Ellie Chestnut and David Abram take a stroll during their wedding in Brooklyn, New York. (Lorie Kleiner Eckert)
At the end of a Jewish wedding ceremony, there is the dramatic moment in which a wine glass (wrapped in a napkin) is placed on the ground. The groom stomps on and shatters the wine glass as the assembled guests shout their congratulations, “Mazel tov!” There are many interpretations… Read more »
Seth Windham with the lovin’ Ozzie
All hounds were on deck Sunday for a Blessing of the Pets at Congregation Anshei Israel, led by Rabbi Robert Eisen. About two dozen dogs attended, and a half-dozen cats were blessed virtually through photographs or with stuffed stand-ins. One dog even brought her stuffed cat for blessing. The… Read more »
Joan-e Rapine, MS, LAC, NCC, a clinical therapist at Jewish Family & Children’s Services, will lead an interactive discussion, “Domestic Violence and the Impact on Our Community: Let’s Work Together to End the Problem and Become Part of the Solution” on Sunday, Oct. 28, 10 a.m. to noon at… Read more »
Hurricane Michael hits land in Panama City, Fla., Oct. 10, 2018. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
(JTA) — When he and his wife moved to Pensacola, Florida, on Sunday afternoon, Rabbi Mendel Danow expected to spend the following couple of weeks settling in and buying supplies for their new home. Instead, two days after getting off the plane, Danow found himself driving to a Walmart… Read more »
A.J. Jacobs, right, picks coffee cherries, which contain coffee beans, in Colombia. (Courtesy of Jacobs)
(JUF News via JTA) — Author A.J. Jacobs has encouraged his three sons to be grateful for all they have. He and his wife urge them to write thank-you notes, to thank the bus driver — even thank their household robot Alexa for weather forecasts. Jacobs, who is Jewish, sometimes says… Read more »
A Torah scroll that fleeing Jews hid 75 years ago at a church Is returned to the Great Synagogue of Copenhagen, Denmark, Oct. 11, 2018. (Cnaan Liphshiz)
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (JTA) — Danish Jews celebrated their community’s rescue 75 years ago in a ceremony Thursday at the country’s main synagogue, the packed sanctuary filled with dozens of survivors and luminaries. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin was among those on hand at the Great Synagogue of Copenhagen, joining Crown… Read more »
Dianne Feinstein WASHINGTON (JTA) — There are 56 candidates for Congress who identify as Jewish. Among them are 41 Democrats: five are running for the Senate — three incumbents and two challengers. Among the 36 in the U.S. House of Representatives, 18 are incumbents and 18 are challengers. (Three incumbent Jewish… Read more »
Art teacher Amy Novelli has joined Tucson Hebrew Academy. Originally from Ohio, Novelli graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Columbus College of Art & Design and earned her Master of Fine Arts from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. She worked as a sculptor for… Read more »
Dana Adler has been elected president of the Women of Reform Judaism Pacific District for a two-year term. She will be installed at the WRJ 2018 Pacific District Convention, which will be held in San Diego Oct. 18-21. The district comprises 13 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. Adler… Read more »
At Passport to Peace on Sept. 17, Tucson Hebrew Academy’s student council helps fellow students prepare gift bags to be delivered to young patients at the Diamond Children’s Medical Center.
Tucson Hebrew Academy’s student government held its annual Passport to Peace event Monday, Sept. 17. Taking place around the Jewish High Holidays, it provides students an opportunity to reflect and to learn about ways they can do mitzvot and actively participate in tikkun olam (repair of the world). Representatives… Read more »
More than 75 people attended Splish Splash in the Sukkah, a joint event co-hosted by Tucson Hebrew Academy, PJ Library and PJ Our Way on Sunday, Sept. 30. The event included a reading of “Leo and Blossom’s Sukkah” by Jane Breskin Zalben, making rain sticks in the THA sukkah,… Read more »
NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 24: United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley attends a media briefing during the United Nations General Assembly on September 24, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — When Nikki Haley said on Tuesday that she would be stepping down as U.N. ambassador by the end of this year, the Israeli and pro-Israel laments poured out swiftly. Haley didn’t simply defend Israel and its government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as her predecessors… Read more »
Protesters outside the main gates of Columbia in New York City called on the university administration to do more to protect pro-Israel students, Oct. 4, 2018. (Ben Sales)
NEW YORK (JTA) – The organizers of a rally to support pro-Israel students at Columbia University didn’t want the Jewish Defense League to show up. And yet there they were, a few demonstrators wearing the extremist right-wing group’s insignia, a clenched fist punching into a yellow Jewish star. The… Read more »
Brazilian presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro is shown after casting his vote in Rio de Janeiro, Oct. 7, 2018. (Fernando Souza/AFP/Getty Images)
RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) — Jair Bolsonaro, an ardently pro-Israel candidate who is highly divisive among Jews for his sometimes politically incorrect rhetoric, won the first round of Brazil’s presidential election and remains the front-runner to lead the Latin American nation. Bolsonaro, a 63-year-old conservative Christian congressman, won 46… Read more »
A handbill made by the Jewish Welfare Board in 1918 is on display at the exhibit "For Liberty: American Jewish Experience in WWI" at the National WWI Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Mo. (Gift of the Anne and John P. McNulty Foundation)
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The scribbled, shorthand note is faded, but the formal origins of the first modern Jewish state are clear: “H(is) M(ajesty’s) G(overnment) accepts the principle that P(alestine) shld. reconstitute as the Natl. Home of the J(ewish) P(eople) …” Jotted on stationery from London’s Imperial Hotel, the memo… Read more »
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 26: Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn addresses delegates on day four of the Labour Party conference at the Arena and Convention Centre on September 26, 2018 in Liverpool, England. In his closing speech to the conference the Labour leader will promise to 'kickstart a green jobs revolution' and expand the provision of free childcare should Labour win power. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)
Steeped in anti-Semitism accusations involving him and his supporters, British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has made many Jewish enemies — including inside his own party. But one of his most effective critics is not Jewish. He is a meteorology student at the University of Reading who describes himself… Read more »
Oh, if I could count the many discussions my husband and I have had on this topic — multiple times a day on some days. Pros, cons; the list begins. Our house fit us well enough and served its purpose well enough when we bought it 12 years ago.… Read more »
Silvia Foti visits a friend in Vilnius, Lithuania, July 2013. (Ina Budryte)
(JTA) — Barring unexpected delays, Silvia Foti is months away from fulfilling an old promise that’s become her life’s work: to write a biography of her late grandfather, who is a national hero in his native Lithuania. Foti, a 60-year-old high school teacher from Chicago, made the pledge to… Read more »
A national expert in multigenerational fundraising will be on hand for the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona 2019 Campaign training next month, dubbed “Inspire and Inquire.” Dirk Bird is a former Wexner Graduate Fellow and a certified trainer at 21/64, a nonprofit practice providing advising, facilitation, and training for family… Read more »
Daniel Asia The 11th annual Music + Festival at the University of Arizona will focus on the music of Claude Debussy, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of his death, and Daniel Asia, in honor of his 65th birthday and 30 years in residence at the UA’s Fred Fox School of… Read more »
