News

Pozez lecture will tackle ‘Aliyah of the Mind’

David Hazony

David Hazony, Ph.D., will present “Aliyah of the Mind: Zionism as Jewish Emancipation” on Monday, Dec. 16 at 7 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, as part of the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies’ Shaol & Louis Pozez Memorial Lectureship Series. Most people think Zionism is about supporting… Read more »

Local psychologist takes ‘Leap of Power’ in new addiction treatment book

Robert Schwebel, Ph.D., a Tucsonan since 1981, is the author of ‘Leap of Power.’

Imagine telling adolescents, “You don’t have to say you’re going to quit using drugs” and then dealing with their parents and community. Imagine encouraging young clients to talk about what they like about drugs instead of focusing on the harm drugs can cause. Counter-intuitive and certainly non-traditional, these approaches… Read more »

Special needs group has new facilitator

Teresa Corbin

Women caring for children of all ages with disabilities can find support with the Jewish Mothers/Grandmothers Special Needs Support Group, which meets at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. “It really doesn’t matter what the special need or disability is, the feelings around it are very similar,” says Joyce Stuehringer,… Read more »

This Portuguese Jewish community couldn’t afford a rabbi. Now it made a $1 million movie appearing on Netflix.

Actors portraying Portuguese Jews in the film "Sefarad," which was shot in 2018 in Porto, Portugal. (Courtesy of the Jewish Community of Portugal)

(JTA) — A decade ago, the tiny Jewish Community of Porto didn’t have enough money to hire a rabbi or even fix the roof of its synagogue. Today, this Orthodox congregation of 400 people in northern Portugal has enough for both, along with a kosher hotel, a ritual bath,… Read more »

Life was good for the Jews of this New York suburb. Then a schoolteacher was stabbed.

Toshnad Heichel Torah Utfila, the synagogue near where a teacher was stabbed, was active the day after the attack, Nov. 21, 2019. (Ben Sales/JTA)

RAMAPO, N.Y. (JTA) — On the street where a man was stabbed to within an inch of his life on Wednesday, yellow buses waited to ferry young children to elementary school. Steps away from where his blood had splattered on the asphalt, young men shuffled in and out of… Read more »

JFSA women open Zehngut nominations

Erika Spivack

The Women’s Philanthropy Advisory Council of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is seeking nominations for the 14th annual Bryna Zehngut Mitzvot Award, recognizing an outstanding Jewish teenage girl. The award honors Zehn-gut, a community leader who died in 2005. Nominees should be high school juniors or seniors who… Read more »

Hadassah event to celebrate 2019 Woman of the Year

Hadassah Southern Arizona will announce its Woman of the Year for 2019 and install its 2020 officers at a wine and chocolate philanthropy event on Sunday, Dec. 8 at 1:30 p.m. at the Ruth and Irving Olson Center for Jewish Life, 180 W. Magee Road, Suite 140. The Enchanted… Read more »

Protest by pro-Palestinian demonstrators at Toronto’s York U turns violent

(JTA) — Violence erupted at a a protest by pro-Palestinian students against an appearance by Israeli army reservists at York University in Toronto on Wednesday night. Members of the university chapter of Students Against Israeli Apartheid, or SAIA, tried to shut down a university-approved panel discussion featuring Reservists on… Read more »

Satmar Rebbe distributes $5 million to anti-Zionist institutions

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Satmar Rebbe distributed $5 million to 150 anti-Zionist institutions Zalman Teitelbaum was in Israel to present the heads of the institutions with checks made out in shekels, The Jerusalem Post reported. The checks were distributed on Thursday night in the Satmar stronghold of Beit Shemesh.… Read more »

German Chancellor Angela Merkel to visit Auschwitz for first time

(JTA) — Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany will make her first visit to the site of the Auschwitz Nazi camp in her 14-year tenure. The visit to the former death camp in Poland is scheduled for Dec. 6, the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung reported Thursday. She will participate there… Read more »

Hitler’s top hat sells at auction in Germany for $55,000

(JTA) — Hitler’s top hate sold for more than $55,000 at a controversial auction in Germany of Nazi memorabilia. The auction at Hermann Historica began Wednesday in Munich and continues on Thursday. Other items that sold on the first day were a silver-plated copy of “Mein Kampf” that once… Read more »

Israeli police officer indicted for shooting Palestinian

JERUSALEM (JTA) — An Israeli Border Police officer who shot a Palestinian man in the back with a sponge-tipped bullet has been charged with assault and reckless use of a firearm. The Palestinian victim was walking away from the policewoman at a West Bank checkpoint when he was shot… Read more »

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicted for corruption

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a statement to the press after a security cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv, Nov. 12, 2019. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Benjamin Netanyahu has been charged in three corruption cases, marking the first time a sitting Israeli prime minister has been indicted. The charges, announced on Thursday evening by the Justice Ministry and Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, include bribery and breach of public trust. Netanyahu has denied… Read more »