Yearly Archives 2012

Israel’s Iron Dome defense system near the Israeli town of Ashdod intercepted a volley of rockets fired by terrorist groups from the Gaza Strip area, March 11. (Flash90/JTA)

If Israel has its way, this is how future conflicts with Gaza-based terrorists will unfold: Israeli aircraft launch surgical strikes on rocket launchers; terrorist leaders are assassinated as necessary; Israeli civilians along the southern frontier are protected by advanced technology that shoots enemy rockets out of the sky; and… Read more »

(L-R): Milla Bańkowicz as Krystyna Chiger and Robert Więckiewicz as Leopold Socha (Jasmin Marla Dichant/Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics)

In the last few decades, German and French filmmakers — reflecting and, in some cases, bravely advancing national attitudes — have examined the Holocaust with both blunt candidness and shades-of-gray maturity. Polish director Agnieszka Holland’s profoundly responsible and beautifully made “In Darkness” represents a rare cinematic attempt to address… Read more »

Salmon Cakes with Tropical Fruit Salsa

Passover may be the mother of all kit­chen yuntifs, but stay cool and don’t stress. Last year, 99 percent of the dishes I made for Passover weren’t actually Passover recipes. Of course they were kosher for Passover, but they didn’t require any major Passover ingredient tweaks. These recipes were… Read more »

Tamir Goodman, the ‘Jewish Jordan,’ is now retired from professional basketball.

Tamir Goodman, 30, has been known as basketball’s “Jewish Jordan” but these days he’s an inspirational speaker promoting Jewish identity, president of Tamir Goodman Sports Consultant LLC, a husband and father of four. A former professional player for the Maryland Nighthawks who’d previously sported jerseys for six seasons with… Read more »

Israeli Ambassador Uri Bar-Ner, left, presents Jewish Community Foundation Executive Director Carol Karsch with a Recognition Award on behalf of the state of Israel at JCF’s 20th anniversary celebration of its Endowment Book of Life on Feb. 7. Holding the award is Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona President and CEO Stuart Mellan. (Martha Lochert)

Nearly 400 community members attended the Jewish Community Foundation’s 20th anniversary celebration of its Endowment Book of Life on Feb. 7. Representatives of 12 community partners participating in Areivim, a nationally and locally funded pilot program to encourage community members to establish legacies to benefit each of the partners,… Read more »

Ron Barber

The Tucson chapter of the America-Israel Friendship League will honor Kate Hoffman and Ron Barber with its Building a Diverse and Vibrant Tucson Award at its annual dinner on Sunday, April 15 at the Westin La Paloma Resort. Hoffman created the nonprofit Live the Solution, which helps Arizona families… Read more »

Tucson Hebrew Academy seventh-grader Maxim Quint and Joseph Gitler, founder of Leket Israel, the National Food Bank of Israel

The Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona and the America-Israel Friendship League recently hosted Joseph Gitler, founder and director of Leket Israel, the National Food Bank of Israel. Gitler was invited to visit Tucson because of Leket’s long association with both organizations; through its grants process, JCF has provided… Read more »

Photo: Ed Flores

Born Marcus Rothkovich in Dvinsk, Russia (now Latvia) in 1903, Mark Rothko was an artist who created larger-than-life canvases until his death by suicide in 1970. “Red,” John Logan’s play about Rothko, which garnered six Tony Awards in 2010, is currently onstage at the Seattle Repertory Company in a… Read more »

Mourners surround the bodies of the victims of Monday's shooting at a Jewish school in Toulouse, France, during their joint funeral service in Jerusalem, March 21, 2012. (Uri Lenz/Flash 90/JTA)

PARIS (JTA) — When Arie Bensemhoun, a Jewish community leader in Toulouse, woke up Tuesday morning, he thought for a moment that the horrific shooting of three children and a rabbi at a local Jewish school might have been just a bad dream. “Then the reality hit and I… Read more »

Peter Beinart, shown in a February 2009 address to the Center for American Progress, stirred controversy this week with his call for a boycott of goods made in Israeli settlements. (Center for American Progress via Creative Commons)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Should Jews shun other Jews? And should they shun Jews who call on Jews to shun other Jews? Peter Beinart’s call in Monday’s New York Times for a boycott of goods manufactured in West Bank settlements reignited a debate not just about what works and doesn’t… Read more »

Zoe Scheffy at her home with her knit Seder table runners, her first design for a knit Seder plate. (Penny Schwartz)

BOSTON (JTA) — To prepare for their first Passover Seders, Zoe Scheffy, Lesley Frost and Joanna Brichetto drew on their creative instincts: Scheffy pulled out her knitting needles; Frost gathered scraps of felt, braided ribbon and tacky glue; and Brichetto rounded up household items, her kids’ plastic frogs and… Read more »

BEERSHEVA, Israel (j weekly) — A bus carrying eight American journalists drove smack dab into the throes of rocket attacks from Gaza. And it wasn’t because of a wrong turn. The journalists, including this reporter, agreed to go willingly. The group was on a science- and agriculture-focused media tour… Read more »

LOS ANGELES (JTA) — Why is the day after the Seder different from all other days? Is it because we are exhausted? Or our clothes no longer button? Possibly. More likely, I suspect the day after is different because of all the newly minted questions that drop into our… Read more »

LOS ANGELES (Jewish Journal) — Jason Segel folded his 6-foot-4-inch frame compactly onto a couch at the Four Seasons Hotel and placed his hand upon his chin. Quirky and thoughtful in conversation, the star and co-writer of such comic hits as “The Muppets” and “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” spoke eloquently… Read more »

In "Jodie's Passover Adventure," Jodie and her American cousin Zach discover ancient secrets on their exploration of Hezekiah's Tunnel in the Old City of Jerusalem. (Courtesy Kar-Ben Publishing)

BOSTON (JTA) — A vacuum-like robot that cleans the house and a spunky Israeli girl on an underground adventure in Jerusalem are among the characters featured in new children’s books for Passover. This year’s crop offers more than the typical retellings of the Exodus story. Two books have Passover… Read more »

Geneva – Dr. Raz Somech is one of the main figures in the deeply moving documentary “Precious Life,” which was nominated for an Academy Award in 2011 and serves as a powerful image of hope in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In 2008, a four month-old baby from Gaza, Mohammed Abu… Read more »

NEW YORK (N.Y. Jewish Week) — The novelist Jonathan Safran Foer grew up with a fairly typical American Passover. His father would use the Maxwell House Haggadah, supplemented with his own pamphlet of writings, and lead the annual Foer Seder. But nine years ago, sitting at his family Seder… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Though the death last weekend of John Demjanjuk brought a close to the seemingly never-ending quest for justice in the case of a man long accused of being a Nazi war criminal, it also brought a premature end to the legal battle over his legacy. Though Demjanjuk,… Read more »

Ozar Hatorah, a Jewish school in Toulouse, France, was the site of a shooting Monday that killed four people. (Ozar Hatorah)

PARIS (JTA) — When Arie Bensemhoun, a Jewish community leader in Toulouse, woke up Tuesday morning, he thought for a moment that the horrific shooting of three children and a rabbi at a local Jewish school might have been just a bad dream. “Then the reality hit and I… Read more »

Some new Haggadahs for this Passover: "Sharing the Journey," the "New American Haggadah" and "Journey to Freedom."

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. (JTA) — Leading a Seder for the first time this year? There’s an app for that. Entries in the annual stream of new Haggadahs this year include a Reform version that comes in hardcover, paperback and iPad app editions. Two others  feature a gorgeously designed Haggadah… Read more »