Tracy Salkowitz at a hotel in Dublin, Ireland, adorned with mysterious Jewish stars
Remember “Where’s Waldo?” It’s a fun time looking at maps and pictures and finding funny looking Waldo. Well, I do my own version whenever I travel and I call it “Seeking Seymour.” My default is to always look out for links to Jewish history, culture and people. When we… Read more »
(L-R) Brad Tofel, Trinh Tofel, Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild, Sallie Tofel, and Steven Tofel at the grand opening of Sister Jose Women's Center on April 20.
Helping Sister Jose Women’s Center renovate a 9,000 square foot warehouse on South Park Avenue took far more of Steven Tofel’s time than he’d anticipated. But he has no regrets. “I’m 100 percent glad I did it,” he says. Tofel, 75, the founder and president of Tofel Construction, ended… Read more »
Stanley Feldman
Stanley G. Feldman, LL.B., has been a leading champion of civil rights in Arizona, and beyond, for 60 years and counting. He served as an Arizona Supreme Court justice for 21 years, from 1982 to 2002, including five years as chief justice. Born in the Bronx in 1933, and… Read more »
Deborah Howard Jacob
Deborah Howard Jacob keeps a relatively low profile. For someone so involved in the Tucson community, her name doesn’t ring a lot of bells with Google. But to the people she helps and to those who know her work, Jacob’s name looms large. “She is kindness and caring personified!,”… Read more »
Carolin Haase Atchison For more than three years, I have been researching my family’s history — and I’m still at it. When I received the results of my DNA test a couple of years ago, I was surprised, like the actors in the Ancestry TV ads. Instead of being of mainly German… Read more »
Sherrie Kay at the Sister Jose Women's Center For Sherrie Kay, giving back to the community and helping those at risk is simply a way of life. “Growing up, my family was always involved in Jewish life and tikkun olam and all the different avenues that represents. Somehow that transferred to me. The more injustice I saw… Read more »
These records are part of a collection recently donated to the Jewish History Museum.
The Jewish History Museum is asking the public to donate their Jewish music collections — vinyl records only, please. In the summer of 2016, the museum received two dozen vinyl records of Jewish music, and now they want to pump up the volume. The museum wants to bolster its… Read more »
Roberta Elliott sorts shoes donated for refugees in Vienna in October 2015.
Roberta Elliott’s exploration of what it means to be a refugee started when she had her bat mitzvah at the age of 60. But it really started long before that. She helps refugees because she grew up with refugees in her own family. For many years she has been… Read more »
Jill Rich and her husband, Jim, serve dinner at the Primavera Shelter, July 30. (Courtesy Jill Rich)
How do you create a philanthropic heart? Make an early start. Jill Rich has been a volunteer for nearly all of her 69 years. Her first foray into raising money to help others began with her curiosity. At age 4 she wanted to understand what was meant by the… Read more »
Gail Birin
No matter where she’s lived, Gail Birin says being tapped into the Jewish community has always been an essential part of her life. “I feel I’m just continuing my life’s work, the work I grew up with and the culture I grew up with,” says Birin. “The ones who… Read more »
On Sunday, Sept. 10, the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies will live stream an international conference, “Looking Back, Looking Forward: 100 Years of the Arab-Israeli Conflict,” hosted at Brandeis University by the Crown Center for Middle East Studies. The broadcast will begin at 8:30 a.m. at the Tucson Jewish… Read more »
A Living Church of God congregation in San Diego celebrates the Feast of Tabernacles -- the church's name for Sukkot -- in 2016. (Courtesy of the Living Church of God)
NEW YORK (JTA) — On the night of Rosh Hashanah, thousands of people will leave work, gather in congregations across the globe and worship God, the ruler of the world. Ten days later they will begin a fast and gather again to pray, this time atoning for their… Read more »
The Arch of Titus at the Imperial Forums in Rome. (DeAgostini/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) — French historian Pierre Nora spent his life describing and explaining “places of memory,” sites commemorating significant moments in the history of a community that continue to resonate and transform from generation to generation. For the French Republic, the Arc de Triomphe is one such… Read more »
“Dreamers” originally from Ecuador at a rally in Manhattan watch Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ speak on ending the DACA program, Sept. 5, 2017. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — An array of Jewish groups and lawmakers attacked as immoral President Donald Trump’s decision to end an Obama-era program granting protections to illegal immigrants who arrived in the United States as children. The Trump administration said Monday that it would end the Deferred Action for… Read more »
Billy Joel performs at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Aug. 21, 2017. (Myrna M. Suarez/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Few artifacts of the Holocaust move me like the yellow star. Homely and seemingly innocuous, they sit in museum cases either by themselves or still attached to a jacket or blouse, the stitching rough and the lettering surprisingly crude. They are almost comically, cartoonishly blunt,… Read more »
Rabbi Shira Stern of Marlboro, N.J., is a disaster spiritual care provider for the American Red Cross. (Courtesy of Stern)
(JTA) — It was a day before Hurricane Harvey was due to make landfall, and Rabbi Shira Stern knew she was headed for Texas. As a director of Disaster Spiritual Care for the American Red Cross, she knew there would be people who would have other needs beyond shelter,… Read more »
Rescue workers and volunteers help residents make their way out of a flooded neighborhood after it was inundated with rain following Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Aug. 29, 2017. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Three weeks ago, Lauren Laderman left Camp Young Judaea-Texas after serving as the unit head for 14-year-olds this summer. Then Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas coast, and Laderman was back at camp, this time preparing the cabins for evacuees in need of a place to live. On Tuesday,… Read more »
Maya Beiser performing an orchestral version of David Bowie's "Blackstar" album at the L'Auditori in Barcelona, Spain, July 13, 2017. (Robert Marquardt/Redfern)
NEW YORK (JTA) — There’s a small music room in the basement of cellist Maya Beiser’s large, kempt house in the leafy Riverdale section of the Bronx. It’s pretty spare — a few cellos, some basic recording equipment and posters from past concerts. Against one wall, though, rests a… Read more »
Berlin Mayor Michael Muller, right, speaks with Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal in Berlin, July 19, 2017. (Matthias Nareyek/Pool/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Berlin’s mayor, many local Jewish leaders agree, could do more to counter the city’s vocal BDS movement. But does that make him an anti-Semite? A report that the California-based Simon Wiesenthal Center may include Mayor Michael Müller on its annual list of the world’s 10 worst cases… Read more »
A gold statue of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is taken down at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, Dec. 6, 2016. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
JERUSALEM (JTA) – Israel recently got two new statues of political leaders: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Supreme Court President Miriam Naor. However, both statues were torn down within hours. For their creators, that was part of the point. Israel has very few official statues of its leaders —… Read more »
