News

(JTA) – Faculty at California’s Pitzer College voted in favor of suspending its study abroad program in Israel, but the institution’s president said he would ignore their motion. Thursday’s non-binding recommendation by faculty at the college governing body was spearheaded by proponents of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement… Read more »

(JTA) — Israel struck dozens of Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip in response to the firing of several rockets into the Tel Aviv area. Sirens alerted residents that rockets were coming into the area just after 9 p.m. local time on Thursday. Hours later, Israeli aircraft carried out… Read more »

(JTA) — Jewish groups from New Zealand and beyond expressed their horror at the slaying of at least 49 people at two mosques in Christchurch Friday. The New Zealand Jewish Council is ”sickened and devastated” by the attacks, in which at least one armed individual killed dozens of people… Read more »

(JTA) – We are Jewish middle-school students, and we are extremely worried about climate change. This is why we, along with other students around the country, are protesting the government’s refusal to act on this important issue by skipping or walking out of school on Friday, March 15. While… Read more »

PALMA DE MALLORCA, Spain (JTA) — On this island south of Barcelona, Jews celebrate Purim these days pretty much as they do most anywhere else in Europe. There’s the reading of the Book of Esther at the small synagogue near the marina, followed by a costume party bringing together… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The House hearing was about foreign aid, and almost as soon as it started it took a political turn: The most powerful congressional appropriator was asking one of Washington’s most influential lobbyists about bipartisanship. “What in your view would be the consequence of making Israel a… Read more »

(JTA) — Ukraine’s presidential elections is shaping up to be a case of life imitating art. The leading candidate in the March 31 vote is Volodymyr Zelensky, a Ukrainian-Jewish comedian who portrays a history teacher turned president in his hit television show “Servant of the People.” Polls conducted throughout… Read more »

(JTA) — The French Muslim extremist convicted of murdering four people in a terrorist attack at the Jewish Museum of Belgium in 2014 was sentenced to life in prison. Mehdi Nemmouche, 33, was convicted last week for the 2014 attack that left four dead, including two Israeli tourists. He… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — All entrances and exits to the Temple Mount were closed by Israel Police after a firebomb was thrown at a police outpost at the site. The police said in a statement Tuesday afternoon following the attack that one of the suspects was identified and detained. Dozens… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Donald Trump promoted on his Twitter feed a group founded by Republicans that hopes to draw young Jews away from the Democratic Party. “‘Jewish people are leaving the Democratic Party,’” Trump said Tuesday morning on his feed, quoting Elizabeth Pipko, a spokeswoman for “Jexodus,” who appeared… Read more »

(JTA) — Pope Francis used an audience with the American Jewish Committee to praise the role of women in the world and renew his longstanding condemnation of anti-Semitism. In the private audience Friday – International Women’s Day – he highlighted the “irreplaceable contribution of women in building a world… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — “It’s official,” says the fundraising appeal from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., the freshman lawmaker who has become the flagbearer for the Democratic Party’s restive progressive wing. “AIPAC is coming after Alexandria, Ilhan, and Rashida.” Not only is it not official, it’s not true. The release starts… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — A resolution on anti-Semitism sparked by a freshman Democrat’s jibes about “allegiance” to Israel and then expanded to address Islamophobia suffered by the same congresswoman, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, passed the House overwhelmingly. The U.S. House of Representatives voted 407-23 on Thursday to approve the resolution,… Read more »

In Southern Arizona, nearly 900 families with children from 6 months to 11 years old receive free books monthly from PJ Library and PJ Our Way programs. And 98 percent of those parents say PJ Library has been a valuable parenting tool. “This is the largest cohort of young… Read more »

Ringo the cat spent the past two glorious years with his foster “mom,” Pearl Kitay. Kitay was a dog person and Ringo was her first cat. But it didn’t take long for them to adjust to one another. In fact, they became best friends and housemates. “My routine is… Read more »

A delegation of Tucson educators representing Jewish organizations experienced Israel in a meaningful, weeklong cultural exchange during rodeo school break in late February. Jeanette Butcher (Tucson Jewish Community Center), Nicole Chorny and Kim Spitzer  (Congregation Anshei Israel), Allie Silber (Temple Emanu-El), Jill Sobieszyk (Congregation Or Chadash) and I were… Read more »

For more than 40 years, Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Southern Arizona’s Matza & More project has packed and delivered Passover bags to Tucson area families who otherwise could not afford food and items for a Seder. Volunteers and staff fill the bags with fresh vegetables, gefilte fish,… Read more »

Congregation Chofetz Chayim will present a Purim Palooza on Thursday, March 21 at 5 p.m.  The palooza — defined as an exaggerated event — starts with wine and hors d’oeuvres on the synagogue patio, followed by a full course dinner, including hamantashen and other dessert selections. There will be… Read more »

Max Raabe and the Palast Orchester will play the Fox Tucson Theatre on March 15. Raabe founded the Palast Orchester in 1986 in Berlin, with fellow music students who loved to play music from Germany’s Golden 1920s. Their style and showmanship struck a chord with the public and their… Read more »

On a cold and windy day in February, I drove an hour and a half from Haifa to Jerusalem in search of my great-great-grandfather, Rabbi Moshe Yehudah Franco. I had learned about him from stories my mother told me and a family tree carefully constructed by relatives who were… Read more »