Posts By PHYLLIS BRAUN - AJP Executive Editor

Something Something Theatre is presenting “Dov and Ali” by award-winning playwright Anna Ziegler, through April 23 at the Community Playhouse, 1881 N. Oracle Road. In “Dov and Ali,” a Jewish high school teacher and his Muslim student, sparked by their studies of “The Lord of the Flies” by William… Read more »

The Last Laugh is a documentary based on the premise that the Holocaust would seem to be an absolutely off-limits topic for comedy. But is it? History shows that even victims of Nazi concentration camps used humor as a means of survival and resistance. Still, any use of comedy… Read more »

(The Nosher via JTA) — As a personal chef, I always like to up the ante of my presentation and creativity of my food. Why should Passover food be boring? The one easy way to take Passover food up a notch is by using fresh ingredients – fresh lemons,… Read more »

(Kveller via JTA) — My grandmother was a super shopper even before the advent of supermarkets and coupons. In those days, each food group had its own store, so that every neighborhood had a butcher shop, fish market, dairy, deli and grocery. Shopping with Grandma was an all-day experience.… Read more »

  NEW YORK (JTA) — Don Rickles, the bullet-headed comedian and actor whose pioneering brand of insult comedy earned him the nickname “Mr. Warmth,” has died at 90. Rickles died Thursday morning at his home in Los Angeles from kidney failure, according to his publicist. He would have turned 91… Read more »

  (JTA) — Everyone has their own way of celebrating Passover, from silly seder customs (Ten Plagues finger puppets, anyone?) to enjoying the same meal year after year, to, yes, commemorating the festival alongside beloved TV characters. The eight-day remembrance of Moses leading the Jews out of slavery in… Read more »

In addition to its traditional Second Night Seder on April 11, Temple Emanu-El will celebrate the Passover holiday this year in an intimate setting with the “Janos Wilder Passover Extraordinary Experience” on Saturday, April 15 at the Carriage House, 125 South Arizona Avenue, Tucson at 6 pm. Named the… Read more »

  NEW YORK (JTA) — White supremacists have a problem, and his name is Jared Kushner. While many on the far right are hoping that President Donald Trump will help advance their separatist, racist agendas, figures like former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke and neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin are… Read more »

  NEW YORK (JTA) — After Donald Trump won the presidential election, Sheila Katz wasn’t sure she wanted to come home for Thanksgiving. As the politically liberal member of a conservative family, she had been comfortable sparring with her relatives during the Obama administration. But as Thanksgiving approached, she found… Read more »

  (JTA) — From the wizardry of Harry Potter that echoes with Passover’s themes to a cartoon frog who wisecracks his way through the seder, this year’s new crop of Passover books for kids offers something for all ages and interests. The selection of fresh reads, including two family-friendly… Read more »

Ruth Segall Steinberg, 89, died Feb. 19, 2017 in Philadelphia. Survivors include her husband of almost 68 years, Morris; children, Diane (David) of Teaneck, N.J., Howard (Alla) of Tucson, and Edward (Ilene) of Philadelphia; 11 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. Services and interment were held in Pennsylvania. Memorial donations may… Read more »

Gerald Nathanson, 80, died March 22, 2017. Mr. Nathanson was born in Detroit, Mich. He was the founder and/or CEO of Midland Sales, Jefferson Wards, JM Fields, McCrory and Pay N Save, many of which were multibillion dollar businesses. He ended his business career as the owner/CEO of Tattoo… Read more »

MADISON REGINA BALLIS, daughter of Tami and Mark Ballis, will celebrate becoming a bat mitzvah on Saturday, April 1 at Temple Emanu-El. She is the granddaughter of Sheila and Hal Rimer of Palm Desert, Calif. Maddie attends Esperero Canyon Middle School. For her mitzvah project, Maddie has created special… Read more »

ALMA HERNANDEZ, daughter of Consuelo and Daniel Hernandez, will celebrate becoming a bat mitzvah on Saturday, April 8 at Congregation Chaverim. Alma is a second-year graduate student at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at the University of Arizona. She is also the Jewish Community Relations… Read more »

DARKAYNU, Tucson’s Jewish Montessori preschool, will add a toddler program (ages 1-3) for the coming school year. The school is also adding special enrichment workshops in art, music and gymnastics for students ages 3-6. For more information, visit darkanyutucson.com or contact Esther Becker at 790-2784. INVISIBLE THEATRE will present… Read more »

LORI RIEGEL, MJEd, has been selected to present her doctoral research at the Harvard Graduate School of Education 2017 Student Research Conference and the 2017 Joint Conference on Research in Jewish Education, co-hosted by the Network for Research in Jewish Education and the Association for the Social Scientific Study… Read more »

Dining Out in the Northwest More than 30 people joined the Jewish Federation Northwest Division on Tuesday, March 21 at Guadalajra Grill at 7360 N. Oracle Road. “We crammed into a long table — split about evenly between young families and couples/seniors/individuals” for an evening of “good old fashioned… Read more »

Indian adventure Before Ruth Kolker embarked on a Portrait of India tour, her friend, Tucson philanthropist Neelam Sethi, sent her off with the charge: “Open yourself up to the colors, sounds and smells of my country.” From Jan. 24 – Feb. 13, that’s exactly what Ruth, her husband, Ron,… Read more »

From the Catholic Church, to occupied Europe and the United States, the world failed to prevent the Holocaust because they were too vested in their own interests, Peter Hayes, a former professor at Northwestern University, told about 40 people who packed the Holocaust History Center at the Jewish History… Read more »

Shai Feldman

Shai Feldman, a professor of politics at Brandeis University, believes President Donald J. Trump could broker a deal that ends the Arab/Israeli conflict, because the most contentious issues contradict a golden rule of negotiation. “In the Arab/Israeli conflict the devil is not in the details, in the Arab/Israeli conflict… Read more »