Graham Hoffman The Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona will welcome Graham Hoffman as chief executive officer, beginning Sept. 17. Hoffman most recently was deputy director of development at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Washington, D.C., as well as deputy director of the American Israel Education Foundation for the… Read more »
(Courtesy Michael Cooper)
Michael Cooper describes Nogales, Arizona, as a small, multicultural melting pot. Nevertheless, he felt like an outsider growing up there. He carries that with him every day as he approaches life in the world’s largest melting pot, New York City. He says the border town lessons about inclusion vs.… Read more »
David Alexander Johnston in a scene from Invisible Theatre’s production of ‘The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey.’ (Creatista Films, Video and Photography)
David Alexander Johnston plays nine characters in “The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey” by LGBT activist and Academy Award-winning author, James Lecesne, playing at the Invisible Theatre Sept. 4-16. “Absolute Brightness” tells the story of the effect a gay teen’s disappearance has on his community. These are the voices… Read more »
(L-R): Garrett Fenton, Matt Landau, Sophia Yatsenko, Monica Montes, and Linnea Dawson in the Old City of Jerusalem at the Western Wall
This summer season marked the 18th anniversary of Birthright Israel, the program that brings Diaspora Jews, ages 18-26, on a free trip to Israel. From May 24-June 4, Bus #1545 carried University of Arizona students along with participants from the University of Southern California, Arizona State University, and San… Read more »
The Rosh Hashanah custom of dipping apples in honey had its start among Ashkenazi Jews. (Liron Almog/Flash90)
The truth is, there is no commandment in Judaism to dip an apple in honey on Rosh Hashanah. But what would the Jewish New Year be without the custom? It’s a question that bedevils vegans, many of whom won’t eat honey because it’s an animal product. So what’s a… Read more »
A successful and enduring democracy needs the active participation of its citizens. Such participation requires voting. By casting your vote for a candidate who reflects your values and interests, you are directly affecting your future and the future of our country. By failing to vote, you are enabling others to… Read more »
Most of Paraguay’s 1,000 Jews live in Asuncion, where B’nai Jacob’s Torah has found a new home. (Erin Jones-Avni)
One family after another hurried through Erin Jones-Avni’s front door, anxious to get their first glimpse of the new arrival — to admire its ornate silver breastplate and touch its satiny mantle. “People just kept coming, and they’d make a beeline for the Torah,” she told JTA from her… Read more »
Alma Hernandez’s second-place finish in the Democratic primary for the Arizona House of Representatives paves her way to election in November. (Courtesy of Hernandez)
(JTA) — Alma Hernandez, a 25-year-old Mexican-American Jew, finished in the top two in her Democratic primary for the Arizona statehouse, paving her way to be elected in November. Hernandez was second in her district Tuesday — there are two open spots for state representative — allowing her to… Read more »
(Kveller via JTA) — I’m a congregational rabbi, so the month of August is always a bit anxiety-provoking. Whether the holidays are “early” or “late,” they are coming, and my mental checklist goes into overdrive planning sermons, services and more. And this is to say nothing of the spiritual work.… Read more »
Supporters of Julia Salazar back the New York State Senate candidate at a news conference in Brooklyn, N.Y., Aug. 6, 2018. (Erik McGregor/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images
NEW YORK (JTA) — New York State Senate candidate Julia Salazar is pushing back against an article on a Jewish website describing discrepancies in her Jewish and family biography. Salazar, 27, a democratic socialist running for a seat in Brooklyn’s 18th district, has been profiled in various Jewish and… Read more »
The six Ulma children, seen here with their mother during their last summer alive, were killed in 1944 after watching their parents' execution for harboring Jews. (Courtesy of the Ulma Museum)
