News

As Jewish community in Northwest grows, local cafe owner’s heritage is menu inspiration

Claire Johnson, left, at her cafe in Catalina with customers Scott McGowen (in cowboy hat) and Wayne and Bernadette Olsen (Korene Charnofsky Cohen/AJP)
November 17, 2016 / Korene Charnofsky Cohen, Special to the AJP

Haimish, Yiddish for friendly or homey, sums up Claire’s Cafe and Art Gallery in Catalina. Good food also figures into the picture, but the warm atmosphere created by owners Claire and Steve Johnson keeps drawing loyal customers. The cafe was awarded the 2016 Better Business Bureau Good Neighbor Award… Read more »

Tucson J seeks teen athletes for 2017 Maccabi Games
November 17, 2016 /

The Tucson Jewish Community Center is currently recruiting Jewish teenage athletes between ages 13 and 16 to attend the JCC Maccabi Games next summer. The annual tournament runs from July 30 to Aug. 4 in Birmingham, Ala., and offers students competitive sporting events, social activities, social action projects and… Read more »

Buddhist monk to speak at Temple Emanu-El

Ringu Tulku Rinpoche
November 17, 2016 /

Tibetan Buddhist Monk Ringu Tulku Rinpoche will speak on “The Power of Gratitude to Heal” at Temple Emanu-El’s Chardonnay Shabbat service on Friday, Nov. 25 at 5:45 p.m. Following the service, Rinpoche will continue the discussion with Rabbis Samuel M. Cohon and Batsheva Appel and guests at a Shabbat… Read more »

Groundbreaking set for new JFSA/JCF home
November 17, 2016 /

A groundbreaking ceremony for a new building that will house the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona and the Jewish Community Foundation will be held Sunday, Dec. 4 at 4 p.m. in the northwest corner of the Tucson Jewish Community Center parking lot at River and Dodge Roads. The project,… Read more »

JFSA plans ‘mini-mission’ to local agencies
November 17, 2016 /

The mini-mission, an annual behind the scenes bus tour of programs supported by the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, will be held Friday, Dec 2, 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m. The tour is sponsored by JFSA Women’s Philanthropy but is open to men and women. New this year is an exclusive… Read more »

Israeli teen brings Jewish Ethiopian holiday of Sigd to Tucson

Wearing a traditional Ethiopian dress and shawl, Leah Avuno displays a tunic that would be worn by a Kes, an Ethiopian spiritual leader. Avuno, who immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia as a toddler, is spending a year in Tucson as a volunteer. (David J. Del Grande/AJP)
November 17, 2016 / Phyllis Braun, AJP Executive Editor

Leah Avuno, one of Tucson’s two Shinshinim (teen ambassadors from Israel) brought more than just her abundant youthful energy when she came to Tucson — she also brought the rich culture of her Ethiopian heritage. This year, the Tucson Jewish community will join Avuno in celebrating the Jewish Ethiopian… Read more »

Jews and Muslims ramp up alliances in wake of Trump’s election

Yossi Klein Halevi, left, and Abdullah Antepli are co-directors of the Muslim Leadership Initiative. (Netanel Tobias/Shalom Hartman Institute)
November 17, 2016 / Ben Sales, JTA

  (JTA) — For years, whenever Jews and Muslims engaged in dialogue and activism, it usually concerned one issue: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. With Donald Trump’s ascent to the presidency, that appears to be changing. Regardless of what’s happening across the ocean, Jews and Muslims in the United States are… Read more »

Condemn or court? Bannon appointment a dilemma for Jewish groups seeking access to Trump

From left to right: Matt Brooks, director of the Republican Jewish Coalition; Noam Neusner, former speechwriter for President George W. Bush; Tevi Troy, deputy health secretary under President George W. Bush, and Jeff Berkowitz, former research director of the Republican National Committee, at the Jewish Federations of North America's General Assembly in Washington, D.C., Nov. 14, 2016. (Ron Sachs)
November 17, 2016 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

  WASHINGTON (JTA) – Offer an open hand or a closed fist — or maybe both. Name names. Don’t name names, hint. Quietly adjust wording. Welcome to the second week of the World of Trump, Jewish organizational edition. Week 1 was fraught enough, with Jewish statements marking Donald Trump’s… Read more »

Bernie Sanders tapped for Senate Democratic leadership post
November 17, 2016 /

(JTA) — Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont Independent, has joined the Senate Democratic leadership. Sanders was named chair of outreach for the party on Wednesday, according to reports on the closed-door Senate Democratic caucus meeting. As an Independent, Sanders was an outsider to the Democratic Party until he ran… Read more »

