World

On the Ground in Krakow: Assisting Ukrainian Refugees in Poland

Dr. Jacobson in front of the Krakow JCC

I recently returned from two weeks in Krakow, Poland, volunteering with the team at the Jewish Community Center (JCC) of Krakow in their terrific effort to assist Ukrainian refugees. I traveled to Poland with my brother, Bruce Jacobson, who lives in South Carolina. Our contact was Jonathan Ornstein, Executive… Read more »

With real-life travel curtailed, Tucsonan’s Jewish travel podcast is unique opportunity

A travel group (minus leader and photographer Tom Price) on tour in Fez, Morocco, once a major center of Jewish life. (Photo courtesy Tom Price)

International travelers seeking new and exciting experiences can depart today from Tucson, or anywhere, at no cost, with no passport, and with no travel restrictions. All that’s required is an Internet connection, a digital device, some curiosity, and one’s attention for 15 to 20 minutes at a time. “Around… Read more »

Teen’s book celebrates multicultural friendships

High school seniors Bella Wexler of Tucson and Amber Juang of Taiwan have been friends since they were fifth-grade students together at Ventana Vista Elementary School in Tucson’s Catalina Foothills School District. They’ve maintained that friendship across 7,000 miles since Amber’s family returned to Taiwan during the girls’ first… Read more »

JDC Hanukkah candle-lightings on Facebook to connect Jews worldwide

As a way to connect Jews during the pandemic’s second wave, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee will unite on Facebook with different Jewish communities worldwide through a Hanukkah candle-lighting video each night of the holiday at 5 p.m. EST. The holiday begins on the night of Dec. 10.… Read more »

Hillel International introduces Broadway Kol Nidre

This Sunday evening, Jews around the world will chant the Kol Nidre, the ancient Aramaic incantation repeated three times at the Yom Kippur evening ceremony. Hillel International, embracing the diversity of Jewish tradition, is sharing three distinct versions as part of its Higher Holidays program: A dramatized reading in… Read more »

How an annual religious pilgrimage created a year-round Jewish community in Uman, Ukraine

Jews pray on a street near the tomb of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov in Uman, Ukraine, Sept. 20, 2006. (Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images)

(JTA) — Before deciding to stay permanently, Chaim Chazin would visit the small city of Uman, Ukraine, every year around Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. For Chazin, a religiously observant music producer from Israel, the brief annual visits were energizing spiritual experiences away from money troubles back home.… Read more »

Locals in Uman, Ukraine scuffle with Jewish pilgrims

(JTA) — Residents of Uman, Ukraine, scuffled with Orthodox Jews who were seeking to enter a building in the city that is the site of an annual  Jewish pilgrimage. In a video posted to Facebook on Friday by Sergiy Alekseev, a city council member representing the far-right Svoboda party, several… Read more »

Jewish woman celebrates 111th birthday under lockdown in South Africa

(JTA) — Only one person has ever officially fulfilled the traditional Jewish birthday blessing of living “until 120,” but Rosalie Wolpe from South Africa is well on her way. Wolpe celebrated her 111th birthday last week at her Cape Town retirement facility, Highlands House Home for Jewish Aged, with… Read more »

Austria will allow descendants of Holocaust victims to receive citizenship

(JTA) — Austria will allow the descendants of Holocaust victims to receive citizenship beginning Sept. 1, the country’s embassy in Israel announced Sunday. Before an amendment to Austria’s citizenship law ratified last September, only survivors were entitled to receive citizenship, and then only if they left Austria due to… Read more »

Uzbekistan Jews fight to save 124-year-old synagogue from demolition

(JTA) — A construction firm in Uzbekistan is attempting to have a 124-year-old synagogue demolished to make way for a luxury apartment complex, according to a Russian-Jewish publication. Absolute Business Trade, a company based in the Uzbek capital of Tashkent, earlier this year sued the Jewish Ashkenazi Community of… Read more »

Holocaust survivors launch campaign to fight Holocaust denial on Facebook

BERLIN (JTA) – Joining a growing chorus of critical voices, Holocaust survivors have launched an international online campaign criticizing Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg that is aimed at countering Holocaust denial on his social media platform. Starting Wednesday, a campaign sponsored by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany… Read more »

A holiday marking one societal rupture, Tisha B’Av spurs Jewish creativity amid another

Daniel Olson's "Coronavirus Eli Tziyon" includes laments for frontline workers and those who have fallen ill. (Screenshot)

(JTA) — For many observant Jews, the mourning over the destruction of the two ancient Temples in Jerusalem on the fast of Tisha B’Av actually begins three weeks earlier with the onset of a period of mourning during which it’s customary to avoid joyful activities like weddings and music.… Read more »