Sophie Golden, in striped shirt and headband, uses social media to coordinate meet-ups with her camp friends. (Davina Golden)
(JTA) — For 12-year-old Sophie Golden, camp is “kind of like a different world,” where electronics are a no-go and her bunkmates feel more like sisters than friends. When she misses that feeling during the year, there’s an easy way to get it back, even if just for a… Read more »
Staff and campers at Camp Modin. (Courtesy of Camp Modin)
(JTA) — Wondering if your child is ready for overnight camp? A sure sign, according to Karen Alford, a sleepaway camp consultant, is that he or she has grown tired of day camp. “At 9 , you’ve probably been doing day camp for several years,… Read more »
Devin Naar says Ladino connects Jews with Latinos and Muslims, two communities he considers marginalized in Trump’s America. (Meryl Schenker Photography/The Stroum Center for Jewish Studies at Washington University)
(JTA) — One-year-old Vidal doesn’t know the significance behind the lullaby his father sings him at bedtime. He knows it helps him fall asleep, but not that the Ladino song is part of an effort to teach him what served as the lingua franca of Sephardi Jews of the Ottoman Empire for… Read more »
Congregants of Bnai Jeshurun in New York City rally on behalf of immigrants Thursday, Mar. 9, 2017. Bnai Jeshurun is one of several synagogues more assertively embracing activism since Donald Trump's election. (Courtesy of Bnai Jeshurun)
NEW YORK (JTA) – The day after the presidential election, as congregants gathered in her Brooklyn synagogue to air their feelings, Rabbi Rachel Timoner was already starting to organize against the incoming administration. She called her local city councilman, Democrat Brad Lander, and together they organized an activists’ panel… Read more »
Shahaf Ben-Yakov (Courtesy of Pride in Blue and White)
TEL AVIV (JTA) – Shahaf Ben-Yakov always found it maddening when her ability as a combat soldier was questioned just because of her gender. Nonetheless, she dismissed as nonsense the notion that army service “has driven our girls crazy” — as a rabbi who runs a pre-military academy in the Eli… Read more »
Brian Federman, a lifelong member of the JCC in West Hartford, Conn., sends his daughter to the preschool there. While the bomb threats that have hit JCCs nationwide have shaken her routine, Federman says he and his wife are not considering withdrawing her. (Courtesy of Federman)
(JTA) — When Cincinnati’s Mayerson Jewish Community Center was hit with a bomb threat on Jan. 18, Adam Bellows was satisfied with how the staff handled the preschool kids, including his two-year-old son. The kids, said Bellows, had no idea the threat had happened. They were evacuated and taken to… Read more »
Police block off a parking lot at the Jewish Community Center of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas, Feb. 27, 2017.(Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
(JTA) — The “fear itself” thing? FDR was on to something. The rash of JCC bomb threats and cemetery desecrations, combined with a general sense that the country is becoming more intolerant, has Jews on edge in ways they haven’t been in years. The head of a major… Read more »
MK Nachman Shai (Hillel Maeir/TPS )
MK Nachman Shai (Zionist Camp) slammed the government on Tuesday for displaying indifference to the wave of anti-Semitism that has swept the United States in recent weeks, in contrast to Israel’s history of standing up for Jewish communities under threat in other places. “We have seen dozens of terrible… Read more »
The Tucson Jewish Community Center's Purim parade in 2014
(JTA) — Nearly 100 bomb threats have been made against Jewish community centers across the United States since January. The threats — in five waves and all hoaxes — have unsettled Jewish communities and shined a spotlight on American anti-Semitism. After weeks of demurring, President Donald Trump recently condemned… Read more »
Compost Cookie Hamantaschen Recipe
(Nosher via JTA) — If you’ve never made compost cookies, but you love desserts that are a little salty and a little sweet, this cookie (and hamantaschen) are for you. Do a quick Google search for “compost cookie” and you will come up with dozens of recipes. But the original… Read more »
(Kveller via JTA) — My mother swims at the JCC. These days, she packs a “go bag” with all of her stuff to bring to the pool in case she is evacuated in her bathing suit by a bomb threat. It doesn’t seem unlikely. This is not what America… Read more »
Protestors demonstrating at a rally at Independence Mall in Philadelphia. March 2, 2017. (Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Shots fired into a classroom window at an Indiana synagogue. Cemeteries desecrated in Pennsylvania, Missouri, and New York. Swastikas scrawled on Jewish buildings. More than 100 bomb threats called in to Jewish community centers. History doesn’t always repeat itself, but echoes of the darkest chapters serve as… Read more »
A match at the Israeli catchball tournament in Kfar Saba, Feb. 21, 2017. (Courtesy of the Israel Catchball Association)
TEL AVIV (JTA) – Every week, thousands of women across Israel gather to play a sport almost no one outside the country has heard of. For that matter, few Israelis knew about catchball – or “cadur-reshet” in Hebrew — a decade ago. But in recent years it has become… Read more »
Rice Krispie Treat Hamantaschen (Rebecca Pliner)
(The Nosher via JTA) — As a former chef and pastry chef, I had many delicious sweet and savory treats in mind to turn into hamantaschen for this year. But I wanted to keep it simple enough to re-create in a home kitchen, yet something different to also get… Read more »
Tree of Life in Green Valley The gold leaves on the “Tree of Life” at Green Valley’s Beth Shalom Temple Center honor men and women whose efforts have been especially significant to the congregation. The temple added a leaf at its Feb. 3 Shabbat service in gratitude to Tamara… Read more »
THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA HILLEL FOUNDATION is among 25 Hillels nationwide that will take part in the second cohort of Hillel International’s Springboard Fellowship program next year. The UA Hillel will host an Innovation Fellow, trained to spark ideas, connect with students in new ways and infuse creativity into… Read more »
JENNIFER FAYTHE WEISMAN celebrated becoming a bat mitzvah on Saturday, Feb. 11, 2017 at Congregation Chaverim. Weisman studied with Rabbi Stephanie Aaron for a year to prepare for the ceremony. Weisman shared the day with family, including her husband, Scott; daughters, Hannah (16) and Amelia (10), and parents, Jerry… Read more »
A son, MATTHEW ROY GOLD, was born Jan. 18 to Russell and Laura Gold of Winston-Salem, N.C. Grandparents are Phyllis Levin Gold and Stephen Makielski of Tucson, Joe Gold of San Francisco, Gaye Raymond of Oakland, Calif., and Roy Raymond. The Golds also have a daughter, Eleanor Lea Gold,… Read more »
Campers from the Tucson Jewish Community Center's Camp J enjoy a field trip at Breakers Water Park in 2016. (Courtesy Tucson Jewish Community Center)
At the Tucson J Summer Camp, this year’s theme is “Lights, Camera, Camp J.” Each camp week will celebrate a different genre of movie history, from the silent film era to fantasy and sci-fi, and everything in between. Programming will connect campers to the energy of the world of… Read more »
The Tucson Jewish Community Center is continuing to accept registration for teens ages 13-16 to join the Tucson delegation to the 2017 JCC Maccabi Games in Birmingham, Ala., July 30-Aug. 4. Teens can participate in basketball, dance, swim, tennis, soccer, flag football, track & field, table tennis, volleyball, baseball,… Read more »
