Posts By PHYLLIS BRAUN - AJP Executive Editor

  (JTA) — The Iowa caucuses are over – and the first real test of the presidential candidates’ viability gave us more questions than answers. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, won the Republican caucus on Monday night, relegating Donald Trump, the real estate billionaire, to second place. Both Trump and Cruz ran… Read more »

ORLANDO, Fla. (JTA) – Mickey Mouse or Jesus Christ? That was the choice I faced on a recent trip to Orlando to write a pair of stories for JTA – one about kosher vacationing at Disney World, the other about the biblical theme park Holy Land Experience. With a… Read more »

DES MOINES, Iowa (JTA) – Ten minutes into her speech at the Jewish Federation of Des Moines on Monday, Hillary Rodham Clinton had a coughing fit. She popped a lozenge, but that didn’t help. After a few long seconds and still gasping for air, Clinton turned to federation president… Read more »

(JTA) — Hillary Rodham Clinton made her ability to talk Israel’s leadership down from military action a centerpiece of her foreign policy credentials. Clinton, appearing Monday evening at a town hall-style event at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, was asked to outline her foreign policy philosophy. Two of… Read more »

PARK CITY, Utah (JTA) – What is a settler? That’s the question that opens the new documentary film “The Settlers,” which premiered last week at the Sundance Film Festival here. Written and directed by Shimon Dotan, the film offers an answer almost immediately: a religious fundamentalist driven by messianic… Read more »

WALTHAM, Mass. (JTA) — In Ethics of the Fathers, the rabbis teach that we must grant respect and honor to an individual who teaches us even the smallest bit of knowledge. For those of us who were the students of Rabbi Eugene Borowitz, who died last week at the… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — True story: Back in 2008, one of my son’s favorite games was one we called “Bernie Madoff.” It was basically cops and robbers — I played a police officer and Elie, 3, was Bernie. The object of the game was that I chased him until… Read more »

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Israel’s government on Sunday approved a compromise to expand the non-Orthodox Jewish prayer section of the Western Wall, putting to rest the decades-long fight between Women of the Wall and Israel’s haredi Orthodox religious establishment. The deal achieves what had been an elusive goal: an interdenominational consensus on Judaism’s… Read more »

                    WASHINGTON (JTA) – On Monday, Iowans will gather to launch the 2016 presidential election with an arcane ritual — the caucus. In living rooms and meeting halls throughout the state, caucus-goers will group themselves into clusters according to which presidential candidate… Read more »

The March of Remembrance is an international event honoring the memory of those who perished in the Holocaust. The Tucson event, organized by Pastor Steve Shermett of Book of Life Community Church and Congregation Beth Sar Shalom (a Messianic congregation), will be held on Sunday, Jan. 31 at the… Read more »

Berlin (TPS) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel directly addressed contemporary anti-Semitism during the opening of an exhibition on the night of Monday, January 25. Art from the Holocaust was opened to the public at the German Historical Museum in the nation’s capital at an event commemorating International Holocaust Remembrance Day.… Read more »

(JTA) — When Rafi Daugherty went to the hospital for the birth of his first child, he posted a sign on the delivery room door. “I am a single transgender man having my first baby,” it read. “I use he/him/his pronouns and will be called ‘Abba’ (Hebrew for father)… Read more »

Attorney GARY COHEN has been certified as a member of The Million Dollar Advocates Forum. Membership is limited to attorneys who have won million or multi-million dollar verdicts, awards or settlements. Cohen, a Tucson native, has been practicing law at Mesch Clark Rothschild, where he is a shareholder, since… Read more »

MARVIN SLEPIAN, M.D., of the University of Arizona colleges of Medicine and Engineering has been elected a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. He will be inducted on April 15 during the academy’s annual conference at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, Va. Slepian is a… Read more »

Lyle Yi Tumarkin, daughter of Joanna Norman and Paul Tumarkin, will celebrate becoming a bat mitzvah on Saturday, Jan. 30 at the Jewish Community Center with Congregation Chaverim. She is the granddaughter of Linda and Gerald Tumarkin of Tucson. Lyle attends the Civano Middle School, trains in gymnastics, and… Read more »

STELLA BITAR SALMON, daughter of Sosan Moussa and Stewart Salmon, celebrated becoming a bat mitzvah on Saturday, Jan. 9 at Congregation Bet Shalom. She is the granddaughter of Joan Tobias Salmon and the late Dr. Sydney Salmon, and George and Magdalien Moussa, all of Tucson. Stella attends Basis Tucson… Read more »

(L-R) Leslie Glaze, screenwriter Pamela Gray, Janet Lang and Marcia Abelson on Lion of Judah mission to Los Angeles

A roaring good time In early December, 24 Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Lions of Judah flew to Tinseltown. In Los Angeles, the group explored the Jewish influence on the entertainment industry, while strengthening their bonds with one another. According to Marcia Abelson, Tucson Lion and JFSA Women’s Philanthropy… Read more »

Alan Morinis

Alan Morinis was not looking to become a spiritual leader when he discovered Judaism’s Mussar tradition at the age of 47. “I’m a little chagrined to admit it,” he says of stumbling over the millennia-old tradition almost 20 years ago, “but I was really searching for something in my… Read more »

Say the name Adolf Hitler and an immediate reaction is evoked in the hearts and minds of many, based on the atrocities perpetrated by the Nazi dictator specifically against those of Jewish descent. Now that name has reemerged as an annotated edition of his autobiography, “Mein Kampf,” or “My… Read more »

The University of Arizona Hillel Foundation has joined the solar revolution. Its 42.5 kilowatt photovoltaic system, designed and installed by the Tucson-based Technicians for Sustainability, consists of 135 solar modules mounted on the roof of the Hillel building. The panels will produce over 6,000 kW per month, covering approximately… Read more »