Rabbi Nachum Eisenstein (Courtesy of Eisenstein)
JERUSALEM (JTA) – Haredi Orthodox Jews agree with their non-Orthodox brethren on one thing: The future of the Jewish people is at stake in the debate raging over who controls the Western Wall and conversion in Israel. Other than that, though, there is little common ground. According to Nachum… Read more »
Conservative Jews pray at Robinson’s Arch in Jerusalem, July 30, 2014. (Robert Swift/Flash90)
(JTA) — The Great Jewish Revolt of 2017. The Bar Kotel Rebellion. The Diaspora Strikes Back. Whatever you call it, last week’s clash between American Jewish leaders and the Netanyahu government felt louder, angrier and more significant than previous clashes over pluralism in Israel. That may be because it wasn’t… Read more »
Haredi Orthodox Jewish men and Israeli soldiers, seen here at the main entrance of the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Oct. 12, 2015, are what many Americans think of when they picture Israel, according to a new study. (Musa al-Shaer/AFP/Getty Images)
(JTA) — What do you think of when you think of Italy? Maybe you picture beautiful works of art set against rolling Tuscan hills. Maybe a steaming plate of spaghetti topped with marinara sauce served with a deep red wine. Now what do you think of when you… Read more »
Marchers at the New York City Pride Parade hold signs for an LGBT synagogue in Manhattan, June 25, 2017. (Harold Levine)
NEW YORK (JTA) — For years, Laurie Grauer had waved a rainbow flag emblazoned with a Jewish star at the Chicago Dyke March, sometimes marching near activists waving Palestinian flags. It had never been a problem. But this year, Grauer was confronted by the LGBT parade’s organizers, questioned about… Read more »
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center, leads the weekly Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, June 25, 2017. (Marc Israel Sellem/Pool/Flash90)
(JTA) — American Jewish leaders are calling it a betrayal. They say that 17 months after achieving a historic agreement to provide a non-Orthodox space at Judaism’s holiest prayer site, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reneged in a Cabinet vote June 25, effectively canceling the deal and caving to… Read more »
Diego Schwartzman practices in Buenos Aires, Feb. 1, 2017. (Gabriel Rossi/LatinContent/Getty Images)
(JTA) — When Wimbledon starts this week, no other Jewish tennis player will be seeded higher than Diego Schwartzman. The scrappy 24-year-old from Argentina, fresh off an impressive five-set duel with perennial star Novak Djokovic at the French Open earlier this month, is No. 37 in the Association of Tennis… Read more »
Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky, center, in brown cap, and Knesset member Dov Lipman, directly to his right, at a protest held by American and Israeli Orthodox and Conservative Jews outside the Chief Rabbinate offices in Jerusalem, July 6, 2016. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
(JTA) — Israeli politicians and Jewish leaders are fighting again over an age-old question: Who counts as a Jew? And who gets to decide? Last week, Israel’s government inflamed simmering tensions over Jewish conversion when a Cabinet committee advanced a bill that would further empower the country’s haredi Orthodox… Read more »
Jews arriving at Auschwitz in 1944. (Wikimedia Commons)
NEW YORK (JTA) — When Megan Corbin was in school, she learned about the Holocaust as an optimistic story. Her grade school, she said, “highlighted Anne Frank as the voice of hope, and that really wasn’t the reality.” Now, as an eighth-grade language arts teacher outside of Seattle, she… Read more »
Sen. Al Franken speaks outside the Capitol, June 9, 2016. (Gabriella Demczuk/Getty Images)
(JTA) — In February 2015, Sen. Jim Inhofe carried a snowball on to the floor of the Senate to prove global warming did not exist. Everyone knows “it is very, very cold outside,” the Oklahoma Republican said. “Unseasonable.” That, said Al Franken, gave him an idea. “I thought… Read more »
Benjamin Netanyahu, center, arrives at the weekly Cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, June 25, 2017. (Marc Israel Sellem/Pool/Flash90)
