News

UA partners with Israel, Mexico on technology research

Universities in Arizona, Mexico and Israel have formed a three-way partnership to cooperate on research, innovation and entrepreneurship. The partnership is made up of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the University of Arizona and the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. According to Bruce Wright, associate vice president of the… Read more »

Super Sunday will be part of JFSA ‘100 Days’

Michael Shiner makes a call at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Super Sunday phone-a-thon on Jan. 29, 2017. Shiner is one of three Super Sunday co-chairs for 2018.

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona will hold its annual Super Sunday phone-a-thon on Jan. 28, 2018 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Volunteers will call members of the Tucson Jewish community seeking donations to the Federation’s 2018 Community Campaign. This year’s campaign theme is “100 Days of Impact.” … Read more »

UA Hillel switches gears with local focus for fundraiser

Tempest DuJour

The University of Arizona Hillel Foundation is going more local for this year’s fundraiser.  On Saturday, Feb. 17, at 6:30 p.m., Hillel will hold “A Night at La Cage Hillel” at the Stevie Eller Dance Theater building on the university campus. The event is crucial to supporting Hillel’s work… Read more »

JFSA Connections talk to highlight forgiveness

Edith Eger, Ph.D.

Forgiveness is the ultimate spiritual freedom, says Edith Eger, Ph.D.: “It takes forgiveness to heal.” One of the last remaining Holocaust survivors, Eger, a psychologist, will be the guest speaker at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Women’s Philanthropy Connections 25th Anniversary brunch, “The Power to Heal,” on Feb.… Read more »

New shinshinim ready to ‘talk tachles’ in adult ed series

Chen Dinatzi and Tamir Shecory are Tucson's latest Israeli teen volunteers. (Courtesy Weintraub Israel Center)

Chen Dinatzi and Tamir Shecory, Tucson’s second cohort of shinshinim (Israeli teen emissaries), will present a series of Israel education events for adults, “Talking Tachles with Chen and Tamir” at community congregations and organizations. Tachles is a slang Hebrew word, derived from Yiddish, that means “to the point” or… Read more »

New Hillel fellow invigorating students’ lives

Izzy Kornman

Relocating from Atlanta in the midst of Tucson’s hottest summer on record wasn’t Izzy Kornman’s greatest challenge. She’d already met one big challenge, being chosen as one of 25 national recipients of the Hillel International Springboard Fellowship. She also had to adjust to the Southwest vibe. “That’s a really… Read more »

Ivers bringing Jewish perspective to Irish play

(L-R) Arizona Theatre Company's David Ivers directs a rehearsal of 'Outside Mullingar' with actors Robynn Rodriguez (Aoife Muldoon), John Hutton (Tony Muldoon) and Larry Bull (Anthony Reilly). (Tim Fuller)

In May, the Arizona Theatre Company announced the arrival of David Ivers, the new artistic director who took over the reins from David Ira Goldstein after Goldstein’s 25-year stint leading ATC. Ivers suggested “Outside Mullingar” for the 2017/18 transition season and will make his ATC directorial debut with the… Read more »

New program lets Temple Emanu-El students read Hebrew to dogs

Temple Emanu-El students Nora and Sawyer Sevy practice Hebrew reading skills with Yofi, a certified therapy dog. (Courtesy Marjorie Hochberg)

Yofi has her credentials and began teaching this month at the Kurn Religious School of Temple Emanu-El. No matter that Yofi is a floppy-eared golden doodle. She’s available to listen to children as they read aloud, practicing their Hebrew reading skills. Research shows that reading to dogs helps children… Read more »

Lack of peace with Israel is Palestinian’s fault, U.S. ambassador says after terror attack

Rabbi Raziel Shevach, right, shown with his family, was killed in a shooting near Nablus in the northern West Bank. (Facebook)

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The U.S. ambassador to Israel blamed the Palestinians for the lack of peace with Israel in the aftermath of a shooting in the West Bank that killed an Israeli man. David Friedman tweeted Wednesday morning, as the Israeli military expanded its search for the killer or killers, including… Read more »

