News

Talk will trace family link to ‘Freud’s Butcher’

Siegmund Kornmehl’s butcher shop was at 19 Berggasse in Vienna. Note the swastika on the awning to the right. (Courtesy Edie Jarolim)

You’ve heard of Sigmund Freud, but what about Siegmund Kornmehl? Kornmehl’s butcher shop shared Freud’s famous Vienna address of 19 Berggasse for 44 years. The butcher was forced to sign over his business to the Nazis in 1938, the same year the Freud family escaped from Austria. Kornmehl’s great-niece,… Read more »

Expert to lead pre-Pesach kosher grocery tour

Rabbi Eliezer Eidlitz (right) leads a tour of kosher products at an Albertson’s supermarket in Tucson on March 19, 2017. [AJP Archive)

Renowned kosher authority Rabbi Eliezer Eidlitz is returning to Tucson to lead his acclaimed “Yes, It’s Kosher!” supermarket walking tour on Sunday, March 31, in advance of Passover.  Eidlitz last led the tour in Tucson in 2017. This year’s event will be held from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at… Read more »

Tucson J plans new sculpture exhibition

The Sculpture Garden at the Tucson Jewish Community Center will open its ninth annual exhibition of new work, featuring nine new artists, with a brunch event on Sunday, March 24, beginning at 10 a.m. with mimosas and time to wander the garden. Artists will be on hand to discuss… Read more »

Composing prayers as a response to the world

Rabbi Hazzan Avraham Alpert

Do you get frustrated from reading the news? If you are like me, you find it difficult to restrain yourself from posting and reposting on social media in response to the stories that upset you. It’s good, though, to have other ways to answer the irritations that come with… Read more »

Jewish journalist’s Purim prank about fleeing anti-Semitism shocks Holland

Esther Voet is the editor in chief of the Nieuw Israëlietisch Weekblad. (Courtesy of NIW)

AMSTERDAM (JTA) — The Netherlands’ main Jewish weekly is the kingdom’s oldest commercial magazine and one of its most reputable publications. Which is why many Dutch were shocked to read a column Tuesday by its editor announcing that she is leaving for Israel because of rising anti-Semitism here. “I am… Read more »

Benjamin Netanyahu’s views on a Palestinian state, explained

Benny Gantz, left, is challenging Benjamin Netanyahu in the upcoming Israeli elections. (Wikimedia Commons/Getty Images)

(JTA) — It wasn’t so long ago that most major Israeli politicians supported establishing a Palestinian state. Now it’s not clear that any of them do, including the current prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu began his political career in the 1970s opposing a Palestinian state, an idea that once… Read more »

Former AIPAC officials launch bipartisan political action committee

Rep. Steny Hoyer, the House majority leader, walks to the Capitol for a vote, Feb. 26, 2019. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Two former top AIPAC staffers are helming a new political action committee that will steer donations to candidates in both parties who adopt a centrist pro-Israel position at a time when that gold standard for pro-Israel giving is being challenged by the right and the left.… Read more »

Orthodox-run cemetery in St. Louis OKs area for cremated remains, burial of non-Jewish family members

Beth Shalom Cemetery officials said they were trying to service the entire Jewish community in opening its new section. (Courtesy of Beth Shalom Cemetery)

ST. LOUIS (St. Louis Jewish Light via JTA) — A Jewish cemetery in a suburb here has opened a section for the burial of cremated remains and will allow for the burial of non-Jewish, immediate family members of Jews who are buried at the cemetery. The decision by the board… Read more »

Why a Bible-toting, onion-eating British officer remains a hero in Israel 75 years after his death

Orde Wingate, center, with Special Night Squads members. (Beit Shturman)

HOF HACARMEL, Israel (JTA) — Few non-Jews and even fewer British soldiers are regarded as highly in Israel as Orde Charles Wingate, a senior officer who became a legend here by shaping Israel’s prestate military. Many Israeli towns have a Wingate street or square, and relatives and others who share… Read more »

Holocaust denier picked as congressional candidate in Spain

(JTA) — A far-right party in Spain has nominated a Holocaust denier as a congressional candidate. Vox tapped Fernando Paz, a historian, this week to run in the city of Albacete, in the central part of the country, in the April 28 national elections for parliament, the Libertad Digital… Read more »

Chinese-Jewish chef Molly Yeh is nominated for an Emmy

(JTA) — Chinese-Jewish chef Molly Yeh was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for best culinary host for her show “Girl Meets Farm.” In an Instagram post, Yeh wrote that she is “completely verklempt” to be nominated. View this post on Instagram completely verklempt to be nominated for an… Read more »

Palestinian peace activist barred from entering the United States

A photo of Osama Iliwat's canceled visa after he was denied entry to the United States in February. (Courtesy of Iliwat)

NEW YORK (JTA) — A Palestinian peace activist was denied entry to the United States and deported, despite having a valid visa. Osama Iliwat, 42, was questioned over the course of eight hours by officials from Customs and Border Protection at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City… Read more »

5 Democratic presidential candidates say they would rejoin Iran deal

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Five Democratic presidential candidates said they would re-enter the Iran nuclear deal that President Donald Trump abandoned last year. Al-Monitor, a Middle East news site, solicited the Democratic candidates about whether they would rejoin the deal. The five who said they would are Sens. Bernie Sanders… Read more »

Prominent pro-Israel donor pulls out of AIPAC conference after saying two Muslim lawmakers ‘clash’ with American values

Adam Milstein seen at The Jerusalem Post Conference in New York City, May 22, 2016. He said his views as expressed on Twitter had been "mischaracterized." (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Adam Milstein, a major pro-Israel funder, has withdrawn from speaking at the annual AIPAC policy conference following a series of tweets in which he accused two Muslim lawmakers of clashing with “American values.” The American Israel Public Affairs Committee distanced itself from Milstein. Milstein, the chairman… Read more »

In focus 3.22.19: THA class wins blue ribbons at regional science fai

Students in Melissa Landau’s third-grade class at Tucson Hebrew Academy won a SARSEF first place Grand Award for their project at the Southern Arizona Research, Science and Engineering Foundation fair on March 7 in the animal and plant sciences category. The project, “Germination Station,” allowed students to use the… Read more »

People in the news 3.22.19

Anna Howe will play the role of Mary Lennox in Arts Express’ production of “The Secret Garden,” March 22-31 at the Berger Performing Arts Center. Howe, a sixth-grader at Orange Grove Middle School, is a former Tucson Hebrew Academy student. Howe began performing with Kids Unlimited when she was… Read more »