Yearly Archives 2019

The Chabad Rebbe died 25 years ago. Here’s how his movement has survived.

Hands reach out to touch the casket of Rabbi Menachem Schneerson as his funeral procession prepares to leave the world headquarters of the Lubavitch Hasidim in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, June 12, 1994. (Mark Phillips/AFP/Getty Images)
July 10, 2019 / Samuel Heilman, JTA

JERUSALEM (JTA) –Twenty-five years ago, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the 92-year-old Lubavitcher Rebbe, succumbed to his many ailments and died, to the horror of his Hasidim. Since suffering the first of several devastating strokes on March 2, 1992, while visiting the grave of his late father-in-law and predecessor Rabbi Yosef… Read more »

The Israel Project chairman says reports of its demise are premature. An insider says its entire staff was laid off.

Josh Block, Israel Project CEO, speaks on on PBS News Hour on March 7, 2019. (PBS News Hour/Screenshot)
July 10, 2019 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Israel Project’s chairman says that reports of the advocacy organization’s demise are premature in the wake of the surprise departure of its CEO. An insider told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the organization has let go of all of its staff without notice or their… Read more »

Israeli city inaugurates a ‘Donald Trump Square’
July 10, 2019 / Marcy Oster, JTA

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The central Israel city of Petah Tikvah inaugurated a city square in honor of President Donald Trump. Donald Trump Square was inaugurated on Wednesday to thank Trump for his support of Israel, especially the president’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The square is… Read more »

‘Politics is not for women,’ leading religious Zionist rabbi says
July 10, 2019 / Marcy Oster, JTA

JERUSALEM (JTA) — A leading religious-Zionist rabbi in Israel rejected the possibility of asking former Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked to head the Union of Right Wing Parties because “politics is not for women.” Rabbi Shlomo Aviner was one of dozens of rabbis who signed a letter objecting to seeing… Read more »

The protests by Ethiopian Israelis, explained

Ethiopians and supporters have protested across Israel against police violence following the death of a 19-year-old Ethiopian Israeli, Solomon Tekah, who was shot and killed by an off-duty police officer. Shown here is a protest in Kiryat Ata, July 3, 2019. (Flash90)
July 10, 2019 / Marcy Oster, JTA

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Protests by the Ethiopian-Israeli community and their supporters entered a third day on Wednesday in Israel in the wake of the killing of an Ethiopian-Israeli teen by an off-duty police officer. While the protests are tied to the death of Solomon Tekah, 19, on Sunday night… Read more »

Donald W. Grose
July 9, 2019 /

Donald W. Grose, 72, died June 30, 2019. Mr. Grose graduated Arizona State University in 1972, and received his teacher certification from the University of Arizona in 1990. He taught art/photography at Marana Middle School from 1990 to 2009. As a professional photographer for over 50 years, he was… Read more »

Arthur Naiman
July 9, 2019 /
Arthur Naiman

Arthur Naiman, 78, died May 13, 2019. A longtime San Francisco Bay Area writer, editor and publisher, Mr. Naiman was best known as the creator of the first independent Apple user manual, “The Macintosh Bible.” Mr. Naiman was born in Chicago, graduated from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, and… Read more »

Sima Aziz
July 9, 2019 /
Sima Aziz

Sima (Simi) Aziz, 88, died May 28, 2019. Mrs. Aziz was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Jennie (nee Finesilver) and Benjamin Gerel of Russia. She grew up in the Bronx with two brothers and three sisters. In 1951, she moved to Tucson, where she met and married Rahmat… Read more »

Ivan Gur-Arie
July 9, 2019 /
Ivan Gur-Arie

Ivan Gur-Arie, 84, died Jan. 15, 2019. Mr. Gur-Arie was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Marvin and Mania (Diamond) Gur-Arie. He graduated from Brooklyn College in 1954 and received his juris doctor from New York University School of Law in 1957. After graduating from law school, he worked… Read more »

Jack Abel Stantus
July 9, 2019 /

A son, Jack Abel Stantus, was born June 19, 2019 to Debbie and Kyle Stantus of Phoenix. Grandparents are Shelly Abell and Dan Weisz of Tucson, and Paul and Connie Stantus of Libby, Montana.… Read more »

Anti-Semitism is strengthening the Jewish identity of young people. Why haven’t our organizations embraced them?

