Students of varying ages learning the stories of Israeli and Palestinian youth. (Lisa Hempstead)
(JTA) — As the new school year gets underway, Jewish educators are making decisions regarding how best to teach about Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Most begin with the premise that Jewish students should learn to support Israel and defend its government. Throughout the year, their lesson plans will… Read more »
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meeting with China's President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, May 9, 2013. (Kim Kyung-Hoon/Getty Images)
(JTA) — The rise of a new global power usually creates tensions with the incumbent superpower, and the United States-China duo is no exception. At their summit last week in Washington, D.C., Presidents Barack Obama and Xi Jinping spoke of progress in some areas, such as cyber espionage and… Read more »
WASHINGTON (Washington Jewish Week via JTA) — From murderers to sex offenders, some of the least desirable citizens of Maryland’s Montgomery County have walked through the doors of attorney Barry Helfand’s office. But it took a quiet teenager to make Helfand question his responsibility as a lawyer. Sitting in Helfand’s… Read more »
BOSTON (JTA) — An Israeli-founded water purification company has teamed up with Boston-based Harpoon Brewery to channel the once-famously polluted Charles River into a new beer. Desalitech, which started in Israel seven years ago and then moved to Boston, is using its patented technology to provide water for Harpoon’s Charles River… Read more »
Palestinian protesters in the West Bank throwing stones and burning tires during clashes with Israeli security forces over the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, Sept. 30, 2015. (Flash90)
TEL AVIV (JTA) — First it was clashes on the Temple Mount. Then a mother and father were shot before the eyes of their four children. Then two men were killed in a stabbing attack in Jerusalem’s Old City. Now Israelis fear the wave of conflict will only rise.… Read more »
(JTA) — As Hurricane Joaquin gained steam off the southeastern coast of the United States, the question has begun to circulate online: Are Jews allowed to take down their sukkahs in the case of a storm? Sukkot, which began Sunday, runs through this Sunday evening. Hurricane Joaquin, the first… Read more »
Rep. Eric Cantor, then-House majority leader, delivers an address at the Virginia Military Institute, Feb. 17, 2014. (Courtesy of House Majority Leader)
(JTA) — Former Rep. Eric Cantor apparently just missed becoming the first Jewish speaker — second in line to the presidency after the vice president. An aide to Boehner, the Republican House of Representatives speaker who is quitting, dropped the bombshell last Friday: Boehner had wanted to step down last year,… Read more »
alestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking at the U.N. General Assembly in New York City on Sept. 30, 2015, and Oct. 1, 2015 respectively. (Both Andrew Burton/Getty Images)
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas took plenty of shots at each other. But in their dueling dueling speeches to the United Nations General Assembly, the Israeli prime minister and Palestinian Authority president directed much of their fire at the same target: the assembled world leaders. Netanyahu… Read more »
Bernie Sanders Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination for president in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, will hold a rally in Tucson on Oct. 9. The Vermont senator will speak at 7 p.m. at the Reid Park DeMeester Outdoor Performance Center, 920 South Concert Place. Gates will open… Read more »
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the U.N. General Assembly at United Nations headquarters in New York City, Oct. 1, 2015. (Andrew Burton/Getty Images)
(JTA) – All anyone attending the United Nations General Assembly opening seemed to want to talk about was the threat posed to the world by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. That was much to the consternation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who argued in his speech… Read more »
(JTA) — In the wake of the never-ending email scandal and Bernie Sanders’ rise in the polls, Hillary Clinton is feeling some serious heat in the 2016 presidential race. In an attempt to connect with younger voters, the Democratic front-runner agreed to be interviewed by Lena Dunham, the Jewish… Read more »
(JTA) — If you can’t get enough Trump, good news: Another one is on the way! Ivanka Trump, who converted to Judaism in 2009, announced across her social media platforms that she is expecting her third child with husband Jared Kushner, a real estate mogul who owns the New… Read more »
Pinhas Slobodknik center, with staff at a Moscow event serving kosher food in 2014. (Courtesy Pinhas Slobodnik)
MOSCOW (JTA) — At Russia’s largest kosher food factory, owner Pinhas Slobodnik welcomes his Muslim workers with a greeting in Arabic that he pronounces in a thick Russian accent. Some 120 workers, most from the predominantly Muslim republics of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, are employed at the factory — a sprawling… Read more »
Alexander Fehling in "Labyrinth of Lies," Germany's entry in the 2016 Academy Awards. (Sony Pictures Classics)
LOS ANGELES (JTA) – When the German film “Labyrinth of Lies” opens, Hitler’s Third Reich was defeated only 13 years earlier. Germany is rising from the ruins, but in 1958 its people are largely in a state of forgetfulness and denial about the recent past. Ask the man in… Read more »
Christians United for Israel will host Sen. John McCain for a town hall meeting on “U.S. Policy in the Middle East in the Aftermath of the Iran Nuclear Agreement” on Saturday, Oct. 3 at noon at Victory Worship Center, 2561 W. Ruthrauff Road. McCain will address the impact this… Read more »
Boxer Dustin Fleischer hopes to be the first world champion who is the descendant of a Holocaust survivor. (Rich Kane/Roc Nation Sports)
Editor’s note: this article was written before Dustin Fleischer’s bout on Sept. 26, which he won with a first round knockout. (JTA) – When welterweight Dustin Fleischer enters the ring on Saturday evening, he’ll will be wearing his late grandfather’s gold Star of David necklace with a red jewel… Read more »
Natan Sharansky, left, head of the Jewish Agency, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the latter's Jerusalem office, June 18, 2013. (Kofi Gideon/Flash90)
TEL AVIV (JTA) — With a budget reaching $300 million, it was conceived as a broad partnership between the Israeli government and leading Diaspora Jewish groups. Its goal: to create a stronger connection between global Jews and Israel. But nearly two years after its launch was announced with much… Read more »
Chaverim cemetery dedication Congregation Chaverim dedicated a new sign and consecrated an expanded section of Evergreen Cemetery on Sunday, Sept. 6. Pictured (left to right): Naomi Present, Jill Shover, Jack Aaron, Ann Revelle, Rabbi Stephanie Aaron, Bob Schwartz, Judith Brown, Dina Rosengarten and Dave More. Rosh Hashanah at… Read more »
REBECCA CROW has been named director of education for CONGREGATION CHAVERIM. She is a past director of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s department of outreach, past president of the University of Arizona Hillel Foundation and Congregation Chaverim, and has over 30 years experience as a social worker in… Read more »
Shelley Heyman and Larry Fleischman announce the engagement of their son, Michael Fleischman, to Rachael Shulskie, daughter of Pat and Dennis Shulskie of Clawson, Mich. Michael is the grandson of Doris Fleischman of Tucson, Charlotte Morris of West Palm Beach, Fla., and the late Al Fleischman, Sara and Henry… Read more »
