Lillian (Lilly) Weich, 94, died March 24, 2011. Born in Poland/Austria, Mrs. Weich immigrated to the United States in 1935 as a young bride. She became a U.S. citizen in January 1943. Mrs. Weich raised her family in New Jersey, where she owned a women’s store, The Sample Shop.… Read more »
Eileen F. Starr, 84, died March 15, 2011. Born in Chicago, Ill., Mrs. Starr attended the University of Miami, where she met her husband, M. Lee Starr. After graduating, they moved to Tucson. Mrs. Starr taught in the Tucson Unified School District; the last 15 years of her teaching… Read more »
Rabbi Yossie Shemtov On Wednesday, March 30, we went to the 2nd Annual Cindy Wool Memorial Seminar on Humanism in Medicine, held in memory of our dear friend, at the Marriott University Park in Tucson. The speaker, Rachel Naomi Remen, bestselling author of “Kitchen Table Wisdom,” recalled her grandfather telling her that… Read more »
Guy Gelbart In June 2010 Peter Beinart published his famous article in The New York Review of Books, “The Failure of the American Jewish Establishment,” in which he concludes that young American Jews have checked their Zionism at the door of liberalism. Based on Beinart’s assessment, I arrived in the United… Read more »
What woman has changed your life? My toddler intuited his answer when he said to me, “Thank you ima for making me.” That’s right folks, mothers, hands down, have probably had the single biggest impact on our lives. Giving birth to children is probably one of the most courageous… Read more »
For decades, Helen Zegerman Schwimmer has recorded Seder menus, guests and more inside the covers of her family’s Haggadot. As night falls and we begin to recount the story of our ancestors’ exodus from Egypt another more personal story unfolds between the covers of my Passover Haggadah. Some years ago I purchased a dozen copies of the KTAV edition so that we would all be on the same… Read more »
Potential GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney (left) chats with Mel Sembler (center) and Sheldon Adelson, major backers of the Republican Jewish Coalition, at the RJC’s winter leadership conference at the Adelson-owned Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, April 2. (Ron Kampeas/JTA) At the Republican Jewish Coalition’s winter leadership retreat here, it was the absence of certain likely candidates for president that had the crowd most excited. While names like Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann generate enthusiasm at some conservative gatherings, their absence here had the Jewish crowd giddy that ahead… Read more »
Richard Goldstone, left, shown meeting on June 1, 2009 with Ghazi Hamad of Hamas at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, now says his report’s finding that Israel intentionally targeted civilians in the Gaza war was mistaken. (Rahim Khatiz/Flash 90/JTA) Richard Goldstone’s original U.N. report on the Gaza war of 2008-09 landed like a bombshell in the PR war over Israel, damaging Israel’s reputation around the world with its finding that Israel potentially committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during its three-week war against Hamas. Now that Goldstone… Read more »
Susan Claassen (left) and Molly McKasson, 1977 The Invisible Theatre is celebrating its 40th anniversary season on April 9 and 10 with “Painting the Town Red,” a “retro-spectacular cabaret”conceived, written and directed by Susan Claassen, the theatre’s managing artistic director. Hosted by Claassen and Molly McKasson, the show will include appearances by returning guest artists including… Read more »
(L-R) Josh Silvain (David), Bill Epstein (Murph), Tenoch Gomez (Pete) and Dan Colecchia (Mitch) in “Fronting the Order” “Fronting the Order,” a new play by Warren G. Bodow, opens today at the Beowulf Alley Theatre, with 11 performances running through April 23. Set in a diner in a small upstate New York town on a summer evening in 1959, “Fronting the Order” follows the fortunes of four… Read more »
Painter and printmaker Sylvia Garland and photographer Edlynne Sillman will exhibit their work at the Tucson Jewish Community Center from April 14 to May 19. Garland’s exhibit, “Abstract Botanical Expressions,” features oil paintings and one of a kind prints on paper. Sillman is dedicating her “America the Beautiful” exhibition… Read more »
Sasha Farber When Sasha Farber’s family emigrated from Belarus to Australia in 1991, becoming a dancer was probably the last thing on the 7-year-old’s mind. “We left because of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster,” Farber told the AJP, and also because “we had to keep it quiet that we were Jewish.” Farber,… Read more »
The 150th anniversary of the Civil War is upon us. April 12 is the anniversary of the firing on Fort Sumter, the war’s opening shot. From then, through the sesquicentennial anniversary on April 9, 2015 of Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House and five days later of… Read more »
Alexander Oscar, 32, the president of Sofia’s Jewish community, speaks at a Holocaust day ceremony in the Bulgarian capital, March 10. (Ben Harris) Under a cloudless blue sky, in a square wedged between the National Assembly and the Rectorate of the University of Sofia, Alexander Oscar, the young president of Sofia’s Jewish community, issued a blunt message to his countrymen. The occasion was Bulgaria’s Holocaust remembrance ceremony on March 10, a day… Read more »
Philadelphia’s Olney High School will hold its 60th anniversary reunion on Sunday, June 5, 2001 at Bala Country Club. For information, call 215-663-1743. —Irv Segal… Read more »
I suppose there may be ways to harmonize Larry Gellman’s two statements at the conclusion of Sheila Wilensky’s March 24 article reporting on Hadar Susskind’s recent visit to Tucson (“On visit to Tucson, J Street policy director explains group’s mission”). Mr. Gellman “find Jewish Voice for Peace despicable” while… Read more »
I was very pleased to see the article on J Street Policy Director Hadar Susskind’s visit to the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Acknowledgment of different voices within the Jewish community in regards to our relationship with Israel and Israel’s current policies is a breath of fresh air. Moreover, the… Read more »
With the turmoil rocking the Middle East now threatening the regime in Syria, Israel faces potentially grave dangers and huge opportunities. The dangers are clear: The emergence of a more radical regime in Syria could mean a stronger Iran-Syria-Hezbollah axis. Iran could get direct access to its allies in… Read more »
Like many Tucsonans, staff at Community Partnership of Southern Arizona were shocked and saddened by the shooting rampage on Jan. 8. Many of us knew someone who was killed or injured in the shooting. We also were given the opportunity to help the community take its first steps toward… Read more »
We’ve added two new blogs to azjew ishpost.com. First, former Arizona Jewish Post assistant editor Jen Sonstein Maidenberg , who’d left Tucson for the charms of New Jersey, returns — sort of — with her blog “And Yadda Yadda Yadda, I Made Aliyah,” which also has been picked up… Read more »
