Posts By PHYLLIS BRAUN - AJP Executive Editor

Guy Gelbart, community shaliach, was absolutely right in his June 17 column, “Billed as dialogue on Israeli-Palestinian peace, local series is pure ‘hate pill.’” The letter writers who responded to his column — and there’s no room to refute all their unfounded accusations — disingenuously suggested that the Steadfast… Read more »

A July 1 letter to the AJP titled “West Bank, Warsaw ghetto alike,” inverts the Holocaust by claiming that Israel behaves like Nazi Germany. The letter was written with the aim of clarifying the “obfuscation,” “distraction” and “fabrication” the author found in the “Shaliach’s View” column of June 17,… Read more »

I too attended the Steadfast Hope series referred to in the letters to the editor of July 1 and in Guy Gelbart’s “Shaliach’s View” column of June 17. The organizers’ synchronized letter attacks on Israel’s representative, Mr. Gelbart, who responded to the content of the presentations and the manner… Read more »

Marilyn Heins, M.D.

Which mother is the better (or worse) parent? Good parenting is not a contest but let’s examine the stereotypes of Tiger Mother vs. Jewish Mother. Amy Chua’s book “The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” is on my shelf but my parenting files were curiously empty of any references… Read more »

Detective Donna Jacob, who retired last month from her position in intelligence and hate crimes with the Tucson Police Department, is now serving as a Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona community security consultant on a part-time contract, funded by the Federation for six months. Jacob will be available to… Read more »

Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging will hold a celebration for the holiday of Tu B’Av on Monday, Aug. 15 at 10 a.m. . The holiday celebrates the end of a three-week period of mourning that commemorates tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people. Tu B’Av is considered a… Read more »

The Outreach Connections of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is sponsoring Jewish Heritage Night at a Tucson Padres baseball game on Sunday, Aug. 21 at 7 p.m. at Kino Park (formerly Tucson Electric Park). The Padres will play against the Sacramento River Cats. Cosponsors of the event include… Read more »

Members of a young adult group in Kiryat Malachi, Israel, sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, recruited other young adults from the city to demand affordable housing. The sign reads, “Welcome to the tent city — Kiryat Malachi.” About 100 people joined the protest on July 25. (Courtesy Jewish Agency for Israel)

The wave of protests sweeping Israel is about much more than the lack of affordable housing: It’s a grass-roots demand for a major redistribution of the nation’s wealth. In social terms, protesters are calling for a more caring government attuned to the needs of young, middle-class citizens who serve… Read more »

"Mrs. Cohen's Shabbat Table" is part of the new Jewish History Museum exhibit

A new exhibit, “History & Nostalgia: The Southern Arizona Jewish Experience, 1850-1950,” exploring the daily life of Jews of the Southern Arizona region, will be on display at the Jewish History Museum from Aug. 14 through Dec. 30. The exhibit is part of Tucson’s birthday celebrations (see tucsons birthday.org).… Read more »

Emily Ellentuck

Congregation Anshei Israel will hold a special Shabbat evening service called “Shir Hadash: A New Song,” beginning Friday, Aug. 19, at 5:45 p.m., and continuing approximately once a month. The service will be led by Rabbis Robert Eisen and Ben Herman and feature Emily Ellentuck as cantorial soloist. Ellentuck… Read more »

Members of the Weintraub Israel Center and the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona have formed an Israel Action Network to counter efforts to delegitimize Israel. The network is “part of a national trend among Jewish communities,” says Dan Karsch, chair of the network… Read more »

Hebrew High students (L-R) Shane Weinstein, Ariel Nadler and Ben Bressler celebrate Purim 2011 with a hamantashen break. (Courtesy Hebrew High)

Sharon Glassberg was a member of Tucson’s second Hebrew High graduating class in 1980. Thirty years later, as director of the Coalition for Jewish Education at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, she’s the principal of Hebrew High. The evening program’s main goal is still the same, to enhance… Read more »

The March 1941 front cover of "Captain America #1," the creation of two second-generation Jews, showing its titular hero punching Hitler in the face.

NEW YORK (JTA) — In March 1941 — nine months before the attack on Pearl Harbor impelled America to enter the Second World War — one colorful American hero already had joined the battle: Captain America. The famous front cover of “Captain America #1” showed its titular hero punching… Read more »

The Israeli singer Carolina shares love stories and songs next to the famous LOVE sculpture at "Contact Point," a late-night event held at the Israel Museum, July 2011. (Oscar Abosh)

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Amid the alleyways that zigzag through Jerusalem’s Nahlaot neighborhood, a nonprofit collective run by five young artists is trying to make art more accessible in a city known more for conflict than culture. The turquoise gate of Barbur Gallery opens onto a stone courtyard and garden… Read more »

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, left, was among those at a Buenos Aires ceremony commemorating the 17th anniversary of the attack on the city's AMIA Jewish center, July 18, 2011. (Leonardo G. Kremenchuzky)

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — Jewish leaders are doubting the sincerity of an Iranian offer to help solve the Buenos Aires Jewish center bombing, while the Argentine government has welcomed the proposal. Following a ceremony Monday marking the 17th anniversary of the attack on the AMIA Jewish center, which… Read more »

The scandal engulfing media giant Rupert Murdoch, shown speaking May 24, 2011 in Paris at a gathering of Internet and digital industry leaders, is causing anxiety among some Jewish leaders over the possible effects on his empire's pro-Israel coverage. (Aaron Fulkerson via CreativeCommons)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Pro-Israel leaders in the United States, Britain and Australia are warily watching the unfolding of the phone-hacking scandal that is threatening to engulf the media empire of Rupert Murdoch, founder of News Corp. Murdoch’s sudden massive reversal of fortune — with 10 top former staffers and… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — If there’s one thing J Street is good at, it’s getting attention. Supporters, critics and relatively neutral observers all have conspired — with plenty of prodding from J Street’s own aggressive communications operation — to shine an intense media spotlight on the self-described “pro-Israel, pro-peace”… Read more »

Missing-person posters for 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky were plastered throughout Borough Park, Brooklyn, in the time between his disappearance and the arrest of his suspected murderer on July 13, 2011. (Tim Faracy / Creative Commons)

NEW YORK (JTA) — The two tragedies occurred 1,500 miles apart and in much different circumstances, but both united a community in shock, horror and grief. In New York, the abduction and gruesome murder last week of 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky while walking home from summer day camp in Borough… Read more »

It’s almost 6 months since we moved to Israel…and I’ll soon compose a contemplative look back at our transition to life here. But in the meantime, I’m doing eight loads of laundry in a crappy stackable washer/dryer set that’s shoved in too tight into our bathroom and it got… Read more »

I have a big personality flaw. I do not like the heat, but I can’t stay out of the kitchen. Meaning, I have a strong opinion. And I like to share that opinion with others. But then I get all bent out of shape when I have to defend my self-publicized opinion.… Read more »