Yearly Archives 2015

When a group of nine Jewish and Latino teens traveled to Washington, D.C. last month it wasn’t just to see the sights — unless that included visiting congressional offices. Members of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Jewish-Latino Teen Coalition made the trip cross-country to lobby for immigration reform,… Read more »

Itzak Zvi Zamir, 92, died April 9, 2015. Born in Tel Aviv, Mr. Zamir spent many years in Cleveland. He graduated from Wayne State University and was a retired biomedical engineer. He earned advanced degrees from the Cleveland College of Jewish Studies, where he specialized in musical instruments of… Read more »

For the last five years, Misha Galperin, Ph.D., has traveled the world on behalf of the Jewish Agency for Israel, where he has been president and CEO for international development. Even before that, while pursuing a career as a psychologist in New York City, he volunteered with the New… Read more »

Congregation Young Israel-Chabad will be donating body armor to the Tucson Police Department in appreciation of detectives’ retrieval of some of the silver ornaments stolen from the synagogue on the night of Feb. 22. The gift will be made through the Tucson Police Foundation’s “Adopt-a-Cop” program, using funds that… Read more »

When the ground began to shake, Inbar Irron was among a dozen Israelis in Nepal who ran outside the building where they had been sitting — and straight into a cloud of dust. When their vision cleared, they saw a devastating scene: Much of the village of Manegau, where… Read more »

(JTA) — The Newark riots of 1967 have shaped the imagination of the New York-New Jersey area for over 40 years — probably more than they shaped the actual political and social landscape of Newark and its suburbs. The riots often are held up as a pivotal moment in… Read more »

Eyal Fruchter

Eyal Fruchter, M.D., a retired Israel Defense Forces colonel who served as a military doctor, flight surgeon and military psychiatrist, will lead the keynote session of a conference on “Cause and Effect of Post-Traumatic Stress” on Thursday, May 14 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, presented by the Greater… Read more »

An intense interest in the world’s sacred places would be natural for any clergy. But Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon, senior rabbi at Temple Emanu-El, took it to the next level. He purchased an around-the- world plane ticket and embarked on a whirlwind trip to more than 120 sacred places… Read more »

(JTA) — The April 19 death of an African-American resident of Baltimore, Freddie Gray, while in police custody triggered a wave of protests in the city and shined a light on its history of police brutality and racial and economic disparities. On Monday, the protests turned violent, giving way to… Read more »

LOHHEIDE, Germany (JTA) — At the former Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, hundreds of survivors, along with their children and grandchildren, stood together last weekend under gray skies on a ground alive with memories doing their part for the future. “I ask young people to please take the right decisions in… Read more »

LAS VEGAS (JTA) – “It’s so noisy,” Kenny says. Yes, it’s noisy. This is Vegas. The Venetian. The casino floor. The bikinis, the brides-to-be, the blonde with the “I’m 21, bitches” T-shirt. The whoops, the hissing, the groans, the bells. This is Las Vegas, where Sheldon Adelson, who owns… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — It’s happening again — Palestinian refugees are caught between warring factions in the Middle East and the world is reacting too slowly to their plight. In earlier times, Palestinian refugees found themselves in the crosshairs at the Sabra and Shatila camps, when Lebanese Phalangists massacred… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — America has good allies all around the world, but there is no greater ally than Israel, a beacon of democracy, freedom and liberty in a part of the world filled with darkness. However, the Obama administration continues to create more and more daylight between itself and… Read more »

HANOVER, Germany (JTA) — Seventy years after the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp by British troops, some 100 people personally touched by the history returned to the site to share their memories and warn against forgetting. Among them were children born at a displaced persons camp for survivors less than two miles… Read more »

TEL AVIV (JTA) —A man was trampled. A raucous protest broke out, restrained only by police. The Western Wall’s mechitza — a partition between men and women considered sacrosanct — was breached by those who ostensibly care about it most. The brouhaha that erupted last week at Women of the Wall’s monthly service… Read more »

TEL AVIV (JTA) — When the ground began to shake, Inbar Irron was among a dozen Israelis in Nepal who ran outside the building where they had been sitting — and straight into a cloud of dust. When their vision cleared, they saw a devastating scene: Much of the village of Manegau,… Read more »

Two days ago a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal. The latest numbers suggest over 4,000 people have been killed and thousands more injured. According to the United Nations, the death toll is likely to rise to the tens of thousands in Nepal, India and China. The Jewish Federations of North… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) – A group of modern Orthodox rabbis have done what advocates for Orthodox gays and lesbians say would have been unthinkable as recently as five years ago: They spoke at a conference on the treatment of gay, lesbian and transgender people in Orthodox communities. Four prominent… Read more »

It’s hard to catch up with Dan Naturman these days. The New York comic is bouncing around the world performing everywhere, including a stop in the Old Pueblo for the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s “Men’s Night Out” event on April 30 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Just… Read more »

(JTA) — This weekend, a collection of GOP presidential candidates will arrive in Las Vegas for a meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition. But don’t allow yourself to be fooled into thinking that these candidates are making a real attempt to appeal to American Jewish voters. Their presence is… Read more »