Posts By PHYLLIS BRAUN - AJP Executive Editor

WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Donald Trump nominated Kenneth Weinstein, a prominent Jewish conservative thinker, to be ambassador to Japan. Weinstein is the president of the Hudson Institute, a conservative Washington, D.C., think tank. He also has been deeply involved in the Washington-area Jewish community. In his writings, he focuses… Read more »

RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) — A Brazilian cosmetics giant owned by the billionaire son of Holocaust survivors donated 1.7 tons of gel alcohol, which can be used as hand sanitizer, to help the city where it is headquartered fight the coronavirus. The donation to Curitiba’s municipal health department was… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — When the rabbis of New Jersey’s suburban Bergen County took the bold step of shutting down almost all facets of communal Jewish life last week, they left the doors of one institution open: the women’s mikvah, or ritual bath. That pattern has been repeated in… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — I am a pediatrician who for 15 years has practiced in a medical office in the heart of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. We serve the local Hasidic community and see a variety of other patients from Brooklyn, the Lower East Side and Queens. When the coronavirus emerged… Read more »

(JTA) — After a week in which the headlines seemed to grow more grim by the day, it’s worth remembering that even as cities go dark across the globe, the world continues to turn. Babies are born, people are getting married, and thankfully the sun still rises every morning.… Read more »

As a precaution against the spread of COVID-19, aka the coronavirus, Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging has canceled all outside programs and events at least through the end of March. Handmaker is also limiting visitation, as per recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and the Center for… Read more »

In an era when non-Orthodox synagogues throughout the country have seen membership decline, two Reform synagogues in Tucson, Temple Emanu-El and Congregation Or Chadash, are considering joining forces. Temple Emanu-El, established in 1910, is the oldest synagogue in Arizona, while Or Chadash is celebrating its 25th year. After more… Read more »

An Arizona man associated with a neo-Nazi group was among four arrested on Feb. 26 and charged with conspiracy to threaten and intimidate Mala Blomquist, the editor of Arizona Jewish Life, and an unnamed member of the Arizona Association of Black Journalists. All four charged are affiliated with Atomwaffen… Read more »

UPDATE: The Jewish Federation and Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona have created a web page at www.jewishtucson.org/pandemic containing community resources, volunteer opportunities, and a link to donate to the newly created Jewish Community Pandemic Relief Fund, which provides emergency financial assistance and meets critical needs for individuals, families, and… Read more »

Longtime Tucson resident Jennifer Schneider donated “Der Rebbe,” a painting by local artist David Montefiore of the late Chabad-Lubavich leader Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, to Chabad of Oro Valley on Monday, March 9, the eve of Purim. Schneider, who was born in Israel, is a physician certified in internal… Read more »

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These are troubling times. Anti-Semitic threats and messages are escalating all around us. Three weeks ago, the words “Hail Hitler” (sic) were found scrawled on an exhibit inside our Holocaust History Center. March 5, a man brazenly unfurled a Nazi flag as Senator Bernie Sanders took the stage at… Read more »

Beverly Sandock

Community volunteer Beverly Sandock will be recognized in April by  the Congregation Or Chadash Sisterhood with its second annual Eshet Or (Woman of Light) award. In addition to 20 years of volunteer service at the synagogue, Sandock contributes to the community through daily professional and personal outreach. “Bev’s name… Read more »

As these words are being written, the entire world is looking anxiously toward the future, and the effects of the coronavirus. We can’t avoid it — people in supermarkets are stocking up, and news from all over the world arrives on our screens with alarming updates, political debates on… Read more »

Six members of Congregation Or Chadash who had planned to attend the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Women’s Philanthropy Connections brunch on March 8, which was postponed due to the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), gathered that morning at the home of Dana Adler. They watched the Federation’s exclusive interview… Read more »

Tucsonan Alayne Greenberg is a military mom with a big vision. Since 2006, Greenberg has contributed to the Matza & More program sponsored by Jewish Family & Children’s Services, sending care packages to military members serving abroad. It all began with her son Isaac, who was deployed in Afghanistan.… Read more »

“A Night on the Red Carpet,” the 11th annual Young Jewish Tucson Hava Tequila benefit party, was Feb. 29. Along with dancing and dining, the evening featured perfect weather and ample Tucson skyline vistas from the Westward Look Resort rooftop. Event co-chairs were Elyse Adams and Oren Riback. Young… Read more »

Rena Munster was looking forward to hosting a Passover seder for the first time. In past years, her parents or another relative hosted the meal. But this year she had invited her parents, siblings and other extended family to her Washington, D.C., home. Her husband, an amateur ceramics artist,… Read more »

Eighteen pullets — and perhaps the odd rooster — came home to roost in their new coop at the Congregation Bet Shalom Midbar (desert) Farm on March 5. The baby chicks were with four families until they were large enough to occupy the coop, which volunteers built from donated… Read more »

A grey, three-footed Mexican rescue cat named Tiny bats innocently at the frayed end of a dirty white rope. At the other end of the rope is a noose. The rope is one of many artifacts Shura Wallin has recovered from the Sonoran Desert between Green Valley and the… Read more »

Alan’s Shoes has opened its fifth shop, a 4,400-square-foot store at the Spectrum shopping center, near Interstate 19 and West Irvington Road. Alan’s Shoes was started in 1982 by Alan and Annette Miklofsky. For more information, visit www.alanshoes.com. Marsha Drozdoff, social worker, Reiki master teacher and group facilitator, received… Read more »