News

(JTA) — Popular Jewish actress Mayim Bialik will write and direct a feature film based on her own experiences. The comedy-drama titled “As Sick As They Made Us,” which will deal with mental illness, will be Bialik’s screenwriting and directing debut. The news was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Jon Ossoff, a Jewish investigative documentarian who lost a close 2017 race for the U.S. House of Representatives, is running for a U.S. Senate seat in Georgia. Georgia is seen as a possible pickup for Senate Democrats in 2020 as they seek control of the body.… Read more »

(JTA) — Jewish summer camp is such a crucial part of the American Jewish experience that many Jewish adults, even in their older age, likely remember the names of many of the kids in their cabins from when they were 11 years old. One of those cabins more than… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Late last month, a reporter for Bloomberg Law called the U.S. Department of Labor for comment about a recently hired staffer who had riffed on Facebook about excessive Jewish influence, including the observation that the Jewish media “protects its own.” Within hours, Leif Olson had resigned.… Read more »

(JTA) — A Southern California father of seven suffering from ALS made the cross-country trip to be at his son’s bar mitzvah with family and friends in his hometown of Brooklyn. Rabbi Yitzi Hurwitz, 47, of West Hollywood, was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s… Read more »

LONDON (JTA) — Twenty years ago, this city’s oldest maker of smoked salmon endured a series of catastrophes that convinced its Jewish owner that his family business was a goner. In 1999, a fire consumed three-quarters of its factory. A year later, flooding forced it to relocate. A year… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Benjamin Netanyahu had quite a Tuesday. One week before Israelis go to the polls in their country’s second election this year, the Israeli prime minister went on live television with a promise that if re-elected, he is prepared to annex sensitive areas of the West Bank… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had to be removed from the stage during a campaign speech in the southern Israeli city of Ashdod after rockets were fired from Gaza. The Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted a rocket heading toward Ashdod and another heading toward Ashkelon… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Several rockets were fired at Israel from Syria, launched by Shiite militias operating under the command of the Iranian Quds Force, the Israel Defense Forces said. The rockets failed to land in Israeli territory, according to the IDF. The attack Monday followed hours after a series… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Donald Trump fired John Bolton, his national security adviser and one of the administration officials seen as closest to the views of Israel’s government. “I informed John Bolton last night that his services are no longer needed at the White House,” Trump said Tuesday on… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that if he is re-elected, he will immediately annex the Jordan Valley. Netanyahu also promised to annex West Bank Jewish settlements in what he termed a “dramatic announcement” exactly one week before Israelis go to the polls for national… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, making his first visit to Hebron since 1998, said Wednesday that the West Bank city “will never be empty of Jews.” Netanyahu made the remarks at a ceremony to mark the 90th anniversary of the massacre of Jews in Hebron, a… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — As he talks about the recent string of attacks on Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn, Yosef Rapaport points to a small scar above his right eye. It’s the remnant of an anti-Semitic attack he experienced 50 years ago as a teenager in Montreal. “For those of… Read more »

(JTA) — The Israel-based humanitarian group IsraAID, B’nai B’rith International and Chabad are among those pitching in to help the Bahamas in the wake of Hurricane Dorian’s devastation, which has killed at least seven people. “We are in the midst of a historic tragedy in parts of the northern… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will serve as welfare minister in the wake of the resignation of Haim Katz over charges of fraud and breach of trust. Netanyahu adds the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, generally known as welfare, to three other ministries he now… Read more »

he ‘Garden of Hope’ at the Tucson Jewish Community Center will be a multipurpose healing space. (Photo: Barbara Grygutis Sculpture LLC)

Gan Tikvah, the Garden of Hope, is nearing completion at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. It will have a fluid connection to the current Sculpture Garden and provide a shady and tranquil pocket park for all seasons. It will offer an outdoor venue for classes, programming, and, with dramatic… Read more »

As each news cycle seems to create new challenges to our Jewish community’s sense of wholeness, how will we respond — individually and collectively? Will we become broken and divided — or if not — how will we retain our footing so that we may remain connected to each… Read more »

Esther Becker will explore “Conversations with G-d” at the annual Women’s Academy of Jewish Studies Women’s Book Brunch, Sunday, Sept. 15 at Congregation Chofetz Chayim. “We live in an era when we all have our challenges to deal with and no one goes unscathed,” says Becker.  “I wanted to… Read more »

The Union for Reform Judaism’s Taste of Judaism classes, taught by Temple Emanu-El’s Rabbi Batsheva Appel, will be offered at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on Sundays, Sept. 8, 15, and 22 from 2:30-4:30 p.m., and at Temple Emanu-El on Thursdays, Sept. 12, 19, and 26, from 6-8 p.m.… Read more »

Having lived in Indonesia, an Islamic nation, for two decades, I never imagined the opportunity to visit a synagogue there. My first visit to Manado in the early ’90s was as a journalist covering Indonesia’s then-president Soeharto as he opened a new tourism center in North Sulawesi. Almost 30… Read more »