Sara Lopez Sara Lopez, a local wife, mother and opera singer, is curating a Jewish women’s performance showcase, by and for women, at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on Sunday, Jan. 6 at 7 p.m. Having an all-female audience “allows women across the spectrum of Jewish practice and belief to participate,”… Read more »
<p>(<a href=”http://jta.org”>JTA</a>) — A play opening in London about rising anti-Semitism in Britain has become the target of anti-Semites.</p><p>(<a href=”http://jta.org”>JTA</a>) — A play opening in London about rising anti-Semitism in Britain has become the target of anti-Semites.</p><p>The play, “One Jewish Boy,” by Stephen Laughton, looks at the hatred and… Read more »
Danish soldiers guard the Jewish Synagogue in Copenhagen, Denmark, Sept. 29, 2017. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/AFP/Getty Images)
AMSTERDAM (JTA) — The last time that a stranger directed an anti-Semitic insult at me, I was carrying supplies for my son’s birthday party. It was on a Sunday afternoon on Dam Square. Carrying Star of David party decorations in a see-through bag, I paused to snap some pictures… Read more »
Children stick white roses into a Star of David sculpture at the construction site of a new synagogue in Potsdam, Germany, Nov. 9, 2018, the 80th anniversary of the Nazi Kristallnacht pogrom. (Bernd Settnik/AFP/Getty Images)
MUNICH (JTA) — Weeks after they emigrated from Russia and moved to Germany, the Nedlin family sought to join the local Jewish community. Registering for membership in a Jewish community — a practice common in European countries — was a significant step for the Nedlins, who before emigrating in 1992… Read more »
(JTA) — A 21-year-old Ohio man was arrested for planning an attack on a Toledo-area synagogue. Damon Joseph of Holland was charged Monday in U.S. District Court in Toledo with attempting to provide material support to ISIS. He told an undercover FBI agent that he was inspired by the… Read more »
NEW YORK (JTA) — Most Jewish religious schools begin the day with a traditional morning prayer. After that, students spend much of their time studying Talmud, the central text of Jewish law. But at Romemu Yeshiva, set to open next year, students could begin the day with yoga and… Read more »
Naomi Weisstein, a neuroscientist as well as a stand-up comedian, graces the cover of Joyce Antler’s new book. Weisstein died in 2015. (NYU Press)
BROOKLINE, Mass. (JTA) — Heather Booth, Amy Kesselman, Vivian Rothstein and Naomi Weisstein. The names of these bold and influential radical feminists may have faded in recent years, but they remain icons to students of the women’s liberation movement of the early 1960s and to generations of women activists since.… Read more »
Ruth and Irving Olson In 2019 the Northwest Division will organize its activities as The Ruth and Irving Olson Center for Jewish Life in the Northwest,” says Alan Kendal, advisory council chair for the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Northwest Division. Stuart Mellan, JFSA president and CEO, made the formal announcement during the… Read more »
Members of the November 2018 Firefighters Without Borders mission pose with soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces 118th Division Tank Battalion in the Golan Heights, (L-R): Eliot Anderson, Scott Peru, Ted Geare, K. Paul Maxwell, Kris Blume, Steve Lunde. (Courtesy Firefighters Beyond Borders)
Tucson Firefighters Beyond Borders completed its third mission to Israel last month under an unexpected hail of missiles. That only added a new dimension to the multi-faceted, cross-cultural and cross-technology educational exchanges that began in 2013, according to the six participants. The delegation left Tucson on Nov. 6, spending… Read more »
Anjulie Pfeifer wanted her office at Jewish Family & Children’s Services to feel homey. (Micheal Romero)
Visiting counselor Anjulie Pfeifer’s office is like visiting grandma’s house. Or going to a hipster coffee shop. Or seeing Smokey Bear’s cabin. At least that is what her clients at Jewish Family & Children’s Services say when they walk across the threshold of her office. Scenic paintings line the… Read more »
Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona volunteer Louise Good, right, is a classroom reading tutor at Homer Davis Elementary School. (Danielle Larcom)
Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series of four articles on how the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona allocates funds. The first, in the Oct. 12 issue, focused on youth and family education programs at synagogues. The second, in the Nov. 23 issue, focused on national and… Read more »
The Hebrew Free Loan Association of Tucson helps community members thrive. (Courtesy Hebrew Free Loan Association of Tucson)
The Hebrew Free Loan Association of Tucson has been around since 1947. Although it provides an invaluable service — granting interest-free financial assistance to those in need — its longtime president, Phil Bregman, has often called the association “the best kept secret in town.” But in the past nine… Read more »
Rabbi Tzvi Rimler (Chabad Oro Valley)
Chabad Oro Valley will host an “End of Hanukkah” sing-along concert Monday, Dec. 10. Australian-born musician and composer Rabbi Tzvi Rimler, of Noteworthy Live band in Chandler, Arizona, will perform contemporary and old Eastern European Jewish favorites, along with anecdotes and stories. First introduced to the piano at age… Read more »
Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Jewish Community Relations Council volunteers (L-R) Judy Gomez, Jim Rich, Jill Rich, Leslie Shire, and Rod Rodin (back) work with other local faith communities to support TIHAN’s Poz Café program.
T ucson Interfaith HIV/AIDS Network‘s Poz Café program provides a monthly gathering for people living with HIV. Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona funds a lunch annually and, along with local synagogues, provides volunteers to shop for food, cook and serve meals. More than 25,000 meals have been served and… Read more »
Barbara Russek’s success with roses took her by surprise.
Even as the menorah shines its brightest these last three nights of Hanukkah, our eight-day Festival of Lights is starting to wind down. Presents have been opened and latkes savored. Hanukkah 5779 will soon become a sweet memory. So, what are your plans for the rest of December? How… Read more »
The Industrial Development Authority of Pima County announced a new partnership Monday with Trio, an independent mortgage financing company based in Washington state. The goal is to expand access to affordable financing to qualified Pima County residents to promote homeownership through a Lease-To-Own program. “Some of our residents need… Read more »
The head of the IDF's Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Yoel Strik, met with the @UNIFIL_ Commander, Gen. Stefano Del Col from Italy, and toured the area of the cross-border attack tunnel that was exposed this week after it was dug from Lebanon into Israel. (IDF Spokesperson Unit)
(JNS) As the Israel Defense Forces ploughs ahead with an operation to expose and destroy a network of Hezbollah tunnels snaking their way into northern Israel from Lebanon, the military must also be prepared for the risk of a sudden escalation with the powerful Shi’ite terrorist organization, a former… Read more »
BUENOS AIRES (JTA) — Israeli technology hired by Argentina to provide security during the G20 global leaders’ summit detected several unauthorized drone incidents. Despite previous fears, the participation of leaders from 19 countries and the European Union wasn’t affected. The Defense Ministry of Argentina signed a contract worth more… Read more »
President George Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev shake hands during a summit held before the start of the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference. (Pascal Le Segretain/Sygma via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — When a presdent dies, the tendency is to put aside long-simmering resentments and consider the wholeness of his record. So it was when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remembered George Herbert Walker Bush, who died last week at 94. Despite the tense relationship with Israel… Read more »
The Rabbinerseminar zu Berlin, the only Orthodox rabbinical seminary in Germany, held its 10th anniversary ordination ceremony in Berlin in October 2018. The school's predecessor was shuttered by the Nazis in 1938. (Gregor Zielke)
Though he was just 6 years old on the night of Kristallnacht, Rabbi Chanoch Ehrentreu can still recall the horror: Torah scrolls burning in the courtyard of his father’s synagogue. His father taken by the Gestapo to the concentration camp at Dachau. The grandson of a prominent rabbi from… Read more »
