‘Mimbres Totem,’ stoneware clay by Julie Szerina Stein (Courtesy Julie Szerina Stein)
Artists from the Many Hands Courtyard and the Tucson Artist Cooperative are joining for a show, “Groovin’ Together,” at the Tucson Jewish Community Center Fine Arts Gallery from April 21-May 30, with a reception on April 23 from 3-5 p.m. Two local Jewish artists are among the 10 women… Read more »
Paul Hammack is Dov and Callie Hutchison is Sonya in ‘Dov and Ali.’Paul Hammack is Dov and Callie Hutchison is Sonya in ‘Dov and Ali.’ (Paul Hammack is Dov and Callie Hutchison is Sonya in ‘Dov and Ali.’ (Whitney Woodcock)
Something Something Theatre is presenting “Dov and Ali” by award-winning playwright Anna Ziegler, through April 23 at the Community Playhouse, 1881 N. Oracle Road. In “Dov and Ali,” a Jewish high school teacher and his Muslim student, sparked by their studies of “The Lord of the Flies” by William… Read more »
Mel Brooks interviewed in The Last Laugh. (Ferne Pearlstein)
The Last Laugh is a documentary based on the premise that the Holocaust would seem to be an absolutely off-limits topic for comedy. But is it? History shows that even victims of Nazi concentration camps used humor as a means of survival and resistance. Still, any use of comedy… Read more »
Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen, walk in the presidential inauguration parade in Washington, D.C., Jan. 20, 2017. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
(JTA) — I am a huge fan of monogamy. My wife and I have been married for — well, let’s just say we met in high school (we didn’t get together until after college, but I was trying to avoid saying “a long time”). I took it personally when… Read more »
A view of the Suruc refugee camp in Turkey, which houses some 35,000 Syrian refugees. (Carl Court/Getty Images)
TEL AVIV (JTA) – At a Shabbat service in Tel Aviv on Friday evening, congregants recited the mourner’s prayer for those killed in Syria’s civil war. Standing before a mural of the Tree of Life, the rabbi of Beit Daniel, the largest Reform synagogue in Israel, delivered a sermon… Read more »
Maple Glazed Rack of Ribs (Miriam Pascal)
(The Nosher via JTA) — As a personal chef, I always like to up the ante of my presentation and creativity of my food. Why should Passover food be boring? The one easy way to take Passover food up a notch is by using fresh ingredients – fresh lemons,… Read more »
(Kveller via JTA) — My grandmother was a super shopper even before the advent of supermarkets and coupons. In those days, each food group had its own store, so that every neighborhood had a butcher shop, fish market, dairy, deli and grocery. Shopping with Grandma was an all-day experience.… Read more »
Comedian Don Rickles at Book Soup in West Hollywood, Calif., May 31, 2007. (Mark Mainz/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Don Rickles, the bullet-headed comedian and actor whose pioneering brand of insult comedy earned him the nickname “Mr. Warmth,” has died at 90. Rickles died Thursday morning at his home in Los Angeles from kidney failure, according to his publicist. He would have turned 91… Read more »
A scene from the “Transparent” episode “Elizah” (Screenshot from Amazon)
(JTA) — Everyone has their own way of celebrating Passover, from silly seder customs (Ten Plagues finger puppets, anyone?) to enjoying the same meal year after year, to, yes, commemorating the festival alongside beloved TV characters. The eight-day remembrance of Moses leading the Jews out of slavery in… Read more »
The USS Porter fires a Tomahawk missile at a Syrian military airfield in the Mediterranean Sea, April 7, 2017. (Ford Williams/U.S. Navy via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Israel’s government and pundits are unabashedly pleased by the missile strike ordered by President Donald Trump early Friday on the Syrian airfield from where Tuesday’s deadly chemical attack is believed to have been launched. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put out a statement out at 6 a.m.… Read more »
Hassan Dallal, a survivor of the chemical attack in Syria, receives medical treatment at a hospital in Idlib, April 5, 2017. (Mohammed Karkas/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
TEL AVIV (JTA) – In response to the alleged chemical attack in Syria on Tuesday, Israelis have donated hundreds of thousands of shekels to help children and others caught in the conflict raging on their northern border. With Israel maintaining a policy of noninterference, giving money has been a way for people here to… Read more »
Chef Janos Wilder
In addition to its traditional Second Night Seder on April 11, Temple Emanu-El will celebrate the Passover holiday this year in an intimate setting with the “Janos Wilder Passover Extraordinary Experience” on Saturday, April 15 at the Carriage House, 125 South Arizona Avenue, Tucson at 6 pm. Named the… Read more »
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner leaving after the presidential inauguration at the U.S. Capitol, Jan. 20, 2017. (Saul Loeb/Pool/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) — White supremacists have a problem, and his name is Jared Kushner. While many on the far right are hoping that President Donald Trump will help advance their separatist, racist agendas, figures like former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke and neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin are… Read more »
Politics and seders don’t always mix well. (Lior Zaltzman)
NEW YORK (JTA) — After Donald Trump won the presidential election, Sheila Katz wasn’t sure she wanted to come home for Thanksgiving. As the politically liberal member of a conservative family, she had been comfortable sparring with her relatives during the Obama administration. But as Thanksgiving approached, she found… Read more »
(JTA) — From the wizardry of Harry Potter that echoes with Passover’s themes to a cartoon frog who wisecracks his way through the seder, this year’s new crop of Passover books for kids offers something for all ages and interests. The selection of fresh reads, including two family-friendly… Read more »
Jewish Voice for Peace members at the Jewish United Fund of Chicago protest donor-advised funds from JUF going to groups that have been deemed Islamophobic, March 24, 2017. (Inbal Palombo)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Lisa Greer didn’t think twice when she used her cellphone to donate to IfNotNow, a Jewish organization that protests Israel’s West Bank occupation. Greer and her husband, Joshua, had given millions to progressive Jewish and Israel causes, and she sits on the board of the… Read more »
Ruth Segall Steinberg, 89, died Feb. 19, 2017 in Philadelphia. Survivors include her husband of almost 68 years, Morris; children, Diane (David) of Teaneck, N.J., Howard (Alla) of Tucson, and Edward (Ilene) of Philadelphia; 11 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. Services and interment were held in Pennsylvania. Memorial donations may… Read more »
Gerald Nathanson, 80, died March 22, 2017. Mr. Nathanson was born in Detroit, Mich. He was the founder and/or CEO of Midland Sales, Jefferson Wards, JM Fields, McCrory and Pay N Save, many of which were multibillion dollar businesses. He ended his business career as the owner/CEO of Tattoo… Read more »
MADISON REGINA BALLIS, daughter of Tami and Mark Ballis, will celebrate becoming a bat mitzvah on Saturday, April 1 at Temple Emanu-El. She is the granddaughter of Sheila and Hal Rimer of Palm Desert, Calif. Maddie attends Esperero Canyon Middle School. For her mitzvah project, Maddie has created special… Read more »
ALMA HERNANDEZ, daughter of Consuelo and Daniel Hernandez, will celebrate becoming a bat mitzvah on Saturday, April 8 at Congregation Chaverim. Alma is a second-year graduate student at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at the University of Arizona. She is also the Jewish Community Relations… Read more »
