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Tikkun olam: Gail Birin

Gail Birin

No matter where she’s lived, Gail Birin says being tapped into the Jewish community has always been an essential part of her life. “I feel I’m just continuing my life’s work, the work I grew up with and the culture I grew up with,” says Birin. “The ones who… Read more »

Forum on Arab-Israeli conflict to be aired live

On Sunday, Sept. 10, the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies will live stream an international conference, “Looking Back, Looking Forward: 100 Years of the Arab-Israeli Conflict,” hosted at Brandeis University by the Crown Center for Middle East Studies. The broadcast will begin at 8:30 a.m. at the Tucson Jewish… Read more »

These Christians celebrate Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur

A Living Church of God congregation in San Diego celebrates the Feast of Tabernacles -- the church's name for Sukkot -- in 2016. (Courtesy of the Living Church of God)

  NEW YORK (JTA) — On the night of Rosh Hashanah, thousands of people will leave work, gather in congregations across the globe and worship God, the ruler of the world. Ten days later they will begin a fast and gather again to pray, this time atoning for their… Read more »

OP-ED From Rome to Charlottesville, a statue is never just a statue

The Arch of Titus at the Imperial Forums in Rome. (DeAgostini/Getty Images)

  NEW YORK (JTA) — French historian Pierre Nora spent his life describing and explaining “places of memory,” sites commemorating significant moments in the history of a community that continue to resonate and transform from generation to generation. For the French Republic, the Arc de Triomphe is one such… Read more »

Jewish groups attack Trump’s call to end DACA immigration program

“Dreamers” originally from Ecuador at a rally in Manhattan watch Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ speak on ending the DACA program, Sept. 5, 2017. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

  WASHINGTON (JTA) — An array of Jewish groups and lawmakers attacked as immoral President Donald Trump’s decision to end an Obama-era program granting protections to illegal immigrants who arrived in the United States as children. The Trump administration said Monday that it would end the Deferred Action for… Read more »

OP-ED Billy Joel wore a yellow Jewish star. Thanks, but the trend should stop there.

Billy Joel performs at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Aug. 21, 2017. (Myrna M. Suarez/Getty Images)

NEW YORK (JTA) — Few artifacts of the Holocaust move me like the yellow star. Homely and seemingly innocuous, they sit in museum cases either by themselves or still attached to a jacket or blouse, the stitching rough and the lettering surprisingly crude. They are almost comically, cartoonishly blunt,… Read more »

Rabbi leads a team of spiritual first responders in storm-tossed Texas

Rabbi Shira Stern of Marlboro, N.J., is a disaster spiritual care provider for the American Red Cross. (Courtesy of Stern)

(JTA) — It was a day before Hurricane Harvey was due to make landfall, and Rabbi Shira Stern knew she was headed for Texas. As a director of Disaster Spiritual Care for the American Red Cross, she knew there would be people who would have other needs beyond shelter,… Read more »

Jewish summer camps are reopening to host Houston victims

Rescue workers and volunteers help residents make their way out of a flooded neighborhood after it was inundated with rain following Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Aug. 29, 2017. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

(JTA) — Three weeks ago, Lauren Laderman left Camp Young Judaea-Texas after serving as the unit head for 14-year-olds this summer. Then Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas coast, and Laderman was back at camp, this time preparing the cabins for evacuees in need of a place to live. On Tuesday,… Read more »

Cello goddess Maya Beiser wants classical music to rock like Janis Joplin

Maya Beiser performing an orchestral version of David Bowie's "Blackstar" album at the L'Auditori in Barcelona, Spain, July 13, 2017. (Robert Marquardt/Redfern)

NEW YORK (JTA) — There’s a small music room in the basement of cellist Maya Beiser’s large, kempt house in the leafy Riverdale section of the Bronx. It’s pretty spare — a few cellos, some basic recording equipment and posters from past concerts. Against one wall, though, rests a… Read more »

Does Berlin’s mayor belong on Wiesenthal Center’s top 10 list for anti-Semitism? Local leaders say no.

Berlin Mayor Michael Muller, right, speaks with Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal in Berlin, July 19, 2017. (Matthias Nareyek/Pool/Getty Images)

(JTA) — Berlin’s mayor, many local Jewish leaders agree, could do more to counter the city’s vocal BDS movement. But does that make him an anti-Semite? A report that the California-based Simon Wiesenthal Center may include Mayor Michael Müller on its annual list of the world’s 10 worst cases… Read more »

When Israelis protest, they don’t tear down statues. They put them up.

A gold statue of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is taken down at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, Dec. 6, 2016. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

JERUSALEM (JTA) – Israel recently got two new statues of political leaders: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Supreme Court President Miriam Naor. However, both statues were torn down within hours. For their creators, that was part of the point. Israel has very few official statues of its leaders —… Read more »

Krakow JCC’s new preschool signals hope for a community’s rebirth

Sara Zielinski, with her mother Elizabeth, center, and a volunteer at a pre-Shabbat program at the Jewish Community Center of Krakow. Sara is part of the inaugural class of Frajda, the first pluralistic Jewish nursery and preschool in Krakow since World War II. (Courtesy of Jewish Community Center of Krakow)

KRAKOW, Poland (JTA) — Michal Zielinski, a 47-year-old from this city, grew up unaware of his Jewish roots. Thirty years after discovering that his paternal family is Jewish, following the death of his grandmother, Zielinski and his wife, Elizabeth are active members of the Jewish Community Center of Krakow,… Read more »

Arizona Jewish Post and Jewish Federation move dates set

The Arizona Jewish Post and Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona will be relocating to our new home at the Harvey and Deanna Evenchik Center for Jewish Philanthropy. We will share this new site with the Jewish Community Foundation. The move is scheduled  for Sept.  & and 8. We will resume… Read more »

This haredi medic pioneered psychological first aid in Israel — now she’s helping Houston

Miriam Ballin, holding her baby daughter, at the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem. (Courtesy of Ballin)

JERUSALEM (JTA) – Jerusalem therapist Miriam Ballin is the kind of person who takes the initiative. Despite resistance from her haredi Orthodox community, she became a medic. Then she launched a pacesetting psychological first aid unit. Clearly she was not just going to stand idly by while Tropical Storm… Read more »

UA panel to address significance of controversial monuments

What: “White Supremacy, Monuments and Memory: Charlottesville in Historical Context,” a panel discussion with experts from the University of Arizona history department When: 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 30 Where: Integrated Learning Center, 1500 E. University Blvd., Room 120 TUCSON, Ariz. — In light of recent events, cities across the… Read more »

Jewish Federations respond to Hurricane Harvey

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona has joined with the Jewish Federations of North America to help the victims of Hurricane Harvey, now a tropical storm. In an email to the community today, Stuart Mellan, JFSA president and CEO, and Shelly Silverman, JFSA chair, wrote: “Over the past few… Read more »

Medals and memories for teens at Maccabi Games

Tucssonans Gabe Green (front row, fourth from left) and Gabe Friedman (back row, third from left) were part of a multi-city team that won gold for 14U soccer. (Denise Wolf)

Ten teen-aged athletes from Tucson teamed up with other Jewish athletes from across the United States, Israel and Ukraine for the 2017 Maccabi Games in Birmingham, Ala., this summer.  And they’re already looking forward to next summer’s games — not just for the sports or the fun, but for… Read more »