Scott Rogowsky hosting HQ Trivia (HQ Trivia)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Trivia is having a major moment — and that’s thanks, in large part, to Scott Rogowsky. The Jewish comedian has played a huge role in the runaway success of HQ Trivia, the iPhone app turned massive phenomenon that now has some 500,000 people glued to their iPhones at… Read more »
Gal Gadot was the sixth most searched person on Google in 2017. Here, the actress attends an event at the 92nd Street Y on October 1, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Is Gal Gadot the most famous Israeli ever? Judging by 2017’s top Google searches, the answer might be yes. Gadot was the sixth-most searched person worldwide, and the third-most searched actor. The 32-year-old, who was born and raised in Israel and served in the Israel Defense Forces, starred… Read more »
Lorde performs during the iHeartRadio Secret Sessions by AT&T at the magical Houdini Estate in Los Angeles, California, Aug. 29, 2017. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Pop star Lorde’s decision to cancel her scheduled concert in Israel has sparked some fierce reactions, even if most of them were expected. The 21-year-old New Zealand native’s move earned praise from proponents of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, who said she was taking a stand for the… Read more »
White Bean Soup With Zhug (Sonya Sanford)
(The Nosher via JTA) — I recently stumbled upon a Yemenite Jewish cookbook from the early ’60s called “Yemenite & Sabra Cookery,” by Naomi and Shimon Tzabar. It’s the type of cookbook I especially love to discover; the kind that covers a rare topic and is unusually designed. This… Read more »
Ali Katz
The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Young Women’s Cabinet is hosting an event next month to help women of all ages kick off the new (secular) year feeling rejuvenated. “Mindfulness, Martinis & Mitzvahs” will be held Wednesday, Jan. 10 at 6:30 p.m. at the Harvey and Deanna Evenchik Center… Read more »
Rabbi Naomi Levy
When bestselling author Rabbi Naomi Levy came across a poignant letter by Albert Einstein to a grieving rabbi, it shook her to her core. His words perfectly captured what she has come to believe about the human condition: that we are intimately connected and that we are blind to… Read more »
A choir started over 20 years ago by the late Karla Ember at Congregation Ner Tamid continues to perform at concerts and Shabbat and holiday services. “There have been many changes in content and personnel over the years, but Congregation Kol Simchah, successor to Congregation Ner Tamid, carries on,”… Read more »
Gil Shaham
Grammy-award winning violinist Gil Shaham will perform Tchaikovsky’s “Concerto in D major, Op. 35,” considered one of the best known and yet most difficult of all violin concertos, with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra on Friday, Jan. 12 at 7:30 p.m. The concert also will include Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet… Read more »
Yevgeny Kutik will be hosted by UA Presents and the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona. (Corey Hayes)
World-renowned Russian-American violinist Yevgeny Kutik was only 5 when his family immigrated to the United States, so he doesn’t clearly remember the anti-Semitism they faced in Belarus. But he’s heard his parents’ and grandparents’ stories. Kutik, who was born in Minsk in 1985, told the AJP the discrimination was… Read more »
Brooklym, NY - September 25, 2015 - Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams.
NEW YORK (JTA) — For more than 30 years, indie darlings Yo La Tengo — guitarist and frontman Ira Kaplan, drummer Georgia Hubley (who is married to Kaplan) and bassist James McNew — has pumped out a steady stream of critically acclaimed rock music that spans an array of… Read more »
Editor’s note: The time of this concert has been changed to 6:30 p.m. Many holiday songs were written by Jewish composers, including Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas”; “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” by Sammy Cahn (born Cohen) and Jule Styne (who also wrote “The Christmas Waltz”… Read more »
A scene from 'The MeshugaNutrcracker!' (Betsy Kershner)
“The MeshugaNutcracker!,” featuring a Klezmer-ized orchestration of Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite,” debuts in movie theatres nationwide for one night, on Tuesday, Dec. 19. Called an “enchanting festival of light-hearted glee and meaningful warmth” (Los Angeles Times), this Hanukkah-themed musical comedy arrives on the last night of the holiday, presented by… Read more »
A scene from 'Fanny's Journey,' coming to the Tucson International Jewish Film Festival
Movies about Jews evading the Holocaust are, frankly, irresistible. We never tire of these celluloid beacons of hope, not least because we can never forget that the victims greatly outnumbered the escapees. The challenge that filmmakers face in this area is keeping the rays of light in proportion to… Read more »
Move over, potato latkes. Make room for dosas. The savory fried Indian lentil and rice pancakes take center stage in “Queen of the Dosas,” a gem of a new Hanukkah book by the award-winning children’s writer Pamela Ehrenberg. It’s among eight new Hanukkah books for kids — one for… Read more »
A view from the second floor of the Harvey and Deanna Evenchik Center for Jewish Philanthropy. (David J. Del Grande/AJP)
When the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona began designing its new building, not only did Federation leaders want to modernize their workspace, they wanted to create a sacred landmark, says President and CEO Stuart Mellan. “We really wanted the building to be a place of meaning,” says Mellan. “We… Read more »
Roasted Winter Squash With Tahini Recipe (Shannon Sarna)
(The Nosher via JTA) — I recently fell in love with honey squash, a new variety of hearty winter squash bred specifically to be concentrated in flavor and adorable in appearance. OK, maybe it wasn’t specifically grown to be adorable, but the result nevertheless is the same. I found… Read more »
PHYLLIS SELTZER recently published a memoir, “Living My Dash,” which she describes as “the story of a marriage filled with love and a family dealing with many difficulties,” told in the hope of helping others going through similar problems.… Read more »
Gertrude Shankman, born Oct. 26, 1914 in Brooklyn, New York, celebrated her 103rd birthday last month at Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging. Third-grade students from Tucson Hebrew Academy joined the festivities. When asked recently about her secret to longevity, her one-word answer was “accepting,” says Nanci Levy, community… Read more »
Tovah Feldshuh
Broadway comes to Tucson on Thursday, Nov. 30 at 7 p.m., when six-time Tony and Emmy-nominated actor Tovah Feldshuh takes the stage at Congregation Anshei Israel for the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s free event, Together: A Night of Song, presenting her acclaimed show, “Tovah: Out of Her Mind!”… Read more »
The Arizona Repertory Singers will perform the world premiere of ‘Festival of Lights’ next month. (David Sanders)
The Arizona Repertory Singers will feature several pieces of Jewish music during its 2017-2018 season. In its winter concert series, the 47-member ensemble directed by Elliot Jones, Ph.D., will perform the world premiere of “Festival of Lights” by New York composer Karen Siegel, as well as the Ladino Hanukkah… Read more »
