News

High School Students are invited to compete in The Norman Alexander Award for Excellence in Jewish Student Writing by submitting a 500-word essay on: Jewish Contributions to American Music. Examples are: Paula Abdul, Irving Berlin, Leonard Bernstein, Shlomo Carlebach, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, George Gershwin, Benny Goodman, Billy Joel,… Read more »

(The Nosher via JTA) — These bourekas are a mix of New York Jewish and Middle Eastern Israeli food cultures. It sounds a little crazy, but it’s incredibly good: The flavorful seasoning blend, slightly sweet from the dried onion and garlic, balances out the salty, briny feta interior, and… Read more »

RAANANA, Israel — In August 2014, Dr. Morris Hartstein went on a trip to Gondar, Ethiopia, where thousands of Ethiopians seeking to immigrate to Israel live and wait while Israel considers their eligibility to make aliyah. On his second day there, Hartstein showed up for the afternoon mincha service and… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — When Holocaust historians ask what Americans knew at the time, the focus often is on the politicians and lawmakers whose votes and initiatives may have mitigated the Nazi genocide against the Jews. An exhibit opening this month at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum here asks the… Read more »

BIRMINGHAM, United Kingdom (JTA) — Like hundreds of Jewish institutions in the Diaspora, the King David School celebrated Israel’s 70th Independence Day with blue-and-white flags and group singing of the “Hatikvah” national anthem. But the King David is not like most other Jewish schools. Most of the dozens of… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — For decades, world Jewry helped Israel. Organizations gathered and sent funds to the feeble, small state; our Air Force and Navy were formed and trained by Jewish volunteers from around the globe. As we celebrate our 70th Independence Day, we should thank the previous generations while… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — One of the first scenes in a new documentary about Ruth Bader Ginsburg features the Supreme Court associate justice, then 84, vigorously lifting weights, doing leg exercises and holding herself in a plank position. The much buzzed-about workout routine has only added to her status… Read more »

(JTA) — When Bryan Stevenson set out to build a memorial to the thousands of black people lynched in the United States, he thought about Germany and Poland. Those countries, where millions of Jews died at the hands of the Nazis, have made sure to preserve the memories of… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — It’s like finding out that the White House has a mikvah in its basement and no one knows about it. Up an elegant stairway next to the concert hall at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is the “Concert Lounge dedicated by the… Read more »

(JTA) — The jail sentence of Rabbi Barry Freundel, a once-prominent Modern Orthodox rabbi in Washington, D.C. who secretly filmed women in his synagogue’s mikvah, has been shortened by over a year due to good behavior, his lawyer said. Freundel’s 6 1/2-year sentence also was reduced because he participated as… Read more »

Bertha Reynolds was born Bertha Hurwitz in Poland. (Courtesy of Shirley Thaler)

(JTA) — When Eleanor Roosevelt or Bess Truman sent a formal invitation to one particular White House staff member, they often addressed it in the customary form of days gone by: “To Mrs. William Reynolds,” the envelope would read. Mrs. Reynolds, a dark-haired beauty who handled presidential correspondence, lived… Read more »

(JTA) – More than 2,000 Jews and non-Jews attended “Wear a Kippah” rallies in Berlin and other German cities to protest anti-Semitism. The protests on Wednesday come in the wake of a Syrian asylum seeker’s attack on a non-Jewish man wearing a skullcap in the German capital last week. Jews were… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — As Senate Republicans worked to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act last summer, the American Jewish establishment sent an unequivocal message: Kill the bill. “The Senate’s ‘Better Care Reconciliation Act’ would be devastating for millions of Americans and irreparably harmful to Jewish social service… Read more »

Natalie Portman speaking at the Environmental Media Association's 27th Annual EMA Awards in Santa Monica, Calif., Sept. 23, 2017. (Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Environmental Media Association)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Natalie Portman’s statement explaining why she declined to attend an award ceremony in Israel in her honor was a pointed rebuke, and of a particular individual. “I did not want to appear as endorsing Benjamin Netanyahu,” she said of the Israeli prime minister. But it also… Read more »

KRAKOW, Poland (JTA) — At one of Poland’s plushest synagogues, leaders of this city’s small but vibrant Jewish community welcomed visitors from around the world to a celebration of what the hosts call their minority’s “revival” in this country. The occasion for the party Sunday at Tempel Synagogue was… Read more »

LONDON (JTA) — Keith Walker was having a sandwich in Parliament Square when he saw something that made him sit up straight and cut short his lunch. What did the 42-year-old activist for disabled people’s rights find so fascinating? It was three billboards on wheels that circled around the… Read more »

A new glass and metal sculpture, “Flame” by Tidhar Ozeri, was installed late last month outside the Harvey and Deanna Evenchik Center for Jewish Philanthropy. The new work is part of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s intention to use architectural elements and art in the new building to reinforce… Read more »

The Jewish Community Awards Celebration and Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona annual meeting will be held Thursday, May 10 at 7 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. New this year, the evening will include special recognition awards honoring outstanding lay or professional leaders from each of the Federation’s… Read more »

The Fort Huachuca annual Days of Remembrance Holocaust Observance has been a unique gathering of survivors, local dignitaries, U.S. military members and their families, and German Army officers for 15 years. The event educates about the past and protects the future, but also promotes face-to-face healing. On April 9,… Read more »

Jônatas Chimen's 'In Thy Tent I Dwell' installation explores his family's 500-year diaspora story.

Brazilian-American crypto-Jewish artist Jônatas Chimen will make a Tucson stop on his North-American speaking tour sponsored by the U.S.-based grassroots nonprofit, Kulanu, Inc., which supports isolated, emerging and returning Jewish communities around the globe. Chimen’s presentation will be held Sunday, April 22 at the Jewish History Museum. Chimen’s heritage… Read more »