Posts By PHYLLIS BRAUN - AJP Executive Editor

Antonio Villaraigosa, the mayor of Los Angeles and chairman of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., introducing the platform amendment that affirms Jerusalem as Israel's capital, Sept. 5, 2012. (Camden Lee via flickr.com/photos/demconvention)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (JTA) — At President Obama’s behest, and to boos from some delegates, Democrats on Wednesday night inserted a few lines into their party platform affirming Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Two of the lines had appeared in the 2008 party platform but had been dropped for some reason… Read more »

CONGREGATION ANSHEI ISRAEL has been accepted as one of 30 congregations nationally to participate in a new leadership program, “Sulam (ladder) for Emerging Leaders.” United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism piloted the program last year in 10 congregations. The six-week program for 30- to 45-year-olds will be facilitated by Rabbi… Read more »

ISABELLA PAULINE BRODY-CALIXTO, daughter of Sandra and Sol Brody, will celebrate becoming a Bat Mitzvah on Saturday, August 25 at Temple Emanu-El. She is the granddaughter of Bonnie and Bill Brody of Port St. Lucie, Fla., and Delia and Rafael Calixto of Columbia. Isabella attends St. Gregory College Preparatory… Read more »

Dr. Ruth Westheimer (Maxine Dovere)

Born Karola Ruth Siegel in Frankfurt, Germany, the woman now known as “Dr. Ruth” saw her father arrested by Nazis and said a final goodbye to her mother as she boarded a Kindertransport rescue train to Switzerland. By 17, she was in the British mandate of Palestine on a… Read more »

The political cartoon in the Aug. 10 edition, which portrays Romney as “pandering to the Jewish vote” because he visited Israel, made positive statements about Israel’s importance to the USA as an ally and that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, is just another liberal attack on Romney. The… Read more »

As I write this, I am packing up my home and thinking about the eight years I called Tucson home. When I moved here, I thought Tucson would always be my home, but life has thrown me a curve ball that I did not expect. I have family reasons… Read more »

Give a little … Change a lot. That is the motto of the B’nai Tzdek Tucson teen philanthropy program, which will have its annual kickoff event Sunday, Sept. 9, 1-3 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Teens contribute $180 to a B’nai Tzedek Fund at the Jewish Community… Read more »

Guy Gelbart

It’s been a long hot summer! My summer began on May 18 on the way to Israel, waiting for the special security checks for an El Al flight to Israel from Los Angeles. I couldn’t help wondering why is it that only flights to Israel are required to go… Read more »

Rev. Dr. John Kitagawa, Jake Gordon and Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon celebrate Jake’s Bar Mitzvah in Jerusalem. ( Photo: Bruno Charbit Photography)

Instead of a traditional Jewish mission to Israel, Temple Emanu-El and St. Philip’s in the Hills Episcopal Church joined forces to expand their congregants’ understanding of the Holy Land. Twelve Jews and 11 Christians participated in the interfaith mission led by Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon and Rev. Dr. John… Read more »

Barbara Shore and her daughter Deborah Shore participate in a project at Handmaker during the Israeli Artists Exchange in February. (Photo: Lori Riegel)

Coming from a Jewish family that valued education propelled Barbara Shore, now 91, into academia. Becoming a feminist happened along the way. Her husband, Jack Shore, whom she married in 1942, was instrumental in that progression. “We didn’t call it then,” Shore told the AJP in her apartment… Read more »

An IDF soldier during a training exercise of the Desert Reconnaissance Battalion of the Gaza Division, which is primarily composed of Bedouins, Nov. 2010

On an August weekday afternoon, 19-year-old Mohammed Kernowi stands in front of a small store in Israel’s largest Bedouin city, a hot plate in front of him with small pancakes sizzling in preparation for the end of that day’s Ramadan fast. At his age, many Israeli men have been… Read more »

Tucson Jewish Community Center President and CEO Ken Light

Twenty-six years ago, when Ken Light took the helm of the Tucson Jewish Community Center, the landmark edifice on River Road hadn’t even been built. Light had come to town with the understanding that financing and permits were all in place, but it would take three more years of… Read more »

After the 1967 Six-Day War, much of the radical left in the West predicated its militant anti-Zionism on the illusory notion that the Palestinians represented a revolutionary and “progressive” vanguard that could one day mobilize the Arab masses in the cause of social revolution. But in 2011, when revolution… Read more »

New mom (Susan Kovitz) shares the joys and woes of parenting in a scene from ‘Motherhood Out Loud’ coming to the Invisible Theatre. (Susan Claassen)

The Invisible Theatre will begin its 2012-2013 “Season of Love” with the Southwest premiere of “Motherhood Out Loud.” A series of vignettes covering every aspect of motherhood — from stepmoms to single mothers, immigrant moms to grandmothers, new moms to empty nesters, — “Motherhood Out Loud” was written by… Read more »

SHLOMO & VITO’S NEW YORK DELICATESSEN is adding a pizza kitchen. It will celebrate its grand re-opening Aug. 17 with a charitable partnership, donating 10 percent of each pizza sale Aug. 17-26 to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. As part of the re-opening, Shlomo & Vito’s will also offer… Read more »

JOEL FEINMAN, J.D., is among 13 new members elected to the board of directors of Planned Parenthood Arizona. Feinman is a Pima County public defender. As a teenager, he was a volunteer with Planned Parenthood’s Positive Force Players, a youth group that did presentations and skits at junior and… Read more »

Heidi Felix, daughter of Simcha and Margarita Felix of Tucson, and Daniel Stokes, son of Barbara and the late William Stokes of Torrance, Calif., were married Sunday, June 24, 2012 at La Mariposa Resort in Tucson. Rabbi Ben Herman of Congregation Anshei Israel officiated. The bride is the granddaughter… Read more »

MARGARET MICHAELA CRA­MER, daughter of Amy Silverstein Cramer and Amelia Craig Cramer, will celebrate becoming a Bat Mitzvah on Saturday, Aug. 18 with Congregation Or Chadash at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. She is the granddaughter of Margaret Craig Chrisman of Tucson, Bette Craig of Taos, N.M., Dhun Silverstein… Read more »

A daughter, EMMA FRANCES GOODMAN, was born July 15 to Rebecca and Ted Goodman. Grandparents are Linda and Andrew Kunsberg of Tucson; Beanie and Markus Rohtbart of Bloomfield Hills, Mich.; and Don and Gloria Goodman of West Bloomfield, Mich.… Read more »

Alan Cohen

Alan Cohen, 84, died June 28, 2012. Born in Portland, Ore., Mr. Cohen attended the University of Oregon and was a member of Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity. He played professional baseball with the Cleveland Indians and for the old Tucson Cowboys during the 1950s. He started an independent insurance… Read more »