MARKOWA, Poland — Memorial plaques bearing the names of Poles killed for rescuing Jews line the pathway leading to a small, austere structure built into a hillside in this rural village in southeastern Poland. In the center courtyard, a large slab is inscribed to the memory of Jewish victims… Read more »
Mumbai, India – The Jewish community of India, together with American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, is responding to the destructive floods in Kerala, providing food and clothing to hundreds of families hard-hit by the disaster. With a presence in India since 1950, JDC and its partners in the Jewish community will provide… Read more »
Women mourn their relatives at the cemetery overlooking the Jewish town of Krasnaiya Sloboda in northern Azerbaijan, July 21, 2018. (Cnaan Liphshiz)
KRASNAIYA SLOBODA, Azerbaijan (JTA) — For one day each summer, the hills overlooking this centuries-old Jewish town echo with the sound of wailing women. The women ascend up a narrow path from this town of several hundred residents in northern Azerbaijan to its vast cemetery. It’s an annual procession on Tisha… Read more »
Ben Fisher lived for three years across from Jerusalem's Old City, or what he calls the "seam" between Arab eastern Jerusalem and Jewish western Jerusalem. (Kendall Rock)
(JTA) — In 2014, early on in a three-year stint spent living in Israel, songwriter Ben Fisher took a vacation to Japan. Sitting in a hotel room in Tokyo, he spontaneously wrote a song about the founding of Tel Aviv — in about 15 minutes. The story goes that… Read more »
The view down an alley off the street where Nazi camp guard Jakiw Palij lived in Queens, N.Y., Dec. 4, 2017. (Celeste Sloman for the Washington Post)
(JTA) — A former guard at a Nazi concentration camp was deported to Germany overnight from the United States, where he had lived for decades. Jakiw Palij, 95, had lived in Queens, New York. He served as a guard at the Trawniki concentration camp near Lublin, Poland, during World… Read more »
Rachel Freier, center, is the protagonist of ‘93Queen.’
Like many heavily Orthodox sections of Brooklyn, Borough Park has been served for decades by an all-male volunteer ambulance corps called Hatzalah. The corps caters to a religious Jewish community with particular needs and customs — including one custom that can increase the tension for some patients in already… Read more »
Mitzvah Magic circle captains and co-chairs celebrate the program’s 10th anniversary, Aug. 5. Standing (L-R): Fran Katz (Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona senior vice president), Andra Karnofsky (co-chair), Linda Tumarkin, Wendy Weiss, Claudia Oreck-Teplitsky, Donna Moser, Iris Posin (co-chair); seated, Elena Boskoff, Trudy Haggard, Anne Lowe (JFSA)
Mitzvah Magic, a program that provides baskets of Jewish holiday goods and everyday basics three times a year for local Jewish families in need, is a win-win, says longtime volunteer Iris Posin, who is co-chairing the program this year with Andra Karnofsky. Not only do families receive items that… Read more »
Katie Spector and Jeremy Thompson, the Tucson Jewish Community Center’s new arts and culture managers, in the J’s Sculpture Garden (Debe Ca
Look for some new directions in arts and culture programming at the Tucson Jewish Community Center with the addition of a dynamic duo of new managers, Katie Spector and Jeremy Thompson. Together they will focus on enriching community development, using innovative and creative ways to bring more people and… Read more »
(L-R) Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Board Chair Shelly Silverman, JFSA 2019 Campaign Chair Melissa Goldfinger, JFSA Senior Vice President Fran Katz, and JFSA Women’s Philanthropy Campaign Chair Leslie Glaze visit the Berlin Wall, July 15. (Melissa Goldfinger)
Each year, the Jewish Federations of North America invites professionals and lay leaders to participate in a mission that highlights the unique challenges, programs and impact of federations’ overseas funding. In mid-July, Melissa Goldfinger, Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona 2019 Campaign chair; Leslie Glaze, JFSA Women’s Philanthropy Campaign chair;… Read more »
The Jewish History Museum, open by appointment only during the summer, will reopen Friday, Aug. 31, with a new core exhibition, “Meanings Not Yet Imagined.” “Meanings Not Yet Imagined” is the final stage of a curatorial project that began with the installation of the Holocaust History Center’s “Intimate Histories”… Read more »
