Tucson native NIKKI BAIM, a sophomore in the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, has won the 2018 Walter S. and Syrena M. Howell essay competition for “The Sports Department of Corrections: How false reports by ESPN criminalized the University of Arizona… Read more »
Congregation Bet Shalom trip participants at the Haas Promenade in Jerusalem (L-R): Morrie Shoob, Alvin Juntiff, Alan Burke, Salley Juntiff, Louise Good, Bruce Dawson, Linda Kunsberg, Vickie Dawson, Andy Kunsberg, Geoff Winston, Sharna Shoob, Bernie Engelhard, Elinor Engelhard, Carol Richelson, Gary Richelson, Rachel Snyder, Ezra Alpert, Maiella Alpert, Sandra Snyder, Allan Schwartz, Anne Kobritz, Stewart Kobritz, Rabbi Avi Alpert
Each time we put together a Congregation Bet Shalom tour, we focus on a different aspect of life in the Holy Land. This time we concentrated on the idea of living as a non-Jew in the Jewish State. This two-week tour was aimed at proving the theory that non-Jews… Read more »
Sidney Finkel, a Holocaust survivor who lives in Tucson, with his memoir, ‘Sevek and the Holocaust: The Boy Who Refused to Die.’ (Debe Campbell)
Sidney Finkel ended his self-imposed silence in 1993 about Holocaust survival as a child. At the insistence of his daughter, Ruth, he shared the story with his family of the young boy born Sevek Finkelstein. Born in Poland to a well-to-do family of seven, he lived an idyllic childhood… Read more »
Tucson Jews for Justice members and supporters ready to take donations to the Kino Border Initiative shelter in Nogales, Sonora, from left: Tony Zinman, Marty Johnston, Daniel Hernandez, Alma Hernandez, and Consuelo Hernandez. (Courtesy Tucson Jews for Justice)
What started as a 24-hour community drive on social media last week turned into a tikkun olam (repairing the world) mission for Tucson Jews for Justice, coinciding with World Refugee Day, June 20. “It’s difficult to hear the news of what’s going on,” says Alma Hernandez, referring to the… Read more »
Janet Belkin wears a League of Women Voters badge. [Courtesy Belkin)
Janet Belkin felt a compelling need to do something “to insure our democracy continues to exist.” She turned to the local chapter of the League of Women Voters, a group she was a member of in the past in her native New York. “There’s a very strong and useful… Read more »
Summer camp is not just for kids anymore. Summer camps targeted for adults are popping up throughout the country, and Tucson is embracing the trend. The Tucson Jewish Community Center will launch its first One Day Adult Summer Camp on Sunday, July 29. The Foundation for Jewish Camping says,… Read more »
(Charles Dunst/JTA)
A few months ago I wrote a humor piece titled “Don’t eat off the seder plate, and other tips for non-Jews attending their first seder.” It drew a miffed response from a rabbi friend who often works with interfaith families and suggested “it’s time to drop terms like ‘non-Jew’ and… Read more »
The Jewish History Museum will stage a digital exhibit, “Mapping Migration,” that documents the trajectory of Jewish community migration to Southern Arizona through triptychs comprising historical to contemporary family photos. The exhibit will open Sept. 1. “Two things I particularly love about this concept are that it is inclusive… Read more »
Cool treats Cool off from the inside out with some of our favorite spots. Atomic Frog Ice Cream Parlor and Café, 9725 N. Thornydale Road, is a perfect example. While it specializes in “Parlor Tricks,” including ice cream, smoothies and sundaes, it’s more than just an ice cream parlor.… Read more »
Fashionistas in Southern Arizona may not embrace big shearling coats and oversize knit scarves with the fervor of their East Coast sisters. But there were many other looks to love on the runways at this February’s Fall Fashion Week in New York. Ann Carroll of Mills Touché boutique in… Read more »
NANCY WALTER SCOTT has joined FIT BODY BOOT CAMP’s Foothills location to lead the Fit Body Forever program, a fitness program designed for adults 55+. She is certified as a functional aging specialist by the Functional Aging Institute in West Lafayette, Indiana. Foothills Fit Body Boot Camp is located… Read more »
Francine Shacter, 90, of Tucson, formerly of Bethesda and Highland, Maryland, died June 14, 2018. Mrs. Shacter was born in Los Angeles, graduated from Hollywood High School, and briefly attended UCLA before marrying and raising four children. Years later, in the middle of life, while working full time, she… Read more »
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Jared Kushner during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, May 9, 2018. (Al Drago-Pool/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Saying a U.S. plan for Middle East peace would be released “soon,” Jared Kushner sharply criticized Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in what appeared to be an intentional gambit to drive a wedge between the Palestinian people and their leadership. Whether that strategy will bring… Read more »
Children and workers at a tent encampment built recently near the Tornillo Port of Entry in Tornillo, Texas, June 19, 2018. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Editor’s note: President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday ending his administration’s policy of separating migrant children from their parents who were detained as they attempted to enter the United States. WASHINGTON (JTA) — Simmering beneath the heated debate over whether Holocaust references are appropriate in the debate over… Read more »
Alma Hernandez, a Mexican-American Jew and daughter of immigrants, is running for the Arizona House of Representatives and founded a progressive Jewish group in Tucson. (Courtesy of Hernandez)
(JTA) — Less than one day after Alma Hernandez began a Jewish fundraiser for migrants on the southern border, she had an SUV full of food, diapers and hygienic products ready to donate. Hernandez loaded the vehicle with goods bought with donations on Wednesday afternoon. The following day she… Read more »
Charles Krauthammer in his office in Washington, D.C., March 16, 1985. (Ray Lustig/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
(JTA) — On June 10, 2002, Charles Krauthammer delivered the Distinguished Rennert Lecture upon receiving the Guardian of Zion Award from Bar-Ilan University’s Ingeborg Rennert Center for Jerusalem Studies. Below is an excerpt from the lecture titled “He Tarries: Jewish Messianism and the Oslo Peace.” In the 1990s, America slept and… Read more »
Nathan Rix, right, “passes the torch” of leadership to Maya Levy. Tucsonans continue NFTY regional leadership Maya Levy was elected president of the NFTY Southwest Region in April at the NFTY Spring Kallah in Mesa, Arizona, succeeding Nathan Rix, another Tucsonan.… Read more »
President Donald Trump holds a news conference ahead of his early departure from the G7 Summit in La Malbaie, Canada, June 9, 2018. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Israeli and American Jews disagree on much — settlements, religious pluralism, even the degree to which they are “family.” And now you can add Donald Trump to the mix. Twin polls of Israeli and American Jews published by the American Jewish Committee on Sunday uncovered divides… Read more »
Flaming kites sent from Gaza have caused thousands of shekels of damage on Israel's western border. (Sam Sokol)
NAHAL OZ, Israel (JTA) — Dani Ben David fiddles with his radio, switching between it and his cellphone as he drives through the Beeri Forest, a nature reserve located on the border of Israel and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. As his Jeep jolts over the dirt road, he quickly… Read more »
