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Leslie Katz

Leslie Katz

Leslie Katz is the former culture editor at CNET and a former J. staff writer. Follow her on X @lesatnews.

A family in the Seduva shtetl, captured before the world they knew disappeared. The Lost Shtetl Museum offers an intimate look at religious, civic and cultural life in communities like these. (The Lost Shtetl Museum/collection of Anat Rosen)
Posted inCulture

Echoes of a lost shtetl: How sound is recreating a vanished Jewish world

Leslie Katz by Leslie Katz January 26, 2026January 26, 2026

In the countryside of a quiet Lithuanian town, sounds of a vanished shtetl have returned to life. Voices chattering in Yiddish mingle with clucking chickens, crowing roosters and accordion music […]

Artist Ronit Shalem (left) with her artwork “I am CHANGE.” (Hillary Goidell)
Posted inArt

Wildfires, tides, landlines: A Jewish artists’ laboratory grapples with change

Leslie Katz by Leslie Katz November 19, 2025December 15, 2025
Still from "The Stamp Thief" film
Posted inFilm

SFJFF: In ‘The Stamp Thief,’ an elaborate deception to recover stolen Jewish property

Leslie Katz by Leslie Katz July 15, 2025July 23, 2025
Babs Daitch
Posted inFilm

S.F. Jewish Film Festival shines a spotlight on local talent, stories

Leslie Katz by Leslie Katz July 10, 2025July 14, 2025
Participants in From Older to Elder's February 2025 retreat mug for the camera at Point Reyes National Seashore. (Courtesy Bruce Beron)
Posted inIdeas

Local program redefines what it means to age wisely — and Jewishly

Leslie Katz by Leslie Katz May 30, 2025May 30, 2025
A panel from the graphic novel "We Are Not Strangers" by Josh Tuininga, who will be among the speakers at the Jewish Arts & Bookfest.
Posted inBooks

Daniel Handler will headline inaugural Jewish book fest at the Magnes

Leslie Katz by Leslie Katz April 23, 2025April 30, 2025
From left, Marc Mazer, Susan Talon-Mazer, Rabbi Dan Goldblatt and Zoë Francesca Goldblatt of the AriYael Jewish Healing Center. (Aaron Levy-Wolins/J. Staff)
Posted inReligion

A Bay Area Jewish healing center expands as it embraces mourning, celebration

Leslie Katz by Leslie Katz April 15, 2025April 16, 2025
From left, Susanne Batzdorff, Evelyn Gurevitch and Edith Newman have been friends and Congregation Beth Ami members for decades. (Ron Batzdorff)
Posted inSeniors

‘Temple is people, and I need people’: Three women over 100 find joy in Santa Rosa synagogue — and each other

Leslie Katz by Leslie Katz January 31, 2025February 4, 2025
Oosh's online marketplace sells items such as mezuzot that are handcrafted by Israeli artists. (Courtesy Oosh)
Posted inJudaica

Berkeley native who made aliyah starts online store to elevate Israeli artists

Leslie Katz by Leslie Katz December 2, 2024December 3, 2024
An ornately embroidered bag with a handle and some red Hebrew text
Posted inJudaica

Magnes exhibit on Jewish lives in Muslim lands: ‘What the world needs right now’

Leslie Katz by Leslie Katz August 26, 2024August 26, 2024

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