For Sarah Hurwitz, an introductory course launched an exploration of Judaism. (Random House)
When Sarah Hurwitz was working as a senior speechwriter for President Barack Obama, and later as head speechwriter for Michelle Obama, she often was assumed to be a good source of knowledge about Judaism. Except Hurwitz wasn’t. She had grown up nominally Reform. And after her bat mitzvah, Hurwitz… Read more »
(JTA) — Popular Jewish actress Mayim Bialik will write and direct a feature film based on her own experiences. The comedy-drama titled “As Sick As They Made Us,” which will deal with mental illness, will be Bialik’s screenwriting and directing debut. The news was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.… Read more »
"Dylan & Me: 50 Years of Adventures," by Louie Kemp (Courtesy of Louis Kemp/WestRose Press)
(JTA) — Jewish summer camp is such a crucial part of the American Jewish experience that many Jewish adults, even in their older age, likely remember the names of many of the kids in their cabins from when they were 11 years old. One of those cabins more than… Read more »
Parents and siblings can read to babies early in life. (Courtesy PJ Babies and reading are the focus of a lighthearted BYOB (bring your own baby) event coming up at the Tucson Jewish Community Center Early Childhood Education Center next month. “It’s an opportunity to meet other Jewish families with babies,” says Mary Ellen Loebl, coordinator for Southern Arizona’s PJ Library… Read more »
Robert Lopez-Hanshaw directs Tucson’s new Ha’Zamir choir branch. (Photo: Debe Campbell/AJP)
HaZamir Tucson is launching as a new branch of the International Jewish Teen Choir, a musical youth movement of 41 choral chapters across the United States and Israel. An inter-congregational group of local Jewish teens will cap their year of practice with a festival in New York where 450… Read more »
Day 4 of Lynn Rae Lowe’s ‘Let There Be Light’ (Photo courtesy Lynn Rae Lowe)
Award-winning local artist Lynn Rae Lowe will unveil a seven-panel “aluminations” series, “Let There Be Light,” at a one-day exhibit Saturday, Sept. 7 from 10 a.m.-8 p.m. at the Southern Arizona Arts Guild gallery in La Encantada before the work, commissioned by Temple Beth El in West Bloomfield, Michigan,… Read more »
In this directory, we present some of the finest arts companies in Tucson: ANDREW SMITH GALLERY www.andrewsmithgallery.com • 984-1234 Andrew Smith Gallery is the leading gallery in the world specializing in buying and selling historic, classic, and contemporary Western American photography. The gallery is the international source for the… Read more »
The art gallery at Beth Shalom Temple Center in Green Valley will present “The Art of Paying Attention,” wildlife drawings and stories by award-winning Tucson-based artist and storyteller Beth Surdut, Sept. 18-Oct. 23. “My ‘Art of Paying Attention’ series is an invitation to look closely and appreciate the lives… Read more »
Ronit Elkabetz, left, and Sasson Gabai in “The Band’s Visit” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Beth Shalom Temple Center in Green Valley will be a satellite site for the Tucson International Jewish Film Festival in January. “We are excited that the Tucson International Film Festival will reach from SaddleBrooke to Green Valley,” says Katie Spector, assistant director of Jewish life and learning at the… Read more »
Craig Sumberg Fox Tucson Theatre
Ten years ago, when Craig Sumberg first joined the staff of the Fox Tucson Theatre Foundation, the theatre had recently undergone a beautiful and expensive renovation, but the revitalization of downtown Tucson had barely begun. Sumberg is proud of helping to make the Fox “a place Tucsonans are proud… Read more »
Jacome Flamenco performs ¡FlaMÉXico! at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York. (Ani Collie)
¡FlaMÉXico!, a multicultural evening of music and dance created by Tucsonan Chris B. Jácome, will come to the Fox Tucson Theatre next month as a fundraiser for Jewish Family & Children’s Services. The Sunday, Sept. 8 extravaganza will highlight Spanish-influenced music, with a classical prelude. JFCS is dedicating the… Read more »
Jackie Tohn recalls her family's Holocaust past in an extraordinary scene on her Netflix show. (Sela Shiloni)
This article originally appeared on Alma. In the sixth episode of the newly released third season of “GLOW,” there’s an unconventional seder in the Nevada desert. It’s led by Melrose — played by Jackie Tohn — the Jewish party girl who talks the group through the 10 plagues, the… Read more »
It’s official: Gal Gadot will portray Jewish actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr in a Showtime limited series. The cable network made the announcement on Aug. 9. Gadot had been rumored as the leading candidate for the role for about a year. The Israeli actress and her husband, Yaron Varsano,… Read more »
(JTA) — After three and a half years as editor in chief of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Andrew Silow-Carroll will be the next editor of the New York Jewish Week. The veteran journalist will succeed Gary Rosenblatt, who stepped down last month after 26 years as editor and publisher… Read more »
At left, a gold coin of Louis of Hungary, 1342-53; at right, a jeweled silver brooch, second quarter of 14th century, both from the Colmar Treasure. (Musée de Cluny – Musée national du Moyen Âge, RMN-Grand Palais/Art Resource, NY via Metropolitan Museum of Art)
NEW YORK (JTA) — There are few remnants of the once flourishing Jewish community of the town of Colmar, in France. Jews were blamed for the outbreak of the Black Death plague there in 1348-49, and many were burned to death. A Roman emperor who then controlled the area… Read more »
Ester Szwarc, the academic coordinator of the AMIA building's Idishe Wiesenshaft Institute, or IWO, said the archive had split in two “like an apple" on July 18, 1994. (Courtesy of IWO)
(JTA) — Abraham Lichtenbaum was getting ready to leave his house on July 18, 1994 when, at 9:53 a.m., he heard an explosion: The headquarters of Argentina’s 200,000-strong Jewish community, the AMIA, located less than four miles from his home, had been bombed. Eighty-five people died and 300 were injured… Read more »
Natasha Lyonne at the Women in Film Annual Gala in Beverly Hills, Calif., June 12, 2019. She's nominated for best comedy actress for her role in "Russian Doll." (Emma McIntyre/FilmMagic,)
(JTA) — It’s Emmy season again and Jews in the TV industry have plenty of reason to celebrate. Out of all the nominees announced Tuesday, here’s a roundup of the Jewish picks on the list. Winners will be announced on Sept. 22 at Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater. “The Marvelous… Read more »
A cover of Mad Magazine, which will no longer publish new content, from 1968. (Elizabeth W. Kearley/Getty Images)
Mad magazine is on life support, and I can’t say I’m either surprised or all that sad about it. DC Entertainment announced last week that the satirical magazine will stop publishing new content. It was like hearing about a beloved old relative who passed away: I hadn’t had any… Read more »
Postcards in the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience collection show Jewish-owned department stores throughout the South. (Courtesy of the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience)
(JTA) — A prosthetic leg that belonged to a Russian Jewish immigrant to Lake Providence, Louisiana. An 8-foot neon sign from a hotel that advertised itself as the only establishment with an “up to date kosher kitchen” in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Two synagogue organs from the now-shuttered Temple B’nai… Read more »
Michael Markowitz, Joyce Luna, Bat Florence Portugal, and Eric Schaffer (Photo courtesy SpryTime)
On Saturday, June 15, Tucson Jews for Justice hosted the Tucson Jewish Summer Arts Festival at the Jewish History Museum. The event raised over $500 for local migrant shelters, which will be matched by Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona. About 75 people attended, enjoying music from Joyce Luna with… Read more »
