News

TORONTO (JTA) — In late October, Americans saw what happened when anti-Semitism rears its head in the most devastating way. But while a synagogue in Pittsburgh is the victim of a deadly hate-filled attack, one in Toronto is being rescued with kindness from unexpected quarters: an Iranian-American developer who… Read more »

(JTA) — Robert Bowers, the man held in the shooting deaths of 11 people at a synagogue in Pittsburgh on Oct. 27, belonged to an online community where he frequently railed against Jews and immigrants. That social media site, Gab, came under closer scrutiny last week. Created two years ago as a… Read more »

(JTA) — Rose Mallinger, the oldest victim in the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, was remembered Friday at her funeral as a loving and sharp-witted woman who was a fixture in the Jewish community. Hundreds of mourners attended the service at the Rodef Shalom synagogue. Mallinger was the final of the 11… Read more »

(JTA) — Six days ago, on Shabbat, Rabbi Jonathan Perlman was hiding in a pitch-black storage closet as one of his congregants was shot dead in front of him. The time since has been filled with funerals, counseling congregants and figuring out how to move forward as a community,… Read more »

Prayers for peace, kindness and love, for a better world for ourselves and our children, rang out at the Tucson Jewish Community Center Monday night, as more than 1,200 people of all faiths came together for a candlelight vigil in memory of the 11 Jews killed in an attack… Read more »

(JTA) — Before he shot dead 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue, Robert Bowers blamed one Jewish organization: HIAS, an immigrant aid group that has been helping refugees since the 1880s. “HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people,” he wrote on his website. “I can’t sit by and watch… Read more »

  PITTSBURGH (JTA) — Cecil Rosenthal would always ask after your sick mother or inquire about your marriage — or divorce. His brother, David, a jokester, loved the police and every year would buy the same sunglasses with mirrored lenses. At a moving ceremony Tuesday, relatives stood before a… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The deadly shooting at a Conservative synagogue in Pittsburgh has underlined tensions in Israel over the haredi Orthodox rabbinic establishment’s disenfranchisement of the Diaspora’s non-Orthodox Jewish streams. Following Saturday’s rampage by a gunman that left 11 worshippers dead, an Israeli government minister and the country’s opposition… Read more »

In the wake of the shootings at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh on Saturday, the Jewish Federation of the Southern Arizona, local synagogues and Jewish agencies are holding a multifaith vigil tonight at 7 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center Sculpture Garden. An email announcement from… Read more »

This is a developing story.  (JTA) — The chief medical examiner of Pittsburgh’s Allegheny County released the names of the 11 victims of the synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh Saturday. The victims include two brothers, as well as a husband and wife. The youngest victim was 59 and the oldest… Read more »

PITTSBURGH (JTA) — It is after all, as any local will tell you, Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood. People here look out for one another. So when a group of students from Alderdice, a high school in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, emerged from their synagogues, their homes, their cafes after three… Read more »

(JTA) — The Pittsburgh synagogue shooting should be a turning point for the security of American Jewish institutions, a former leader of Belgian Jewry said. Joel Rubinfeld, a former president of the CCOJB umbrella group of Belgian Jewish communities and the current president of the Belgian League Against Anti-Semitism,… Read more »

(JTA) — The shooting in a Pittsburgh synagogue that has left 11 people dead has been described as “horrific,” “heinous” and “devastating” by Jewish leaders, politicians and Israeli leaders. “Our hearts are broken,” the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh posted on Facebook, saying it was making an exception and using social media… Read more »

  (JTA) — The alleged gunman who killed 11 people and injured six at a Pittsburgh synagogue on Saturday assailed the Jewish resettlement agency HIAS on his web page and said “I’m going in.” The shooting occurred shortly before 10 a.m. during a bris circumcision ceremony at The Tree of Life,… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Federal authorities arrested a man on Friday in Florida in connection with a series of mail bombs sent to figures who have been the target of President Donald Trump’s rhetoric. The media reported that the man was in his 50s. At least 12 explosive devices have… Read more »

Jon Simon

Jazz composer and performer Jon Simon will headline an evening of music and dining on Tuesday, Nov. 27 to launch the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Northwest Division’s annual campaign. Simon tours North America performing selections from his ninth and latest album, “SOAR,” as well as five highly successful… Read more »

"Kristallnacht: Shattered, Yet Unbroken" mandala by Robert Wertz

Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, refers to the windows broken at  synagogues, homes, and Jewish-owned businesses that were plundered and destroyed during a wave of violent anti-Jewish pogroms on Nov. 9 and 10, 1938 throughout Germany, Austria, and the Czech Sudetenland. The event is commonly thought to be… Read more »

Nancy Johnson, left, and Tim Hartin

Two Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona affinity groups will hold a joint event next month to discuss America’s growing opioid crisis and its effects on the local community. The Tucson Maimonides Society and Tucson Cardozo Society will host two local experts on the subject. Nancy Johnson, R.N., Ph.D., the… Read more »

Between heading local organizations or sitting on  boards, volunteering with humanitarian efforts or creating art, Anne Lowe, 70, finds time for everything and shows no sign of stopping. For nine years, she served as Northwest Jewish Connections coordinator (later Northwest Division director) and outreach director for the Jewish Federation… Read more »

Honey Manson loves the people of Tucson. Along with the warm weather, they are her favorite thing about the city. Unfortunately, the hard water of Arizona has been less kind to her. A plumbing leak caused by corrosion recently left her and her husband without water for five hours.… Read more »