Posts By PHYLLIS BRAUN - AJP Executive Editor

(JTA) — The Land of Lincoln’s next governor may well be a Jewish Democrat. It just isn’t clear what kind of Jewish Democrat he will be. Two Jewish candidates are the front-runners in the Illinois Democratic gubernatorial primary in March, and both are favored to defeat the unpopular Republican… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Sheldon Adelson’s offer to help pay for the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem is getting a thumb’s down from a range of observers who support the embassy’s relocation. The Associated Press had the exclusive on Friday morning, and JTA confirmed it with sources who have been… Read more »

Rabbi Avi Feldman, left, and wife Mushky are moving with daughters Chana and Batsheva to Iceland. (Chabad.org)

(JTA) — The Chabad movement is sending a rabbi and his wife to Iceland, an island nation with 250 Jews where ritual slaughter of animals is illegal and circumcision is likely to be outlawed as well. Rabbi Avi Feldman, 27, of Brooklyn, New York, and his Sweden-born wife Mushky,… Read more »

  WASHINGTON (JTA) — Billy Graham, the giant of American evangelism who was exalted by Jews for his championing of Israel at its hour of need and then condemned when a nasty anti-Semitic streak was revealed, has died. Graham, 99, died at his home in Montreat, North Carolina, media… Read more »

TEL AVIV (JTA) — The latest episode of Iran flexing its regional hegemonic muscles in the Middle East came with a direct and unprecedented military challenge to Israel. Last week, Iran used a technologically advanced drone – reverse-engineered from a U.S. drone captured in 2011 – to penetrate Israel’s… Read more »

(JTA) — Jews in and around the nation’s capital do plenty of Jewish things. Many of them just don’t do those things as members of Jewish institutions. That’s one of the main takeaways from a wide-ranging survey of Washington, D.C.-area Jews published this week by the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington.… Read more »

Brittan Heller will bring personal experience as a victim along with extensive professional international law and cybercrime experience to her Tucson presentation, “Pulling the Plug on Online Anti-Semitism & Bigotry,” on Thursday, Feb. 8 at 6 p.m. at the Harvey & Deanna Evenchik Center for Jewish Philanthropy, 3718 E.… Read more »

  (JTA) — Avraham Yago, a married father of five who works as a linguistics professor at the University of Abidjan in the West African nation of Cote d’Ivoire, has visited Israel four times to learn about Judaism and practice his Hebrew. Yago, 64, grew up without any religious affiliation.… Read more »

  TIRANA, Albania (JTA) — Most anywhere else in Nazi-occupied Europe, an encounter with police would have likely sealed the fate of Jewish refugees like Nissim and Sarah Aladjem and their 10-year-old son, Aron. Instead, when the family was detained by police in the Muslim nation of Albania 75… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — During a combative news conference in early August, White House adviser Stephen Miller told reporters that the United States should prioritize immigrants who speak English. “Does the applicant speak English?” Miller asked, describing a bill to reduce the overall number of immigrants and reform immigration… Read more »

Wildcats go to Israel According to the Birthright Israel Foundation, Birthright Israel began with a simple idea — to offer young Jewish adults a life-changing trip to Israel and in doing so, transform the Jewish future. Thanks to generous donations, Birthright Israel has given tens of thousands of young… Read more »

Rabbi David Saperstein

Named America’s most influential rabbi by Newsweek in 2009, Ambassador Rabbi David Saperstein will be the scholar-in residence for Temple Emanu-El’s annual Rabbi Albert T. Bilgray Memorial Lecture Series, Feb. 8-10. Speaking on “Freedom and Justice in the World Today,” Saperstein will draw upon a career of service to… Read more »

The best defense against today’s era of “fake news” is to counter misinformation with accurate information. That’s the remedy offered by two speakers at the recent Brandeis University on Wheels lecture hosted by the Tucson Chapter of Brandeis National Committee and the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Brandeis University professors… Read more »

The Arizona Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Arizona has received a new commitment of $1.5 million from Bettina B. and Kenneth A. Plevan, which will be combined with a previous gift of $500,000 to endow a chair in memory of their son Jeffrey B. Plevan. Plevan,… Read more »

Tu B’Shevat is almost here, the “Jewish New Year for the Trees,” also called “Jewish Arbor Day.” Last year I discussed planting almond trees, and this year I’d like to suggest a fig tree. Figs are one of the easiest fruit trees to grow in our area (far easier… Read more »

A passion for history that began with her father’s stories of his childhood in pre-war Poland has led Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett to play a large part in piecing together the scattered, thousand-year history of the Polish Jews. Now she is bringing this history to Tucson. Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, chief curator of the core… Read more »

ALLIE LONDON is the TUCSON JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER’S new director of marketing. A native New Yorker who received her B.A. in politics and journalism from New York University, London relocated to Tucson from Chicago in 2014. She has since served as the program officer for The Jewish Community Foundation… Read more »

Evan Benton Gilmore, son of Dana and Jeff Gilmore, will celebrate becoming a bar mitzvah on Saturday, Feb. 3 at Congregation Chaverim. He is the grandson of Karen and Bill Goldberg, Sally and Bill Middleton and Glenn Gilmore, all of Tucson. Evan attends Marana Middle School, where he is… Read more »

Faye Mincer, age 84, died Thursday, Jan. 11, 2018. Mrs. Mincer was born in Chicago. She was the owner of Southern Arizona Glassworks for almost four decades. Mrs. Mincer was preceded in death by her husband of 48 years, Fred. Survivors include her children, Marty (Joy) Mincer, Anita (Terry)… Read more »

Former Jewish Community Center Executives Ken Light (Tucson) and Jay Roth (Milwaukee and Miami) have formed a partnership to serve the nonprofit community, L/R STRATEGIES.  Key services offered include executive coaching and training; board governance, structure, and development; communication, conflict management; planning and organizational change; fund development; and communication.… Read more »