News

HANOVER, Germany (JTA) — Seventy years after the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp by British troops, some 100 people personally touched by the history returned to the site to share their memories and warn against forgetting. Among them were children born at a displaced persons camp for survivors less than two miles… Read more »

TEL AVIV (JTA) —A man was trampled. A raucous protest broke out, restrained only by police. The Western Wall’s mechitza — a partition between men and women considered sacrosanct — was breached by those who ostensibly care about it most. The brouhaha that erupted last week at Women of the Wall’s monthly service… Read more »

TEL AVIV (JTA) — When the ground began to shake, Inbar Irron was among a dozen Israelis in Nepal who ran outside the building where they had been sitting — and straight into a cloud of dust. When their vision cleared, they saw a devastating scene: Much of the village of Manegau,… Read more »

Two days ago a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal. The latest numbers suggest over 4,000 people have been killed and thousands more injured. According to the United Nations, the death toll is likely to rise to the tens of thousands in Nepal, India and China. The Jewish Federations of North… Read more »

It’s hard to catch up with Dan Naturman these days. The New York comic is bouncing around the world performing everywhere, including a stop in the Old Pueblo for the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s “Men’s Night Out” event on April 30 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Just… Read more »

TEL AVIV (JTA) — For help facing its worst drought in centuries, California should look to a country that beat its own chronic water shortage: Israel. Until a few years ago, Israel’s wells seemed like they were always running dry. TV commercials urged Israelis to conserve water. Newspapers tracked… Read more »

(JTA) — After Russia invaded Ukraine in March 2014, Israel resisted pressure to join the United States and its European allies in condemning the move — citing in particular its concern not to antagonize Russia for fear it could provide Syria with a powerful anti-aircraft missile called the S-300.… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) – Election Day is 19 months away, but the campaign already has begun. Aside from Democrat Hillary Clinton, three Republican candidates with reasonable chances at the nomination have declared and several others are on the cusp. The Republican Party says it’s been making inroads with Jewish voters, who… Read more »

Ed Harris’ suspenders celebrate his British heritage. (Sarah Chen/AJP)

Edward Harris still celebrates the day he arrived in New York from London with only $28 in his pocket: Feb. 8, 1954. A dual citizen of the United States and Britain, he feels fortunate to have slowed his globetrotting days here in Tucson. Harris was born in 1934, just… Read more »

“Cool,” says a student with the University of Arizona Hillel Foundation. “Lovely,” says a Handmaker resident. “Vital,” says another. They’re talking about a program that has been bringing Hillel students together with Handmaker residents, started by Adam Fox, Hillel’s engagement associate, with the help of Andrea Ramirez, Handmaker’s administrative and… Read more »

For many aging Americans, traditional ideas of retirement are changing. On March 16, the Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona hosted a funders forum with Chris Farrell, author of “Unretirement: How Baby Boomers Are Changing the Way We Think About Work, Community and the Good Life” (Bloomsbury Press). Speaking… Read more »

This week, the Tucson Jewish Community Center launched a new 12-week series, the BEST Protocol for Osteoporosis, with instructor Mary T. Maher, M.S., A.C.S.M.-C.P.T. The three-day-a-week program is based on the Bone Estrogen Strength Training study conducted by the University of Arizona between 1995 and 2001. The protocol’s goals… Read more »

Participants at Tucson Hebrew Academy’s STEM festival on Sunday, May 3 can drive award-winning robots, investigate a mock crime scene or play a giant video game with their feet. Presented by THA’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) program, the family-oriented festival will run 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.… Read more »

Donna Moser and Audrey Brooks

Women of the Year Audrey Brooks and Donna Moser and Man of the Year Steve Kippur head the list of 2015 award winners the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona will honor at its annual meeting and awards celebration, which will be held Thursday, May 7 at 7 p.m. at… Read more »

Cantor Janece Cohen

To mark Cantor Janece Cohen’s 25 years of service as a congregational cantor, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion is granting her a Doctorate of Sacred Music, Honoris Causa. On Saturday, May 9, Congregation Or Chadash will honor Cohen for this achievement with a gala dinner. Cohen has been… Read more »

Security was lax entering and leaving the 1972 Olympic Village in Munich. Barbara Berger knows this firsthand, because she was there on Sept. 3, 1972 to watch her 28-year-old brother, David Berger, an American, lift weights as a member of the Israeli Olympic team. The next morning, Berger and… Read more »

Rabbi Arthur Oleisky

You may not know this, but every anniversary is (according to a tradition probably created by Hallmark) associated with a particular gift — paper for the first, tin for the 10th, diamonds for the 60th. The 85th anniversary is the diamond and sapphire anniversary. Both stones because, let’s face… Read more »

Siddhartha Mukherjee, M.D., presented cancer’s story of major tragedy and future hope to more than 400 people at the Sixth Annual Cindy Wool Memorial Seminar on Humanism in Medicine at the Fox Tucson Theatre on March 31. The Pulitzer-Prize winning author of “The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography… Read more »

David Siegel

Tech Parks Arizona will host the Consul General of Israel, David Siegel, on April 29 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the University of Arizona Hillel Foundation, 1245 E 2nd St. Siegel’s talk will be part of a briefing on the Tech Parks Arizona Global Advantage business attraction program… Read more »

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s board development committee, chaired by Shelly Silverman, has recommended the following slate of officers for the 2015-2016 program year: Tom Warne, chair; Eric Schindler, vice chair/board development chair; Helaine Levy, vice chair; Jim Wezelman, treasurer/secretary; Kathryn Unger, immediate past chair. Nominated as directors… Read more »