Posts By PHYLLIS BRAUN - AJP Executive Editor

Europe is undermining its own security by undermining Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday as he was caught on live microphone bashing the European Union at a meeting with the leaders of Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia in Budapest. “We have a peculiar situation here. The… Read more »

Summer in Jerusalem: As Israel continues to sweat through the hottest summer on record the Jewish Quarter of the Old City is full of tourists, seemingly oblivious to the heat. The restaurants leading from the Quarter towards the Western Wall pump with life, as does the Hurva Square, the… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) – Barack Obama is gone and the relief among the Christian Zionists and their Jewish friends who peopled certain corners of Washington, D.C., this week was palpable. Gary Bauer, the veteran evangelical activist, laid it out at the opening session of Christians United for Israel’s annual conference on… Read more »

  (JTA) — Dear Jewish community, So you wanna understand Israel-Palestine debates on campus? The first thing you have to do is stop talking about BDS. Shocking, right? We try. But really, the Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment campaign against Israel isn’t what Israel conversations on campus are all about… Read more »

(JTA) — At 3 1/2, Peretz Apfelbaum may not completely understand it yet, but some kitchens can put his life in danger. The Brooklyn boy is allergic to peanuts, cashews, pistachios, flax seeds, mustard seeds, coconut, peas, eggs and beef. Some of the foods give him hives, but the nuts can… Read more »

Gretchen Rachel Hammond first reported that three Jewish women carrying rainbow flags emblazoned with Jewish stars were kicked out of the June 24 march. (Courtesy of Hammond)

  NEW YORK (JTA) — The journalist who first reported the ejection of three Jewish women from Chicago’s Dyke March tweeted that she was removed from her reporting job because of that article. In a tweet Monday, Gretchen Rachel Hammond wrote to Dyke March’s Twitter account that “You attacked, humiliated… Read more »

  NEW YORK (JTA) – The Israeli Chief Rabbinate’s so-called “blacklist” of Diaspora rabbis runs the denominational gamut. The rabbis on the list, whose letters confirming the Jewish identities of immigrants were rejected by the Chief Rabbinate in 2016, are Orthodox, Conservative, Reform — and even from the smaller… Read more »

  JERUSALEM (JTA) – When Nedal Sader first heard the crackle of automatic weapon fire Friday morning, he couldn’t believe it was coming from the Temple Mount. As a Muslim, he regarded the complex just outside his apartment as a sacred and peaceful place. He prayed there nearly every week. But… Read more »

  PARIS (JTA) — It wasn’t the first time that a French president acknowledged his nation’s Holocaust-era guilt, but Emmanuel Macron’s speech Sunday was nonetheless groundbreaking in format, content and style. Delivered during a ceremony at the Vel d’Hiv Holocaust memorial monument exactly 75 years after French police officers rounded up 13,152… Read more »

(Kveller via JTA) — I took a poll of my friends when I was pregnant. We run in an observant crowd in Manhattan, and most of our friends have the kinds of names you’d find multiple times over at your Jewish summer camp: Adams and Davids, Elianas and Yaels. My… Read more »

(The Nosher via JTA) — Keeping a stocked pantry is a deep love of mine; it must run in my blood. My mother also was obsessed with having backups of her favorite products in the basement. There were always boxes of pasta, cans of beans, soup and tons of stuff… Read more »

  AMSTERDAM (JTA) —  Livraria Ets Haim is the world’s oldest functioning Jewish library. As such, it is no stranger to the prospect of imminent destruction. Founded in 1616 by Jews who fled Catholic persecution in Spain and Portugal, the three-room library is adjacent to Amsterdam’s majestic Portuguese Synagogue… Read more »

(Kveller via JTA) — Kveller often writes about trending Jewish baby names — but what about more retro names that are due to come back in style? Parents-to-be may not want to go with what’s popular right now and instead choose something ahead of the curve — by which… Read more »

David Caplan, 71, died June 17, 2017. Mr. Caplan was born in Pittsburgh. He graduated from Penn State University and received his law degree from American University Law School in Washington, D.C. After law school, he spent the next 30 years in Malibu, Calif., until 2002 when he and… Read more »

Frances Braslawsky, nee Harlow, 92, died June 28, 2017. Mrs. Braslawsky was preceded in death by her husband, Louis, and brother, George. Survivors include her children, Gary (Leslie), Fred, Leslie (Steven) Pansky, and Marlene (Larry) Harris of Tucson; eight grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.  Services were held at Westlawn Cemetery… Read more »

Zellman Steinberg, 100, died June 16, 2017. Mr. Steinberg held a degree in engineering and was an officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from 1943 to 1946, building bridges and other structures. He owned Federal Planning Mill & Architectural Manufacturing Plant in Denver. Mr. Steinberg retired to… Read more »

Tova Ellie Fink, daughter of Jennifer and Andrew Fink of Plano, Texas, celebrated her bat mitzvah on June 10 at Adat Chaverim. She is the granddaughter of Wendy and William Fishkind of Tucson, Donna Fink of New York and the great-granddaughter of Yeta Weston of Tucson. Tova attends Renner… Read more »

Kimleigh Danielle Fredman, daughter of Daniel Fredman and Katheryn Fredman, will celebrate becoming a bat mitzvah on Thursday, July 20 on Masada in Israel. She is the granddaughter of Frank and Kathy Chrzanowski of Tucson and the late Avery and Henrietta Fredman. Kimleigh attends Emily Gray Junior High where… Read more »

STEVEN MECKLER won a national Silver ADDY Award from the American Advertising Federation for color photography for his “School Lunch Trays” entry, published in Edible Baja Magazine. The competition included entries from 180 AAF clubs throughout the United States. The AAF announced the awards at its annual gala, held… Read more »

Leah Avuno has spent the last year in Tucson as one of Tucson’s first pair of shinshinim, teen emissaries from Israel. Three years ago, Avuno was a 15-year-old immigrant to Israel from Ethiopia living with her mother, aunt and siblings in Kiryat Malachi, a city known for its diversity.… Read more »