J. Edward Wright The University of Arizona College of Social and Behavioral Sciences announced that a new endowed professorship was named in honor of J. EDWARD WRIGHT, director of the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies. Wright will himself hold the title of J. Edward Wright Professor of Judaic Studies beginning July 1.… Read more »
A son, HADAR GELBART, was born April 24 to Inbal and Guy Gelbart, Tucson’s community shaliach (Israeli emissary) at the Weintraub Israel Center. Hadar joins his sisters Arbel and Clil, and brother, Carmel.… Read more »
MAX ASHER NAVARRETTE, son of Carol and Martin Navarrette, will celebrate becoming a Bar Mitzvah on Saturday, May 11 at Temple Emanu-El. He is the grandson of Linda and the late Arthur Goldblatt of Las Vegas, and Margarita and the late Mauricio Navarrette of Bakersfield, Calif. Max attends Emily… Read more »
Gun violence is a public health problem, and Arizona’s children are not immune from this epidemic. As pediatricians responsible for the health and welfare of our patients, we must discuss the facts, and that includes the risks of keeping guns in a home. Research shows that even when children… Read more »
I attended Yafit Josephson’s performance of “New Eyes” at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on April 22 and feel compelled to write. Yafit put on a solo, autobiographical show during which I laughed and cried with her, as she tried to identify who she is: Is she an Israeli… Read more »
Harold Berman One Christmas eve, as Jews across the country headed for Chinese restaurants, I found myself in a church choir. The church, on the outskirts of Boston and straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting, had hired me to sing for their service. As the clock struck 11, I entered… Read more »
Spicing up new menus for summer dining often means lighter fare, especially in Tucson’s sweltering heat, and healthy eating has become de rigueur everywhere. Even for meat-eaters, the mantra has become smaller is better. “Portions have gotten out of control. Really good, grass-fed beef has gotten very expensive,” says… Read more »
The Arab League made some headlines this week, when its representative, Sheik Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, Qatar’s prime minister, conveyed in Washington something that looks like a softening of the traditional Arab hard line towards the solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Instead of returning to the pre-1967 borders, he… Read more »
Sofia Abrams, 84, died April 17, 2013. Born in Romania, Mrs. Abrams escaped with her family from Nazi occupation during World War II, and emigrated to Mexico. In 1949 she married and moved to the United States, first to Berkeley, Calif., later to Glencoe, Ill. She was involved in… Read more »
Norma Moret, 91, died April 17, 2013. Originally from the Bronx., N.Y., Mrs. Moret moved to Tucson in 1952. She earned a Master of Arts degree in speech pathology and audiology from the University of Arizona, and was a speech therapist with the Tucson Unified School District for 20… Read more »
Alan H. Toppel, 80, died April 22, 2013. Born in Tucson, Mr. Toppel grew up in Chicago, Ill. He graduated from the University of Illinois and served in the U.S. Army. While serving in Germany, he married Charlotte Rollin. After he received an honorable discharge, they moved back to… Read more »
For beginners seeking their place in the Torah scroll, a tikkun, or guidebook, provides an excellent navigational tool. (Edmon J. Rodman) LOS ANGELES (JTA) — On Shavuot, we celebrate being given the Five Books of Moses by opening the gift and reading from the scroll. But first we need to find the place. How do we find our place in the Torah? Newbies to the ways of a Torah scroll… Read more »
Lorraine Mackstaller, M.D. Lorraine Mackstaller, M.D., is devoted to educating the public, especially women, about heart disease. She will present “Knowledge is Power” at Hadassah Southern Arizona’s luncheon on Sunday, May 19, at noon at Skyline Country Club. Mackstaller is a clinical associate professor of medicine at the Arizona Health Sciences Center,… Read more »
Rabbi Jack Parisi Jack Parisi, an evangelical Christian pastor who became a rabbi, will speak as part of Chabad of Tucson’s 2013 lecture series on Sunday, May 19, at 7 p.m. at Congregation Young Israel. Parisi’s life-changing journey began when he and his wife, Sally, co-pastors of a church in the Bible… Read more »
Natan Sharansky, head of the Jewish Agency for Israel, is tasked with finding a solution to the growing battle over women’s prayer restrictions at the Western Wall. (Miriam Alster/Flash90/JTA) Following a court ruling in their favor, leaders of an organization pushing for women’s prayer rights at the Western Wall have withdrawn their endorsement of Natan Sharansky’s compromise proposal to expand the egalitarian section there. A Jerusalem District Court ruled last week that Women of the Wall members who… Read more »
More than 4,000 people attended the Israel 65 Festival on Sunday, April 21, enjoying food, games, the shuk marketplace, music and dance. Special guests included Dana Erlich, consul for public diplomacy, Consulate General of Israel, Los Angeles; U.S. Rep. Ron Barber; Tucson City Councilwoman Karen Ulich; and Mayor Jonathan… Read more »
People laying flowers at Umschlagplatz at the Warsaw Ghetto, the monument at the site from which Jews were deported to Treblinka. (Ruth Ellen Gruber) WARSAW, Poland (JTA) — In Warsaw, sirens wailed and church bells rang to mark the 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, a valiant but failed revolt by Jewish fighters against the Nazi occupiers who already had deported hundreds of thousands of Jews to the Treblinka extermination camp. An… Read more »
Lisa Schroeder, the owner and chef of Mother's Bistro & Bar in Portland, Ore., dishes out advice along with her comfort food. (Alicia J. Rose Photography) PORTLAND, Ore. (JTA) — It’s brunch time at Mother’s Bistro & Bar and owner-chef Lisa Schroeder has a small crisis on her hands involving the accidental defenestration of a busboy. Moments earlier, a server had tripped and gone flying through one of the restaurant’s large picture windows. Shattered glass… Read more »
TEL AVIV (JTA) — To get married in Israel, Dima Motel had to bring his family photo album and two of his ancestors’ birth certificates to a rabbinical court. Then an investigator quizzed his mother in Yiddish. Israel’s Chief Rabbinate often asks Russian immigrants like Motel to prove that… Read more »
Today is Saturday. Shabbat. What did you do? I went to Shacharit for the first time ever on Hannaton. I sang. After the 50 minute special chanting service, I snuck out before the Torah was taken out. I walked home. I drank coffee. I meditated in the morning sun.… Read more »
