A “throwback” photo of Marlyne Freedman from her Omaha days Omaha Jewish Reunion A reunion usually refers to a high school, college, or family gathering. From Sept. 12-14, Marlyne Freedman attended the first-ever Omaha Jewish Reunion. Born and bred in the “Gateway to the West,” Marlyne took this three-day trip down memory lane. The weekend included social, educational, and… Read more »
Oshrat Barel Current Israel “I have a dream,” wrote a young Israeli, Naor Narkis, several years ago, describing the life he would love to have. Now the 25-year-old is leading a social protest that is making him a role model for many young Israelis, even though for weeks he kept his… Read more »
Oshrat Barel Current Israel So much has already been written about the past summer in Israel, the kidnap and murder of our three teens, nonstop missiles firing into Israel, tunnels, terrorism and the double standards of the international media. It is almost four months since it began. Only last week, while… Read more »
Simon Esbit at Yad Vashem Israel summer travel 2014 In addition to synagogue summer missions, which have been covered in AJP first-person accounts, Tucsonans traveled to Israel for diverse reasons. Here are highlights of some of their sojourns: From the end of January through the beginning of June, Simon Esbit, 17, participated in Tichon… Read more »
Rabbi Israel Becker of Tucson (left) and former Chief Rabbi of Israel Meir Lau in Tel Aviv in May One winter night in the mid-1960s, when I was a young teenager, the stage was set for a very important meeting in Israel this past May. Unbeknownst to me, the true genesis for this meeting had begun some 80 years ago. On that winter night, a man arrived at… Read more »
Oshrat Barel My home town was under constant threat when I was a kid and my parents used to host soldiers for Shabbat dinner every Friday. I got used to seeing those green uniforms every week and listening to their stories. There was a time I was sure I had big… Read more »
Holocaust memorial stars on the railroad tracks at Salonika, Greece We sang “Happy Birthday” in Hebrew to 9-year-old Miriam in the Athens Jewish Community School; we talked with teenagers Gala and Tal at a summer camp near Salonika; we listened in Tel Aviv as Yuval who lost both arms and Tzipi who was paralyzed told us how… Read more »
Racheli Frenkel, center, mother of kidnapped teenager Naftali Frenkel, stands with the mothers of the other abducted teens, Eyal Yifrah and Gilad Shaar, outside her home in Nof Ayalon in central Israel, June 17, 2014. (Yossi Zeliger/Flash 90) KARNEI SHOMRON, West Bank (JTA) — Four days into the search for three kidnapped Israeli teens, I attended a group prayer session dedicated to their safe return. Dozens of women gathered together to read responsively psalms seeking God’s mercy and intervention before the start of our morning Jewish studies… Read more »
Israelis at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv praying for the release of three kidnapped Jewish teenagers, June 15, 2014. (Gideon Markowicz/FLASH90) GIVAT SHMUEL, Israel (JTA) — On the rolling green fields of a suburban Tel Aviv park, hundreds gathered to pray for the imminent rescue of three kidnapped Israeli teenagers. Rabbis delivered speeches, singer Yonatan Razel performed two pieces based on liturgical invocations of God’s mercy, and a prayer was… Read more »
TribeFest 2014 From March 16-18, six Tucsonans — Pamela Epstein, Dave Hausler, Marina Kandova, Ari Magill, and Amy and Ben Pozez, accompanied by Sarah Langert, Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona leadership development and public relations director, traveled to New Orleans for TribeFest 2014. This biennial national event, organized by… Read more »
What does my mother-in-law have to do with my married life, columnist Edmon J. Rodman recalls foolishly asking soon after he was married 32 years ago. (Edmon J. Rodman) LOS ANGELES (JTA) — In the Ten Commandments, the Torah tells us to “Honor your father and your mother,” but on mothers-in-law, it’s mum. That is until we come to the two-day holiday of Shavuot and read the Book of Ruth, which records the relationship between Ruth and her… Read more »
Gabrielle Selz SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. (JTA) — Four years ago, I applied to re-obtain German citizenship on behalf of my son and myself. Neither of us was born in Germany. I was born in sunny California and my son on Long Island. But I had learned that under the German Constitution, “Former… Read more »
From Commemoration to Celebration The uniqueness and in a way, also the beauty, of Israel’s Independence Day (Yom Haatzmaut) is that it doesn’t stand on its own. Holocaust Memorial Day (Yom HaShoah) and the Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terror (Yom Hazikaron) serve as the buildup,… Read more »
Lara and Kim Gould Troop appreciation On Jan. 8, the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Young Women’s Cabinet hosted its second annual Mahj and Mitzvahs event at the Tucson Hebrew Academy. With 55 in attendance, including YWC co-chairs Dana Goldstein and Sarah Singer, the group played the Chinese tile game and assembled care… Read more »
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Artem Zaptotski, from Lutsk, in western Ukraine, sits in Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, sharing his room with a French Hasid. Seeing that I speak Hebrew and wear a kippah, the Hasid asks if he should encourage Zaptotski to put on tefillin. No, I tell him. Zaptotski… Read more »
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — During shiva for my mother, my father gathered my brothers and me to share a letter in which she expressed some musings and last wishes. The letter also said that as the sole daughter, I had inherited her jewelry box. In the room in which… Read more »
Oshrat Barel Line between life and death/ good and evil Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu likes to draw lines, especially red ones, as he claimed at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee national conference earlier this month. What caught me in his speech, to a very welcoming audience, wasn’t the Iranian… Read more »
Besides blotting out the name of Haman, would these groggers also wake one to the needs of the hungry? (Edmon J. Rodman) LOS ANGELES (JTA) — On Purim, can we really blot out the memory of an evil like Haman, who threatened our very existence, with a noisemaker? When in a popular Purim song we sing “Hava narishah-rash, rash, rash,” “Wind your noisemakers,” all that “rashing” does momentarily make the darkness… Read more »
Roxy (left) and Clio Cartin love to help their mother make recipes from PJ Library’s “The Children’s Jewish Holiday Kitchen.” Another Taglit-Birthright Israel milestone Now in its 15th year, Birthright has sent over 360,000 young adults from 64 countries to Israel. More participants traveled this winter than in any other single season. From Jan. 2-14, the University of Arizona Hillel Foundation sent 30 students on the program, accompanied by… Read more »
Suzanne Levy (JTA) — On Valentine’s Day, I’d like to sing the praises of American Jewish men. I’m aware it’s a rather large group, but that’s the point: The United States is a sea of plenty for Jewish men. Whereas in Britain, where I grew up, there are only about 300,000… Read more »
