Posts By PHYLLIS BRAUN - AJP Executive Editor

New U.S. citizen Tommy Fred Taye, flanked by his wife, Bennetta Grant (left), and daughter, Secret Taye, displays his certificate of naturalization at the Evo A. Deconcini U.S. Courthouse in Tucson on Nov. 21. (Sheila Wilensky/AJP)

Amid kudos and controversy following President Barack Obama’s Nov. 20 directive stalling deportation for up to 5 million undocumented immigrants — allowing many to work legally — Tommy Fred Taye became a U.S. citizen. “I never knew that it was Jewish people who were bringing me here,” Taye, now… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — A Swiss museum’s pledge this week to conduct a full search into the provenance of some 1,600 works of art it plans to accept from the estate of Cornelius Gurlitt, the son of one of Hitler’s main art dealers, once again has thrust the issue… Read more »

MINNEAPOLIS (Kveller.com) — We Jews have two choices in our approach to the Christmas season: resent it or embrace it. I for one vote for a big, sloppy embrace. In the name of love thy neighbor and tolerance, I say we hug it out with Christmas already and teach our… Read more »

Uri Dromi

Recently, I hosted at the Jerusalem Press Club a group of students from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in Chicago. They came to learn firsthand about the complexities of covering Israel and the Middle East. With the growing hostility toward Israel on campuses all over North… Read more »

Our country finds itself at a crossroads. The past months have uncovered an animosity that is growing within our politics. At a time when we need steady courage in Congress, extremism finds a way to blot out any movement toward bipartisanship. Still, like President Obama, I believe we are… Read more »

The Tucson Jewish Community Center will conduct a study about the service needs and challenges faced by families in the Jewish community who are caring for a young or adult child with special needs, including vision, movement, thinking, remembering, learning, communicating, hearing, mental health and social relationship disabilities. The… Read more »

Chicago, "The Blues" collage by Andy Burgess

Local artist Andrew Burgess will hold his first open studio event at 5634 E. Linden Street on Sunday, Dec. 14 from 2 to 7:30 p.m. “I grew up in North London in Golders Green, a strong Jewish area. My family celebrated all the Jewish festivals and my mum made… Read more »

Lea Sarid, 79, died Nov. 25, 2014. Mrs. Sarid was born in Jeru­salem. She worked as a nurse at University Medical Center for many years. Survivors include her husband of 51 years, Dror Sarid; children, Uri (Karen) Sarid of Oakland, Calif., and Rami Sarid of Phoenix; and one grandson.… Read more »

Ezra Storm Shorr, 26, died Nov. 19, 2014. Survivors include his parents Alisa Eve and Kenneth Shorr; brother, Reuven Shorr; and two neph­ews. Graveside services were held at Evergreen Cemetery with Rabbi Stephanie Aaron of Congregation Chaverim officiating.… Read more »

Inge Schneider, 89, died Nov. 20, 2014. Born in Dusseldorf, Germany, Mrs. Schneider survived the Holocaust and began a new life in New York City. She was a designer assistant and sample maker in the garment industry. In 1976 she and her husband moved the family to Tucson. She… Read more »

Temple Emanu-El will dedicate the Rebecca Katz Family Library and Youth Center on Tuesday, Dec. 16 at 4:30 p.m. The facility honors the memory of Katz, who died at age 22 in 2010. Developing the library and establishing a fund for its upkeep and growth has been a labor… Read more »

Jonathan Ben-Asher

JON BEN-ASHER, interim head of school at TUCSON HEBREW ACADEMY since June, was hired by the board of trustees as the permanent head of school. THE TUCSON JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER was selected to participate in a pilot program through the JCC Association aimed at identifying and retaining talented staff. … Read more »

JOAQUIN RUIZ, dean of the University of Arizona College of Science and vice president for innovation, will present “The Geotourism Corridor: Southern Arizona’s Gateway to Discovery” at a Show & Tell event on Dec. 10 at 6 p.m. at Playground Bar & Lounge, 278 E. Congress St. The UA… Read more »

DANIKA HALEY SELMON, daughter of Penny Selmon and Ira Selmon, will celebrate becoming a Bat Mitzvah on Saturday, Dec. 6 at Congregation Bet Shalom. She is the granddaughter of Judy and Jerry Delman of Tucson and Cindy and Searle Selmon of New York. Danika attends Tucson Hebrew Academy. She… Read more »

Back row (L-R): Jared Friedman, Jacob Peters, Rafi Herreras-Zinman. Middle: Leah Tolby, Michael Artzi, Ellie Friedman, Rothschild, Hannah Baker, Amanda Bressler, Sam Gordon. Front: Richard Fisher, Jenny Steinberg, Emma Finkelstein, Lily Wexler, Michaela Davenport, Aaron Green.

B’nai Tzedek In commemoration of Kristallnacht on Nov. 9, members of B’nai Tzedek Tucson Teen Philanthropy, a program of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona and the Jewish Community Foundation, engaged with community organizations that support those who have been persecuted and become refugees. Later they joined the Jewish… Read more »

Courtesy Something Blue Photography

Michelle Lee Kuper, daughter of Mindi and Stewart Kuper of Tucson, and Dvir Frumkin, son of Mira Frumkin and the late Israel Frumkin of New Jersey and Petach Tikva, Israel, wed at Sabino Canyon and Reflections at the Buttes on Oct. 23 and Oct. 24, 2014. Rabbi Billy Lewkowicz… Read more »

The Velocity Circus/ Circus School of Arizona will headline Chabad of Tucson’s Cirque du Chanukah celebration on Wednesday, Dec. 17, 5:30 p.m. at Castlehill Country Day School, 3225 N Craycroft Road (The Gregory School entrance). Circus leader Rachel Stegman will be joined by local artists in presenting the event’s… Read more »

1-Minnie Driver (Leah), left, holding hands with Rebecca Ferguson (Dinah), with Morena Baccarin (Rachel) behind them, from the Lifetime miniseries "The Red Tent." (Joey L./Lifetime)

(JTA) — Surely the Torah’s redactors never imagined that their Dinah — voiceless daughter of Jacob and Leah, rape victim avenged by her brothers — would one day be portrayed on the small screen as a lusty young midwife’s apprentice who takes her romantic fate into her own hands.… Read more »

Morena Baccarin, left, as Rachel and Rebecca Ferguson as Dinah in the Lifetime miniseries ‘The Red Tent’ (Joey L./Lifetime)

Anita Diamant’s beloved international best-seller, “The Red Tent,” is coming to the screen as a Lifetime miniseries, premiering Dec. 7 and 8. “The Red Tent” is the tale of Dinah, the daughter of Leah and Jacob, whose story was almost a footnote in the Bible — a brief and… Read more »

Raisa Moroz, JFCS Holocaust survivors program manager (left), talks with Yuliya Genina, a survivor from Ukraine. (Nancy Ben-Asher Ozeri/AJP)

Sitting at the kitchen table of her homey midtown apartment, Yuliya Genina offers cookies and then begins to tell her story. “People don’t know what it means, exactly, war. But we from the former Soviet Union know exactly what is war,” she says. “We are the last generation who… Read more »