Yearly Archives 2018

(JTA) — Linda Sarsour released a statement apologizing on behalf of the Women’s March for causing harm to the movement’s Jewish members and for being too slow to show its commitment to fighting anti-Semitism. “We should have been faster and clearer in helping people understand our values and our… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — The same Jewish liberals who gave in to efforts by the Jewish right to divide the black and Jewish communities in the ’70s are back again to divide Jews from their would-be allies, and this time they’re dead set on being the… Read more »

WASHINGTON, D.C. (JTA) — On the heels of actress and activist Alyssa Milano’s remarkable statement indicating that she plans to boycott the upcoming 2019 Women’s March because of its leaders’ persistent anti-Semitic behavior, there has been a backlash in our own Jewish feminist ranks. Jewish women are… Read more »

(JTA) — Less than one year after the election of Sebastian Kurz as Austria’s leader, he has taken his government to the forefront of the fight against Europe’s spiraling anti-Semitism problem. Frequently criticized for failing to own up to Nazi persecution, Austria with Kurz as chancellor has become an… Read more »

Saul Rutin, 84, died Nov. 4, 2018, from complications of PSP (progressive supranuclear palsy), a rare neurological disease often misdiagnosed as Parkinson’s. Mr. Rutin was a pharmacist. Survivors include his wife, Dian; sons, Aron (Carla) and Eric (Carolyn); stepsons, Eric and Jim (Denise) Lieberthal; and six grandchildren. A celebration… Read more »

David J. Lyons, 79, died Nov. 2, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. Mr. Lyons grew up in Minneapolis. Survivors include his wife of 57 years, Myrna Lyons; sons Jonathan (Jamie) Lyons of Marietta, Georgia, and Brett (Marlo) Lyons of Los Gatos, California; sisters Barbara Maurice Hobbs of Minneapolis and… Read more »

Ruth Sokol Graff, 87, died Oct. 30, 2018. Mrs. Graff was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She attended Girls’ Latin School in Boston and graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in business management. She worked for the Combined Jewish Philanthropies in Boston and later in New York City. She… Read more »

The story of Irena Sendler, the Polish social worker who hid 2,500 Jewish children from the Nazis during World War II, is now a children’s book. “Mommy, Who Was Irena Sendler?” by Cathy Werling is the third volume in the Unsung Heroes children’s book series, published by the Lowell… Read more »

“This Hanukkah, let’s celebrate the power of light to overcome darkness,” says Jeff Janezcko, Ph.D., curator of the Milken Archive of Jewish Music. “Let’s celebrate the resilience of the human spirit. Let’s celebrate the power of a gift, given with intention to inspire hope.” As he wrote, there were… Read more »

Ella, Henny, Sarah, Charlotte and Gertie. The names of the five fictional sisters bring a smile to generations of Jewish Americans who grew up reading “All-of-a-Kind Family,” the classic mid-century chapter book series by Sydney Taylor that followed the day-to-day doings and adventures of a Jewish-American immigrant family on… Read more »

The Jewish History Museum is currently showing “Call Me Rohingya,” an exhibition that illuminates the persecution of Rohingya people, an ethnic minority in Burma, through the photographic works of Andrew Stanbridge. Staged in the Allen and Marianne Langer Contemporary Human Rights Gallery in the Gould Family Holocaust History Center… Read more »

The 1st Rate 2nd Hand Thrift Store, Southern Arizona’s only Jewish thrift store, will hold its “Best Of” event on Thursday, Nov. 29, 6-8 p.m. The event will feature select merchandise, snacks and wine, and music by Birks Works. Held twice a year, the “Best Of” events are a… Read more »

Babka is nearly a weekly occurrence in my house, and I can think of few things better. But it’s not just me: Babka has really been getting the recognition it deserves all over the country, making appearances everywhere from artisanal bakeries to Jewish delis and even high-end restaurants. My… Read more »

Ian Merles

Hadassah Southern Arizona will honor its 2018 Woman of the Year, install officers for 2019 and recognize its annual supporters at a luncheon on Dec. 9. Ian Merles, the annual giving officer for Hadassah West Coast Region, will be the guest speaker. Honey Manson will install the new slate… Read more »

Vivian Mae Workman, age 78, died Sept. 12, 2018, in Evergreen, Colorado, after a battle with lymphoma. Mrs. Workman was born in Brooklyn, New York, to David and Pauline Brande. She was a 1957 graduate of East Rockaway High School and a 1961 graduate of the University of Rochester… Read more »

50th-anniversary celebration Marshall and Susan Rubin celebrated their 50th anniversary, which was officially on Aug. 11, with a party Oct. 21 for family and friends. About 55 people attended the party, held at Culinary Dropout, including the Rubin’s adult sons and their families, who live in Tucson, and Susan’s… Read more »

Rabbi Laurie Zimmerman (Courtesy of Zimmerman)

Editor’s note: Last week, students at Baraboo High School in Wisconsin were seen in a photograph taken last spring in which they appeared to be giving the “Heil Hitler” salute. Although the photographer who took the photo on the steps of a county courthouse said the camera caught the… Read more »

(The Nosher via JTA) — Focaccia is made with a very soft dough, slightly rich from generous amounts of added oil that helps it become crisp-edged as it bakes. As I was working on this recipe, Netflix’s “Salt Fat Acid Heat” premiered, and suddenly making focaccia felt particularly timely.… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — The advance copies of Deborah Lipstadt’s new book, “Antisemitism Here and Now,” display a cover photo of white supremacist carrying a tiki torch. But that iconic image of the August 2017 white power rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, could now be replaced by another one: Police… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Four years ago, on the eve of the Israeli military’s Gaza operation known as Protective Edge, a private developer created the Red Alert app providing real-time notification when missiles or rockets were fired into Israel. Since then, Red Alert and smartphone apps like it have become… Read more »