Young Jewish adults from all over the world participate in the Birthright Israel program in Jerusalem, Jan. 14, 2015. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
July 3, 2019 / Howard Lovy, JTA

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (JTA) – The year was 2000, and Michael Steinhardt had just dropped a bombshell that nearly brought an otherwise dignified conference to blows. “I tend, in my dourest moments, to consider both the Reform and Conservative Jews as historic accidents in the 21st century and suspect,… Read more »

Virginia GOP legislature candidate takes down ‘concentration camp’ joke after Jewish Democrat complains

Democrat Eileen Filler-Corn of Fairfax County rides the elevator down from her office in the Pocahontas Building in Richmond, Virginia on Tuesday, December 18, 2018. (Julia Rendleman for the Washington Post)
July 3, 2019 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — A Republican running for the Virginia state legislature removed from his Facebook campaign page a meme that mocked comparisons of migrant camps to concentration camps. Paul Milde, running to be a delegate in Virginia’s 28th district, encompassing the town of Fredericksburg about halfway between Washington, D.C.,… Read more »

36 Jewish protesters arrested at ICE detention center in New Jersey
July 3, 2019 / Ben Sales, JTA

NEW YORK (JTA) — Thirty-six protesters from a new Jewish group were arrested at a demonstration in front of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The arrests Sunday afternoon followed a protest outside the Elizabeth Contract Detention Facility organized by a group called Never… Read more »

Synagogues are now conducting active shooter drills during services

Avi Abraham, a Krav Maga instructor who teaches self-defense classes to synagogue-goers, shows how to combat an attacker in a promotional video. (Screenshot from YouTube)
July 3, 2019 / Ben Sales, JTA

(JTA) — When the ushers locked the door to the sanctuary, and the congregants prepared to flee the synagogue in preparation for a mass shooting, Rabbi Neil Cooper made sure it all happened before they had to take the Torahs out of the ark. Ten minutes later the worshippers… Read more »

Child advocates blast systemic failures in Israel’s handling of sex abuse cases

Malka Leifer, center a former Australian teacher accused of dozens of cases of sexual abuse of girls at a school, is escorted by police as she arrives for a hearing at the District Court in Jerusalem, Feb. 27, 2018. Advocates say Israel's government have not adequately dealt with the issue of child sexual abuse. (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP/Getty Images)
July 3, 2019 / Sam Sokol, JTA

JERUSALEM (JTA) — In April, Israeli police announced the arrest of a 22-year-old man in Beit Shemesh accused of multiple counts of child sexual assault. Short of celebrating the arrest of an abuser, local victims’ rights advocates took the authorities to task. Shana Aaronson, head of the Israeli branch… Read more »

In the Swiss Alps, locals and haredi Orthodox tourists find ways to get along

Cyclists near Arosa with the mountains in the background, June 4, 2014. (Tim De Waele/Getty Images)
July 3, 2019 / Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA

AROSA, Switzerland (JTA) — A calmer, safer and more beautiful place than this Alpine skiing town is difficult to imagine. In summer, cyclists abandon their unlocked mountain bicycles (there’s virtually no crime here) outside cafes surrounded by wild coniferous forests. They enjoy reasonably priced regional treats on terraces whose… Read more »

Tucson’s Hernandez wins de-escalation training for school cops

Alma Hernandez at the Arizona State Capitol, June 18 (Courtesy Hernandez)
June 28, 2019 / Phyllis Braun, AJP Executive Editor

Children and teens at public schools throughout the state will be safer thanks to the efforts of Rep. Alma Hernandez, Arizona’s first Jewish Latina lawmaker. Working with the office of Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, Hernandez, a Democrat, secured an agreement to begin mandatory training in de-escalation and crisis intervention… Read more »