First place winner Alex Erbst, age 6
Congratulations to the winners of the 2018 Arizona Jewish Post Hanukkah art contest. All of the submissions were outstanding and conveyed the symbols of the holiday with warmth and love. First place winners Alex Erbst (age 6, Tucson Hebrew Academy), Luke and Hunter Meislin (twins, age 7, Manzanita Elementary… Read more »
THA fourth-graders, Tucson J preschoolers bond in Madrichim program (Gabby Erbst)
A new program coordinated by the Tucson Hebrew Academy and the Tucson Jewish Community Center is crafting leaders out of fourth- grade students. In the Madrichim (leaders) program, the THA students visit the Tucson J to teach preschoolers about the importance of upcoming holidays. Gabby Erbst, THA director of admissions… Read more »
Tucsonans Ron and Jacquelyn Feller at the Path to Peace wall in Netiv Ha’asara, Oct. 21 (Debe Campbell)
Netiv Ha’asara, a moshav (cooperative farming community) northwest of Israel’s Negev, in the Hof Ashkelon region, is part of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona partnership area. With pastoral charm and fragrant lemon trees, lush gardens hug its 250 cozy homes near the Mediterranean coast. In the shadow of… Read more »
(L-R) Oshrat Barel, Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona vice president; Shneor Katash, Partnership2Gether representative in Kiryat Malachi; Hila Yogev Keren, P2G director; and Hila Kordana, P2G representative in Kiryat Malachi, at the Jewish Federations of North America General Assembly in Tel Aviv, Oct. 24. (Courtesy Jewish Agency for Israel)
Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of four articles on how the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona allocates funds. The first, in the Oct. 12 issue, focused on youth and family education programs at synagogues. Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona applies a Planning and Allocation process… Read more »
Estas Tonne performs in St. Petersburg, Russia, April 6. (Voice Art Group)
Guitar virtuoso Estas Tonne makes his way to Tucson on Dec. 9 to perform at the Rialto Theatre as part of his first U.S. tour, hot on the heels of a 10-city international tour. Although Tonne has lived in America before, “The Breath of Sound” tour is his first… Read more »
Kiryat Malachi youth perform in an Art City production. (Jewish Agency for Israel)
Each year, Art City provides more than 200 youth in Kiryat Malachi and Hof Ashkelon, Israel, an opportunity for professional development in the performing arts. The program contributes to the community and region with cultural and social activities, empowering youth with a sense of belonging, and using creativity to… Read more »
(L-R): Chava, Isaac, Jacob, Maria, Rachel, Elisaveta, and Raya Sher in 1931 in Kirensk, a village in Siberia. (Shore Family)
The recent Weintraub Israel Center annual mission to Israel did not only build community bridges; it also mended a bridge between a local family and long-lost family members with origins in Russia. Bonnie Shore-Dombrowski, a Tucson attorney, was joined on the October trip by her two sisters, Debby Shore… Read more »
Linda Sarsour speaks at BET’s Social Awards at the Tyler Perry Studio in Atlanta, Feb. 11, 2018. (Marcus Ingram/Getty Images for BET)
(JTA) — Linda Sarsour released a statement apologizing on behalf of the Women’s March for causing harm to the movement’s Jewish members and for being too slow to show its commitment to fighting anti-Semitism. “We should have been faster and clearer in helping people understand our values and our… Read more »
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz speaks to an Israeli Holocaust survivor from Austria in Jerusalem, June 10, 2018. (Gali Tibbon/AFP/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Less than one year after the election of Sebastian Kurz as Austria’s leader, he has taken his government to the forefront of the fight against Europe’s spiraling anti-Semitism problem. Frequently criticized for failing to own up to Nazi persecution, Austria with Kurz as chancellor has become an international… Read more »
Rohingya men wait in line for food dispersal from aid agencies. (Andrew Stanbridge)
The Jewish History Museum is currently showing “Call Me Rohingya,” an exhibition that illuminates the persecution of Rohingya people, an ethnic minority in Burma, through the photographic works of Andrew Stanbridge. Staged in the Allen and Marianne Langer Contemporary Human Rights Gallery in the Gould Family Holocaust History Center… Read more »