Meet the Jews in Donald Trump’s inner circle

Top left, clockwise, Ivanka Trump, Jason Greenblatt, Boris Epshteyn and Steven Mnuchin (Trump photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images; Greenblatt photo: Uriel Heilman; Epshteyn photo: Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for SiriusXM; Mnuchin photo: Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images for City Harvest)
November 16, 2016 / Josefin Dolsten, JTA

(JTA) — President-elect Donald Trump has a complicated history with Jews. On the one hand, his daughter Ivanka converted to Orthodox Judaism before marrying Jared Kushner, and he’s spoken fondly about having Jewish grandchildren. On the other, some of Trump’s supporters have links to the anti-Semitic far right movement known as… Read more »

Trump’s chief strategist: 5 things Jews need to know about Stephen Bannon

Stephen Bannon at a Donald Trump rally at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center in Reno, Nev., Nov. 5, 2016. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)
November 14, 2016 / Ben Sales, JTA

  (JTA) — On Sunday, President-elect Donald Trump appointed Stephen Bannon to be his chief strategist. Before joining Trump’s campaign, Bannon was the chairman of Breitbart News, a site steeped in conspiracy theories that has featured the white supremacist, anti-Semitic ideologies of the so-called alt-right. Bannon has also been accused of… Read more »

As Israeli right celebrates President Trump, experts urge self-control

Researcher Emily Landau making an appearance at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, Nov. 9, 2016. (Andrew Tobin)
November 13, 2016 / Andrew Tobin, JTA

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Right-wing Israeli politicians welcomed the election of Donald Trump with open arms. On Wednesday, Education Minister Naftali Bennett said Trump becoming the president-elect of the United States was a chance for Israel to “retract the notion of a Palestinian state.” Several politicians, including Jerusalem Mayor… Read more »

Meet Eric Greitens, the first Jewish governor of Missouri and a former Navy SEAL

Eric Greitens as a Navy SEAL in Iraq. (Courtesy of Rubenstein Public Relations)
November 13, 2016 / Gabe Friedman, JTA

(JTA) — Eric Greitens, a former Navy SEAL whose seven military awards include the Bronze Star, has become the first Jewish governor of Missouri. Greitens, 42, a Republican, also is a former Rhodes scholar and the founder of The Mission Continues, a nonprofit that helps veterans integrate themselves back… Read more »

After Trump’s win, Jews in red states feel emboldened, or embattled

Beth-El Congregation in Fort Worth, Texas (Courtesy of Beth-El Congregation)
November 13, 2016 / Ben Sales, JTA

(JTA) — At 6:30 Wednesday morning, Oklahoma City Rabbi Abby Jacobson received a text from one of her teenage congregants expressing sadness at the presidential election results — and fear. “She said, ‘I’m sorry for texting you, rabbi, but I can’t say any of this at school,’” related Jacobson,… Read more »

Dutch mark Kristallnacht as Europe, US confront a wave of right-wing populism

Kristallnacht commemoration at the Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam, Nov. 9, 2016. (Courtesy of Jonet.nl)
November 11, 2016 / Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA

AMSTERDAM (JTA) — His name was never mentioned during the Netherlands’ main commemoration event for Kristallnacht, but Donald Trump was likely on everyone’s mind at the ceremony at the Dutch capital’s majestic Portuguese Synagogue. It wasn’t for any imagined parallels between Trump’s election as U.S. president and the campaign… Read more »

ANALYSIS J Street, Republican Jewish Coalition claim victory in battle of the ballot box

Rep. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois at a celebration in Washington, D.C., for women leaders, Jan. 20, 2013. The Democratic congresswoman, an Iran deal backer, defeated Mark Kirk to win his Senate seat. (Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for Elle)
November 11, 2016 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — In dueling election recaps on Wednesday, J Street and the Republican Jewish Coalition claimed they beat the other when it came to supporting like-minded candidates. The arena was Congress and the weapon of choice was Iran: RJC campaigned against candidates associated with the nuclear deal, J Street… Read more »

ANALYSIS Trump has tapped forces that are unsettling Jewish assumptions

Donald Trump at a campaign event in Sarasota, Fla., Nov. 7, 2016. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
November 9, 2016 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

  WASHINGTON (JTA) – In forging an unprecedented and stunning path to the presidency, Donald Trump claimed to represent Americans who were anxious, resentful and ready to make radical changes. Their electoral strength blindsided pollsters and pundits — and flabbergasted many Jews, for whom the Trump base was once largely… Read more »

Donald Trump elected 45th president of the United States, GOP keeps Congress

President-elect Donald Trump delivers his acceptance speech at the New York Hilton Midtown in New York City, Nov. 9, 2016. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
November 9, 2016 /

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Donald Trump will be the next U.S. president, having swept to victory in at least 29 states with 288 electoral votes and jolted a Jewish community made increasingly anxious as his rough-edged nativist rhetoric emboldened the far right and amplified a strain of anti-Semitic invective not heard… Read more »