News

AJP wins Arizona Newspapers Association award

The Arizona Jewish Post received an award in the Arizona Newspapers Association 2018 Better Newspapers Contest. The AJP won second place for Departmental News and Copy Editing Excellence in its division, non-dailies with a circulation of 3,500 to 10,000. The ANA presented the awards Oct. 6 at its annual… Read more »

Children’s program to blend music, mitzvot

Rabbi Israel Becker

A new musical program, Music, Memories, and Mitzvot, will weave song, stories, and learning about Jewish celebrations with the mitzvah of bringing joy to the elderly, says Rabbi Israel Becker of Congregation Chofetz Chayim. The program, for children ages 5-11, includes three Sunday classes in preparation for each of four… Read more »

Pianist David Syme to give concert at Temple Emanu-El

David Syme

Internationally renowned concert pianist David Syme will perform at Temple Emanu-El, Saturday, Nov. 3 at 7 p.m.  Syme is a distinguished soloist, an alumnus of Juilliard, and has over 20 CDs to his name. He makes regular appearances with orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic, the Vienna Symphony, and… Read more »

We’ve seen this before: Public charge rules used to disguise xenophobia

The Trump Administration recently proposed an unprecedented expansion in our country’s public charge rules for applicants for citizenship. For the first time, a legal immigrant to the United States can be considered ineligible for citizenship simply because they utilize SNAP — our nation’s food stamp program. These new public… Read more »

New delegation of local firefighters heading to Israel

An Israeli firefighter views a wildfire that broke out near Jerusalem, Nov. 25, 2016. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Six firefighters from Tucson will head to Israel next month to share their expertise in handling wildland fires. Since spring, incendiary kites and balloons launched from Gaza have burned thousands of acres of Israeli land. The trip is part of the Greater Tucson Fire Foundation’s Firefighters Beyond Borders program.… Read more »

Green Valley’s Beth Shalom Temple Center will host weekend with rabbi

A night view of the Beth Shalom Temple Center of Green Valley and its new labyrinth (Courtesy Lenny Friedman)

Beth Shalom Temple Center of Green Valley will host a weekend of events with Rabbi Norman T. Roman, Nov. 2-4. Roman has been the rabbi emeritus at Temple Kol Ami in West Bloomfield, Michigan, since 2016, after serving as senior rabbi for 30 years. The weekend marks a significant… Read more »

AARP age-friendly survey assesses Tucson

Last year, AARP Arizona conducted a telephone survey of adults 45 and older across Tucson in efforts to help make the city more age-friendly. AARP accepted the City of Tucson into its Network of Age Friendly Communities in October 2016 as the 122nd community. Tucson is the first Arizona… Read more »

JFSA women seek teen nominees for Zehngut award

The Women’s Philanthropy Advisory Council of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is seeking nominations for the 12th annual Bryna Zehngut Mitzvot Award, recognizing an outstanding Jewish teenage girl. The award honors Zehngut, a community leader who died in 2005. Nominees should be high school juniors or seniors who… Read more »

A guide to the Jewish Republican House candidates in the 2018 midterm elections

Rep. Lee Zeldin speaks at an event hosted by the Zionist Organization of America on Capitol Hill, May 9, 2018. (Zach Gibson/Getty Images)

By Ron Kampeas WASHINGTON (JTA) —  There are 16 Jewish Republican candidates running in U.S. House of Representatives races this fall. Two are incumbents and 14 are challengers. JTA is breaking down the races, assessing where the candidates stand on the political spectrum, noting their Jewish involvement and reporting what… Read more »

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen honored in Israel for her record on eve of her retirement

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Oct. 22, 2018. (Amos Ben-Gershom/Israeli Government Press Office)

  WASHINGTON (JTA) — Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, touring Israel on one of her final overseas trips as a congresswoman, is being feted as one of the Jewish state’s best friends in Congress. Ros-Lehtinen, a Florida Republican who has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1989, met Monday… Read more »

Netanyahu says he supports a Palestinian ‘state-minus’ controlled by Israeli security

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, is interviewed onstage by Jewish Federations of North America Chairman Richard Sandler at the General Assembly in Tel Aviv, Oct. 24, 2018. (Kobi Gideon/Israeli Government Press Office)

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled that he supported a Palestinian “state-minus,” wherein Israel would maintain a military presence across Israel and the West Bank. Netanyahu also said in a question-and-answer session Wednesday at the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America that… Read more »

A conference of American Jews seeks dialogue with Israelis. But which Israelis, and to what end?

Jerry Silverman, CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America, speaks at its General Assembly in Tel Aviv, Oct. 23, 2018. (Eyal Warshavsky/JFNA)

TEL AVIV (JTA) — On Sunday, a day before thousands of American Jews descended on this Israeli city to air their differences with the nation’s government, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin had a listening session. Rivlin invited a select group of about 100 American Jews to his official residence in… Read more »

Conservative rabbis can now attend intermarriages

(Mendy Hechtman/Flash90)

(JTA) — The Conservative movement’s rabbinical association will allow its rabbis to attend intermarriages. The policy change, which reverses a ban of four decades, was made last week in a vote of the Rabbinical Assembly’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, which determines the centrist movement’s Jewish legal rulings.… Read more »