Arts and Culture

If you like Stomp you’ll love Mayumana” promises the Fox Tucson Theatre, which is presenting “Currents by Mayumana,” an Israeli dance/rhythm/acrobatics spectacular, with the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona on Thursday, April 4 at 7:30 p.m. “Currents” is inspired by the historic battle between Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla… Read more »

You’ve heard of Sigmund Freud, but what about Siegmund Kornmehl? Kornmehl’s butcher shop shared Freud’s famous Vienna address of 19 Berggasse for 44 years. The butcher was forced to sign over his business to the Nazis in 1938, the same year the Freud family escaped from Austria. Kornmehl’s great-niece,… Read more »

The Sculpture Garden at the Tucson Jewish Community Center will open its ninth annual exhibition of new work, featuring nine new artists, with a brunch event on Sunday, March 24, beginning at 10 a.m. with mimosas and time to wander the garden. Artists will be on hand to discuss… Read more »

This article originally appeared on Kveller. At first, it seems like John and Amy Israel Pregulman nailed the ideal “digital nomad” lifestyle. The very-much-in-love couple travels the country and the world side by side working for an organization they built together from the ground up. “Every day we wake… Read more »

(JTA) — Blair Braverman wasn’t the first Jewish woman to finish the Iditarod sled dog race, as we mistakenly reported. That title goes to Susan Cantor, who completed the race in 1992. Twenty-seven years before Braverman crossed the finish line on Sunday, Cantor completed the grueling 1,000-mile course in… Read more »

Editor’s note: Blair Braverman is actually the second Jewish woman to finish the Iditarod. Susan Cantor was the first. (JTA) — Writer and adventurer Blair Braverman appears to be the first Jewish woman to race in — and complete — the historic Iditarod sled dog race, finishing… Read more »

Max Raabe and the Palast Orchester will play the Fox Tucson Theatre on March 15. Raabe founded the Palast Orchester in 1986 in Berlin, with fellow music students who loved to play music from Germany’s Golden 1920s. Their style and showmanship struck a chord with the public and their… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — Neshama Carlebach says she is figuring out how “to both love and not love” her father. Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, a spiritual leader and musician whose soulful melodies penetrated the hearts of people across the religious spectrum, is the man who made her into who she… Read more »

This article originally appeared on Alma. T Kira Madden’s gorgeous and remarkable debut memoir, “Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls,” chronicles her childhood in Boca Raton, Florida, as the daughter of parents who struggled with addictions. “I wrote the book kind of accidentally,” Madden tells Alma. “But, I… Read more »

This article originally appeared on Alma. When “Green Book” won the Academy Award for best movie on Feb. 24, arguably the most coveted prize of the ceremony, “BlacKkKlansman” and “Do The Right Thing” director Spike Lee stormed to the back of the auditorium and kept his back turned for… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — Jewish mothers have been the punch lines of one too many jokes — from the waiter who asks a table of Jewish women if anything is alright, to the one about how many Jewish mothers it takes to change a light bulb (answer: “Don’t bother.… Read more »

LOS ANGELES (JTA) – It’s a story that would not sound too out of place in 2019: New York’s leading newspaper accuses the president of the United States of corruption and the latter sues the paper’s publisher for libel. Striking back, the publisher declares in an editorial that his… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — While looking at family photos, historian Pamela Nadell noticed how female relatives dressed differently with each generation. Her great-grandmother wore a high lace collar and covered her hair with a wig, like some Orthodox Jews. Her daughter’s go-to is a pair of skinny jeans. Nadell,… Read more »

Purim, which falls this year on March 21, is one of the most exciting holidays on the Jewish calendar, yet its signature food, hamantaschen, can be bland and disappointing. Pastry chef Paula Shoyer is on a mission to transform these triangle-shaped pastries from boring to tantalizing. The author of… Read more »

The 11th Annual Tucson Festival of Books will be held March 2 and 3 on the University of Arizona campus. With hundreds of authors participating each year, the AJP traditionally highlights several Jewish writers who will be presenting authors. Brenda and Bill Viner, Jewish community members who helped co-found… Read more »

(JTA) — “I was the hairy Jewish monkey in a sea of blond kids.” That’s not Seth Rogen or Jonah Hill — it’s Sarah Silverman talking about her upbringing in Bedford, New Hampshire, on an upcoming episode of “Finding Your Roots,” the celebrity genealogy show on PBS. Bedford,… Read more »

(JTA) — “The Band’s Visit,” the Tony Award-winning musical set in an Israeli village, added a Grammy Award to its list of accolades and Jewish rapper Drake also won a Grammy for best rap song. The musical, which is based on a 2007 Israeli film, won for best musical… Read more »

The Brandeis National Committee Tucson Chapter presents its 23rd Annual Book & Author events on Feb. 27 and 28 with four acclaimed authors: internationally bestselling mystery writer Elizabeth George, author of the Inspector Lynley series; Reed Farrel Coleman, called the “noir poet laureate” by the Huffington Post; Tucsonan Lauren… Read more »

Award-winning writer and producer, best-selling author, and stand-up comedian Carol Leifer will be the guest speaker at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Women’s Philanthropy 26th annual Connections brunch next month. Her topic will be “Judaism is in My DNA.” “I speak about how the Jewish values imparted to… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Shalva Band, a group of musicians with various disabilities, didn’t expect to advance so far in the competition to represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest in May. But they made it all the way to the finals — and won’t find out if they… Read more »