(JTA) — The first time 6-year-old Bibi Shapiro found out just how widely viewed the video of him singing “Avinu Malkeinu” had been, he was sitting on his mother’s lap in Australia being beamed into Yom Kippur services at one of the largest synagogues in the United States. Like so… Read more »
(JTA) — What do Elana Kagan, Sacha Baron Cohen, Barbra Streisand, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Gal Gadot, Marc Benioff and Steven Spielberg have in common? Yes, they are all Jewish. And they all appear on the shortlist of the selection committee of the Genesis Prize to be this year’s laureate. This… Read more »
AMSTERDAM (JTA) — For a 91-year-old Holocaust survivor and friend of the renowned teenage diarist Anne Frank, laying the first brick for a new monument to victims of the genocide was a “special moment.” “I’m satisfied that it’s finally happening,” Jacqueline van Maarsen told the ANP news agency on… Read more »
The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona presented its Community Awards Celebration & Annual Meeting 2020 on Tuesday, Sept. 15 as a Zoom meeting, with 110 people attending. With large in-person meetings still restricted to help slow the spread of coronavirus, the Federation for the first time held this annual… Read more »
This Sunday evening, Jews around the world will chant the Kol Nidre, the ancient Aramaic incantation repeated three times at the Yom Kippur evening ceremony. Hillel International, embracing the diversity of Jewish tradition, is sharing three distinct versions as part of its Higher Holidays program: A dramatized reading in… Read more »
As part of the Arizona Jewish Post’s pivot to an all-digital platform, we’ve introduced new monthly ad directories. On Sept. 11, we kicked things off with two directories: L’Shana Tova Tikatevu 5781, featuring Rosh Hashanah greetings from community members and organizations, and the September – October 2020 Business Directory.… Read more »
Mitch Tarica is the streaming platform’s director of North American sales. (Courtesy of Tarica)
(JTA) — When Rosh Hashanah begins on Friday night, some 300 synagogues across North America streaming their High Holidays services via Zoom will be able to set it and forget it thanks largely to one man: Mitch Tarica. Tarica is the streaming platform’s director of North American sales. He’s… Read more »
A socially distanced outdoor service at the Green Road Synagogue in suburban Cleveland, June 2020. (Courtesy of Rabbi Binyamin Blau)
(JTA) – At the Jewish Center on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, this year’s High Holidays will be anything but normal. With eight services happening in various spaces throughout the building, on the roof and in the street (closed off to facilitate services), approximately 400 people will gather for socially distanced… Read more »
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg participates in a discussion at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., Feb. 10, 2020. (Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the first Jewish woman to serve on the Supreme Court and a tireless advocate for gender equality, has died at 87. A fierce jurist known for her outsized presence and outspokenness, Ginsburg died from “complications of metastatic pancreas cancer,” the Supreme Court announced… Read more »
From left to right: UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Bahrain Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump at the signing ceremony for the agreements on "normalization of relations" reached between Israel, the UAE and Bahrain at the White House, Sept. 15, 2020. (The White House/Tia Dufour/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
(JTA) — Israel has signed diplomatic agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, two of its Arab neighbors, and the word “historic” has been used a lot. For Israel and the region, the so-called Abraham Accords signings truly were historic: There was a big ceremony on the White… Read more »
(JTA) — An Italian lawmaker has nominated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel for the Nobel Peace Prize. Paolo Grimoldi of the right-wing Northern League party tweeted Wednesday that he had nominated Netanyahu because he signed peace agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, as well as the… Read more »
On Tuesday, Sept. 15 at 5 p.m., community members are invited to participate in an online joint Jewish Community Awards Celebration and Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Annual Meeting. The awards celebration portion of the event will recognize Federation’s Woman and Man of the Year, Gary I. Sarver Young… Read more »
Finalists from Social Venture Partner Tucson’s Fast Pitch 2017 celebrate on stage at the main event. (L-R) Danielle Figeuroa of Youth on Their Own, Liz Hernandez of Project Safe Place at Jewish Family & Children’s Services, Lisa Shipek of Watershed Management Group, Amalia Luxardo of The Florence Project, Sean Cronin of Stories That Soar! at Literacy Connects, L’Don Sawyer of St. Luke’s Home, and Jennifer Moore of Abbie School (Social Venture Partners Tucson)
The Jewish Federation and Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona are collaborating with Social Venture Partners Tucson to grow and advance its Fast Pitch program, which helps local nonprofits raise funds, boost awareness, and build their capacity. In Fast Pitch, which debuted locally in 2015, SVP staff and volunteers… Read more »
Project Isaiah, the Jewish community’s annual High Holidays food drive benefiting the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona, begins Sept. 14 and continues through Oct. 2. Coordinated by the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, this annual effort evokes the memory of the prophet who, when asked why we fast… Read more »
Nancy and Stuart Mellan
Stuart Mellan, longtime leader of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, and his wife, Nancy, will be the honorees for Tucson Hebrew Academy’s 2020 Tikkun Olam Celebration. “Then and Now: Celebrating 25 Years of Leadership” will be presented as a YouTube video on Thursday, Oct. 22 at 7 p.m.… Read more »
As of our Sept. 11, 2020 issue, the Arizona Jewish Post has pivoted to become an all-digital publication. All content, including articles, life cycle announcements, advertisements, and opinion pieces will be featured online at azjewishpost.com. Why the change? On July 17, 2020, the board of directors of the Federation… Read more »
Southern Arizona’s Mega Challah Bake will be held in your own kitchen this year — with Chabad providing live instructions and entertainment via Zoom, plus ingredients for those who want them. “It has been a delight to organize and host the Mega Challah Bake of Tucson over the past… Read more »
A view of the Arizona Desert Laboratory from atop Tumamoc Hill, with the sprawl of Tucson beyond it. (Photo Paul Mirocha)
The year 2020 has brought us face-to-face with many significant obstacles, from the global coronavirus pandemic to issues of racial injustice. Among the challenges that we are confronting is climate change, which forces us to ask ourselves, “How will we leave the environment for future generations?” In time for… Read more »
Lori Ann Burd The echoes of oppression in Jewish history have shaped Lori Ann Burd’s strong sense of Jewish identity and desire to do good in the world. “I am so privileged, and have come from these people who fought so hard just to survive,” says Burd, 39. “I have literally no… Read more »
Sharon Megdal, Ph.D. Sharon B. Megdal, Ph.D., director of the Water Resources Research Center at the University of Arizona, was not always interested in water. She studied economics, planning to work in public policy, and became immersed in the world of water as part of that journey. “A lot of people just… Read more »
