Yearly Archives 2015

Palestinians are on the wrong track and will not get off it until the outside world demands better of them. News comes every year or two of a campaign of violence spurred by Palestinian political and religious leaders spreading wild-eyed conspiracy theories (the favorite: Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem is… Read more »

(JTA) – For Justine Siegal, attending Opening Day games of the Cleveland Indians with her grandfather led to a lifelong passion for baseball – and dreams of one day playing for the Tribe. “Heaven,” she called the outings, where she sat in the best seats in the house —… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — By now it should be obvious how absurd it is to call President Barack Obama Israel’s “best friend” ever, as Thomas Friedman of The New York Times has claimed. A Blame Israel Firster, Obama won’t use his moral authority to try stopping the instigators of this… Read more »

AMSTERDAM (JTA) — In Buitenveldert, a quiet residential area of the Dutch capital, special forces soldiers are watching over a Jewish school from inside unmarked cars. About half of the Netherlands’ 40,000 Jews live here and in the adjacent suburb of Amstelveen, the only areas of the country with a… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — It’s a Sunday in 2010, and in one hand I’m texting with a colleague about work. In the other I hold a pee stick, waiting for the results of my home pregnancy test to appear. As I press send, I realize that parenthood isn’t the… Read more »

  (JTA) — Jewish leaders have long warned of the bleak Jewish futures in store for children of intermarriage. But these prognostications were based largely on information from more than a decade ago, when intermarriage was far less common and far less accepted by American Jews than it is today.… Read more »

(TPS) – Last week, the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) approved a resolution in which it listed Rachel’s Tomb, located just south of Jerusalem and the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, as Islamic sites. The resolution not only stirred up a firestorm of protests from many in… Read more »

SAN FRANCISCO (Tazpit) – Bandura Games, a computer gaming company based in San Francisco, California, is set to launch a new mobile game app that would bridge gaps, build connections and create empathy between people from different sides of conflict zones. Initially interested in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Justin Hefter,… Read more »

Mark Rubin

MARK RUBIN has re-established the Law Office of Mark Rubin in Tucson. His practice focuses on real estate, business, probate/fiduciary services and estate planning. Rubin also serves Pima Medical Institute — a Tucson-based private post-secondary school — as its general counsel. He blogs at MarkRubinWrites.com. The SOUTHERN ARIZONA HOME… Read more »

MICHELLE BLUMENBERG, director of the University of Arizona Hillel Foundation, received a Community Service Award from the UA SALT (Strategic Alternative Learning Techniques) Center at its annual Family Weekend Celebration and Awards Ceremony on Oct. 9. Hillel recently hosted the SALT tutoring program while the SALT Center was undergoing… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — In many respects, the Manhattan headquarters of Kind Snacks — the purveyors of the omnipresent fruit and nut bars found everywhere from health-food stores to office-supply emporiums — are pretty much what you’d expect: Scads of casually dressed millennials mill about sleek, brightly colored rooms adorned… Read more »

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (JTA) — “Hey, Rabbi,” the bat mitzvah candidate said, “can I tell you about my mitzvah project? I’m raising money to help people join our synagogue if they can’t afford it.” I was impressed. And moved. And shocked. Why shocked? Many religious schools require that bar/bat mitzvah… Read more »

(Clockwise from left): Jane Barton, Lenny Roberts of Los Angeles (Dream Street board member and counselor), Alice Steinfeld and Patty Grubman of Los Angeles (Dream Street founder) at Canyon Ranch

25 years of healing and hope This summer, the Dream Street Foundation, a California-based nonprofit organization, celebrated 25 years at Canyon Ranch in Tucson. Thanks to the generosity of ranch founders Enid and Mel Zuckerman, hundreds of Dream Street campers with chronic and life-threatening illnesses have enjoyed activities promoting… Read more »

About 90 miles south of Tucson is Bisbee, the county seat of Cochise County, once a bustling copper mining town. While touring the historic Queen Mine is a blast — especially in the summer, when it’s a cool 47 degrees underground —there’s plenty more to do and see in… Read more »

Morris Patashnick, 90, died Oct. 2, 2015. Born in Woodridge, N.Y., Mr. Patashnick served in the U.S. Army during World War II in the Pacific and was awarded a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart. Following the war, he earned a bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University. His career in… Read more »

“You’re Driving Me Nuts,” a program on the ethics of driving for teens, will take place Sunday, Nov. 1 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Congregation Or Chadash. “Every year we see too many accidents and other issues related to teens and driving, some stemming from lack of… Read more »

A delegation from the Israel Public Diplomacy Forum will present a series of free discussions in Tucson Nov. 3-4. IPD Forum is a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational organization established to advance international understanding of Israel and the Middle East. On Tuesday, Nov. 3 at 6:30 p.m., “Shifting Alliances in the… Read more »

The Jewish History Museum will hold its seventh annual fall fundraiser next month, honoring Tucson’s Jewish mayors. Mayor Jonathan Rothschild, the current incumbent — and the city’s fifth Jewish mayor — will be a special guest. The event, a champagne brunch, will be held Sunday, Nov. 8 at 10… Read more »

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont spoke Oct. 9 to an estimated crowd of 11,000 at the Demeester Outdoor Performance Center at Reid Park. The rally marked the first large-scale event in Tucson by a national Jewish candidate and brought Sanders his first congressional endorsement. Former Connecticut… Read more »

Itamar Rabinovich

In the wake of the “Arab Spring,” the Middle East has been rocked by national conflicts, sectarian civil wars and economic challenges. Iran’s nuclear program has increased political tensions and threatens to further destabilize the region. As Shiite Iran and its proxies battle for regional hegemony against their Sunni… Read more »