(JTA) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shelved a controversial bill that would have made the haredi Orthodox-dominated Chief Rabbinate the only body authorized by the government to perform conversions in Israel. Netanyahu’s office announced Friday that the legislation will not be considered for six months while a “team” he will appoint… Read more »
Jewish women pray in the women's section of the Western Wall in Jerusalem, May 16, 2017.(Thomas Coex/AFP/Getty Images)
(JTA) — They’ve tried strongly worded statements. They’ve tried private meetings with the prime minister. They’ve tried negotiations, protest and prayer. But for the past five years, despite broad internal consensus and consistent pressure, the American Jewish establishment has been unable to persuade Israel’s government to create an equitable… Read more »
Rabbi Shemtov’s 60th birthday surprise On Monday, May 15, close to 60 men participated in Shacharit morning prayers at Congregation Young Israel as a surprise for Rabbi Yossie Shemtov in honor of his 60th birthday. Shemtov is executive director of Chabad Tucson and senior rabbi of Young Israel of… Read more »
The JEWISH HISTORY MUSEUM/HOLOCAUST HISTORY CENTER presented the Dr. Barry A. Friedman Volunteer of the Year Award to DAVYA M. COHEN at its annual meeting on May 4. Cohen, a volunteer docent at the museum, taught middle school shop for 35 years in Southfield, Mich., before moving to Tucson… Read more »
CARING SENIOR SERVICE, which provides services to the elderly and disabled, has opened a Tucson location, owned and operated by CINDY and LEE SHELLER. Cindy Shelller has more than 23 years of experience in the healthcare industry, with the last 14 years in home health care, including six years… Read more »
Roslyn Silverberg Cooper-Pilkington, 90, died June 6, 2017. Mrs. Cooper-Pilkington was born in the Bronx, N.Y. Her family moved to Los Angeles in 1941 and then in 1943 settled in Tucson, where her father, Sol Silverberg, founded S. Silverberg and Sons Jewelers. She studied music at the University of… Read more »
(L-R) Rabbi Robert Eisen, CAI students, Lynne Falkow-Strauss, Marianne Langer and Stephanie Roberts at the June 6 groundbreaking for the Lynne Falkow-Strauss Foyer and Courtyard. (Yvonne Ethier)
Congregation Anshei Israel is recognizing Lynne Falkow-Strauss, director of its Esther B. Feldman Preschool/Kindergarten for 45 years, by creating a new courtyard and foyer in her name. The beloved educator, who has welcomed multiple generations of students, will be honored in a unique way that reflects her leadership style.… Read more »
Rabbi Stephanie Aaron speaks June 6 at the Jewish History Museum. [Steven Michael Braun)
Tucson joined 20 communities across the country on June 6 for a vigil honoring the struggles of refugees past and present. The date commemorates the anniversary of the day in 1939 the M.S. St. Louis began its voyage back to Europe with more than 900 mostly Jewish refugees aboard,… Read more »
Rabbi Jonathan Roos blows the shofar for nursery school children at Temple Sinai synagogue in Washington, D.C., Sept. 30, 2016. (Evelyn Hockstein/for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
(JTA) — On Jan. 16, 1949, Toby Fassman married Max Cohen (Steven M. Cohen’s parents, now both of blessed memory). At 24, Toby was among the last of her circle of friends in Brooklyn to marry, and several jokingly remarked that Max had rescued her from lifelong singlehood.… Read more »
This small side yard has a Tombstone rose-covered arbor that provides shade in summer and offers an insulating space of non-moving air in winter. (© Jacqueline A. Soule)
A well-designed landscape can save you money in three major ways. Properly designed, installed and maintained, a landscape can help you reduce energy use, reduce water use, and increase the usable space you are paying the mortgage on. This last benefit also increases the resale value of your home… Read more »
Some of the Nazi-era objects discovered by Argentine police. (Leonardo Kremenchuzky/DAIA)
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — A cache of 75 original Nazi objects discovered earlier this month by the Argentine Federal Police has been evaluated as “unprecedented” and “the biggest” discovery of its type. The objects, discovered earlier this month in a hidden room of a house in the northern… Read more »