Steve Bannon, facing heat for ‘Fire and Fury’ quotes, leaves Breitbart News

Stephen Bannon at a White House news conference, Feb. 16, 2017. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Steve Bannon, the former top strategic adviser to President Donald Trump, is leaving his powerful perch at Breitbart News. Breitbart News in a statement Tuesday said Bannon is a “valued part of our legacy,” but various media, including The New York Times, said he was ousted… Read more »

Delta employees detail a pattern of anti-Semitic abuse at airline

Two Delta Connection passenger jets at LaGuardia Airport in New York, October 2017. (Robert Alexander/Getty Images)

NEW YORK (JTA) — It wasn’t long after Nahum Amir began working for Delta Airlines as a mechanic that he says his manager started calling him “the Jewish guy.” Then Amir says the manager accused him and other Jews of “killing kids in Gaza.” During the same period, Yaron… Read more »

OP-ED The underwhelming fact that Jared Kushner has ties with Israeli businesses

Jared Kushner at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, D.C., July 31, 2017. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

NEW YORK (JTA) — On Season 3 of “The West Wing,” a bomb goes off outside a cafe on Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem, killing two American students. “What were they doing there?” asks C.J., the White House press secretary. C.J.’s question always struck me as the prime example of… Read more »

A Rust Belt synagogue ‘runs out of people’ and gathers to bury its past

Congregants from Temple Hadar Israel in New Castle, Pa., gather at the local Tifereth Israel cemetery to bury ritual objects from their defunct synagogue, Dec. 31, 2017. (Alanna E. Cooper)

  NEW CASTLE, Pa. (JTA) — It was a frigid 10 degrees on Sunday, the last day of 2017, but some 20 people gathered at Congregation Tifereth Israel’s cemetery in this city of 22,000 on the Ohio border. A blue tent and folding chairs had been set up for… Read more »

Should Israeli soldiers shoot to kill Palestinian terrorists? Michael Oren says yes.

Michael Oren attends a meeting in the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, June 27, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90

(JTA) — If a Palestinian appears to be committing a terror attack, do they deserve to die on the spot? The answer is yes, says Michael Oren. The former Israeli ambassador to the United States, now a deputy minister in Israel’s Cabinet, tweeted last week that the Israel Defense… Read more »

Everyone on Google was searching for Gal Gadot this year

Gal Gadot was the sixth most searched person on Google in 2017. Here, the actress attends an event at the 92nd Street Y on October 1, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)

(JTA) — Is Gal Gadot the most famous Israeli ever? Judging by 2017’s top Google searches, the answer might be yes. Gadot was the sixth-most searched person worldwide, and the third-most searched actor. The 32-year-old, who was born and raised in Israel and served in the Israel Defense Forces, starred… Read more »

 Lorde cancelled her concert in Israel. Here’s what 5 other artists did this year.

Lorde performs during the iHeartRadio Secret Sessions by AT&T at the magical Houdini Estate in Los Angeles, California, Aug. 29, 2017. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

(JTA) — Pop star Lorde’s decision to cancel her scheduled concert in Israel has sparked some fierce reactions, even if most of them were expected. The 21-year-old New Zealand native’s move earned praise from proponents of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, who said she was taking a stand for the… Read more »

This rabbinical student is explaining Judaism to Muslims — in Arabic

Elhanan Miller, a journalist and rabbinical student who speaks fluent Arabic, sees his videos as a way to bridge a religious divide. (Bruria Hammer)

(JTA) — Is it true that Judaism doesn’t accept converts? Is it true that Jews have to wash their hands before they pray? Is it true that Jews have historically killed their prophets? These are just a few of the questions Elhanan Miller has heard over the years. A… Read more »

Why Trump’s Middle East negotiator is beating expectations

Jason Greenblatt, in gray shirt, visits the Nahal Oz military base near the Gaza border, Aug. 30, 2017. (Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Jason Greenblatt, President Donald Trump’s chief Israeli-Palestinian negotiator, has an office just around the corner from the White House. On his computer monitor is a Post-it note, inscribed with a quote from former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo: “At the end of the day, a peace agreement… Read more »