News

As Rabbi Yossie Shemtov draws the grand prize raffle ticket at Chabad’s annual Purim party and wine tasting at Congregation Young Israel on Sunday, March 20, he may take a moment to reflect on the journey to this point. A mere 18 years ago he was standing in the… Read more »

Congregation Bet Shalom will host its 8th annual kosher-for-Passover wine tasting gala, “Not Just A Wine Tasting Event” Saturday, March 5, from 7:30 to 11 p.m. This year’s wine sponsor is Total Wine & More; the event will feature wines from California and Israel. The evening includes live music… Read more »

Jon Cotter

The “Too Jewish with Rabbi Sam Cohon and Friends” radio show is launching JOiN (Jewish Organized i-Network), a business networking group with a focus on Jewish values and teachings. JOiN will hold monthly programs that will include facilitated networking, educational components and a spotlight on local businesses. The kick-off… Read more »

Ron and Diane Weintraub

Ron and Diane Weintraub, who helped found Tucson’s Israel Center, have Israeli connections that run deep. Long before their daughter Beth made aliyah in 1986 with her future husband and gave them four Israeli grandchildren, Ron had relatives in Israel, including an aunt from Cleveland who made aliyah in… Read more »

Rabbi Jennifer Krause

Jewish identity has been rooted in belonging to a synagogue — but that’s changing. What hasn’t changed is a Jewish woman’s unwavering commitment to improving the world, says Rabbi Jennifer Krause, this year’s Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Women’s Philanthropy Connections speaker. Krause will present “Giant Leaps for Humankind:… Read more »

Contruction worker labors at a consturction site in the Har Homa neighborhood, south of Jerusalem, Feb. 20m 2011, a day after the United States vetoed a U.N. draft resolution condemning Israeli settlement construction as illegal. [Gili Yaari/Flash 90/JTA]

NEW YORK (JTA) — In the run-up to last week’s U.N. Security Council vote on a resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal, the Obama administration faced a dilemma. The administration views Jewish settlements in the West Bank as illegitimate, and has made few bones about… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — A new campaign for clemency for convicted spy Jonathan Pollard has racked up a series of big name politicos in the last few weeks: former Vice President Dan Quayle, former U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter and Chicago Rabbi Capers Funnye, a cousin of first lady Michelle… Read more »

Suzi Hileman, shortly after the 2011 shooting, displaying some of the hundreds of cards and letters she received from well-wishers around the world. (Sheila Wilensky)

Three bullets ripped through Suzi Hileman’s body during the Jan. 8 shooting rampage that killed her 9-year-old neighbor and friend Christina-Taylor Green, and wounded 12 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Hileman, who is Jewish, told the AJP, “I choose to look forward. I’m thinking about what I can do… Read more »

The Chabad House in Christchurch, New Zealand, before it was devastated by an earthquake on Feb. 21, 2011, had the city's only kosher cafe.

SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) — For the Jewish community, the devastating earthquake that hit New Zealand struck close to home. An Israeli backpacker is believed to be among the 65 people killed in Tuesday’s quake, and the destruction in Christchurch on the country’s South Island included the city’s Chabad house.… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Jewish groups expressed concerns about proposed Obama administration cuts in poverty assistance, but praised the U.S. budget for preserving aid to Israel. The White House’s proposed budget, released Feb. 14, projects cuts in programs such as heating for the poor and in blocs of money funneled… Read more »

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (JTA) — The day after Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak was ousted by a widespread public uprising, I found myself presenting a lecture about Solidarity, the mass trade union movement that convulsed Poland 30 years ago and paved the way for the collapse of the Iron Curtain… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Israel changed Gabrielle Giffords’ life when the budding politician first visited the country in 2001 and it drew her close to Judaism. After the Arizona congresswoman was shot in the head a month ago, an Israeli innovation invented by an American immigrant to Israel may have… Read more »

Ashlee Hall models antique wedding gown

The Jewish History Museum, 564 S. Stone Ave., will host a style show of vintage and antique wedding dresses on Sunday, Feb. 13 at 1:30 p.m. The story of the Jewish bride who originally wore each dress will be told. Included are an 1880s gown from the Arizona pioneer… Read more »

Bride Rebecca Kunsberg is veiled by her mother, Linda Kunsberg (left), and the groom’s mother, Beanie Rohtbart, in the ‘bedeken’ ceremony, witnessed by Rabbi Robert Eisen (far left) and groom Ted Goodman. (John Hursh - Focus On Events Photography)

Rebecca Kunsberg, 31, daughter of Andrew and Linda Kunsberg of Tucson, and Theodore Goodman, 33, son of Beanie and Markus Rohtbart of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., and Don and Gloria Goodman of West Bloomfield, Mich., were married on Nov. 14, 2010 at Westward Look Resort with Rabbi Robert Eisen of… Read more »

The Tucson Jewish Community Library will hold its annual book sale on Sunday, March 6, from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Proceeds will be used to support the activities of the library. The library is seeking donations of books (fiction and nonfiction, Jewish… Read more »

Ruthann Pozez

Jewish Family & Children’s Services will honor Ruthann Pozez at its second annual Celebration of Caring complimentary breakfast event on Thursday, March 3. Pozez relocated from Topeka, Kan., to Tucson with her husband, Louis, co-founder of Payless Shoe Source, in 1983 and has been deeply involved with the Jewish… Read more »

Christians United for Israel at the University of Arizona will present a free lecture by Col. Ben Tzion Gruber of the Israel Defense Forces on Monday, Feb. 14 at 6:30 p.m. Gruber, now in the IDF reserves, has served in the military for 30 years and is currently working… Read more »

Lynn Saul

The Jewish History Museum’s Jewish Storytelling Festival will begin with Lynn Saul’s discussion of her book, “Learning to Say Satoraljaujhely,” on Sunday, Feb. 27 at 2 p.m. This collection of poetry, short stories, memoir, and family and contemporary photographs reflects 200 years of Hungarian Jewish history, from the early… Read more »

The Arizona Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Arizona is presenting a Yiddish festival of lectures and films this spring, coordinated by Gil Ribak, the Schusterman Postdoctoral Fellow in Judaic Studies. The festival began earlier this month with a lecture on Yiddish theater. On Monday, Feb. 28… Read more »

The Tucson Secular Humanist Jewish Circle will hold an adult education/oneg Shabbat get-together on Saturday, Feb. 19 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Himmel Park Library, 1035 N. Treat Ave. The event will include a DVD presentation featuring Rabbi Sherwin Wine, who founded the Humanistic Judaism movement in… Read more »