A screenshot from the Alma website (HeyAlma.com)
(JTA) — If you’re a young Jewish woman — or if you just happen to love “Broad City” or wacky recollections of Jewish summer camp — there’s a new website for you. Alma, which was launched Tuesday by 70 Faces Media (JTA’s parent company), aims to be a resource for… Read more »
Linda and Joel Zacks decided in 1968 that they wanted to move to Israel. It took another 45 years, and six of seven children moving there, before they finally immigrated. (Yardena Schwartz)
JERUSALEM — When Joel Zacks and Linda Ginns each first visited Israel, on separate pre-college tours, they fell in love with the country. It was 1968, they were both 18 and had yet to meet. They returned to America, met during freshman orientation at Yeshiva University and fell… Read more »
(Kveller via JTA) — My baby is 14 months now, talking like a maniac and taking very halting first steps (his development pattern echoes his highly verbal and unathletic parents). And in many ways so far, the past few months have been more challenging than anything I encountered… Read more »
Michael Peel Grab your Golden Coupon and gear up to save and celebrate Tucson businesses during Independents Week. Promoted by Local First Arizona, Tucson’s version of this national event will take place July 1-9. It runs through Independence Day to capture the spirit of freedom that local businesses bring to their… Read more »
(L-R) Eliana Siegel, Ellah Ben-Asher, Elana Goldberg, Sigal Devorah (Tucson Hebrew Academy teacher), Breanna Yalen, Lily Isaac, Shira Dubin, Eliana Tolby, Dani Lee, Ava Leipsic and April Glesinger (THA parent) at the Western Wall. (Courtesy Breanna Yalen)
Seeing, hearing, smelling, actually being in Israel is magical for Tucson teens who spent years studying about the Jewish state at Tucson Hebrew Academy. It is a powerful experience for eighth-grade graduates to travel with classmates and teachers, building lifetime friendships and memories. Twenty-one students made the trip this… Read more »
Christian Friedel as Georg Elser in "13 Minutes." (Bernd Schuller/Sony Pictures Classics)
LOS ANGELES (JTA) —What if Adolf Hitler had been assassinated shortly after his armies invaded Poland to start World War II? How would global — and Jewish — history have played out? The question is not answered directly in the German film “13 Minutes.” But the movie, based… Read more »
Jon Ossoff speaking to volunteers and supporters at a campaign office in Marietta, Ga., April 18, 2017. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
JOHNS CREEK, Ga. (JTA) — Clad in knee-length, loose fitting shorts, wicking T-shirts, baseball caps and sensible shoes, they cluster and clutch water bottles and exchange war stories awaiting the candidate’s arrival. Some bring their daughters — almost always their daughters. Sons exist, if a reporter probes, but it… Read more »
Activist Michele Freed, center, and other young professionals protest with HIAS in front of the White House, March 1, 2017. (Katie Jett Walls)
NEW YORK (JTA) — On Jan. 27, President Donald Trump made Mark Hetfield’s job impossible. Hetfield is the president and CEO of HIAS, an organization that resettles refugees in the United States. A week into his presidency, Trump issued an executive order barring refugees from entering the country, leaving… Read more »
A volunteer with the organization World Jewish Relief works with refugees in Greece. (Minos Alchanati)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Eighty percent of Jews live in two countries — Israel and the United States — but Jewish organizations are spending more and more of their money elsewhere. Jewish aid to the developing world — the impoverished set of countries your zayde called the “third… Read more »
French President Emmanuel Macron at a news conference in Paris, June 12, 2017. (Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images)
(JTA) – Before he threw Sarah Halimi to her death from a window of her third-story apartment in Paris, 27-year-old Kobili Traore called his Jewish neighbor “Satan” and cried out for Allah. These and other facts about the April 4 incident that shocked French Jewry are known from testimonies… Read more »
Rabbi Shivi Froman of Tekoa prays the afternoon service facing Jerusalem while religious Muslims bow towards Mecca. (Courtesy Rabbi Mordechai Vardi)
An early June evening, Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem. Approximately 60 people sit on a garden patio under an awning, waiting for the sun to disappear over the western mountains before breaking the day-long Ramadan fast with dates and water, to be followed by a larger meal of… Read more »
Smoking in Israel is on the increase, partially due to lower taxes on loose tobacco. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Israel has one of the highest life expectancies in the world — 82.5 years, on average. But a surprising increase in smoking rates may threaten that status. In line with with global trends, the smoking rate in Israel fell from about 45 percent in… Read more »
Michael Steinhardt in New York, April 12, 2012. (Scott Eells/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
Mt. Kisco, N.Y. (JTA) — Michael Steinhardt has poured millions of dollars into ventures for American Jews. But he’s no fan of American Judaism. The hedge-fund billionaire turned mega-philanthropist is best known as the founder of Birthright Israel, the 10-day free trip to Israel for Jewish young adults.… Read more »
La Contessa Boutique Thirty-two years ago, father–daughter team Bob Couchman and Kara Moeller opened La Contessa Boutique in Plaza Palomino, offering a wide selection of women’s casual and formal wear and accessories. The pair credit their longstanding success not… Read more »
Congregation Anshei Israel confirmation Congregation Anshei Israel held its 2017 confirmation ceremony during Shabbat services on Saturday, May 6. Temple Emanu-El confirmation Temple Emanu-El held its 2017 confirmation ceremony during Shabbat services on Friday, May 19. Congregation… Read more »
THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF SURGERY and BANNER-UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER recently added LILAH MORRIS-WISEMAN, M.D., to Banner-University Medical Group, the practice plan composed of faculty physicians at the UA College of Medicine-Tucson. Morris-Wiseman specializes in treating thyroid, parathyroid and adrenal gland disorders using minimally invasive endocrine surgical techniques.… Read more »
Ezekiel “Zeke” Sky Bradshaw, son of Jeri Goldblatt and Hans Bradshaw, will become a bar mitzvah on Saturday, June 17 at the University of Arizona Hillel with Congregation Chaverim. He is the grandson of Joe and Helen Goldblatt of Tempe, Ariz., and Alvin and Suse Bradshaw of Durham, N.C.… Read more »
Benjamin Naxon Eisenberg, son of Scott and Cory Eisenberg, celebrated becoming a bar mitzvah on Saturday, May 13 at Temple Emanu-El. He is the grandson of Art and Eileen Eisenberg of Chicago. Ben attends Esperero Canyon Middle School where he plays tennis. He also enjoys reading and playing video… Read more »
The Tucson Jewish Community Center will present a book launch party and signing by local author Jillian Cantor for her new historical novel, “The Lost Letter,” on Tuesday, June 13 at 7 p.m. The event will include a question and answer period with the author. Inspired by World War… Read more »
Noa Koler in ‘The Wedding Plan’ (Photo courtesy Roadside Attractions)
The grin-inducing trailer for “The Wedding Plan” nonetheless suggests one unhappy outcome: Did Israeli filmmaker Rama Burshtein sell out? The Orthodox writer-director’s acclaimed debut, “Fill the Void,” was an uncompromising story of a young Orthodox woman grappling with her parents’ and community’s expectations regarding her prospective husband. In contrast,… Read more »