The 1st Rate 2nd Hand Thrift Store, Southern Arizona’s only Jewish thrift store, will hold its “Best Of” event on Thursday, Nov. 29, 6-8 p.m. The event will feature select merchandise, snacks and wine, and music by Birks Works. Held twice a year, the “Best Of” events are a… Read more »
Ian Merles
Hadassah Southern Arizona will honor its 2018 Woman of the Year, install officers for 2019 and recognize its annual supporters at a luncheon on Dec. 9. Ian Merles, the annual giving officer for Hadassah West Coast Region, will be the guest speaker. Honey Manson will install the new slate… Read more »
Deborah Lipstadt, author of the forthcoming book "Antisemitism Here and Now," says the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting reaffirmed her warnings. (Osnat Perelshtein)
NEW YORK (JTA) — The advance copies of Deborah Lipstadt’s new book, “Antisemitism Here and Now,” display a cover photo of white supremacist carrying a tiki torch. But that iconic image of the August 2017 white power rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, could now be replaced by another one: Police… Read more »
Israeli apps alert users whenever a missile is headed into the country. (Sam Sokol)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Four years ago, on the eve of the Israeli military’s Gaza operation known as Protective Edge, a private developer created the Red Alert app providing real-time notification when missiles or rockets were fired into Israel. Since then, Red Alert and smartphone apps like it have become tools for… Read more »
Lazar Wall, left, wrote a song for Holocaust survivor Freddy Glatt. (Marcus Gilban)
RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) – Freddy was 5 years old when he saw a paving stone shatter his dad’s storefront in Berlin. Later, while his family watched, Nazis beat up his father. In 1933, Adolf Hitler had already made life unbearable for the Glatts, forcing them to scramble to… Read more »
A view of the Ilan Ramon Day School in Agoura, Calif., after the fire. (Courtesy of Yuri Hronsky)
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — The Woolsey Fire, which began two weeks ago and engulfed a massive swath of Southern California, has killed at least two people, burned nearly 100,000 acres and ravaged hundreds of structures — including several touchstones of Jewish life in this city. Three historic Jewish sleepaway… Read more »
The Shabbat dinner was meant to reflect the life and customs of Jewish and Polish communities, and honor the ways the cultures have coexisted. (Meg Jones)
NEW YORK — The bialy challah practically glowed, swirls of caramelized onion peeking out between its braided, poppy-dusted strands. In a charming red-and-white tiled kitchen at the back of a Brooklyn bookstore, some 50 people gathered around a long table to watch a trio of chefs prepare an unusual… Read more »
An El Al plane at Ben Gurion International Airport, Aug. 5, 2013. (Moshe Shai/Flash90)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — An El Al plane bound for Israel that was delayed from taking off in New York was diverted to Athens on Friday to allow Sabbath-observant passengers to disembark. That’s what we know for sure. What happened on the plane? That’s another story. The flight, which had… Read more »
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives at the Knesset in Jerusalem for a faction meeting, Nov. 19, 2018. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — “It’s Hard to Say Goodbye If You Won’t Leave” was the title of an old episode of “Frasier.” It could also describe the latest chapter in a coalition crisis that threatens to bring down Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. The Israeli prime minister narrowly avoided having to… Read more »
Moshe Holtzberg with his nanny Sandra Samuel in 2010. She rescued the boy from the Chabad House attack in Mumbai and followed him to Israel. (Abir Sultan/Flash 90)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — “Everything is good.” Sandra Samuel is riding on a bus from Afula in northern Israel to the city apartment in Jerusalem that she shares with four other women from India and has agreed to talk to a reporter. She is coming from a weekly visit with… Read more »
