Ryley Katz at camp in 1994 I always thought it was cliché when someone said “one decision changed the course of my entire life.” That is, until I said it myself. When I was 11 years old, my mom decided to give me respite from hot Arizona summers by sending me to summer camp. She… Read more »
(L-R) Maya, Shelby, Randie and Joel Collier (Shaun Roby) Probably not many people have attended Jewish summer camp for as many years as Randie Collier. She spent 13 summers at Steve and Shari Sadek Family Camp Interlaken JCC. Camp Interlaken is in Eagle River, Wis., a five-hour bus ride north of Collier’s hometown of Milwaukee. When Collier aged… Read more »
Philip Caputo It’s time to celebrate books. The Brandeis National Committee/Tucson Chapter will hold its 18th annual Book & Author Day luncheon on Thursday, March 13 from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Skyline Country Club, and its evening soirée March 12 at the same venue. The four featured… Read more »
Dmitry Gerasimov raises his clarinet as he plays with the Pushkin Klezmer Band. (Vadym Yunyk) (JTA) — Kiev’s Maidan, or Independence Square, has been the heart of the Ukrainian protest movement that last week brought about President Viktor Yanukovych’s ouster after deadly street battles. Russian officials and other Yanukovych supporters have accused the Maidan protesters of being fascists and neo-Nazis. But while Ukrainian ultra-nationalists,… Read more »
Stella Inger Stella Inger believes in the American dream. Born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Inger was 6 years old when her family immigrated to the United States in 1989, following the fall of Soviet communism. “We came as refugees,” says Inger, in her office at KGUN9 television, where she’s a news anchor.… Read more »
Jill Rich Whether it’s assisting the Lost Boys of Sudan or making sandwiches for the homeless, Jill Rich has been a tireless volunteer in Tucson for more than 30 years. And her commitment to helping others began even longer ago. “Helping others is what I was raised to do. It’s what… Read more »
(L-R) Shailah, Alexandra and Jordan Lowe, granddaughters of Tucsonans Anne and David Lowe, at Camp Young Judaea Midwest. All three of my children went to Camp Young Judaea Midwest in Waupaca, Wis., where Young Judaeans from Tucson still go. At the time we lived in Milwaukee, so the camp was about a two and a half hour drive from our home. Jonathan, Caren and Ethan loved the… Read more »
Magician Michael C. DeSchalit of Magically Speaking will appear at Congregation Chofetz Chayim’s “Magical Purim Party” and dinner on Sunday, March 16 at 4 p.m. DeSchalit has performed in such venues as the Magic Castle in Hollywood, the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, the Riviera and Circus Circus hotels in… Read more »
Beth S. Wenger Beth S. Wenger will present “Civic Lessons: Jews and American National Holidays,” as part of the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies’ free Shaol & Louis Pozez Memorial Lectureship series, on Monday, March 10 at 7 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. When America’s Jews participated in national celebrations… Read more »
Rabbi Adam Chalom The Secular Humanist Jewish Circle will sponsor a lecture on Sunday, March 9, by Rabbi Adam Chalom on “The Secular Synagogue: Judaism Beyond God.” The lecture will be held in the board room of the Junior League, 2099 E. River Road, from 3-5 p.m. Chalom is dean for North… Read more »
Jacqueline Soule Jacqueline Soule, Ph.D., will teach classes on gardening on Wednesday, March 5 and Tuesday, March 11, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. The first class is “Create Your Own Biblical Tanakh Garden.” Tucson and Israel share a similar climate, says Soule, so why not… Read more »
(L-R): Sharon Glassberg, Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona vice president; Rabbi David Wolpe; Brenda Landau, JFSA senior vice president; and Stuart Mellan, JFSA president and CEO, at “Together” event Feb. 12. (Martha Lochert) A haimish (homey, folksy) Rabbi David Wolpe used humor and storytelling to entertain and enlighten a crowd of more than 500 at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s “Together” event on Feb. 12 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. “When I grew up Jewish schools were called parochial. I… Read more »
Devorah Halberstam honored Raymond Kelly, the former commissioner of the New York Police Department at a gala dinner at the Jewish Children's Museum in May 2013. (Jewish Children's Museum) NEW YORK (JTA) – When a 16-year-old Lubavitcher named Ari Halberstam was gunned down on the Brooklyn Bridge on March 1, 1994 by a Lebanese livery cab driver, the killing seemed to be a cut-and-dried case. The shooter, Rashid Baz, was captured the following day and confessed to police.… Read more »
Alena Druzhynina of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, pictured above in white helmet, entered the tense Independent Square area of Kiev on Feb. 22 to bring a package of food to an 82-year-old pensioner who had been homebound since the worst of the violence began. (JDC) (JTA) — The turmoil in Ukraine has left one of Europe’s largest Jewish communities on edge. After an outbreak of violence in Kiev last week that left dozens of protesters and policemen dead, President Viktor Yanukovych fled the capital and parliament installed an interim leader to take the still-contested… Read more »
Children with disabilities and their peers kayaking at the Conservative movement's Camp Ramah Wisconsin. (Courtesy National Ramah commission) NEW YORK (JTA) — In the coming months, six young Jews with disabilities will start paid internships at major Jewish federations through a pilot program. If successful, the program will expand to communities throughout North America. In the fall, Manhattan’s first Jewish day school for children with special needs… Read more »
The protagonist of the Oscar-nominated "Omar" is on the run from Israeli agents who are pursuing the Palestinian murderer of an Israeli soldier. (Adopt Films) LOS ANGELES (JTA) — For cinematic observers of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict this is a banner year, with both sides choosing Oscar submissions that center on the Israeli occupation. Israel’s “Bethlehem,” which pits Shin Bet agents against diverse Palestinian factions eager to blow up the Jewish state, was eliminated early… Read more »
Bucharest's Jewish State Theater served as a cultural refuge for Romanian Jews during the Holocaust. (Wikimedia Commons) BUCHAREST, Romania (JTA) — When secret police opened fire on protesters near her home, Maia Morgenstern headed for the Jewish State Theater. It was 1989 and Morgenstern, then 27, and a few of her friends took refuge in the theater as protesters outside clashed with forces loyal to Romanian… Read more »
Members of the National Socialist Movement rally near Los Angeles City Hall on April 17, 2010. (David McNew/Getty Images) NEW YORK (JTA) — When Abraham Foxman steps down next summer from his longtime post as national director of the Anti-Defamation League, he’ll be leaving his successor with a much brighter picture on anti-Semitism in America than when Foxman joined the organization in 1965. In an age when anti-Semitic… Read more »
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Presbyterians who engage in dialogue with Jewish groups are scrambling to undo what they say is the damage caused by a congregational study guide assailing Zionism distributed by a group affiliated with their denomination. The guide, “Zionism Unsettled,” posits that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is fueled by… Read more »
Chris Mutune, a geenhouse caretaker for Amiran Kenya, working in one of the company's sample greenhouses. (Ben Sales) NAIROBI, Kenya (JTA) — Bags of seeds from the Israeli seed company Hazera Genetics line the shelves of one warehouse. Another houses rolls of plastic from StePac, an Israeli firm whose bags can keep vegetables fresher for longer. In a third warehouse are rows of coiled hoses, each pricked… Read more »
