Yearly Archives 2010

“The world is changing so fast, that none of us feels completely prepared for leadership. Engaging with very bright thinkers helps position us,” Stuart Mellan, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, said during the 5th Saul Tobin Jewish Community Leadership Institute, held in April and… Read more »

WADI FUKIN, West Bank (JTA) — Mohammed Mansara, a 70-year-old farmer who goes by the name Abu Mazen, indicates with a sweep of his arm the fruit trees and vegetables he grows on his small plot of land in this Palestinian village in the West Bank, population 1,200. Then… Read more »

GABRIELLE DIAMOND LEVY, daughter of Helaine Levy and Yoram Levy, will celebrate becoming a Bat Mitzvah on Saturday, May 29 at Congregation Or Chadash. She is the granddaughter of Joan and Donald Diamond of Tucson, and Myriam Levy of Israel. Gabrielle attends St. Gregory College Preparatory School. She enjoys… Read more »

Michele Grace Goldstein and David Robert Clementi announce their engagement. Michele is the daughter of Dana Goldstein and Gene Goldstein, both of Tucson. She attended the University of Arizona and is now a professional makeup artist, licensed esthetician, and laser technician in Tucson. David is the son of Rosanne… Read more »

THE TUCSON JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER announced its board of directors at its annual meeting April 28. The officers are Fran Katz,chair; Barney Holtzman, vice chair; Jeff Silvyn, vice chair; Mary Cochran Wolk, vice chair; Stuart Shatken, secretary; Ed Rogoff, treasurer; Tom Warne, chair-elect; and Mark Rubin, immediate past chair.… Read more »

The philosophy of Casa Maria, as described by one volunteer, is to treat everyone kindly and with respect, and as you would like to be treated. The goal of this nonprofit organization that aids impoverished and homeless Tucsonans is most certainly a concept B’nai Tzedek teens learn through their… Read more »

WASHINGTON-Fourteen years ago, Washington, D.C., resident Laurie Strongin remembers, it seemed almost like “science fiction” the notion that you could “pick the baby you could get pregnant with.” Moreover, cells from that newborn might save the life of her young son, Henry, who was suffering from a rare genetic… Read more »

NEW YORK-In the same manner that she shops for locally grown produce, Abigail Weinberg chose to sidestep the bank behemoths and instead open an account at a small, local bank that invests in her Ann Arbor, Mich., community. “I consider myself someone who wants to be socially and environmentally… Read more »

WASHINGTON Depending on your view of the Middle East and the Obama administration, Aaron David Miller is either a hero or a turncoat. Miller, a peace process functionary under both Bush administrations and the Clinton administration, published a declaration of independence last month from what he called the “religion”… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA)-Two weeks after pro-Israel groups in South Africa withdrew threats to picket Richard Goldstone at his grandson’s Bar Mitzvah, Israeli critics are charging that the former judge “mercilessly” sentenced dozens of blacks to death on behalf of the apartheid- era regime during his judicial tenure. The charges, aired… Read more »

In an age when no self-respecting American would be caught without a dietary restriction, from low-fat and high-protein to vegan or gluten-free, Jews have the proud distinction of being the first group to claim an Official Food Fixation. Since biblical times, the Jewish relationship to food has been more… Read more »

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona has launched “What’s Your #ish?”, an online campaign that encourages young Jews of all stripes to share what being Jewish means to them — their “ish” — while raising awareness of the work of Jewish federations. The project, launched in partnership with The… Read more »

Jerusalem On the day last week that Israel gained admission to the prestigious Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Israel’s continued control over the Palestinians was eroding its global standing. Whereas Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu… Read more »

Far be it from me to defend Pat Buchanan, but I don’t think critics of his attack on the Elena Kagan nomination understand what makes it so objectionable. The fast version of Buchanan’s Kagan column (available at WorldNet Daily) is this: By failing to nominate WASPs, or white ethnics… Read more »

Companies that promote sweepstakes scams go by different names. But they do have one thing in common: Their victims are primarily senior citizens, especially our parents and grandparents who do not know how to access the Internet.  If these senior citizens could get online and Google “Award Processing Center,”… Read more »

Both Sheila Stolov’s letter to the AJP (“Cohon right on public education,” 5/7/10) and Rabbi Cohon’s article (“Support for Arizona public education a must,” AJP 4/9/10) deal with the severe budgetary crisis in Arizona’s public education system; and as such, they also talk to the referendum to temporarily increase… Read more »

Regarding Sheila Wilensky’s article “Immigration bill thrusts Arizona into national spotlight; Tucsonans react, (AJP/5/7/10) ” I want to commend the Post for providing the readership with an in-depth analysis.  Obviously the subject of immigration is a highly polarizing one and there are differing points of view.  It is important… Read more »

Debris from home interiors fills the lawns at River Plantation in the Bellevue area of Nashville. (JTA Photo Service)

NASHVILLE, TENN. (JTA)-Ruth Klar and Alicia Safdie knew they Jewish community recovering, pitching in following floods in Tennessee were lucky, safe and healthy amid the flood’s muddy wreckage. But the little things made them cry. “My cookbooks are gone,” Klar said in her den at River Plantation, a large… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — A middle-aged Russian tourist dressed in white and claiming to be Jesus checked in last week at the Petra Hostel in Jerusalem’s Old City.       He did not stay long, the hostel’s clerk said. Just a few days and he was gone.       The man likely… Read more »

The Jewish Community Relations Council, the public affairs and social justice arm of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, has adopted a position statement in response to Gov. Jan Brewer’s recent signing into law of SB 1070, Immigration:  Law Enforcement; Safe Neighborhoods Act and its potential impact on human… Read more »