Yearly Archives 2013

NEW YORK (JTA) — The release of a highly anticipated ombudsman’s report about how the Claims Conference missed an opportunity in 2001 to detect a massive fraud scheme is raising serious questions about governance of the organization and pitting the organization’s chief executive against the chairman of its executive… Read more »

Rabbi Joseph Weizenbaum

Rabbi Joseph Weizenbaum, who retired in 2002 after 44 years in the rabbinate — more than 30 of them in Tucson — died July 1, 2013. He was 80. Weizenbaum, who was senior rabbi at Temple Emanu-El for 21 years beginning in 1972, and founded the now-defunct Congregation Ner Tamid… Read more »

A wall of pashkvilim, or posters bearing communal announcements, in the Jerusalem haredi neighborhood of Mea She'arim. (Ben Sales)

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The large white poster is topped by a screaming headline written in large black letters: “Hell.” Posted on a wall in Jerusalem’s haredi Orthodox Mea Shearim neighborhood, the sign describes a development that threatens the community with “extinction” and “makes all living hearts tremble.” Known as… Read more »

Supporters of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi demonstrate in front of the headquarters of the Egyptian Republican Guard in Cairo, July 5, 2013. (Ed Giles/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — When it comes to foreign assistance, American law couldn’t be clearer: A coup d’etat suspends funding, period. But that directive, which has persisted for years in federal appropriations bills, is now clashing with another congressional priority: the apparent desire to foster an alternative to Mohamed Morsi,… Read more »

By Bryan Schwartzman PHILADELPHIA (Jewish Exponent) — In the 1980s, when the historic relationship between Jews and African-Americans appeared to be coming apart at the seams in Philadelphia and other cities throughout the country, William H. Gray III worked steadfastly to preserve the alliance. Now the Jewish community is… Read more »

L-R: Reps. Steny Hoyer, Eric Cantor and John Lewis, a hero of the civil rights movement, singing "We Shall Overcome" at a memorial to martyrs of the civil rights movement in Montgomery, Ala., March 2, 2013. (Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Reps. Eric Cantor and John Lewis stood together recently at a Montgomery, Ala., memorial to martyrs of the civil rights struggle, joining hands to sing “We Shall Overcome.” With last week’s Supreme Court decision gutting the 1965 Voting Rights Act — one of the landmark pieces of… Read more »

Edith Windsor, left, embraces Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah in New York City, June 28, 2013. (Hugo Fernandes)

NEW YORK (JTA) — At 5 p.m. last Friday, a line of visibly excited people — many decked out in rainbow regalia — gathered on the sidewalk outside Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, the gay and lesbian synagogue in Manhattan. Worshipers don’t generally form lines down the block in advance… Read more »

L-R: Reps. Ed Royce, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Pete Roskam at a meeting with Dani Dayan, a leader of Israel's settlers movement, in Washington, June 27, 2013. (House Republican Conference)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — It’s almost boilerplate: The American Jewish community asks a foreign leader with whom it has cultivated a close relationship to kindly tell firebrands in the leader’s government to pipe down and fall in with an established policy that happens to be embraced by the U.S. government.… Read more »

Norman Lamm (Yeshiva University)

NEW YORK (JTA) – In his letter announcing he was stepping down as Yeshiva University’s chancellor and rosh yeshiva, Rabbi Norman Lamm acknowledged his failure to respond adequately to allegations of sexual abuse against Y.U. rabbis in the 1980s. Lamm, now 85, became the school’s third president and head… Read more »

TORONTO (JTA) — The Canadian Jewish News will keep publishing in print, the paper’s board announced. The paper’s president, Donald Carr, announced June 14 that the board of directors “is happy to confirm that the print newspaper will continue.” In late April, Canadian Jewry’s flagship paper announced that it… Read more »

Andrew Pochter, the Jewish-American student of Chevy Chase, Md., who was stabbed to death during a protest in Egypt on June 28, 2013. (Facebook)

NEW YORK (JTA) — Andrew Pochter, the American student stabbed to death Friday during a protest in Egypt, was active in Hillel and motivated by a desire to encourage peace and democracy in the region. “He went to Egypt because he cared profoundly about the Middle East, and he… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — A slight bump up on affirmative action, a plunge on voting rights, and on gay marriage, the mountaintop: federal legitimacy. It’s been a week of roller-coaster highs and lows at the Supreme Court for liberal Jewish groups. Their collective pledge: Stick it out. “These are critical… Read more »

A menorah made of Shmaltz Brewing's He'Brew beer bottles. (Shmaltz Brewing Facebook)

NEW YORK (JTA) — With the creation of David’s Slingshot Hoppy Summer Lager, beer maker Jeremy Cowan is evoking the image of the legendary battle between David and Goliath — a match-up that’s also apt for Cowan himself. Though still a small player in the world of craft beers,… Read more »

Martin I. Miller, 90, died June 18, 2013. Mr. Miller was in the Army Signal Corp during World War II and was awarded the Bronze Star. ­He was active in the Jewish War Veterans organization. Mr. Miller was preceded in death by his wife, Rhoda, and son, Michael. Survivors… Read more »

John C. Goodman, 99, died June 16, 2013. Mr. Goodman was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. His parents had recently emigrated from Byelorussia. He moved to Tucson in 1950 and owned Lee’s Liquors for many years. Mr. Goodman was preceded in death by his five siblings and his wife,… Read more »

Jerold Michael Alpert, 74, died June 17, 2013. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Mr. Alpert graduated from the University of Arizona and spent his years working as a master builder and contractor in the foothills area. Survivors include his wife, Vicki; children, Sandi (Monte) Riley  and Jeff Alpert; stepdaughters Audrey… Read more »

Richard B. Vosk, 95, died June 16, 2013. Mr. Vosk worked as an engineer and assisted in many government projects, including designing parts for the Nautilus submarine  and radar development on ships and airplanes. He was an avid amateur radio operator. In his earlier years he was a scout… Read more »

On June 17, I attended a performance of Tzofim Israeli Scouts at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, an event celebrating the group’s 40th anniversary. The pleasure I had taken in previous performances of Tzofim, and which I might have taken in this event, was marred by the over-the-top volume… Read more »

Margot and Gunther Marx

Over the past 18 years in Tucson, Gunther Marx and his wife, Margot, have racked up more than 10,000 volunteer hours with organizations ranging from Tucson Medical Center to the Tucson Botanical Gardens to Project Linus. The Marxes began spending winters in Tucson in 1995 and moved here full-time… Read more »

Emberly Davis

Emberly Davis, 11, has been volunteering at the Forever Wild wildlife animal rehabilitation center for three years. “I’m mostly in charge of the night birds and creatures,” she says, explaining that she feeds the hawks, falcons and owls on her weekly visits to the center with her mother, Shanna… Read more »