News

Israeli forces raid West Bank weapons factories as part of crackdown

Israeli soldiers seizing dozens of illegal weapons in the West Bank, Aug. 23, 2016. (Courtesy of IDF Spokesperson’s Unit)
August 25, 2016 / Andrew Tobin, JTA

  JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli security forces shut down six illegal weapons manufacturing factories in the West Bank in what the army said was the biggest such operation of an ongoing crackdown. The raids conducted jointly by the Israel Defense Forces, Shin Bet security service and Israel Police took place Monday night in Bethlehem and Hebron.… Read more »

ADL gets new Arizona director

Carlos Galindo-Elvira
August 25, 2016 / Phyllis Braun, AJP Executive Editor

Carlos Galindo-Elvira,  the Anti- Defamation League’s new Arizona regional director, wants Tucson Jewish community leaders to know the ADL is there for them, “whether it’s a 411 call, to get information or resources, or a 911 call” in a situation where the ADL can play a role. Galindo-Elvira is… Read more »

Colitis complicates local teen’s life but has not dampened her spirit

Rachel Levy, left, and her mother, Nanci Levy (Korene Charnofsky Cohen)
August 25, 2016 / Korene Charnofsky Cohen, Special to the AJP

Rachel Levy spent her childhood struggling with ulcerative colitis, but she didn’t give in to self-pity. While learning how to manage the symptoms of the disease, she reached out to help others, earning the title of “Hero” from the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America. “My dream is to… Read more »

UA student’s research is breakthrough in pain, addiction
August 25, 2016 / Laura Wilson Etter, Special to the AJP
Alexander Sandweiss

Understanding how to provide narcotics for pain management, while avoiding potential addiction to opiates, can be difficult for physicians and patients alike. Chronic pain affects more than 100 million Americans and opioids such as morphine have been the mainstay therapy for many years. Yet growing evidence suggests that prescription… Read more »

Witnessing joyous French aliyah — and hoping Diaspora can be sustained

(L-R): Tucsonans Bobby Present, Fran Katz and Deborah Oseran in Paris on the Jewish Federations of North America Campaign and Directors Mission in July.
August 25, 2016 / Deborah Oseran, Special to the AJP

This July, as incoming 2017 Campaign chair for the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, I had the opportunity, with my husband, Bobby Present, and Fran Katz, JFSA senior vice president, to participate in a Jewish Federations of North America Campaign and Directors Mission to France and Israel. The emotional… Read more »

JFCS Sherman Institute program to tackle tough issues
August 25, 2016 /
Paige Hector

“What would happen to me if I had a severe stroke and couldn’t communicate?” “What would happen if my spouse gets dementia and stops eating?” People sometimes choose to ignore these kind of tough issues rather than talk about them. To help change that, Jewish Family & Children’s Services… Read more »

Gang-to-rabbinate bio topic for Women’s Academy brunch
August 25, 2016 /

“Incredible! From the Bronx to Bnei Brak: The Amazing True Story of Rabbi Yossi Wallis” by Rabbi Nachman Seltzer is the title for this year’s Women’s Academy for Jewish Studies community-wide book brunch, which will be presented by Southwest Torah Institute at  Congregation Chofetz Chayim on Sunday, Sept. 25… Read more »

MD to speak on women’s rights and access to healthcare
August 25, 2016 /
Eve Shapiro, M.D.

The Secular Humanist Jewish Circle will sponsor a lecture by Eve Shapiro, M.D., “What Century Are We In? Women’s Rights and Access to Healthcare,” on Saturday, Sept. 10, 1:30-4 p.m. at   Academy Hall, Atria Bell Court Gardens, 6653 E. Carondelet Drive.  Shapiro, a Tucson pediatrician, specializes in adolescent… Read more »

At ethical wills class, talk of gratitude, regrets

Rabbi Stephanie Aaron blows a shofar at Jewish Family & Children’s Services’ ethical wills workshop at Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging Aug. 11. (Korene Charnofsky Cohen)
August 25, 2016 / Korene Charnofsky Cohen, Special to the AJP

An ordinary will is about leaving money and property. But there is also a way to leave the legacy of who you are and your values, philosophy, religious beliefs, what you hold most dear — even your favorite recipe. This is called an ethical will. About 20 people gathered… Read more »

Jewish community website now features Nosh & More recipe exchange
August 25, 2016 /

