Arts and Culture

The Tucson Jewish Community Center will expand its capacity to serve people with disabilities by integrating Arts for All, a Tucson-based organization founded in 1985, into its programming early next year. Arts for All provides opportunities for adults and children with and without disabilities to participate in performing and… Read more »

Rabbi Cantor Hillary Chorny, left, and Cantorial Soloist Nichole Chorny

Update 11.22.19: This scholar-in-residence weekend is supported by The Rabbi Marcus Breger Fund at Congregation Anshei Israel. Rabbi Cantor Hillary Chorny of Temple Beth Am in Los Angeles will bring new music and innovative, interactive Shabbat services to Tucson as Congregation Anshei Israel’s scholar-in-residence, Dec. 13 and 14. Her… Read more »

The Tracing Roots intergenerational program, a partnership between Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging and Tucson Hebrew High, will be held at Handmaker again in 2020, beginning Sunday, Jan. 12. High school student participants will be paired with Handmaker residents and get to know them through the Jan. 12… Read more »

Robert Schwebel, Ph.D., a Tucsonan since 1981, is the author of ‘Leap of Power.’

Imagine telling adolescents, “You don’t have to say you’re going to quit using drugs” and then dealing with their parents and community. Imagine encouraging young clients to talk about what they like about drugs instead of focusing on the harm drugs can cause. Counter-intuitive and certainly non-traditional, these approaches… Read more »

Photojournalist Linda Solomon will celebrate the launch of her new book, “The Queen Next Door: An Intimate Portrait of Aretha Franklin” at the Tucson Museum of Art’s “A Night With Aretha” on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 6-8 p.m. The evening will include performances by Ann Hampton Callaway and Charity Lockhart,… Read more »

The Rialto Theatre will present “The Arroyo Café Radio Show” on Saturday, Dec. 7, at 1 p.m., taping the show for broadcast on Dec. 24 on NPR 89.1. Tickets are $20; proceeds will benefit Casa Alitas Aid to Migrant Families, The U.S. Committee for Refugees & Immigrants, HIAS (founded… Read more »

The Jewish History Museum/Holocaust History Center will honor Rosie Eilat-Kahn on Sunday at its 2019 Fall Benefit, “A Call to Courage.” “Rosie has been a leader among the second generation of Holocaust survivors in this community for decades,” says Bryan Davis, executive director of the museum. “She has coordinated… Read more »

(JTA) — Carol Kitman remembers meeting Alexander and Yevgeny Vindman nearly 40 years ago in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. The brothers were about 4 1/2 years old and dressed in matching blue sailor outfits with navy caps. Kitman was instantly taken with the twins and asked to take their photo.… Read more »

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — A quote from the late Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel will be the centerpiece of a mural painted in a public square in Buenos Aires. The city government and the Latin American Rabbinical Seminary held a contest to design the mural to honor human rights… Read more »

Next week, on Nov. 4, Israel will mark 24 years since the assassination of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Rabin, a leader, politician, and army commander, was killed by a Jewish assassin as he was walking down the stairs from the stage at what is now called Rabin Square… Read more »

This story originally appeared on Kveller. Taika Waititi’s satirical film “Jojo Rabbit” is finally out! It is set in Nazi Germany,  and the Jewish MaoLior Zaltzmanri director famously plays Adolf Hitler. “What better way to insult Hitler than having him played by a Polynesian Jew,” Waititi himself tweeted. When… Read more »

MEXICO CITY (JTA) —More than 10 years ago, Ilan Stavans scandalized language purists of the Spanish-speaking world by translating a chapter of “Don Quixote” — into Spanglish. Since then, the so-called czar of Latino culture has become one of the most important interlocutors for Hispanics in the United States. In… Read more »

This story originally appeared on Alma. Over the past decade, comic books and superheroes have become a staple for mainstream pop culture. But did you know that they are super Jewish? The industry was created by Jews who were prevented from working at American newspapers in the 1930s by… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli actress Gal Gadot will star as Polish heroine Irena Sendler, who saved 2,500 Jewish children from the Nazis, in a film produced by the actress and her husband. Gadot and her husband Yaron Varsano have formed the production company Pilot Wave. Gadot will star as… Read more »

This summer marked the 50th anniversary of Woodstock, the music festival that brought half a million people together in 1969 to celebrate peace, love, and music. In celebration of this anniversary, the Tucson J is putting on J-Stock: an outdoor community concert featuring Eric Schaffer & the Other Troublemakers,… Read more »

The Tucson Jewish Community Center is featuring the works of more than 20 local artists, many of whom are members of the Jewish Artists Group, in the Fine Art Gallery show, “Reflection + Renewal,” which is on display through Nov. 2. The Jewish High Holy Days season began with… Read more »

This recipe originally appeared on The Nosher. Sephardic chicken soup with lemon and egg, or sopa de huevos y limon, is a traditional first course for breaking the Yom Kippur fast among Jews from Turkey, the Balkan states and the Greek port city of Thessaloniki (known as Salonika in… Read more »

(JTA) — Eric Pleskow, who escaped the Nazis to become a film executive whose movies won the Academy Award for best picture seven times, has died. He was 95. Pleskow was the president of the United Artists studio when it took home the best picture Oscars for “One Flew… Read more »

(JTA) — Hannah Senesh may seem an unlikely motivation for Japanese-born artist Julie Robertson. But the 35-year-old Christian artist, who just spent four days painting a 30-by-40-foot mural of the late Jewish poet, learned about Senesh earlier this year and was struck by her bravery. A national hero in… Read more »

Professional storyteller Jordan Wiley-Hill joined Tucson’s Fox Theatre Foundation about a year ago to expand its youth programming known as Kids In the Theatre. Filling the new position of youth arts and culture program associate, he brings an extensive repertoire of performance art, education, and program development. Local community… Read more »