IDF soldiers raise a glass at ta model Seder on their base. (IDF Spokesperson) JERUSALEM (JTA) — With Passover nearing, the Israeli army is embarking on one of its biggest operations of the year. Whether in the field, on a base or with family living abroad, “every last soldier has everything he needs for Seder night,” asserts Capt. Ze’ev Rosens, rabbi of the… Read more »
Richard Hyman, great-grandson of Titanic survivor Joseph Abraham Hyman, in front of the family business his great-grandfather started a year after the ship sank. (J.A. Hyman Titanics Ltd.) Manchester, England is home to an estimated 20,000-30,000 Jews, roughly 40 percent of whom keep kosher. Three of the community’s six kosher butcher/delicatessen shops are run by Richard Hyman and his wife, Joanna. The 99-year-old family business, known to locals as “Titanics,” was born out of the most famous… Read more »
A daughter, ANGELINA VIRGINIA KROOT, was born Feb. 3, 2012, to Cathy Szostek and Aaron Kroot of Grayslake, Ill. Grandparents are Shirley and Michael Kroot of Tucson.… Read more »
Tucson natives REBECCA GOLD and SHANA CUTLER, who created the LoveJay Girls line of special occasion dresses for girls last year, have launched SAMMI & DAVID, a new casual clothing line for girls ages 7-12. More information is at sammiand david.com. The TUCSON JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER has hired LIZ… Read more »
A book by MERYL HERSHEY BECK, “Stop Eating Your Heart Out: 21 Days to Freedom from Emotional Eating” will be published next month by Red Wheel/Weiser & Conari Press. Beck is a licensed clinical counselor in Tucson.… Read more »
GABRIEL LOUIS COHON, son of Rabbi Samuel M. and Wendy Cohon and Rhody and Greg Downy, will celebrate becoming a Bar Mitzvah on Saturday, March 31 at Temple Emanu-El. He is the grandson of Rabbi Baruch J. and Claire Cohon of Los Angeles, Calif., and Dr. Benjamin and Brenda… Read more »
Women raising flags during a demonstration in Paris to protest recent murders in Toulouse, March 20,2012. (Daniel Hoffman) PARIS (JTA) — With the first round of France’s presidential election less than four weeks away, the attacks that left four Jews and three French soldiers dead are reshaping the race — but for now it’s not clear exactly how. In the days leading up to the attacks, President… Read more »
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach ata 2011 menorah lighting ceremony at Newark City Hall in New Jersey. (Robert Wiener, NJ Jewish News) (NJ Jewish News) — Known by some as “America’s rabbi,” he is a Lubavitcher rabbi, a television host, frequent talk-show guest, and the author of 27 books — among them such provocative titles as “Kosher Sex” and “Kosher Jesus.” As of March 12, Englewood, N.J., resident Shmuley Boteach can… Read more »
The “Seeking Kin” column aims to help reunite long-lost friends and relatives. KIBBUTZ YAD MORDECHAI, Israel (JTA) — In a far-off corner of this quiet farm a handful of miles from the Gaza Strip as the rocket flies, down a dirt road that peels off from an old Arab… Read more »
Marilyn Burkam Marilyn Burkam, 76, died March 6, 2012. Born in Newark, N.J., Mrs. Burkam grew up in Las Cruces, N.M., and worked at White Sands Proving Grounds, where she met Edward Burkam. They married and moved to Union, N.J. They moved to Tucson in 1984 to be near their daughters.… Read more »
Daniel Silverman, 83, ascended to a higher realm on Feb. 6, 2012. He was born in Chicago, Ill., in 1928 and lived there until 1967 when he moved with his family to Los Angeles, Calif., (where he still resided). Danny worked at MCA/Universal in the publicity department for more… Read more »
Lori Riegel prepares a meal in her newly kashered kitchen. When I was in the eighth grade, my mother decided to kasher our kitchen. Each summer, after my sister and I returned from Camp Ramah, which was our first experience with kashrut, we’d asked if we could become kosher. In 1985, we were getting ready to move into a… Read more »
Rabbi Yossi Winner Each year on the holiday of Pesach some 500 Jewish students join my wife, family and me for the Passover Seders. It is an extraordinary scene! Who would have imagined that on a college campus where the challenges to Jewish identity and practice are many, a place where students… Read more »
The TucsonSurvivors.org website has been updated to include the texts of 13 Russian Holocaust survivors’ testimonials, which have been translated into English. Each story is accompanied by photographs, many from the 1940s and ’50s. Richard Fenwick, a volunteer with Jewish Family & Children’s Services, provided the translations. The original… Read more »
Since 1970, Jewish Family & Children’s Services has helped local families celebrate a traditional Seder through its annual Matza & More Passover project. JFCS is joined by local synagogues and businesses that help collect and deliver a variety of food items to more than 300 individuals in need. Participating… Read more »
The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is partnering with local synagogues for Operation Elijah, an annual effort to ensure that every Jew in Southern Arizona has a seat at a Seder table for Passover. Now in its seventh year, Operation Elijah will match Seder hosts and guests for the… Read more »
At Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Southern Arizona’s third annual Celebration of Caring fundraising event on March 7, there was more that was new than the meal time (lunch instead of breakfast) and the venue (the Doubletree Hotel). After a brief welcome by President and CEO Shira Ledman,… Read more »
I am a Holocaust survivor and an active member of the community. My brother-in-law David Goldman is in dire need of a kidney donor as the kidney that my wife (his sister) donated to him 25 years ago is no longer working. He has been on dialysis for over… Read more »
Rafael Medoff Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to the Holocaust in his March 5 speech at AIPAC for the same reason that President Shimon Peres referred to it in his speech the day before and President Obama alluded to it in his news conference the day after: Because in the… Read more »
Michael Lerner When I learned of the murder of dozens of members of my family in the Holocaust and then met my Israeli relatives whose Auschwitz numbers could hardly be missed on their arms, I decided to dedicate my life to challenging war, the denial of human rights, the hatred of… Read more »