Jewishtucson.org, Tucson’s Jewish community website, has launched Nosh & More, a recipe exchange. At jewishtucson.org/nosh-more, food lovers can submit everything from treasured traditional recipes to contemporary takes on Jewish cuisine. Participants are encouraged to include a bit of history or a fond remembrance on what makes the recipe special… Read more »

How Paris public schools became no-go zones for Jews

Children peer out from a doorway as armed soldiers patrol outside their school in the Jewish quarter of the Marais district in Paris, France, Jan. 13, 2015. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
August 24, 2016 / Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA

  PARIS (JTA) — Twenty-five years after he graduated from a public high school in the French capital, Stephane Tayar recalls favorably his time in one of the world’s most thorough education systems. As for many other French Jews his age, the state-subsidized upbringing has worked out well for Tayar,… Read more »

Is Donald Trump’s proposal to keep out anti-Semites practical — or ethical?

Immigrants take their oath of U.S. citizenship at the Federal Building in Newark, N.J., Nov. 20, 2014. (John Moore/Getty Images)
August 21, 2016 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — How extreme does vetting need to be to keep anti-Semites from entering the United States, and is Donald Trump’s plan worth the effort? The Republican nominee’s proposal to apply an ideological test to potential immigrants is based on precedent: The United States in the last century instituted… Read more »

OP-ED How Mike Pence, Trump’s VP pick, supports traditional Jewish values

Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana, right, at the Republican Jewish Coalition spring leadership meeting in Las Vegas, April 25, 2015. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
August 21, 2016 / Elliot Bartky and Allon Friedman, JTA

(JTA) — With the presidential race heating up, a number of progressive Jewish commentators have portrayed the Republicans’ vice presidential candidate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, as a conservative extremist opposed to Jewish beliefs and values. As officers of the only statewide, grassroots Jewish and Israel advocacy organization in Indiana —… Read more »

OP-ED Why Tim Kaine, Clinton’s VP pick, is good for Israel and Jewish values

Then-Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, left, speaks with Rabbi Jack Moline and Moline's son Max at the Virginia Statehouse. (Courtesy of Jack Moline)
August 21, 2016 / Ben Cardin, JTA

(JTA) — American Jewish voters have naturally voted for Democratic candidates because it has meant voting to support strong social justice and a strong U.S.-Israel relationship. Hillary Clinton and her vice presidential choice, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, will continue Democratic action on economic and educational opportunities, retirement security… Read more »

In linking Black Lives Matter with Palestinian cause, Miami lawmaker riles pro-Israel activists

Florida State Sen. Dwight Bullard, wearing a Palestinian kaffiyeh, or headscarf, at the Democratic National Convention, July 2016. (Ben Sales)
August 21, 2016 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Pro-Israel activists in the Miami area plan to protest a Florida state senator active in the Black Lives Matter movement who visited the West Bank as the guest of a group that backs the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. Organizers of the protest against Dwight Bullard said… Read more »

Once a prop for anti-Semites, the Talmud makes a comeback in Russia

The cover of a new Russian translation of the Talmud (Courtesy of Knizhniki publishing house)
August 21, 2016 / Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA

(JTA) — A century ago, passages from the Talmud were translated into Russian to be used as evidence in the anti-Semitic show trial of Menahem Mendel Beilis, a Jew charged with — and eventually acquitted of – murdering a Christian boy. The prosecution in that 1915 trial, which was decried… Read more »

At 80, a Munich Olympics and Holocaust survivor is still the sportsman

Shaul Ladany in his suburban Beersheba home with a prized piece of his Theodor Herzl collection, left. (Hillel Kuttler)
August 19, 2016 / Hillel Kutler, JTA

  OMER, Israel (JTA) – Shaul Ladany, a two-time Olympian, acknowledged that he was “very happy” that the International Olympic Committee finally held an official memorial for the 11 Israelis who were killed in a terrorist raid at the 1972 Munich games. But Ladany, an Israeli racewalker who still… Read more »

Marian Lupu, founder of Pima Council on Aging, dies at 91
August 17, 2016 / Phyllis Braun, AJP Executive Editor
Marian Lupu

Updated Aug. 26,2016 Marian Lupu, born Hannah Marian Koffman, 91, died Aug. 14, 2016. Born in Chicago, Lupu received a master’s degree from the University of Chicago. She married Charles Lupu in 1948 and settled in Tucson in 1966. She was the founding executive director of the Pima Council… Read more »