspora. Some places have little pockets of Jews, others large concentrations—think New York, Los Angeles, London… If you’re like me, it feels as though we are always looking at those around us, thinking hmmm, I wonder if s/
By Dianne R. Layden, PhD Janet Bond Brill spent 37 years with her mother-in-law Edna before losing her — and she refused to let Edna’s story disappear with her. The result is Little Edna’s War, a Warsaw Ghetto memoir written in Edna’s own voice as a child, with
\by Karen Wentworth When I worked as a journalist many years ago for KOAT I covered the activities of many non-profit organizations. One of the most boring was the League of Women Voters. Year after year, they did the same things – put out Voter Guides with candidate questions and answers,
Awards
New Mexico Jewish Journal, in its second year, just took home 9 awards by 8 contributors – including 4 first-place wins – from the regional Society of Professional Journalists Top of the Rockies contest. Among 2,000 entries from 100 newsrooms across Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico, NMJJ competed in the
Awards
NM Jewish Journal Sweeps 2026 77th Annual NM Press Women Communications Contest. Wins FIRST PRIZE Publication with Ten First Place Awards and Forty Awards Total
Newsletter
OUR CURRENT ISSUE War: A Mirror to Ourselves · New Awards · To Be a Jew Is a Verb: A Las Cruces Family’s Century of Showing Up. · Concert: Joni and Leonard at the KiMo · Yom HaShoah at the Roundhouse with the Mayor of Santa Fe and both Majority and Minority Democratic
By Ron Duncan Hart In 1901, shortly before becoming the 26th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican, famously said, “Speak softly and carry a big stick—you will go far.” He went on to say, “If a man continually blusters, if he lacks civility, a big stick
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By the New Mexico Jewish Journal Debra Wechter Friedman grew up watching her parents build a synagogue from scratch in southern New Mexico. Now she’s asking what the next generation of Jewish giving looks like in a state that rarely makes the philanthropic map. Debra Wechter Friedman remembers exactly
By Ellen Futterman Editor-in-Chief of the St. Louis Jewish Light where this story first appeared. For Danielle Wertz and Robbie Schaefer, the paths that led them to each other—and to their intimate cabaret show, “Both Sides Now: The Music and Lives of Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen”—are as
Photos by Ron Duncan Hart As has been the custom for many years, Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, was commemorated at the state capital in Santa Fe this year. The event was attended by Santa Fe Mayor Michael Garcia and by Democratic and Republican representatives: Majority Floor Leader Rep. Reena
By Merilee Dannemann If New Mexico legislators were paid a salary, what would you expect them to do that they have not been doing up till now? New Mexico is the only state legislature where legislators are not paid something like a salary, though they do receive per diem and
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Welcome to Congregation Albert, your center for Jewish life in Albuquerque! To see more articles return to HOME Community Supporters of the NM Jewish Journal include: Jewish Community Foundation of New Mexico Congregation Albert Jewish Community Center of Greater Albuquerque The Institute for Tolerance Studies Jewish Federation of El Paso
April 1 2026 Newsletter
Happy Passover and Chag Sameach! Seven new stories! Our new series, New Mexico Jewish voices across the Spectrum, is introduced with three articles. The first Spectrum profile, by Ron Duncan Hart, highlights the work of Mikey Weinstein, Military Religious Freedom Foundation founder, whose battle against religious coercion in the U.
SPECTRUM: Profiles
By Ron Duncan Hart I first learned about “Mikey” Weinstein and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation from a Harper’s Magazine article entitled, “Jesus Killed Mohammed: The Crusade for a Christian Military.” In that 2009 article the author Jeff Sharlet wrote about an American military squadron in Iraq that had
SPECTRUM: Profiles
Editor's Letter by Diane Joy Schmidt Preparing for presenting the article about anti-Zionist Jeffrey Haas that appears in this issue was difficult for me on both a personal and political level. His life had cast a shadow on mine twice before, though we never met until this year.