Columns

BERLIN (JTA) — I was 23 when I first met my cousin Gilbert Michlin. He was sitting at a brasserie near his office in Paris wearing a dark suit with a folded handkerchief poking out of the breast pocket. His short, dark hair was perfectly combed. He said, in… Read more »

Stumbling stones honoring Jill Ranucci's great-grandparents, Rudolf and Laura Lowenthal, who died in the Sobibor death camp. (Courtesy Jill Ranucci)

In October, I attended a Stolpersteine (stumbling stones) ceremony in Magdeburg, in the former East Germany, to honor my great-grandparents, Rudolph and Laura Lowenthal, who died in the Holocaust. My sister and two cousins, the other surviving family members, accompanied me. The first Stolpersteine were created by German artist… Read more »

Guy Gelbart

Is Judaism a religion or is it not? This is the question I posted on my Facebook page, Tucson Shaliach Guy Gelbart, with the intention of creating a thought-provoking discussion. I shared a link to a YouTube video of a talk by my friend Avraham Infeld, president of the… Read more »

Sarah and Leonard Schultz ride an elephant bareback in the water at Luang Prabang, Laos.

Travel odyssey Around the world in almost 80 days. From Aug. 19 to Nov. 2, Sarah and Leonard Schultz boarded 15 flights to 10 countries in 76 days. Booked online through AirTreks, the couple traveled from west to east, taking only carry-on luggage, and chronicling their journey with an… Read more »

Arik Lubovsky

Before I left for Israel, friends and family asked if I was afraid. “Not really,” I replied. It wasn’t until I was actually there, relaxing on the patio of the Mizpe Hayamim health farm … Read more »

Old Town in Kaunas, Lithuania (Courtesy Sandra Katz)

The iron curtain has risen, but it has left behind a thick and dirty rust ring. My paternal grandparents, Sol and Helen Katz, left Lithuania in 1905 and 1910. They never talked about their lives there and I have always been curious about my roots. Recently, I decided to… Read more »

Guy Gelbart

Is creating a Palestinian state truly in the best interest of hu­man rights? This fundamental question is often ignored. Many, including myself, refer to a two states for two peoples solution as the best possible option. I personally tend to support this approach, yet I have some significant concerns.… Read more »

The Collier Bar Mitzvah group at the Davidson Center in Jerusalem: (L-R) Jack Aaron, David Aaron, Carol Collier, Naomi Present, Rosalie Rellin (back), Rabbi Stephanie Aaron (front), Maya Collier, Randie Collier, Joel Collier, Shelby Collier, Roger Collier

Winter Birthright Israel After finishing final exams, 30 University of Arizona students embarked on the Winter Taglit-Birthright Israel Hillel experience. Nine of the participants hail from Tucson — Michael Evenchik, Allie Healy, Emily Healy, Lauren Katz, Daniel Millstone, Benjamin Offenhartz, Nathan Sacks, Zachary Sattinger and Alyssa Silva. “The reasons… Read more »

Guy Gelbart

Israel’s elections are approaching, so it seems like a good time to explain the complex, confusing and often awkward process that constitutes the heart and soul of Israeli democracy. In 1948, when the state of Israel was declared, it was decided the Jewish state would be a multi-party parliamentary… Read more »

Jerusalemite Shlomo Achituv hopes to find the sister or some family of Sara Kucikwocz, pictured here, who was his student in their native Luniniec, Poland, but was killed in the Holocaust.. (Courtesy Shlomo Achituv)

The “Seeking Kin” column aims to help reunite long-lost relatives and friends. “The Cruel Winter” How awful is winter, how awful is frost To far-off lands the sparrow has fled The animals have hidden, too, in the caves Beneath the hills and in the forest valleys The trees wrap… Read more »

The fate of three of the 15 students in the first graduating class of Grodno's Tarbut Gymnasium in 1930 (pictured with three of their teachers and the principal) remains a mystery. The three students, shown in the inserts, are Velvel Poliak, Yitzhak Levin/Levine and Max Margolis. (Courtesy Ruth Marcus)

The “Seeking Kin” column aims to help reunite long-lost relatives and friends. BALTIMORE (JTA) — In 2008, Ruth Marcus began looking ahead to 2010: the centennial of the birth of her late father, Yitzhak Eliasberg, and 80 years since Grodno’s Tarbut Gymnasium graduated its first class, Eliasberg included. Marcus,… Read more »

Julie Feldman, center, with her children, Rachel Dveirin, left, and Haley Dveirin.

Prayer book donation Congregation M’kor Hayim is a small but mighty synagogue. Comprised of approximately 60 members, the group uses Tucson Hebrew Academy’s Beit Midrash (house of study) for its Friday night services and Shabbat morning Torah study. Discovering that the prayer books for THA second through fourth graders… Read more »

Guy Gelbart

Imagine the following horrible scenario: an armed group of 100 snipers takes over a main building in downtown Tucson; they shoot people walking on the streets. The entire downtown area is shut down; people are locked in their offices across the city and can’t go home. Assume that you… Read more »

(L-R) Arnie and Rhea Merin and Hilda Kamenetz at the Cardo in Jerusalem

Handmaker helping hands In May, Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging launched the Handmaker Youth Leadership Team. Its mission is to increase volunteer opportunities to enrich youth, address community needs and develop a lifetime commitment to service. The group, ages 11-18, currently has 15 members. Participants learned about the… Read more »

Speak up, the language of the Hebrew Man,” says a song by popular Israeli singer/songwriter Ehud Banai. Of course we all know what the language of the Hebrew man is — but do we really? Does Banai refer to the current, updated, slangy Israeli Hebrew? Or does… Read more »

Lady Liberty shines her light on Lions of Judah: Angie Goorman, Karen Faitelson, Fern Feder, Robin Pozez, Diane Weintraub, Linda Tumarkin, Sharon Klein, Melissa Goldfinger, Brenda Landau (JFSA) and Judy Berman. (Not pictured: Marilyn Einstein, Deanna Evenchik and Janet Lang)

Conventioneering in the Big Apple “Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For, indeed, that’s all who ever have.” — Margaret Mead From Sept. 10 to 12, a dozen Lions from Southern Arizona roared at the international Lion of Judah convention of female philanthropists in… Read more »

Guy Gelbart

More than 250 Tucsonans attended the Weintraub Israel Center Heartbeat of Israel series second Sukkah Shake on Sept. 27. This successful event was cosponsored by the PJ Library and the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Normally I would not write about a past event, but this case is different. Not… Read more »

Michal Kohane with her sons Ohr Taylor, right, and Yonatan during West Point Acceptance Day, Aug. 18, 2012. (Courtesy Michal Kohane)

SAN FRANCISCO (j weekly) — “You don’t mind me applying to West Point Military Academy, Mom, do you?” “West Point?” I thought, surprised. But it was fall. Graduation seemed like light years away. “Go ahead,” I said, trying to sound casual. “Let me know if you need anything,” I… Read more »

Saul Kagan, founding executive direcor of the Claims Conference, right, talking to Nahum Goldmann, founder and longtime president of the World Jewish Congress, 1958. (Courtesy Claims Conference)

NEW YORK (JTA) — As the founding executive director of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, I remember just how difficult the issue of negotiating with Germany was within the Jewish world 60 years ago. In Israel in particular, it was a subject of enormous controversy, political… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) – We could have been in Tehran. Men in dark suits and earpieces stood outside the doors of the hotel, keeping watch for protesters and anybody else who didn’t belong. Inside, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad prepared to meet a group of university students. Except this was… Read more »