Posts By PHYLLIS BRAUN - AJP Executive Editor

Max Rusinov, UA Hillel Israel Fellow, points to information about suicide bombings prevented by the Israeli-Palestinian border fence, posted on the mock border fence on the UA campus, March 23. (Sheila Wilensky)

If there’s a difference between the U.S.-Mexico border wall and the one dividing Israel and the Palestinian West Bank, you might not have known it by looking at the nearly 1,000-foot mock border fence on the University of Arizona campus last month. The fence was erected by student members… Read more »

You know when you’re having lunch with your friend in the local diner and even though you know you shouldn’t, you start gossiping about someone you both know? And all of a sudden you realize you’re in the local diner and the room just got really quiet, so you… Read more »

One of the best decisions I made before making Aliyah was the decision to let my husband lead the way. This was not easy for me. I’m a born supervisor and taskmaster. I met Avi a little more than ten years ago when I was a madricha (counselor) on a… Read more »

Dear Avi and Adele: I’m a 27-year-old guy, and I met a girl recently at a function. Okay, I admit it, it was at a shiva (mourning for the dead). And somewhere between the chopped liver platter and the pickled herring, I found myself locking eyes with her. I… Read more »

Dear Avi and Adele: My wife and I are an interfaith couple and we have been married for two years. I’m Jewish and she is Greek Orthodox. For the most part, we’ve been on the same page about how we will manage both religions at the same time in… Read more »

Dear Avi and Adele, I’ve been friends with Josh for more than two years now. I really adore him as a friend and enjoy his company. However, he’s been clear that he wants me to be his girlfriend. And as many times as I tell him I just want… Read more »

(NewsUSA) — Buying a home is the largest investment most people will ever make, so it’s no surprise that such a big decision may seem daunting. There are, however, some simple guidelines that can help you find a home that you will be happy with for a very long… Read more »

Dichroic glass mezuzot cases by Tucson artist Daryl Cohen (www.glassdesignbydarylcohen.com)

Surfing the Internet you find the darndest things, including a mezuzah and scroll “box” you can download to your computer screen. According to the eMezuzah sales pitch (at http://download.cnet.com/ eMezuzahh/3000-2135_4-10170822.html) the scroll is available in both English and Hebrew. When you think about it — since the Internet has… Read more »

Joyce Oresman, 79, died March 10, 2011 in San Francisco. Raised in the Bronx, New York, she married her husband, Edward Oresman, in 1953 and they moved to Tucson and raised four children before moving to San Francisco in 1980. Mrs. Oresman was office manager at Peter Wells Press,… Read more »

Stuart and Marianne Taussig aboard “Kosherica” cruise

Cantorial cruise For a week in January, it was smooth sailing for Marianne and Stuart Taus­sig aboard Norwegian Cruise Lines. The couple celebrated their 17th anniversary on Jan. 16 on board their Western Caribbean-bound ship. Their itinerary was billed as “Kosherica: Glatt Kosher Jewish Music Festival At Sea.” Their… Read more »

Several months ago I asked a question in one of my columns and invited readers’ input. Answers came from all over the country and were as diverse as Jews are themselves. The question was originally posed to me by my 23-year-old daughter: What drives the Jews? In keeping with… Read more »

The topic of the day-long conference was torture, and Palestinians were describing the horrific methods the Shin Bet used in prison to get information out of them. Photos and illustrations of these practices were shown on a screen. Human rights activists, Palestinian and Israeli, spoke at length and in… Read more »

Israel is staring at a fork in the road, with potential disaster along either path. On the path to the left lies a major Israeli peace initiative that deals with all the core issues under dispute with the Palestinians. On the path to the right lies more waiting, possibly… Read more »

Marine Le Pen says she has made clear there is no room in the National Front for “extremist subgroups,” anti-Semitic or otherwise. (Ben Harris)

On the second floor of the town hall in Paris’ third Arrondissement, leaders of France’s major Jewish institutions gathered to denounce the leader of the far-right National Front party and to assert that she remains unworthy of dialogue with the Jewish community. Last week’s gathering was precipitated by two… Read more »

In preparation for an upcoming display at the Tucson Jewish Community Center celebrating the Allied victors of World War II and the liberation of Europe, volunteer Bill Kugelman and JCC communications specialist Marty Johnston are collecting historical artifacts. To date, Jeffrey A. Marks has donated a World War II… Read more »

Hadassah Southern Arizona will hold an ice cream social and book swap/sale on Sunday, April 3 at 2 p.m. at Congregation Young Israel. Two local Jewish authors, Roni Capin Rivera-Ashford and Sheldon Sid Brodkin, will read from their works. Rivera-Ashford is the author of two bilingual books for children,… Read more »

The Weintraub Israel Center and the Tucson Jewish Community Library will present “Israel to Go,” an event designed to help participants plan a trip to Israel, on Sunday, March 27 from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in the library, located in the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Guy Gelbart, director of… Read more »

Former U.S. Ambassador Thomas Price will speak on “Change in the Arab World: Opportunity or Menace?” at a meeting of the Tucson chapter of Parents of North American Israelis on Sunday, April 10 at 10 a.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Price, a visiting scholar at the Arizona… Read more »

Chabad on River will welcome its first Sefer Torah on Sunday, April 10 at 10 a.m. with a processional from the Tucson Jewish Community Center to Chabad on River, followed by a celebratory brunch. The Torah, says Rabbi Ram Bigelman, was originally written for a yeshiva in Tiberias, Israel,… Read more »

In an effort to ensure that every Jew in Southern Arizona has a seat at a seder table for Passover, the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona and local synagogues are joining forces for Operation Elijah, which pairs seder guests and hosts. All who are new to the community, single,… Read more »