Posts By PHYLLIS BRAUN - AJP Executive Editor

PARIS (JTA) — On the surface, at least, Europe has not changed much over the past 12 months. In fact, when it comes to European politics, this year may appear mild in comparison to 2016, which saw several dramatic and shocking developments, such as Brexit, a refugee resettlement crisis… Read more »

(JTA) — A researcher says Mormons have posthumously baptized the late Lubavitcher rebbe, the grandparents of Carrie Fisher and Steven Spielberg, and hundreds of Holocaust victims, violating an agreement to halt the practice. Helen Radkey, a Salt Lake City-based independent researcher who has been looking into the Mormon practice… Read more »

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Israelis lined up Tuesday afternoon at the newly opened bitcoin exchange in this city to purchase the coveted cryptocurrency. Amid the store’s yellow signage, the customers one by one inserted bank cards into a towering ATM-like machine. Sharply dressed young employees helped them make the… Read more »

  (JTA) — The past year was not a quiet one, to say the least. From the tumultuous first year of Donald Trump’s presidency to a wave of bomb threats against Jewish community centers to the flood of high-profile sexual harassment allegations, Jews — like so many others —… Read more »

(The Nosher via JTA) — I recently stumbled upon a Yemenite Jewish cookbook from the early ’60s called “Yemenite & Sabra Cookery,” by Naomi and Shimon Tzabar. It’s the type of cookbook I especially love to discover; the kind that covers a rare topic and is unusually designed. This… Read more »

VIENNA (JTA) — Like Germany’s governments, those of neighboring Austria have acknowledged their country’s role as a chief perpetrator of the Holocaust. Since the 1990s, Austrian officials have faced up to and condemned how their countrymen and authorities supported Adolf Hitler, an Austria native, and his war of annihilation… Read more »

Israel’s intelligence community told a cohort of volunteer first responders that it is most concerned about a new war with Syria, says Jay Korza, a sergeant with the Pima County Sheriff’s Department. If that threat materializes, Korza will be there to help. Korza traveled to Israel this summer to… Read more »

The most gratifying aspect of teaching is watching your students move toward their own greatness, says Kenneth S. Goodman, a professor emeritus at the University of Arizona department of language, reading and culture. “I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished, but I’m also proud of what the people who I’ve… Read more »

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Young Women’s Cabinet is hosting an event next month to help women of all ages kick off the new (secular) year feeling rejuvenated. “Mindfulness, Martinis & Mitzvahs” will be held Wednesday, Jan. 10 at 6:30 p.m. at the Harvey and Deanna Evenchik Center… Read more »

When bestselling author Rabbi Naomi Levy came across a poignant letter by Albert Einstein to a grieving rabbi, it shook her to her core. His words perfectly captured what she has come to believe about the human condition: that we are intimately connected and that we are blind to… Read more »

A choir started over 20 years ago by the late Karla Ember at Congregation Ner Tamid continues to perform at concerts and Shabbat and holiday services. “There have been many changes in content and personnel over the years, but Congregation Kol Simchah, successor to Congregation Ner Tamid, carries on,”… Read more »

Grammy-award winning violinist Gil Shaham will perform Tchaikovsky’s “Concerto in D major, Op. 35,” considered one of the best known and yet most difficult of all violin concertos, with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra on Friday, Jan. 12 at 7:30 p.m. The concert also will include Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet… Read more »

Laura Green

Laura Green, Zionist affairs chair of the Desert-Mountain Region of Hadassah, will present an Israel update for Hadassah Southern Arizona on Sunday, Jan. 7 at 10:30 a.m., during a brunch at Skyline Country Club. Green, who last spoke in Tucson in October 2014, grew up on Long Island, New… Read more »

Getting injured in an accident can impact everyday life for individuals and their families, and personal injury lawyers help people through these difficult situations. Four local personal injury lawyers weighed in on why they like this field of law, and also provided advice on what do do if injured… Read more »

SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) — Lyla Maymon and Jane Shvartzman went to interview officials last year at the Larkin Street Youth, a San Francisco organization fighting homelessness among young people, to see if their programs were worthy of a philanthropic grant. Maymon and Shvartzman asked all the right questions, like… Read more »

World-renowned Russian-American violinist Yevgeny Kutik was only 5 when his family immigrated to the United States, so he doesn’t clearly remember the anti-Semitism they faced in Belarus. But he’s heard his parents’ and grandparents’ stories. Kutik, who was born in Minsk in 1985, told the AJP the discrimination was… Read more »

The first yahrtzeit of Harvey Zeligman, M.D., will be observed on Jan. 1, 2018. Dr. Zeligman was a beloved father, grandfather, husband, and physician serving the community for over 40 years. The family will hold an unveiling ceremony at East Lawn Cemetery on Jan. 1 at 10 a.m. with… Read more »

Bernice Saffer, 99, died Dec. 3, 2017. Mrs. Saffer was a longtime member of Temple Emanu-El. Mrs. Saffer was predeceased by her husband of 58 years, Rudy, and daughter-in-law, Susan Saffer. Survivors include her children, Donald Saffer and Shirley (Joe) Hanold of Tucson, and William (Sandy) Saffer, of Las… Read more »

Martin Morris, 92, died Nov. 24, 2017. Born in the Bronx, Mr. Morris attended the N.Y. State Maritime Academy and served as a naval officer in World War II and the Korean War.  He lived in Livingston, N.J., with his family where he owned a home improvement business and… Read more »

Paula Karchmer, 95, died Nov. 23, 2017. Mrs. Karchmer was born in Springfield, Ill., and spent much of her childhood in Utica, N.Y. Her father’s career as a manager of department stores moved the family to Wilmington, Del., for her last year of high school. She graduated with a… Read more »