Abbie Kozolchyk on a recent research trip to Samoa (Courtesy Abbie Kozolchyk)
Professional writer and editor Abbie Kozolchyk credits her sixth- and seventh-grade attendance at Tucson Hebrew Academy as the most formative of her school years, fostering both her Jewish identity and her love of language. Growing up in a Jewish family provided a firm foundation in Jewish tradition, including membership… Read more »
Rabbi Helen T. Cohn Congregation M’kor Hayim will start the new year with a new High Holidays machzor, or prayer book, recently published by the Reform Movement’s Central Conference of American Rabbis. The two-volume machzor, Mishkan HaNefesh, should “add new energy and meaning to our High Holidays services,” says Rabbi Helen Cohn. Among… Read more »
Mexico City’s Benjamin Shwartz y Los Jreins will perform at the second annual Stone Avenue Block Party on Sept. 29.
As the sun goes down on Thursday, Sept. 29, live music by Mexico City’s Benjamin Shwartz y Los Jreins will heat up the night at the second annual Stone Avenue Block Party, presented by the Jewish History Museum and the Consulate of Mexico in Tucson. The party, which starts… Read more »
Kathleen Mueller, M.D., (left) and Gloria “Gigi” Dunn, M.D. (Courtesy Tucson Jewish Community Center)
The Tucson Jewish Community Center will host Simply Well for Women, a two-day seminar with Drs. Kathleen N. Mueller and Gloria “Gigi” Dunn, on Oct. 8 and 9, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Two of only 1,000 physicians in the world to have completed a two-year post-doctoral fellowship… Read more »
The lobby of the new Jewish Federation/Foundation building will evoke the welcoming spirit of the tent of the biblical Abraham and Sarah. (Courtesy CDG Architects)
After decades of putting the needs of other Jewish community agencies first, the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is ready to break ground on a new home of its own. The new 18,000 square foot building, which will house the Federation and the Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona,… Read more »
Aymen Odeh heads the Joint List of Arab political parties. (Courtesy of Odeh's office)
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Aymen Odeh has a tough job. He is the first person to represent all of Israel’s Arab political parties in the Knesset, or parliament. The parties, whose members range from secular communists to pious Muslims, came together as the Joint List to run in the 2015… Read more »
Members of the New York City Police Department stand guard in Manhattan's Herald Square, near where a bomb was set off the previous evening, Sept. 18, 2016. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Donald Trump wants to profile likely terrorists the way Israel does it. The problem is, Israel and the United States already profile in similar ways – and neither in the way Trump prefers. The Republican presidential nominee’s proposal to blanket-profile entire communities would be unwieldy and… Read more »
A Tunisian Muslim woman, right, wearing a burkini swimsuit wading in the water on a beach near Tunis, Aug. 16, 2016. (Fethi Belaid/ AFP/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Like their constituents, the mainstream representatives of French Jewry are not known for passing up opportunities to express their opinion on subjects of national debate. And Jewish institutions in France, like those in the United States, regularly comment on a host of issues, including divisive ones that lie… Read more »
Jared Taylor, the editor of American Renaissance, addressing a news conference on the alt-right in Washington, D.C., while Richard Spencer, who claims to the progenitor of the term, looks on, Sept. 9, 2016. (Ron Kampeas)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — This was the unveiling of the alt-right, this was its moment, its confident stride onto the national stage, and there was unity — until there was internal dissent, until there was pronounced disagreement, until there was almost – almost – a voice raised against one’s white… Read more »
In anticipation of the construction of a new synagogue in Nabagoye, Uganda, the women and children there were given the honor of transferring the Torahs from the old synagogue to a temporary home. (Courtesy of Be’chol Lashon)
(JTA) — When there was no more space in the synagogue in Nabagoye, Uganda, congregants would go outside, gathering under trees. But the branches weren’t enough to shield them from the rain during the East African country’s wet seasons, which last about half the year. A new 7,000-square-foot… Read more »
