Rabbi Julie Schonfeld reads a psalm at the presidential inaugural service at the National Cathedral in Washington, Jan. 22, 2013. (Ron Kampeas/JTA) WASHINGTON (JTA) — The inaugural poem included a “shalom,” and three rabbis and a cantor attended the traditional next-day inaugural blessing. But the message that Jewish Democrats were most eager to convey during President Obama’s second inauguration on Jan. 21 was that the long romance between the community and… Read more »
An Israeli man casts his vote at a polling station in Jerusalem, Jan. 22, 2013. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90/JTA) JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israelis are rarely shy about offering their opinions, especially on politics. This year, however, a good number of them aren’t sure what their opinions are. As Election Day approached, a large proportion of voters — 15 percent — were still undecided, according to polls. Some remained… Read more »
This year, U.S. Jews, like other Americans, mark Martin Luther King, Jr. Day by remembering him as a powerful voice against racism and for civil rights. But, for Jews, Dr. King was also something else: a uniquely important ally in the fight against anti-Semitism and for a secure Israel.… Read more »
DIANE OLIVIA ZASHIN, daughter of Lisa and Todd Zashin, will celebrate becoming a Bat Mitzvah on Saturday, Jan. 19 at Temple Emanu-El. She is the granddaughter of Marsha and Robert Rosenblum of Thousand Oaks, Calif., and Joyce Zashin of Tucson. Diane attends Orange Grove Middle School, where she plays… Read more »
DANIEL ADAM VOGEL, son of Rosi and Benjamin Vogel, will celebrate becoming a Bar Mitzvah on Saturday, Jan. 26 at Congregation Or Chadash. He is the grandson of the late Irving Vogel and Margot Vogel of Tucson, and Oscar and Lety de Alva of Mexico City. Daniel attends Orange… Read more »
THE INVISIBLE THEATRE will award its 2013 “Goldie Award” to stage and screen star Valarie Pettiford. The award, which honors a guest artist, was established in 1988 in tribute to Goldie Klein, mother of Invisible Theater’s artistic director, Susan Claassen. Pettiford will perform a concert for Invisible Theatre, “Celebration!”… Read more »
For almost two years, Chavez has been fighting cancer. And for most of that time, he has been claiming —falsely — to have been cured. But less than two months after winning a fourth term in last October’s election, Chavez was spirited back to Cuba, where Fidel Castro’s doctors… Read more »
It’s easy to dismiss the antics of “Warrior of the Wall” Anat Hoffman. Her guerrilla gatherings of women in vocal prayer services at the Kosel Maaravi, or Western Wall, in defiance of an Israeli Supreme Court decision and in affront to the traditional Jewish men and women who most… Read more »
Kathy Unger, chair of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona board, makes calls on Super Sunday, Jan. 30, 2011. The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona will hold its annual fundraising phone-a-thon, renamed “Super Extraordinary Sunday,” on Jan. 27. The event will also include numerous mitzvah projects. “This is Super Sunday gone viral, reaching and bringing together more people than ever before. While dedicated volunteers man the phones, other… Read more »
A Palestinian boy in the town of Duma holds a signed “peace ball” from Tucson’s Muslim-Jewish Peace Walk. (Paul Afek) It sounds like the start of a “walks into a bar” joke — four Jews, four Muslims and two Christians traveled from Tucson to Israel and the Palestinian territories. But this was a serious interfaith peace mission organized by the International Center for Peace and Justice, a local organization,… Read more »
An Orthodox wedding in Israel (Gil Cohen-Magen) The Weintraub Israel Center and the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies will present an exhibit and lecture by Israeli photojournalist Gil Cohen-Magen on Monday, Jan. 28 at 7 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Over the past decade, Cohen-Magen was given exclusive access to the ultra-Orthodox in Israel,… Read more »
Tal Becker Tal Becker, the principal deputy legal advisor at the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will be the featured speaker at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee Tucson annual dinner on Wednesday, Jan. 30. Becker is also a research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and a member… Read more »
The Tucson Jewish Community Center will present Great Decisions, a nine-week nonpartisan discussion series on global affairs, sponsored nationally by the Foreign Policy Association and locally by Tucson Great Decisions, www.tgda.org, beginning Monday, Jan. 21, from 9:30 to 11 a.m. Participants may attend one or more sessions. The eight… Read more »
What can parents and grandparents do to help keep kids safe? Temple Emanu-El’s Women of Reform Judaism will present “Keep Our Kids Safe,” a free panel discussion about helping children navigate difficult issues, on Sunday, Jan. 13 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. The panel will cover the following topics:… Read more »
Handmaker Youth Leadership Team will hold a winter event on Sunday, Jan. 13 at 2 p.m. at Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging. The volunteer program is for youth ages 11 to 18 years, who interact with Handmaker residents at quarterly group events. The program, which began in May… Read more »
Benjamin Evett and J. Michael Flynn as C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud in “Freud’s Last Session” at Arizona Theatre Company Arizona Theatre Company will stage “Freud’s Last Session” by Mark St. Germain, which played to record breaking off-Broadway crowds, Jan. 19 through Feb. 9 at the Temple of Music and Art. Sigmund Freud and C.S. Lewis, two of the 20th century’s greatest intellects, come together in 1939 as England… Read more »
A view of human chromosomes under a microscope (Courtesy Memorial University of Newfoundland) Expectant mothers long have faced the choice of finding out the gender of their child while still in the womb. But what if parents could get a list of all the genes and chromosomes of their unborn children, forecasting everything from possible autism and future genetic diseases to intelligence… Read more »
Back in the ’70s I considered myself an ardent feminist. I displayed a bumper sticker on the back of my pale green Rambler that said “Sexism is a Social Disease.” Most of my closest friends at that time were women and my two older sisters were great influences on… Read more »
Guy Gelbart Israel’s elections are approaching, so it seems like a good time to explain the complex, confusing and often awkward process that constitutes the heart and soul of Israeli democracy. In 1948, when the state of Israel was declared, it was decided the Jewish state would be a multi-party parliamentary… Read more »
International Hygiene Exhibition, 1911 promotional poster. The eugenics movement pre-dated Nazi Germany. A 1911 exhibition at the German Hygiene Museum in Dresden included a display on human heredity and ideas to improve it. The exhibition poster features the Enlightenment’s all-seeing eye of God, adapted from the ancient Egyptian “Eye of Ra,” symbolizing fitness or health. (Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin) The Nazi regime was known for devising scientific theories to prop up its drive to perfect an “Aryan master race,” which led to the murder of millions of Jews and others during the Holocaust. “Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race,” a traveling exhibition produced by the United States Holocaust… Read more »
