Let me tell you about the best part of my role as a shlicha (emissary from Israel). Without a doubt, it is the opportunity, every single day, to meet the most interesting people and to do what I like most: explore Israel through others’ eyes — your eyes. This… Read more »
Columns
It’s not easy being a crime novelist in Israel
TEL AVIV (JTA) – “You and I, we need to have a little talk about sex,” my editor said in a deep voice. I was in the midst of writing my first thriller about a geeky lawyer suspected of murder, and I was waiting for my editor’s verdict about… Read more »
Local people, places, travels and simchas
Tennis anyone Last month, Mary Alderman traveled to Israel for the eighth time, one of 24 participants on the Israel Tennis Center’s 5-Star Israel Experience. The ITC is a nonprofit organization that since 1976 has been helping children and teens living in poverty, new immigrants, at-risk youth and those… Read more »
UA Hillel remains vibrant center of Jewish life
The Hillel Foundation, that ubiquitous symbol of Jewish life on college campuses in America and across the globe, turns 90 this year. I know this because it came up in a recent exchange I had with the University of Arizona Hillel Foundation’s executive director, Michelle Blumenberg. I’m an alumnus,… Read more »
Rejecting the title of modern-day Job
JERUSALEM (JTA) — On a Friday afternoon, six months after my wife Ami, of blessed memory, died of a catastrophic brain injury, I received a call from a local hospital. “Your mother has fallen down and hit her head,” the voice said. “The condition is serious. You’d better get… Read more »
My history with the family of Lee Harvey Oswald’s Jewish killer
NEW YORK (JTA) — We were sharing a pastrami sandwich and pickles at the Los Angeles landmark Canter’s Deli. I was 24. She was nearly 50 years older, with a piercing voice as loud as her flaming red wig. Her name was Eva Rubenstein Grant, and she was a… Read more »
The struggles of a holier-than-thou husband
HARTFORD, Conn. (JTA) — My wife stared at me as if I were from another planet. “What do you mean you don’t know if you can come to my cousin’s wedding?” she demanded indignantly. She hadn’t seen her relatives in years and was looking forward to a weekend getaway… Read more »
JFSA LGBT group voice heard ’round the world
This summer, 150 gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Jews from around the world gathered in Winnipeg, this year’s host city for the 21st World Congress of GLBT Jews, held July 5 to 7. Attendees represented more than 15 countries, including the United States, Canada, England, France, Israel, Argentina and… Read more »
Pass the cranberry latkes: When holidays collide
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — If the Pilgrims are lighting menorahs and the Maccabees are chasing turkeys, it must be Thanksgivukkah, as some have come to call the confluence of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah that will happen this year on Nov. 28. It’s a rare event, one that won’t occur again… Read more »
At United Synagogue centennial, tough talk about need for change
BALTIMORE (JTA) — It will be years before it’s clear whether or not this week’s conference of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism was a success. To be sure, the centennial gathering in Baltimore by nearly all accounts was a far more dynamic and well-attended biennial than those of… Read more »
P.S.: Local people, places, travels and simchas
The last first pitch Tucson Padres general manager Mike Feder, “Mr. Baseball” to many in our city, was in the news throughout the summer, yet we heard little of the proverbial “woman behind the man,” his wife, Pattie Feder. It was fitting that Pattie was invited to throw out… Read more »
Israel summer travel 2013 … and more
Over the past few months, many Tucsonans traveled from the climes of Southern Arizona to similar ones in Israel. Here is a sampling of their varied sojourns: From April 13 to May 13, Iris Sapovits, co-president of Hadassah Southern Arizona, and Annie Stein, Hadassah’s Israel, Zionist and International Affairs… Read more »
I am buying homeless signs for Sukkot this year
LOS ANGELES (Jewish Journal) — I started building my sukkah in December. To those of you who are sukkah DIYers, you know how ridiculous this sounds. A sukkah is the ritual hut that Jews build each year on the holiday of Sukkot, which begins this year on the evening… Read more »
For Tucson teen, March of the Living trip is heartwrenching, empowering
Walking through the famous gate “arbeit macht frei” at Auschwitz, I felt sick to my stomach. I’d seen that gate, with its infamous Nazi inscription, “work makes you free,” in history textbooks, photos and movies, but seeing it… Read more »
Coming out, a young gay man finds self-acceptance
NEW YORK (JTA) — For my Bar Mitzvah, my parents got me a laptop. For what I searched for on it, they got me a shrink. CyberSitter informed my computer-savvy parents that their son was searching gay porn. On the ride to my first therapy session, I stuck my… Read more »
Loving the storm: lessons from my father
Crack! Boom! The sound of big fat pebbles pounding the roof and rattling windows. Maybe it’s the Nazis coming to get us! That afternoon my brother Stan and I saw a war movie at a theatre near our home in the Bronx, N.Y. We watched as mighty John Wayne,… Read more »
Faster than a speeding bagel: Super Jewish dad
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — As the new Superman movie “Man of Steel” flies to an opening on Father’s Day weekend, we earthbound Jewish men have the superhero’s creators — Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Jewish teenagers from Cleveland — to thank for setting such a super high bar. Especially… Read more »
Celebrating birthdays with Israel, honoring centenarians, seeking a cure
Happy 65th Birthday, Israel! Israel was not created in order to disappear — Israel will endure and flourish. It is the child of hope and the home of the brave. —John F. Kennedy Tucson celebrated Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israeli Independence Day, with extra flair this year. Besides highlighting Israel’s innovations… Read more »
After years in Tucson, seeing Jewish identity differently
It is time to say shalom, the Hebrew word for hello, goodbye and peace. We came in peace, we go in peace. How does one summarize three years? Do you list all the events you created or took part in? Do you make a list of achievements? What was… Read more »
Teens and veterans in D.C., women in Israel and mishpocha across the U.S.
Area BBYO teens at D.C. convention Michelle Goodman, 16, a junior at St. Gregory College Preparatory School, and Ital Ironstone, 18, a senior at City High School, attended BBYO’s International Convention in Washington, D.C., from Feb. 14-18. BBYO comprises AZA (Aleph Zadik Aleph) and BBG (B’nai B’rith Girls). Joining… Read more »