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 »
News
Tracing Roots program to continue in 2020
The Tracing Roots intergenerational program, a partnership between Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging and Tucson Hebrew High, will be held at Handmaker again in 2020, beginning Sunday, Jan. 12. High school student participants will be paired with Handmaker residents and get to know them through the Jan. 12… Read more »
Local psychologist takes ‘Leap of Power’ in new addiction treatment book
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
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.
(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.
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
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 »
Dozens of world leaders will visit Jerusalem to mark 75th anniversary of Auschwitz liberation
JERUSALEM (JTA) — More than 30 heads of state will gather in Jerusalem on the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. The leaders will be attending the fifth World Holocaust Forum in January, which will coincide with the anniversary. Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Emmanuel Macron of France,… 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 »
Israel’s president charges Knesset with forming a government coalition for the first time
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli President Reuven Rivlin handed the mandate to form a government coalition to the Knesset for the first time. Rivlin met Thursday with Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein to hand him the formal notice a day after Blue and White party head Benny Gantz announced he was… Read more »
Judge who linked to obscenity-laden articles referencing Jews, Holocaust, is not anti-Semitic, panel rules
(JTA) — A judicial board in Tennessee cleared a judge who linked on social media to articles saying the Jews should “get the f*** over the Holocaust” of being anti-Semitic, racist and anti-immigrant. Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Jim Lammey, who had also called Muslim immigrants “foreign mud,” was… 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 »
Marvel asks NYC councilman to stop dressing as Captain America in political campaign
(JTA) — Marvel Comics has a message for a New York City candidate: The day has come for you to stop using Captain America in your campaign. Ben Kallos, a New York City councilman who is running for Manhattan Borough president in 2021, wears a Captain America costume on… Read more »
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicted for corruption
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 »
Violence against Jews is reprehensible. But isolated attacks distract us from the bigger threats.
NEW YORK (JTA) — Although it hasn’t yet been determined whether the brutal stabbing of a young father on his way to morning prayers in Ramapo, New York, was a an anti-Jewish hate crime, it was described by the local police chief as a “vicious, violent attack” and would certainly… Read more »
Gantz says he cannot form a government, paving way for possible third election
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Blue and White party head Benny Gantz told Israeli President Reuven Rivlin that he is unable to form a government. Gantz made the announcement on Wednesday evening, about four hours before his mandate to form a government was scheduled to expire at midnight. Gantz spent the… Read more »