Yearly Archives 2013

In honor of “Thanksgivukkah,” as some are calling the joyous mingling of Thanksgiving and Chanukah this year, these dessert options present a new twist on sweet potatoes and pumpkin. The pumpkin challah bread pudding can be made pareve.  GLUTEN-FREE SWEET POTATO CHEESECAKE Daphna and Eyal Ron, co-owners of Tucson’s… Read more »

The Klezmatics (L-R): Frank London, Matt Darriau (back), Lisa Gutkin, Lorin Sklamberg, Paul Morrissett

The Klezmatics are coming to town for a concert at the Fox Tucson Theatre on Thursday, Dec. 5. Since the band’s formation more than 25 years ago, the Klezmatics have led a renaissance of the Eastern European Jewish music known as klezmer. They have performed in more than 20… Read more »

Tucson has been earmarked as one of five U.S. communities facing serious Israel delegitimization challenges. Noam Gilboord, director of community strategy for the Israel Action Network, a project of the Jewish Federations of North America and the Jewish Council of Public Affairs, came here from New York last month… Read more »

In reference to Rabbi Stephanie Aaron’s article on the Gettysburg Address (“My line, and Mitch’s, in the Gettysburg Address,” AJP 10/25/13), I feel a statistical correction is warranted. The 50,000 figure of men lost in the battle should more accurately refer to the total casualties estimates, which include all… Read more »

David Raichlen

Happiness sure is popular in Tucson. Esther Sternberg, M.D., and David Raichlen, Ph.D., two Jewish professors at the University of Arizona, addressed the subject as part of the recent Happiness Downtown Lecture Series, held at the Fox Tucson Theatre. The UA College of Social and Behavioral Sciences presented five… Read more »

Paul Fisher

What do you see when you look at the word “E K O R T S”? Here’s a clue: It’s a rebus, which Paul Fisher describes as “an enigmatic representation of a name, work, phrase or idea, by pictures, words, prepositions, groupings, comparisons or contrasts; or where a punning… Read more »

Cantor Avraham Alpert

Cantor Avi Alpert will speak on “Jewish Music Around the World” at Hadassah Southern Arizona’s luncheon on Sunday, Dec. 8 at noon at McMahon’s Restaurant, 2959 N. Swan Road. The presentation will include video and vocals. Alpert, the cantor at Congregation Bet Shalom, holds a bachelor’s degree in music… Read more »

A new adult educational collaboration, “The Buzz,” will begin next month with a community discussion, “That’s Funny … You don’t LOOK Jewish: Being Jewish in America Today” with Amy Hirshberg Lederman. The series is a collaborative effort of the Coalition for Jewish Education of the Jewish Federation of Southern… Read more »

Shira Ledman

Five years ago, when Shira Ledman took the helm at Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Southern Arizona, her husband, Bob, relocated with her to Tucson. Now it is her turn to follow her husband, a professor of business, as he takes a job with South University in Austin,… Read more »

Rabbi Gershom Sizomu

As the first black rabbi from Sub-Saharan Africa, Rabbi Gershom Sizomu, chief rabbi of Uganda and leader of the Abayudaya Jews, may seem like an anomaly to some, but his commitment to Judaism is staunch. “I grew up in eastern Uganda with no electricity or water,” Sizomu told around… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — Whenever the issue of the Middle East conflict is raised, people invariably refer to the Palestinian refugees. They almost never refer to Jewish refugees from Arab countries. The world has long recognized the Palestinian refugee problem without recognizing the other side of the story —… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — George W. Bush granted Messianic Jews a brief shining moment in the spotlight last week — and then just as quickly sent them back into the shadows. The Messianic Jewish Bible Institute in Dallas had advertised Bush as the keynote speaker at its annual fundraiser on… Read more »

Naftali Bennett says his wife, Gilat, right, only drew closer to Judaism when the couple lived in New York. (Ilia Yefimovich/Getty Images)

NEW YORK (JTA) — Naftali Bennett doesn’t like to waste time. In the eight months since he took over three Israeli ministries — religious services, economy, and Diaspora and Jerusalem affairs — Bennett has pushed through legislation to give Israeli couples more freedom in choosing which rabbi officiates at… Read more »

Roy Siny, left, and Reza Khani are the founders of the Iranian-Israeli party collective No Beef. (Boaz Arad)

BERLIN (JTA) — It’s 4 a.m. at the famous Kater Holzig club and hundreds of beautiful young people are going crazy on the dance floor to the sound of heavy electronic beats. To the casual clubber, it’s just another ordinary night out in Europe’s hottest city. But this gathering… Read more »

Israeli military personnel assist survivors of the typhoon that ravaged the Philippines last week.

(JTA) — Obviously wanting to get back to work as the medical manager of the field hospital set up by the Israel Defense Forces in the  Philippines, Lt.-Col. Dr. Ofer Merin speaks hurriedly about the three days his team has been seeing patients in the typhoon-ravaged nation. He tells… Read more »

Alden Solovy

JERUSALEM (JTA) — On a Friday afternoon, six months after my wife Ami, of blessed memory, died of a catastrophic brain injury, I received a call from a local hospital. “Your mother has fallen down and hit her head,” the voice said. “The condition is serious. You’d better get… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — When Eric Woodward started rabbinical school at the Conservative movement’s Jewish Theological Seminary, he assumed he would be be the only student who grew up celebrating Christmas along with Hanukkah. But midway through his training, when Woodward started a discussion group for students of interfaith… Read more »

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, left, conferring with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on the sidelines of the 68th United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 26, 2013. (Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — When reports emerged over the weekend that France’s hard line was responsible for the failure of negotiations over Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons program, supporters and critics of the diplomatic push resorted to familiar stereotypes. Conservatives scoffed that even the conflict-averse French had outflanked President Obama. Leftists… Read more »

Alex Frieder, seated, surrounded by Jewish refugees that he and his brothers helped escape from Nazi Germany and Austria to the Philippines. (3 Roads Communications)

NEW YORK (JTA) — As the extent of the catastrophic damage and tragic death toll continues to grow in the Philippines, a particularly heroic piece of history should be recalled by the global Jewish community, which owes a debt to the island nation. Seven decades ago, a Philippine president,… Read more »

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, in partnership with The Jewish Federations of North America, is mobilizing a communal response to the super Typhoon Haiyan, which has wrought widespread destruction in the Philippines. JFNA today opened a mailbox for Federations to support relief efforts by the American Jewish Joint… Read more »