News

Shalom Tucson will hold a bagel brunch on Sunday, Sept. 14, 10 a.m. to noon at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. The event is an opportunity for those new to the area or newly interested in the Jewish community to meet representatives of synagogues and local Jewish agencies and… Read more »

Congregation Chofetz Chayim and the Southwest Torah Institute will hold a “Torah for the Future” dedication on Sunday, Sept. 14 to celebrate the completion of a new Torah, the first Torah ever written expressly for the congregation and its educational and outreach division. Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild will be… Read more »

Chabad Tucson is commissioning a Jewish scribe, or sofer, to check and repair mezuzot and tefillin on the premises at Congregation Young Israel. Rabbi Moshe Liberow of Colorado Springs, Colo., will begin his work on Sunday, Aug. 31 and remain in Tucson for the duration of the week, depending… Read more »

Temple Emanu-El has launched Project Elul, a month-long program designed to assist in preparing for the High Holy Days. “While the gates of repentance are always open, it is better to prepare to enter them, including reflecting back on the past year, and taking stock, engaging in what is… Read more »

Rabbi Joseph Telushkin’s latest book, “Rebbe: The Life and Teachings of Menachem M. Schneerson, the Most Influential Rabbi in Modern History” landed on the New York Times bestseller list within weeks of its release in June to mark the 20th anniversary of the Rebbe’s death. Telushkin, one of the… Read more »

B’nai Tzedek Tucson Teen Philanthropy will hold its annual kick-off party on Sunday, Sept. 14 from 1:30-3:30 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Teens in grades 8-12 and their parents are invited to learn about B’nai Tzedek, a program of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona and the… Read more »

Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are our holiest days of prayer and personal reflection — and a time to remember people in need. Project Isaiah, a food drive benefiting the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona, is an annual project of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish… Read more »

Asher Susser

Asher Susser, Ph.D., has returned to the Arizona Center of Judaic Studies, taking up an invitation extended to him when he was a visiting professor in Modern Israel Studies in 2010-2011. Susser, who’s on sabbatical from Tel Aviv University for the fall semester, will be teaching an undergraduate course… Read more »

The Anshei Israel group at Ammunition Hill in Jerusalem. Top row (L-R): Dani Bregman, Charlotte Bregman, Sandy Yalen (below Charlotte), Rebecca Herschberg, Renee Hulsey, Emelia Bregman, Breanna Bregman. Bottom row: MeMe Aguila, Lois Bodin, Phil Bregman, Gabe Herschberg, Eliane Herschberg, Aaron Herschberg, Debby Eisen. Not pictured: Jay King, Kris King, Herb Meshel, Bill Yalen and Rabbi Robert Eisen (Photo by Rabbi Robert Eisen)

Congregation Anshei Israel’s 2014 Family Mission to Israel began with a flight that left Tucson at 6 a.m. on June 25. We arrived in Israel the following day at 1:30 p.m. Seeing the first sights of Israel from the plane as we approached Tel Aviv made the tiredness of… Read more »

Aliya Markowitz with Cubby Graham, charity: water school partnerships manager, at the organization’s office in New York City

In the spirit of infusing the ethic of tikkun olam, repairing the world, into the process of becoming  B’nai Mitzvah, many synagogues now require their students to complete a mitzvah project in addition to learning Hebrew and chanting from the Torah. Students typically choose their own projects based on… Read more »

At an Aug. 17 party at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, local families created a poster that says “Shalom” in Hebrew and English to share with their “Same Moon” counterparts in Israel. (Courtesy Weintraub Israel Center)

Today’s families lead busy lives, but a simple opportunity to communicate with each other — let alone families thousands of miles away — can be a rare delight. “The Same Moon” project has provided just that. Six months ago, the Weintraub Israel Center connected 10 Tucson families who have… Read more »

Palestinians viewing what used to be a tunnel leading from the Gaza Strip into Israel in the Rafah area of southern Gaza, Aug. 5, 2014. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

OR YEHUDA, Israel (JTA) — Something that looks like a can of soda could be Israel’s high-tech answer to the network of tunnels that Hamas has created under the Gaza border. A sensor known as a geophone can detect underground movement based on the sound generated by the movement,… Read more »

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at a press conference at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, Aug. 27, 2014.

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Israel’s war is over, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s fight may only have just begun. The past month has seen Netanyahu’s approval rating plummet, according to polling by Israel’s Channel 2. On July 23, about a week after Israel launched its ground invasion of Gaza,… Read more »

Israeli soldiers attending a ceremony at the Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem honoring Lee Matt, who died in July while fighting in Gaza, Aug. 21. 2014. (Hadas Parush/Flash90/JTA)

TEL AVIV (JTA) — A rocket barrage fell on Israel, a boom sounded over Tel Aviv and then it was over — at least for now. After 50 days of missiles, airstrikes, ground operations, tunnel incursions, truce talks, cease-fire proposals, death and destruction, Israel and Hamas agreed to an… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Egypt announced a new open-ended cease-fire between Israel and Palestinian groups shortly after an Israeli struck by a Gaza mortar died of his wounds. The official Egyptian News Agency announced Tuesday evening that the cease-fire would begin at 7 p.m. In the hour leading up to… Read more »

Rabbi Karol Sidon stepped down as Prague's chief rabbi amid reports about his love life. (Petr Balajka/Prague Jewish Community)

PRAGUE (JTA) — When the novel “Altschul’s Method” hit the shelves in Czech bookstores this March, it was hailed as a brilliant political and psychological thriller combining elements of science fiction, alternate history and Jewish mysticism. But it became a true literary sensation when it was revealed a week… Read more »

Mikal Smith, left, and other Cultural Leadership participants visiting the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala. (Courtesy Cultural Leadership)

(JTA) — On the evening of Aug. 12, after two consecutive nights of clashes between police and protesters in Ferguson, Mo., Mikal Smith rose to address a community meeting in the neighboring city of Florissant. In front of Gov. Jay Nixon, Obama administration officials and community leaders, Smith spoke… Read more »

PHILADELPHIA — Hillel, the campus student group, is expressing “outrage” over an attack on a Jewish student at Temple University on Wednesday and is calling on the university to ensure the safety of its Jewish students.At the same time, the school’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine is condemning the… Read more »

A Palestinian child amid the rubble of homes destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in the northern Gaza Strip, Aug. 18, 2014. (Emad Nasser/Flash90)

TEL AVIV (JTA) — The United Nations probe into the Gaza conflict hasn’t even begun, but Israel already is convinced that it won’t end well. In a resolution adopted by a vote of 29-1 with 17 abstentions, the U.N. Human Rights Council moved last month to establish a commission… Read more »

Palestinian militants of the Al-Nasser Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, display their skills at their graduation ceremony in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, Sept. 27, 2013. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

TEL AVIV (JTA) — After four weeks of a punishing Israel air and ground campaign that left nearly 2,000 dead and much of Gaza in ruins, Hamas has lived to see another day. For Israel, that might not be the worst thing. That’s because for all of Hamas’ violent… Read more »