Adas Israel Congregation’s Rabbi Gil Steinlauf greets President Obama, May 22, 2015. (Ron Sachs)
WASHINGTON (JTA) – President Barack Obama has a message for American Jews: I don’t shy away from disagreeing with Israel publicly, because I care about Israel and our shared values. The president marked Jewish American Heritage Month with a speech Friday at Washington’s oldest Jewish congregation, Adas Israel. His… Read more »
BDS demonstration at the White House in 2010 (Creative Commons)
(J) — Liana Kadisha, a senior at Stanford University, says some Jewish students on her campus feel they have to hide who they are. The 22-year-old knows of several who tuck their Star of David necklaces inside their shirts, self-conscious about drawing attention to their Jewish identity. That’s not… Read more »
Jimmy Wales on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: "You present what all sides have said and leave it to the reader to come to the answer." (Wikimedia Commons) TEL AVIV (JTA) — In 2003, two years after the website was founded, the editors of Wikipedia faced a dilemma: How should they refer to the part-fence, part-wall Israel was building along the West Bank border? The article’s first iteration — published amid the bloody second intifada, or Palestinian… Read more »
NEW YORK (JTA) — Forget fancy pastries, cakes or tarts: Trifles are the best dessert you can make for entertaining. They are delicious and look beautiful and impressive, but are actually one of the easiest desserts you can make. The first time I made a trifle was actually after… Read more »
Pope Francis greeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as the pope leaves St. Peter's Square at the end of a canonization ceremony in Vatican City, May 17, 2015. (Franco Origlia/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) – When considering the Vatican’s creep toward recognition of Palestinian statehood, think “Israel-Vatican” and not “Jewish-Catholic,” say Jewish officials involved in dialogue with the church. A May 13 announcement on an agreement regarding the functioning of the church in areas under Palestinian control raised eyebrows in its reference… Read more »
Israel's national soccer team training in Tel Aviv, Sept. 4, 2013. (Flash90)
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Israel’s diplomatic battles have spread to the soccer field. On May 29, the body that governs world soccer, FIFA, will vote on whether to suspend Israel from international play. FIFA’s 209-member countries will vote on a motion introduced by the Palestinian Football Association, which is… Read more »
NEW YORK (JTA) – A 39-year-old executive with an education startup and a 20-year-old naval academy student were among the seven people confirmed dead from an Amtrak train derailment in Philadelphia. Rachel Jacobs, the executive, who also is the daughter of former Michigan State Senator Gilda Jacobs, and Justin… Read more »
Fran Katz For longtime community volunteer Fran Katz, working at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is “like coming home.” “This is where I want to be. I’ve been so passionate about Federation for almost 30 years — since Jeff and I got here, we have been volunteering,” says Katz, who… Read more »
An Israeli DJ from Los Angeles had people moving to the beat all afternoon.
More than 1,000 Tucsonans of all ages turned out April 26 to celebrate Israel’s 67th Independence Day at the Tucson Jewish Community Center’s sculpture garden, organized by the Weintraub Israel Center in cooperation with numerous community partners. Participants enjoyed music, food and activity booths centered on the theme of… Read more »
The new entrance of the Holocaust History Center, sharing a plaza with the Jewish History Museum, will allow for easy traffic flow from one museum to the other.
On Wednesday, May 20, designs for the expanded Holocaust History Center at the Jewish History Museum will be presented to the public. The event, “A Beacon and a Hope,” is an opportunity to learn about conceptual approaches that will be implemented in the expanded exhibition prior to the June… Read more »
CAMP J Grades K-12 • 1 and 2 week options, May 26-July 31 At the Tucson Jewish Community Center; now open to nonmembers. ACA accredited. Around the world theme with field trips, friendship projects, swimming, games, arts and crafts, music, dance, drama, sports, community service, science and Friday parties. Information:… Read more »
Tucsonan David Lowe at El Tiro Gliderport in Marana (Courtesy David Lowe)
Ever had that dream when you’re soaring above the earth, peering down at the miniaturized version of life, whistling through the clouds, watching the birds swooping by? Welcome to David Lowe’s favorite hobby: gliding. A lifelong aviation enthusiast, Lowe became hooked on gliding after his first ride in 2007.… Read more »
Mayor Jonathan Rothschild Judaism advises us to “clothe, feed and shelter ones in need as if our own bodies.” So said Rabbi Stephanie Aaron of Congregation Chaverim in her welcome to around 100 people at the “Poverty in Tucson: Local Leaders Forum,” sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation… Read more »
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), left, shakes hands with ranking member Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) during a committee markup meeting on the proposed nuclear agreement with Iran on April 14, 2015. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) – The Iran deal may not be done, but bids by its opponents to shape it are all but buried. Skeptics of the nuclear negotiations have all but given up on a congressional role before the June 30 deadline for an agreement between Iran and the major… Read more »
TAIBEH, Israel (JTA) — To get to her assigned kindergarten, Biyan Azam, then 5, would have had to walk alone through a bustling commercial district and cross a busy intersection. This Arab-Israeli city does not provide school buses and would not transfer Biyan to a school nearer to her home here.… Read more »
Al Schwimmer, who guided the vast operation to build Israel's air force, with Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. (Courtesy of Boaz Dvir)
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — The Israeli Air Force is getting its moment in the spotlight, with two documentaries airing on television stations and at film festivals, while a feature movie waits in the, ahem, wings. The focus of the films is not on today’s highly professional IAF or its astonishing… Read more »
NEW YORK (JTA) – The Pew Research Center’s newly released 2014 U.S. Religious Landscape Study offers a trove of data on American Jews based on interviews with 35,071 American adults, 847 of whom identified their faith as Jewish. Here are some of the more interesting findings about the Jews. … Read more »
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Obama administration officials have long contended that the friction between the U.S. president and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not personal and that American support for Israel remains as robust as ever — and arguably even more robust by some metrics. But a year of… Read more »
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Israel’s last governing coalition — divided on war, peace and economics — did agree on one thing: Israel’s religious policies needed to change. Now it appears that the incoming coalition will be organized around the opposite principle: Those changes must end. A coalition agreement signed… Read more »
Brandeis Asian Club: A project of the Brandeis Asian American Student Association aims to raise awareness about sterotyping at Brandeis. (Uriel Heilman)
WALTHAM, Mass. (JTA) – When Jeff Wang was applying to U.S. colleges more than two years ago from his home near Shanghai, Brandeis University was a top choice. Like many Chinese students now at Brandeis, he had discovered the university on Chinese Internet forums that touted the school’s academic rankings and its… Read more »
