Photo courtesy Temple Emanu-El
Members of Congregation Or Chadash and Temple Emanu-El joined for a 100 Menorah Celebration, an Or Chadash tradition, at Temple Emanu-El on Friday, Dec. 27. After a light supper, participants lit menorahs in the sanctuary, lending their glow to the holiday Shabbat service led by clergy from both congregations.… Read more »
About 150 people attended Temple Emanu-El’s Hanukkah Spectacular on Sunday, Dec. 15, with students from the Kurn Religious School and Strauss ECE singing, dancing, acting, and playing music. Here, Kurn teacher Sarah Fire leads children in “I’m a Little Latke” and “Hanukkah is Here.”… Read more »
About 100 people attended Congregation Chofetz Chayim’s dinner party on Sunday, Dec. 29, celebrating both the final night of Hanukkah and Rabbi and Esther Becker’s 40th year in Tucson.… Read more »
Tucsonans Bruce Ash (right) and Gary Kippur attended the White House Hanukkah reception Dec. 11, and witnessed President Donald Trump signing the Executive Order on Combating Anti-Semitism. (Photo Courtesy Gary Kippur)
Photo: AJP Phyllis Braun
Inbal Shtivi, director of the Weintraub Israel Center and one of Tucson’s shlichim (Israeli emissaries), and her family hosted a Hanukkah open house on Thursday, Dec. 26, the fifth night of the holiday, with food, fellowship, and song. Here, Shtivi (left) and Cantorial Soloist Sara Golan Mussman prepare to… Read more »
Back row (L-R): Scott Casey (grandfather), Jacob White (father); middle row: Rachel Casey White (mother) with baby Eli, Kim Ronkin Casey (grandmother), Pam Weston (great-grandmother), Sandy Ostroff (great-grandfather), Sarah Casey (aunt); front row: Yeta Bart Weston (great-great-grandmother)
Yeta Weston, 104, one of the earlier members of Beth Shalom Temple Center in Green Valley, recently became a great-great-grandmother. She returned to BSTC to celebrate the naming of Eli White. The baby and parents were in town for the special service on Friday, Dec. 27, conducted by Rabbi… Read more »
J Street founder and President Jeremy Ben Ami (right) honored Larry Gellman Dec. 16 at the first major event the pro-Israel group hosted in Tucson. More than 110 people, including a broad range of political leaders, rabbis, and Jewish professional and community leaders, attended. The event featured a timely… Read more »
State Rep. Alma Hernandez was named to The Forward’s list of 50 “Machers and Shakers Who Influenced, Intrigued and Inspired Us This Year.” Hernandez also was appointed this month to be the Young Democrats of America Jewish Caucus Southwest regional director. Steve Brass, a Tucson-based “stun and run” self-defense… Read more »
The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, area synagogues, and community members recently conducted the annual Project Isaiah food drive, collecting more than 3,636 pounds of food and $512 in donations for the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona. Many other donations were collected directly from local synagogues.… Read more »
NEW YORK (JTA) — An estimated 25,000 people marched across the Brooklyn Bridge and held a rally on Sunday to protest rising anti-Semitism in and around New York City. The rally comes following a spate of attacks on Jews — including, most recently, a stabbing attack at a rabbi’s… Read more »
New Jersey leaders from the NAACP and ADL announcing a joint initiative to combat hate among public officials. (Courtesy of the ADL)
(JTA) — The most prominent anti-discrimination organizations in the African-American and Jewish communities are partnering to combat hate in New Jersey. The Anti-Defamation League, which fights anti-Semitism and bigotry, and the NAACP, which fights racism and discrimination, announced the partnership Thursday. It comes about a month after a shooting… Read more »
(JTA) — A New York Times editorial threw its support behind a planned solidarity march through New York City in the wake of a string of attack on Jews. The Sunday editorial noted that more than half of the 421 hate crimes reported in the city in 2019 were… Read more »
MONSEY, NY - DECEMBER 29: A member of the Ramapo police stands guard in front of the house of Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg on December 29, 2019 in Monsey, New York. Five people were injured in a knife attack during a Hanukkah party and a suspect, identified as Grafton E. Thomas, was later arrested in Harlem. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) — For weeks, anti-Semitic attacks have been surging in and around New York City — from assaults in Brooklyn to the shooting in Jersey City to the recent stabbing in Monsey on Hanukkah. What’s still unclear is why the spike is happening now — and whether… Read more »
WASHINGTON (JTA) — A U.S. airstrike killed Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Quds Force, which operates a number of regional militias and is allied with terrorist groups targeting Israel, including Hezbollah and Hamas. The strike early Friday morning hit a vehicle near Baghdad International Airport. The Quds Force… Read more »
French Jews at a march protestic anti-Semitic violence in Paris, France on March 28, 2018. (Cnaan Liphshiz)
(JTA) — An appeals court ruling that a man who killed a Jewish woman in her home while shouting Quranic verses is unfit to stand trial is prompting outraged reactions from French Jews who fear it sets a dangerous precedent that will undermine the fight against anti-Semitism. Kobili Troare admitted… Read more »
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio speaks at a news conference on anti-Semitism at a branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, Dec. 29, 2019. (Adi Eshman)
NEW YORK (JTA) — New York City will launch three initiatives aimed at combating anti-Semitic hate crimes. Mayor Bill de Blasio made the announcement at a dramatic news conference Sunday afternoon at the central branch of the Brooklyn Public Library following weeks of anti-Semitic assaults and vandalism that have… Read more »
NEW YORK (JTA) — Prosecutors filed federal hate crimes charges Monday against the man who allegedly attacked several individuals with a machete during a Hanukkah celebration at a Hasidic rabbi’s home in Monsey. “Officials said they had recovered handwritten journals expressing anti-Semitic views, including references to Adolf Hitler and… Read more »
(JTA) — The Guardian Angels said it would start patrolling in Brooklyn after an increase in anti-Semitic attacks in the area. The group’s founder, Curtis Sliwa, told NBC News that the patrols would start on Sunday, first at noon in Crown Heights and later in the day also in… Read more »
(JTA) — Graffiti featuring a Star of David and “9 11” was painted on buildings on several streets in North London. The graffiti, discovered on a synagogue and store windows in Hampstead and Belsize Park on Sunday morning, seems to refer to a conspiracy theory that Jewish people were… Read more »
Joseph Gluck, who witnessed the attack on Dec. 28, 2019, speaks to reporters the day after. (Ben Sales)
MONSEY, N.Y. (JTA) — When a man wielding a machete burst into a Hanukkah party at a rabbi’s house in this New York City suburb, Joseph Gluck sprang into action. Seeing the attacker, Gluck, the administrator of the Orthodox synagogue next door, helped evacuate party guests from the house.… Read more »
