Columns

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 »

Guy Gelbart

After nine long years in which self-appointed “peace activists” used Rachel Corrie’s tragic and accidental death to bash Israel and Israelis in any way they could, the saga came to an end on Aug. 28 with a very clear court ruling: Rachel Corrie negligently ignored ongoing warnings from both… Read more »

Emily and Ashley Feig on a camel in the Judean Desert

Under rabbinic supervision Leroy and Bobbie Feig waited two years for Congregation Anshei Israel’s Rabbi Robert Eisen to lead another congregational tour to Israel, which he did from June 18 to 29. Just as the rabbi is inspired by seeing Israel through the eyes of others, the Feigs wished… Read more »

Guy Gelbart

It’s been a long hot summer! My summer began on May 18 on the way to Israel, waiting for the special security checks for an El Al flight to Israel from Los Angeles. I couldn’t help wondering why is it that only flights to Israel are required to go… Read more »

(L-R) Tucsonans Donna Moser, Audrey Brooks, Marlyne Freedman and Deanna Evenchik at the Birthright Israel Mega Event at Haifa Naval Base July 12

The faces of our grandparents are with me in early July as I leave for the Jewish Federations of North America Campaign Chairs and Directors Mission to Odessa and Israel with my sister, Donna Moser. Grandpa Nathan and Grandma Sadie came to the United States in 1899 from Odessa;… Read more »

May their memory be a blessing: A list of the fallen Munich Olympics Israeli team members to read during the Summer Olympics and at Tisha b'Av. (Photo via Just One Minute)

LOS ANGELES (JTA) — This year, Tisha b’Av marks not only the destruction of both Temples, but with the opening ceremony of the London Olympics just a night earlier, the 40th anniversary of the Munich massacre. On this day of mourning and fasting, which begins at sundown on Saturday,… Read more »

(L-R) Alan Levenson, M.D., chair of the Pima Council on Aging; Marian Lupu, PCOA founding director; Barbara Levy and Martin R. Levy, Ph.D., Generations Gala co-chairs

2012 Generations Gala Barbara Levy, speaker, author and volunteer, has worn many hats in our community. Currently, she is chair of the Tucson Symphony Board of Trustees and the Association of Fundraising Professionals International Ethics Committee. On April 14 at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, Barbara and her husband, Martin… Read more »

Guy Gelbart

As I entered Ki­ryat Malachi last week, I was shocked at the slumlike appearance of the city: dirty old walls, peeling paint, broken signs. The last several weeks had not been easy for Kiryat Malachi. The city’s mayor, Moti Malka, was arrested on the severe charge of rape. I… Read more »

If your mother has never seen your face — if you have never had a face to be seen — if, in a sense, you have never been born — do you have a mother? If your mother has always called you “son,” can you ever really become her… Read more »

(L-R) Birthday celebrant Ellis Friedman, Steven Stiglitz, Marnie Friedman and Irene Friedman

70th in shul The day before his 70th birthday on Feb. 12, Ellis Friedman led the Shacharit and Musaf services and chanted the Maftir (Torah reading before the Haftorah) at Congregation Anshei Israel’s Shabbat morning service. His wife, Irene, gave the D’var Torah. Members of their havurah — Vivien… Read more »

Guy Gelbart

The state of Israel,” “Israel independence,” “the Israel Defense Forces,” “the prime minister of Israel” … it seems, nowadays, we tend to take all those for granted. We refer to the existence of a Jewish state as a solid fact. Young Jewish adults are focused on the Arab-Israeli or… Read more »

Guy Gelbart

The month of Adar is here, “Mishenichnas Adar marbin b’simcha!” — It’s Adar, be happy! The month of Adar is considered the month of joy in Jewish tradition. As my grandmother used to say, “That’s the way we are; you need to tell us to be happy.” It seems… Read more »

Jenna Kloosterman with project apparatus during testing in Antarctica

A Super Sunday Years ago, the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Super Sunday consisted of a phone-a-thon only. On Jan. 29, not only did volunteers exceed the day’s projected fundraising goal but they performed acts of loving kindness. Activities on this expanded Mitzvah Day included an American Red Cross… Read more »

Guy Gelbart

A safe haven? Is this really all there is to it? Is this the only reason for us to support Israel, teach about it and engage with it? Is this the reason for us to fly to the other side of the world for a visit, just so we… Read more »

Amendolara Mayor Salvatore Antonio Ciminelli, left, standing next to JTA's Ruth Ellen Gruber, after presenting award certificates to some of the 100 schoolchildren who attended a Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony in the town hall, Jan. 27, 2012. The children received awards for art or writing projects about the Shoah. (Photo courtesy Amendolara Town Hall)

AMENDOLARA, Italy (JTA) — It was International Holocaust Memorial Day, and when I told my audience that I was a Jew, they burst into applause. I was speaking at the City Hall in this ancient seacoast town in Calabria, deep in southern Italy on the instep of the Italian… Read more »

“Confetti Clown” Susan Claassen

Clowning around Susan Claassen, managing artistic director of the Invisible Theatre, has been a clown in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for the past 11 years. She’s honored to have a photo of her and the other 2010 “Confetti Clowns” encircling the parade’s executive producer, Amy Kule, as part… Read more »

Aodhan Lyons volunteers at a food bank on the Navajo Nation

I went to the Navajo Nation on Young Judaea’s alternative winter break program with few expectations except that it would be a fun time. It ended up being that and more. We did a lot of local volunteer work for the Navajo Nation, in Tuba City mostly, but also… Read more »

Guy Gelbart

What does it mean to be a Jewish and democratic state? This question came to light with the story of Na’ama Margolis. Na’ama, an 8-year-old modern Orthodox girl, was the victim of an offense by a small radical haredi (ultra-Orthodox) group called the Sicricim (Latin: Sicarii, the dagger man).… Read more »

Joan Elder in front of one of the Blessing Project exhibits

And all that jazz Jeff Lewis, past president of the Tucson Jazz Society, was responsible for bringing world-renowned Israeli jazz pianist Tamir Hendelman to Tucson on Nov. 19. The previous month, Jeff was watching a PBS airing of Barbra Streisand’s “One Night Only at the Village Vanguard” and knew… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — As if the Jewish world doesn’t have enough problems with Iran on the brink of starting a nuclear war and the radical Muslim Brotherhood making gains in Egypt’s phased elections. This week we were rocked by another close shave with disaster: “Chasidic reggae superstar” Matisyahu… Read more »