Yearly Archives 2015

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Against a soundtrack of dramatic music, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lists his government’s security accomplishments, declaring over the shouts of opposition lawmakers that his Likud Party has stopped terrorists, stood up to Iran and secured Israel’s borders. Released Wednesday, the video is the latest… Read more »

TEL AVIV (JTA) — In Peter Jairus’ Nairobi neighborhood, almost nobody has a personal computer. Mathare is one of the Kenyan capital’s largest slums. Buildings are constructed from sheets of corrugated metal and Internet access is rare, found only in places like schools or community centers. Even then, the… Read more »

BOSTON (JTA) — When Deborah Bodin Cohen immersed herself in rabbinical school in the early 1990s, she expected to spend a year in Israel as part of her studies with Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. What she didn’t know was that a decade later, the experience of living… Read more »

(Washington Jewish Week via JTA) — In designing and testing theories on how the body programs its 19,000 genes, Moshe Szyf, a geneticist and molecular biologist at McGill University in Montreal, has expanded the notion of Jewish guilt. Sure, we might feel bad about passing along hereditary genes that… Read more »

TEL AVIV (JTA) — However much they disagree with his policies, opponents of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would surely admit he was right about one thing: These elections are all about him. When he called for new elections in December, Netanyahu said the vote would enable him “to… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — It was not the first time John Lewis had invoked the Jewish-black alliance that fought for equality during the civil rights era. But it was the first time that the Georgia congressman, a civil rights hero, invoked it to explain why he was skipping a speech… Read more »

TEL AVIV (JTA) – When Israelis head to the polls for the March 17 elections, 26 parties will be vying for the Knesset’s 120 seats — including such fringe groups as the Pirate Party, which supports total government transparency and freedom of information on the Internet, and the Green… Read more »

(L-R) Ryan Armendariz, Naama Cohen (University of Arizona Hillel Israel Fellow), Edden Dembsky, Sivan Shahmoon and Alma Hernandez fundraise for Save A Child’s Heart on the UA Mall.

Hillel supports Save a Child’s Heart The University of Arizona Hillel Foundation’s Wildcats for Israel club held a fundraiser for Save a Child’s Heart on the UA Mall on Feb. 10. Almost $250 was raised over four hours for SACH, an Israel-based nonprofit that provides urgently needed pediatric heart… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — At the AIPAC conference, a sea of 16,000 Israel supporters spent their time talking Iran policy amid the swirling controversy over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress. To the sidelines fell discussion of the Israeli elections, the peace process and Israeli innovation — as well… Read more »

A new bilingual, nonfiction book for all ages by RONI CAPIN RIVERA-ASHFORD, “My Tata’s Remedies/Los Remedios de mi Tata,” has been published by Cinco Puntos Press. The book, which will debut at the Tucson Festival of Books (March 14-15), highlights the relationship between a young boy and his grandfather… Read more »

BERLIN (JTA) — Two starkly different images: a woman wrapped in shimmering gold, a man whipped and bleeding on a cold cement floor. The first, a 1907 painting by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt, is the centerpiece of “Woman in Gold,” a film starring Helen Mirren that had its world… Read more »

ERIC DEWITT HALL, son of Melissa and Garrett Hall, will celebrate becoming a bar mitzvah on March 14 at Congregation Or Chadash. He is the grandson of Martha and Herb Oberman of Dallas and Judy Hall of Scottsdale. Eric attends Orange Grove Middle School and plays in the band.… Read more »

EVALENA SHANKMAN PROUTY, daughter of Sam and David Prouty, will celebrate becoming a bat mitzvah on March 7 at Congregation Or Chadash. Evalena attends Tucson Hebrew Academy and enjoys ballet. For her mitzvah project, she is volunteering at Pima Paws for Life Animal Shelter.… Read more »

SARAH LANGERT, leadership development and PR director at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, was among 100 American Taglit Fellows who attended a four-day Taglit-Birthright Israel training in Chicago in August with experts in Jewish, Israel and experiential education. Fellows were selected from a pool of hundreds of applicants. Taglit-Birthright… Read more »

Leonard Flax, 88, died on Feb. 17, 2015. Born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., Mr. Flax was a World War II veteran who served in Germany and Japan. He moved to Tucson in 1975. Survivors include his wife of 66 years, Carrie; children, Gary (Susan), Scott (David) and Stephanie;… Read more »

Joan Buchalter, 87, died Feb. 17, 2015. Mrs. Buchalter was born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., graduated from Erasmus Hall High School and attended the Pratt Institute of Art. She lived for 29 years in Rockville Centre, N.Y. and for the last 31 years in Tucson. Mrs. Buchalter volunteered… Read more »

Now that the applause after Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech in Congress has faded away, we are left with the question: Was he right or wrong to deliver that speech? Opponents of the move (like myself) believe that the speech has accomplished nothing except to further alienate the White… Read more »

Israeli-born clarinetist and saxophonist Anat Cohen will bring her quartet to the Tucson Jewish Community Center sculpture garden on March 22 for an evening of jazz under the stars. The concert, hosted by UA Presents, starts at 7 p.m. and will showcase her new CD “Luminosa,” with its Brazilian… Read more »

Temple Emanu-El and St. Philip’s In The Hills Episcopal Church will join together to present a Spring Retreat Weekend: Exploring the Pil­grimage of Life, March 20-22, featuring the Rev. Dr. Sheryl Kujawa-Holbrook. Kujawa-Holbrook is vice president of academic affairs, dean of the faculty and professor of practical theology and… Read more »

Fifteen new additions to the Tucson Jewish Community Center’s sculpture garden will be unveiled on Sunday, March 8, at a free reception from 1-3 p.m. The 6th Annual Sculpture Garden Exhibition features the work of artists from Tucson and across the country. The opening will be preceeded by an… Read more »