Posts By PHYLLIS BRAUN - AJP Executive Editor

  (JTA) — Aleppo, one of the world’s oldest cities and Syria’s largest metropolis, is synonymous with one of humanity’s cruelest conflicts — now surpassing the siege of Sarajevo as the deadliest and longest-running battle for a city in our time. With an estimated 31,000 deaths, the battle for… Read more »

  BERLIN (JTA) — Even before the deadly attack on a Christmas market in Berlin, Jews in Germany were divided in their approach to the arrival of hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Muslim countries since 2014. Citing a Jewish moral duty to aid the displaced, many Jewish organizations, synagogue groups… Read more »

  AMSTERDAM (JTA) — Before Monday’s attack on a Christmas market in Berlin, Rabbi Yehudah Teichtal had planned to invite hundreds of people to the traditional lighting of the first Hanukkah candle at a large menorah erected at the city’s Brandenburg Gate monument. But he decided to change his original… Read more »

  WASHINGTON (JTA) — The transition between the Barack Obama and Donald Trump presidencies is creating a vacuum that is increasing the threat of genocide in trouble spots, according to a top official at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Cameron Hudson, the director of the museum’s Simon-Skjodt Center for… Read more »

  WASHINGTON (JTA) — Weird paradoxes have been packed into Hanukkah observance forever. It’s the holiday about killing infidels that is now celebrated as a victory of religious pluralism. It’s the unofficial little Jewish holiday that a U.S. congressman once tried to turn into a major American holiday. It’s… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) – Conservative Rabbi Seymour Rosenbloom has been expelled from the Rabbinical Assembly, the movement’s rabbis’ association, for performing interfaith weddings. An ordained Conservative rabbi for 44 years, Rosenbloom was expelled last month by unanimous vote, with abstentions, after a hearing of the R.A.’s Executive Council. Since… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) -– Nearly six years ago, when President Barack Obama was set to elevate one of his top emissaries to the Jewish community to the Israel ambassadorship, Dan Shapiro asked for – and got – the endorsement of one of Obama’s fiercest pro-Israel critics. “Dan has always spoken… Read more »

David Direnfeld and Abigail Gallen became engaged on Nov. 19, 2016. David is the son of Robert and Amy Direnfeld and grandson of Ted and Judy Direnfeld and Merrill and Phyllis Broad, all of Tucson. He graduated from Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Ind., and teaches middle school science for… Read more »

JOHN WINCHESTER, outreach coordinator for the ARIZONA CENTER FOR JUDAIC STUDIES at the University of Arizona, was named one of the 40 Under 40 for 2016 by Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Arizona Daily Star. Winchester is the Arizona state director for Christians United for Israel, a… Read more »

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CAROL BLATTER, LCSW, DCSW, was awarded honorable mention for her story, “Filling in the Spaces,” by New Millenium Writings.… Read more »

Rona Emet Medovoi Klotz, daughter of Marcia Klotz and Leerom Medovoi  will celebrate becoming a bat mitzvah on Dec. 17 at Congregation Or Chadash. She is the granddaughter of Ciporah Medovoi, of Los Angeles, Calif., and Martha and Robert Klotz, of Denver, Colo. Rona attends Orange Grove Middle School,… Read more »

(L-R): Lindsey Baker, Paul Baker, Alice Baker, Harvey Kivel, Jane Kivel, Deanna Evenchik, Nicole Zuckerman-Morris, Ken Morris, Michael Artzi, Scott Tobin, Adina Artzi and Helaine Levy (Martha Lochert)

Federation breaks ground The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona held a groundbreaking ceremony on Sunday, Dec. 4 for the Harvey and Deanna Evenchik Center for Jewish Philanthropy, the new building it will share with the Jewish Community Foundation. The site is on the northwest corner of the Tucson Jewish… Read more »

Jay Knapp, 88, died Dec. 6, 2016. Born in Buffalo, N.Y., Mr. Knapp was an amateur magician and performed every week for children at Tucson Medical Center and University Medical Center for 14 years. Mr. Knapp was preceded in death by his daughter Marcia in 1978. Survivors include his… Read more »

(MyJewishLearning via JTA) — Do you have friends or family members who are new to the tribe? Maybe they recently converted, married a Jew or became newly interested in their Jewish roots? Or maybe you’re the newbie and are wondering what to put on your wish list. Whatever the… Read more »

(JTA) — From a new audio version of “Hanukkah Bear” — a holiday favorite by National Jewish Book Award winner Eric A. Kimmel — to a novel for young teens set during the Festival of Lights, there is a fresh crop of Hanukkah books that are sure to delight… Read more »

(MyJewishLearning via JTA) — Hanukkah, which starts at sundown on Dec. 24 — Christmas eve — is among the most widely celebrated Jewish holidays in the United States. But that doesn’t mean there is nothing new to learn about this eight-day festival. From the mysterious origins of gelt to… Read more »

  JERUSALEM (JTA) — Over the past few weeks, more than 1,700 brush fires across Israel have destroyed homes, vehicles and countless irreplaceable personal possessions. As a nation, we have also suffered severe damage to more than 32,000 acres of precious natural resources – woodlands, grasslands and protected parklands,… Read more »

Rabbi Batsheva Appel

The story of Naaman in the Book of Kings II has always been one of my favorites. He is a foreign commander who serves the king of Aram and he has tzara’at, which is usually translated as leprosy. Naaman goes to Elisha the prophet to be healed and is… Read more »

“This Is Hunger,” a multimedia traveling exhibition created by MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, will be at the Tucson Jewish Community Center Jan. 5-8. The free exhibit, housed in a 53-foot trailer that opens to reveal almost 1,000 square feet of exhibit space, uses state-of-the-art storytelling techniques and… Read more »

Jonathan Elkhoury represents multiple minority groups in Israel. He told his life story to a rapt group of students at the University of Arizona Hillel Foundation on Dec. 1. His father fought for the South Lebanese Army against the Palestine Liberation Organization and fled to Israel when the Israel… Read more »