Rabbi Avi Feldman, left, and wife Mushky are moving with daughters Chana and Batsheva to Iceland. (Chabad.org) (JTA) — The Chabad movement is sending a rabbi and his wife to Iceland, an island nation with 250 Jews where ritual slaughter of animals is illegal and circumcision is likely to be outlawed as well. Rabbi Avi Feldman, 27, of Brooklyn, New York, and his Sweden-born wife Mushky,… Read more »
SOUTHAMPTON, UNITED KINGDOM: Billy Graham, the American evangelist, the Bible beneath his hand, pounds his knee as he is interviewed aboard the liner "United States" 26 February 1954 upon his arrival from New York to Southampton. Graham, (son of a dairy farmer, born in 1918 in Charlotte, NC), attended Florida Bible Institute and was ordained a Southern Baptist minister in 1939 and quickly gained a reputation as a preacher. During the 1950s he conducted a series of highly organized revivalist campaigns in the USA and UK, and later in South America, the USSR and Western Europe. (Photo credit should read AFP/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Billy Graham, the giant of American evangelism who was exalted by Jews for his championing of Israel at its hour of need and then condemned when a nasty anti-Semitic streak was revealed, has died. Graham, 99, died at his home in Montreat, North Carolina, media… Read more »
Lavan's cohort of 25 fellows is examining the intersection between impact investing and Judaism. (Courtesy of Lavan)
NEW YORK (JTA) — For all of its modern history, the American Jewish community has pursued most of its goals through philanthropy — funding programs and institutions through donations and charitable giving that relies heavily on the generosity of wealthy people. But what if the community could achieve those… Read more »
From left to right: Army Lt. Col Naomi Mercer, New York National Guard Col. Rich Goldenberg and retired Army Col. Herb Rosenbleeth, the executive director of Jewish War Veterans of the USA, at a JWV Shabbaton in Arlington Va., Feb. 10, 2018. (Ron Kampeas)
ARLINGTON, Va. (JTA) — Jews don’t serve in the military. Jews shouldn’t serve in the military. Forget about being Jewish — the mission comes first. Like a lot of other Jewish dilemmas, what’s old for Jews who serve in the U.S. military is new again, and the organization established… Read more »
Holocaust survivors protesting Poland's new bill on Holocaust rhetoric in front of the Polish Embassy in Tel Aviv, Feb. 8, 2018. (Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP/Getty Images)
(JTA) — The row between Poland and Israel about the Holocaust reached new heights this week after Poland’s prime minister said that the genocide had not only Polish, Ukrainian and German perpetrators, but Jewish ones as well. Addressing a new law that criminalizes blaming Poland for Nazi crimes, Mateusz Morawiecki said… Read more »
The U.S. Capitol building shown on Feb. 9, 2018. (Zach Gibson/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Jews in and around the nation’s capital do plenty of Jewish things. Many of them just don’t do those things as members of Jewish institutions. That’s one of the main takeaways from a wide-ranging survey of Washington, D.C.-area Jews published this week by the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington.… Read more »
© 2012 Peter Billard Photographer, 160 Oak Street Unit 206, Glastonbury, CT 860-633-6300 [email protected] WASHINGTON (JTA) — Jay Marshall Wolman, like a thousand other lawyers on Twitter, is wry, maybe a little coarse and, well, Jewish, peppering his tweets with Hebrew blessings and other Jewish references. He gets deadly serious, though, if you ask him why he is the lead attorney representing Andrew… Read more »
Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel speaking at a news conference near Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., Feb. 15, 2018. Seventeen people were killed there a day earlier by a lone gunman. (Amy Beth Bennett/Sun Sentinel/TNS via Getty Images)
(JTA) — As he leads the police response to the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel is likely enduring some of the toughest days of his career. And he’s probably looking to his Judaism to guide him through it. Israel is the county’s first Jewish… Read more »
Kristi Gilroy hugs a young woman at a police checkpoint near the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., Feb. 15, 2018. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
(JTA) — They volunteered. They played soccer. They went to camp. They were sweet, mature and easygoing. They were just beginning their lives, or helping others on their way. And one may have died so that others could live. Jewish students and staff were among the 17 people who… Read more »
