Posts By PHYLLIS BRAUN - AJP Executive Editor

Chen Dinatzi and Tamir Shecory, Tucson’s second cohort of shinshinim (Israeli teen emissaries), will present a series of Israel education events for adults, “Talking Tachles with Chen and Tamir” at community congregations and organizations. Tachles is a slang Hebrew word, derived from Yiddish, that means “to the point” or… Read more »

Relocating from Atlanta in the midst of Tucson’s hottest summer on record wasn’t Izzy Kornman’s greatest challenge. She’d already met one big challenge, being chosen as one of 25 national recipients of the Hillel International Springboard Fellowship. She also had to adjust to the Southwest vibe. “That’s a really… Read more »

In May, the Arizona Theatre Company announced the arrival of David Ivers, the new artistic director who took over the reins from David Ira Goldstein after Goldstein’s 25-year stint leading ATC. Ivers suggested “Outside Mullingar” for the 2017/18 transition season and will make his ATC directorial debut with the… Read more »

Yofi has her credentials and began teaching this month at the Kurn Religious School of Temple Emanu-El. No matter that Yofi is a floppy-eared golden doodle. She’s available to listen to children as they read aloud, practicing their Hebrew reading skills. Research shows that reading to dogs helps children… Read more »

It was late afternoon, and I could barely get my body out of bed. In fact, I’d been in bed most of the last few days  or was it weeks? Yet even with all that rest, my legs were still too weak to stand up. It wasn’t that I… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The U.S. ambassador to Israel blamed the Palestinians for the lack of peace with Israel in the aftermath of a shooting in the West Bank that killed an Israeli man. David Friedman tweeted Wednesday morning, as the Israeli military expanded its search for the killer or killers, including… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Steve Bannon, the former top strategic adviser to President Donald Trump, is leaving his powerful perch at Breitbart News. Breitbart News in a statement Tuesday said Bannon is a “valued part of our legacy,” but various media, including The New York Times, said he was ousted… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — It wasn’t long after Nahum Amir began working for Delta Airlines as a mechanic that he says his manager started calling him “the Jewish guy.” Then Amir says the manager accused him and other Jews of “killing kids in Gaza.” During the same period, Yaron… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — On Season 3 of “The West Wing,” a bomb goes off outside a cafe on Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem, killing two American students. “What were they doing there?” asks C.J., the White House press secretary. C.J.’s question always struck me as the prime example of… Read more »

  NEW CASTLE, Pa. (JTA) — It was a frigid 10 degrees on Sunday, the last day of 2017, but some 20 people gathered at Congregation Tifereth Israel’s cemetery in this city of 22,000 on the Ohio border. A blue tent and folding chairs had been set up for… Read more »

(JTA) — If a Palestinian appears to be committing a terror attack, do they deserve to die on the spot? The answer is yes, says Michael Oren. The former Israeli ambassador to the United States, now a deputy minister in Israel’s Cabinet, tweeted last week that the Israel Defense… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — Trivia is having a major moment — and that’s thanks, in large part, to Scott Rogowsky. The Jewish comedian has played a huge role in the runaway success of HQ Trivia, the iPhone app turned massive phenomenon that now has some 500,000 people glued to their iPhones at… Read more »

(JTA) — Is Gal Gadot the most famous Israeli ever? Judging by 2017’s top Google searches, the answer might be yes. Gadot was the sixth-most searched person worldwide, and the third-most searched actor. The 32-year-old, who was born and raised in Israel and served in the Israel Defense Forces, starred… Read more »

(The Nosher via JTA) — The crockpot has never been my favorite kitchen gadget. I know people love their crockpots and their instant pots, but there have been limited things I have made in a crockpot that I loved, or actually found more convenient. When I am dinner prepping for busy… Read more »

(JTA) — Pop star Lorde’s decision to cancel her scheduled concert in Israel has sparked some fierce reactions, even if most of them were expected. The 21-year-old New Zealand native’s move earned praise from proponents of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, who said she was taking a stand for the… Read more »

(JTA) — Is it true that Judaism doesn’t accept converts? Is it true that Jews have to wash their hands before they pray? Is it true that Jews have historically killed their prophets? These are just a few of the questions Elhanan Miller has heard over the years. A… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Jason Greenblatt, President Donald Trump’s chief Israeli-Palestinian negotiator, has an office just around the corner from the White House. On his computer monitor is a Post-it note, inscribed with a quote from former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo: “At the end of the day, a peace agreement… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Israel’s government may be ambivalent about the nascent reconciliation between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, but it outright opposes Palestinian bids for statehood recognition through international bodies, including the United Nations. However, for one influential Israeli constituency — the families of Israelis held captive in Hamas-controlled… Read more »

  (JTA) — It’s been a busy year here at JTA, where we’ve published thousands of stories covering topics as diverse as celebrity profiles to the rise of Europe’s right-wing to breaking the news of bomb threats at Jewish institutions across the U.S. Among the nearly 5,000 pieces we… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Why did President Donald Trump commute the sentence of Sholom Rubashkin, the former CEO of an Iowa kosher meat plant sentenced to 27 years in prison for bank fraud? The official line is that the bipartisan support for Rubashkin’s cause made cutting short his sentence a… Read more »