Posts By David Del Grande

Due to circumstances beyond our control,  delivery of the Dec.15 Arizona Jewish Post has been delayed. Papers will be delivered either this weekend or Monday.  We apologize for the inconvenience.… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Lawmakers finalizing the proposed tax overhaul reportedly have removed a provision that had sent shivers through the graduate student and Jewish day school communities. The House version of the reform bill, which was drafted by the Republican leadership, had removed the qualified tuition credit. The credit… Read more »

BOSTON (JTA) – President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel became an unexpected agenda item as 6,000 members of the Reform movement from across North America gathered here for their four-day convention. Addressing the Union for Reform Judaism’s 2017 biennial on Friday, Sen. Elizabeth… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Jared Kushner stands up to bullies. He makes new friends. His academic progress — well, the first year is more about socialization than acing tests, right? President Donald Trump, in the first fraught months of his administration, heralded the promise of his Jewish daughter, Ivanka, and… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The U.S. Jewish community is more secure than it was a decade ago but must brace for new challenges, according to the officials who oversee communal security. These include lone wolves weaponizing easy-to-access items like cars; increasingly disruptive protests on campuses; the persistence of attackers inspired… Read more »

(JTA) — When Israeli security guards roughed up the head rabbi of the Reform movement at the Western Wall, ripping his suit jacket and shoving a can of mace in his face, Rabbi Jen Lader had a dilemma: How could she talk about the violence without being boring? Lader,… Read more »

PARIS (JTA) – When Jerry Levy’s family opened one of the first gourmet kosher meat shops in France, they had some of the country’s best-laid business plans. Hailing from a long line of Jewish butchers in their native Algeria, they had the expertise and diligence in 1977 to cater… Read more »

TEL AVIV (JTA) – Imagine for a moment that a soldier is suspected of misconduct in the field. Typically, someone might be expected to report the soldier, prompting the army to investigate. The soldier might deny any wrongdoing. Well, in Israel, a recent case unfolded in almost exactly the opposite way.… Read more »

SECAUCUS, N.J. (JTA) — “Caution: Meat and dairy sampling on show floor,” read a sign at the entrance to Meadowlands Exposition Center. That may seem like an unusual warning outside a convention center, but to the crowd attending the food expo there on Tuesday, it made sense: Kosherfest is… Read more »

VIENNA (JTA) — When it comes to the Holocaust, Austria has made a lot of progress assuming responsibility. In recent years, Austrian officials have consistently acknowledged their country’s support of Adolf Hitler, an Austria native, and his war of annihilation against Jews. In the early 2000s, the government dropped… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — Just who is Bernie Bernstein, exactly? Well, first things first: He — or, more accurately, it — is a disembodied voice that has become a supporting character in the brouhaha surrounding Roy Moore, the U.S. Senate candidate in Alabama who has been accused of sexual… Read more »

A handful of Tucson’s restaurateurs are working through the holidays, but instead of dreading their blistering schedule they’re welcoming in the busy season. Filling your plates and bowls warms their souls. Jason McCarty, a managing partner at Eclectic Cafe, says he sees the 37-year-old eatery as an unofficial anchor… Read more »

PHYLLIS SELTZER recently published a memoir, “Living My Dash,” which she describes as “the story of a marriage filled with love and a family dealing with many difficulties,” told in the hope of helping others going through similar problems.… Read more »

Gertrude Shankman, born Oct. 26, 1914 in Brooklyn, New York, celebrated her 103rd birthday last month at Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging. Third-grade students from Tucson Hebrew Academy joined the festivities. When asked recently about her secret to longevity, her one-word answer was “accepting,” says Nanci Levy, community… Read more »

Ronnie Ester Barel, daughter of Oshrat and Eli Barel, will celebrate becoming a bat mitzvah on Saturday, Nov. 18 at Congregation Anshei Israel. She is the granddaughter of Ester and Shimon Buzaglo, and Tami and the late Ehud Avitan, all of Beit Shean, Israel. Ronnie attends Tucson Hebrew Academy… Read more »

Women and girls flock to Mega Challah Bake A record 330 women and girls turned out for Tucson’s fourth annual Mega Challah Bake on Thursday, Oct. 26, hosted by Chabad Tucson and the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Feigie Shemtov, program director at Chabad Tucson, led the evening, which included… Read more »

As Hurricane Harvey swept over Houston, Chava Gal-Or counted herself lucky. The water rose up to her door and a little bit seeped in, but her home did not flood. However, many in the Reform synagogue where she works had it much worse: Twenty-nine families lost their homes —… Read more »

(JTA) — There’s a long and poignant story behind the T-shirt that Ari’el Stachel often wears these days. It says, in Hebrew letters, “Totzeret Teman” —  “Product of Yemen.” The unexpected juxtaposition of two cultures, Israeli and Arab, is as fascinating and complex as Stachel himself. Stachel, 26, is an… Read more »

(JTA) — The British rocker and former Smiths frontman Morrissey has not one but two Jewish-themed songs on his forthcoming album, “Low in High School.” Perhaps the more notable one is simply called “Israel” and offers a blunt rebuke of critics of the Jewish state. “In other climes they… Read more »

PHILADELPHIA (JTA) — Opening a Jewish bakery with a Yiddish name in an Italian neighborhood sounds crazy, but it didn’t take long before Essen had a line of regular customers lining up for its fresh-baked challah on Fridays. Tova du Plessis opened Essen, which means “to eat,” in South… Read more »