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking at the Tel Aviv Convention Center, Feb.14, 2018. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
(JTA) — Police are recommending charges of bribery and breach of trust against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He’s saying the case police have made is “full of holes, like Swiss cheese.” Police allege Netanyahu received expensive gifts from supporters in return for advancing their interests, including expensive cigars… Read more »
Qatar's emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, at the Gulf Cooperation Council summit at the Bayan Palace in Kuwait City, Dec. 5, 2017. (Giuseppe Cacace/AFP/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — There’s a battle going on among pro-Israel leaders, and it’s over Qatar. It’s like watching ice hockey players clear the bench for a brawl, only the antagonists are all on the same team. The folks lining up to praise or bury the emirate are best known… Read more »
Israeli soldiers taking positions near the border with Syria, Feb. 10, 2018. (Jalaa Marey/AFP/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Israel and Iran have been clashing for years. But on Saturday, their war of words briefly became an actual fight. In short succession, Iran sent a drone into Israel, Israel shot it down and took out the drone launcher in Syria, Iranian-allied Syria downed an Israeli plane,… Read more »
Pictured, left to right, Ruben Rosthenhausler as Louie, Stephanie Howell as Bella, and Michelle Holland as Gert in a scene from the Arizona Rose Theatre production of “Lost in Yonkers.” The Arizona Rose Theatre is bringing back one of its most popular shows, Neil Simon’s “Lost in Yonkers,” beginning Feb. 24. Winner of the Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize, this heartfelt comedy is drawn from Simon’s experiences growing up in New York City. Set during… Read more »
Pawel Lichter, a Holocaust survivor who lives in Tucson, will present “A Polish Jew’s Story of Survival” at a community event sponsored by the Northwest Division of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona on Tuesday, Feb. 13 at 6 p.m. at the Northwest office, 190 W. Magee Road, Suite… Read more »
Jewish Family & Children’s Services will sponsor a free screening of the 2016 film “Denial,” starring Rachel Weisz and Tom Wilkinson, on Tuesday, Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. The film recounts the true story of historian Deborah Lipstadt, played by Weisz. The screening… Read more »
Dr. BJ Miller Dr. BJ Miller seeks to change the way we die. This preeminent speaker will share his thoughts on maximizing quality of life and minimizing unnecessary suffering at the Ninth Annual Cindy Wool Memorial Seminar on Humanism in Healthcare on Thursday, March 29. An expert on patient-centered, palliative, and end-of-life… Read more »
Chefs Mike Felde (left) and Alan Sanchez outside of Fuison'z Cafe at the University of Arizona's Hillel Foundation.
Fusion’z Café is offering a new take on kosher favorites, from dressing up falafel with wild mushrooms and caramelized onions to offering five variations on avocado toast. This is not your grandma’s spread. Fusion’z is the new installment inside the University of Arizona Hillel, replacing the Oy Vey Café,… Read more »
The Sparks cheer team practices a pyramid formation, with Peter Ruiz at the center, at the Tucson Jewish Community Center.
In August, Allison Wexler, Tucson’s Jewish community special abilities coordinator, was exploring athletic programming ideas for individuals with special needs. When she learned the Tucson Jewish Community Center would be forming a flag football league, she thought, “What does football need? Cheerleaders.” Wexler created a new program at the… Read more »
Neva Small, right, as Chava in 'Fiddler on the Roof,' with, from left, Rosalind Harris, as Tzeitel and Michele Marsh as Hodel.
“Tradition, tradition, tradition!” sings out the cast in the opening number of “Fiddler on the Roof.” Neva Small, the woman who played Tevye’s third daughter, Chava, in the film version of the beloved musical, has always taken this entreaty to heart. Now Small, who has created her own traditions… Read more »
Roza Simkhovich
Roza Simkhovich is proud to say that she has been an American for nearly 39 years. She and her family came from Latvia, a Baltic country formerly part of the Soviet Union, to the United States looking for relief from anti-Semitism. As an educator for nearly 30 years, she… Read more »
