News

(JTA) — A student at the Hebrew Academy of Miami died in a fall from the ninth story of his high-rise condominium building. Samuel Farkas of Miami Beach was locked out of his family’s ninth-floor condo on Tuesday evening and was trying to climb down the balcony from the… Read more »

Rabbi Ruven Barkan and his wife, Adina Weber, hosted a dinner at their home on Wednesday, Dec. 19 for rabbis and educators who participated in a three-day border immersion program in Nogales, sponsored by the Kino Border Initiative. Rabbi Thomas Louchheim of Tucson’s Congregation Or Chadash called in to… Read more »

Miriam Romero received the Arizona English Language Teacher of the Year Award at the Arizona Department of Education’s Office of English Language Acquisition Services 2018 Conference, held Dec. 5 at the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort. Romero is a teacher at Carrillo K-5 Magnet School in the Tucson Unified… Read more »

AMSTERDAM — I was recently offered a handout while rummaging for food in a heap of trash as my two small children looked on. It happened all because I wanted to start attending synagogue regularly. To be clear, I’m writing this neither as a plea for pity nor an… Read more »

Editor’s note: JTA published this article in February 2018. Marc Rauch, director of Camp Kinder Ring, assures the Arizona Jewish Post that Mikhl Baran, now 96, taught at the camp “throughout the summer of 2018 and plans to return in 2019. He is truly an icon at Kinder Ring,… Read more »

Jeremy Huw Williams

Editor’s note: A second concert, in which Argentine pianist and conductor Ricardo Hegman was to play works by the renowned Israeli composer Andres Hadju, was canceled on Jan. 10 because Hegman will not be able to get a visa in time. Daniel Asia, a composer and University of… Read more »

(JTA) — On an average Saturday morning at the Orthodox Ohel Tefillah synagogue on Chicago’s North Side, about 10 percent of the men carry a handgun. That number may seem high in a liberal city with some of the strictest gun laws in the country. But in the aftermath… Read more »

(JTA) — New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft is the winner of the $1 million Genesis Prize, the so-called Jewish Nobel. Kraft, 77, will be giving the money “to initiatives combatting anti-Semitism and other forms of prejudice as well as attempts to de-legitimize the State of Israel,” according to… Read more »

(JTA) — Michael Phelps, the most decorated swimmer in Olympics history, will receive the Morton E. Ruderman Award for Inclusion of People with Disabilities. The Ruderman Family Foundation will honor Phelps in recognition of his advocacy for people with disabilities and the sharing of his own journey with mental… Read more »

(JTA) — Jewish federal employees who are struggling with expenses due to the government shutdown can now find some relief. The Hebrew Free Loan Association of Greater Washington approved an emergency program last week to provide loans of up to $2,000 per household to affected Jews living in the… Read more »

(JTA) — It has been four years since a gunman attacked the Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket in Paris. JTA’s Cnaan Liphshiz went back to the scene of the shooting for a commemoration ceremony, and to check in with French Jewry on how they feel their country has progressed —… Read more »

YANGON, Myanmar (JTA) – There was a Hanukkah party last month in this former capital city and enough guests — over 200 — to surprise an uninvited tourist. “They’re no Jews here anymore,” the tourist proclaims, confused about the celebration at Yangon’s regal Chatrium Hotel. “Yes there… Read more »

(JTA) — The father of Meadow Pollack, a student who was among the 17 people killed in the shooting at a Parkland, Florida, high school, has been appointed to the state Board of Education. Gov. Rick Scott appointed Andy Pollack in an announcement on Friday evening, the South Florida… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli politics looks like a big mess right now. In the past few weeks, three new parties have been launched and one party has kicked out a former partner. More changes are likely, too. It probably will get messier still if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — In the waning days of 2018, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., formally declared her interest in running for the presidency. Warren was not the first to do so — former Maryland Rep. John Delaney has for months been canvassing for Democratic votes in Iowa, the first caucus… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — Rabbi Rachel Rubenstein knows that in the age of Kickstarter, getting young people to give to a Jewish federation can be a hard sell. “In today’s culture, we can go straight to the GoFundMe, and fund so hyper-specifically what you want to fund,” she told… Read more »

Scott Zorn

The Tucson Jewish community was stunned by the news that Scott Zorn, 59, died Jan. 1, 2019, in Akron, Ohio, with hundreds of Facebook messages quickly going out to his wife, Julie; children, Haley and Dylan; and in-laws, Tucsonans Kathy and David Unger. Zorn was the director of children,… Read more »

(JTA) — PBS’ celebrity genealogy show “Finding Your Roots” has had plenty of Jewish guests — Bernie Sanders, Larry David, Paul Rudd and Scarlett Johansson — and the occasional guest, like Paul Ryan, who learn they have a Jewish ancestor on their family tree. But the season five premiere,… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Days after launching a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren pledged her salary to HIAS, the Jewish immigration advocacy group, as long as the government is shut down. “Over 7,000 people in Massachusetts have been sent home or are working without pay… Read more »

(JTA) — The United States’ withdrawal of some 2,000 ground troops from Syria does not signal the end of the U.S. commitment to Israel’s security, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said. Pompeo made the statement Tuesday at the start of a meeting in Brazil with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin… Read more »