Milan Chatterjee said the UCLA administration was working in collusion with activists of the BDS movement. (Courtesy of Chatterjee)
(JTA) — When Milan Chatterjee arrived at UCLA’s law school in 2014, Middle East politics wasn’t one of his core interests. He describes himself as an Indian American interested in corporate law who has strong connections to his South Asian and Hindu heritage. He has played the Indian tabla drums on… Read more »
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arriving at the weekly Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Sept. 11, 2016. (Marc Israel Sellem/Pool/Flash90)
áéáé
JERUSALEM (JTA) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu argued earlier this month that the Palestinian leadership is supporting “ethnic cleansing” by refusing to accept Israeli settlers in its future state. “Yet the Palestinian leadership actually demands a Palestinian state with one precondition: No Jews. There’s a phrase for that: It’s called ethnic… Read more »
Jacob Nagel, left, Israel's acting national security adviser, signing a Memorandum of Understanding for $38 billion of U.S. defense assistance over 10 years with Undersecretary of State Tom Shannon, Sept. 14, 2016. (Embassy of Israel)
WASHINGTON (JTA) – President Barack Obama’s near parting gift to Israel, a guarantee of $38 billion in defense assistance over a decade, distills into a single document what he’s been saying throughout eight fraught years: I have your back, but on my terms. The agreement signed Wednesday in the State Department’s… Read more »
Ramat Gan (TPS) – The medical condition of former Israeli President Shimon Peres has improved to the level where he is stable and responsive, according to the most recent update from Sheba Medical Center where he is receiving care. “After 24 hours of evaluating the ninth president, Mr. Peres,… Read more »
Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Tsachi Miri/TPS)
Herzliya (TPS) – Education Minister and Chairman of the Jewish Home Party Naftali Bennett told a counter-terrorism conference Monday that Israel is the world’s “front post” in the battle against terror. “No nation is as threatened by terror as we are,” Bennett told the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism annual… Read more »
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton walks to her plane at Quad Cities International Airport in Moline, Ill., Sept. 5, 2016. (Brendan SmialowskiAFP/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Hillary Clinton trounces Donald Trump among Jewish voters, but underperforms compared to her Democratic predecessors, according to an American Jewish Committee poll that depicts a Jewish community disenchanted with politics and anxious about the country’s future. The poll released Tuesday shows Clinton defeating Trump, 61… Read more »
Shimon Peres in Tel Aviv, Nov. 30, 2015 (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
Updated 9/13/16 at 1:18 p.m. MST. JERUSALEM (JTA) — Former Israeli President Shimon Peres was hospitalized after having a stroke. Peres’ office said in a statement Tuesday evening that the 93-year-old statesman “is stable and fully conscious.” The office later announced that Peres’ doctors decided to sedate him and… Read more »
Aly Raisman posing after winning a silver medal in the women's individual all-around competition at the Rio Olympics, Aug. 11, 2016. (Getty Images)
(JTA) — A stabbing and car-ramming epidemic in Israel that some called a third intifada was among the most dominant Jewish stories of the past year. But 5776 was also notable for the release of spy Jonathan Pollard after 30 years in prison, the communal fallout from the Iran nuclear deal, a historic… Read more »
New Jewish immigrant children at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport after arriving on a flight from Ethiopia, Oct. 29, 2012. (Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) — “We are committed to helping ensure that the State of Israel welcomes Jews of all colors.” “We say, we have black lives that matter in Africa.” “In America, race has been a central area of Jewish concern historically.” These are all statements that have been… Read more »
Broadway in Tucson Centennial Hall, 1020 E. University Blvd. 903-2929 broadwayintucson.com The 13th season begins in September with a revival of the Tony-award winning masterpiece “Cabaret.” Rodgers and Hammerstein’s family classic “The Sound of Music” will thrill audiences with its Tony®, Grammy® and Academy Award® winning score, including “My… Read more »
