There are many benefits to learning a foreign language, such as boosting brain power, enhanced memory, and even stalling the onset of dementia and Alzheimer’s. A 2012 study by Swedish and German researchers shows that the language centers of the brain actually grow as a result of learning a… Read more »
Handmaker will host a series of six art talks by docents from the Tucson Museum of Art beginning this fall. The talks, organized by Ellie Eigen and the Tucson chapter of the Brandeis National Committee, are open to those who have signed up for the series through the BNC,… Read more »
Germany has agreed to increase its funding for social welfare services for Holocaust survivors by $88 million. The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany in its announcement Tuesday said the increase brings global allocations by Germany for 2019 to $564 million. The Claims Conference and representatives of the… Read more »
Aug. 16 will mark the 75th anniversary of the commissioning of the USS Intrepid, the World War II-era Essex class aircraft carrier that is now home to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City. To mark the occasion, the museum is putting out a coast-to-coast… Read more »
Brett Kavanaugh at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., the day after he was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court, July 10, 2018. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(JTA) — President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, a Republican establishment favorite who has worked in the George W. Bush administration, has triggered reactions from Jewish groups ranging from furious to relieved. Progressive groups raised flags about the pick, saying Kavanaugh’s record shows he would… Read more »
Ronaldo and Bernadette Lopez, who arrived in Israel in 2003, now run a Filipino restaurant and converted to Judaism in April. (Ben Sales)
TEL AVIV (JTA) — One of the biggest days of the year for Ronaldo and Bernadette Lopez is Christmas. They open up their Filipino restaurant in South Tel Aviv, and their friends bring their families, crowd the place and eat embutido, a rolled pork dish from their shared home… Read more »
A view of a classroom at Liessin, Brazil's largest Jewish day school. (Courtesy of Liessin)
RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) – One of the hottest topics among Rio Jewish families today sits right across the street from both the city’s largest synagogue and the site of a future Holocaust memorial. It’s a non-Jewish day school, directed by a Cohen with the support of a Levy, that… Read more »
Rachel Freier, center, is the protagonist of "93Queen." (Julieta Cervantes)
(JTA) — 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 patients in already… Read more »
Benjamin Friedenberg, an Israeli filmmaker, interviews Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the Jerusalem Cinematheque, July 5, 2018. (Natasha Kuperman)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg described how grateful she was for her Jewish heritage during a screening of a new documentary film about her life and career at the Jerusalem Cinematheque. “The demand for justice, peace and enlightenment runs through Jewish history and tradition,” she… Read more »
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban hold a joint news conference at the Parliament building in Budapest, Hungary, July 18, 2017. (Haim Zach/Israeli Government Press Office)
(JTA) — It has become a staple of his stump speeches to audiences in Israel and abroad: Far from being isolated politically, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu argues, Israel is forming new and stronger alliances with a host of countries around the world. In recent years, Netanyahu has either… Read more »
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy is shown at a White House ceremony, April 10, 2017. (Eric Thayer/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Not an hour after Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement as associate justice on the Supreme Court, the National Council of Jewish Women tweeted its dismay. “Justice Kennedy’s retirement could drastically shift the balance of the Supreme Court, and threaten the very rights and liberties we’ve… Read more »
Congregation Bet Shalom trip participants at the Haas Promenade in Jerusalem (L-R): Morrie Shoob, Alvin Juntiff, Alan Burke, Salley Juntiff, Louise Good, Bruce Dawson, Linda Kunsberg, Vickie Dawson, Andy Kunsberg, Geoff Winston, Sharna Shoob, Bernie Engelhard, Elinor Engelhard, Carol Richelson, Gary Richelson, Rachel Snyder, Ezra Alpert, Maiella Alpert, Sandra Snyder, Allan Schwartz, Anne Kobritz, Stewart Kobritz, Rabbi Avi Alpert
Each time we put together a Congregation Bet Shalom tour, we focus on a different aspect of life in the Holy Land. This time we concentrated on the idea of living as a non-Jew in the Jewish State. This two-week tour was aimed at proving the theory that non-Jews… Read more »
Sidney Finkel, a Holocaust survivor who lives in Tucson, with his memoir, ‘Sevek and the Holocaust: The Boy Who Refused to Die.’ (Debe Campbell)
Sidney Finkel ended his self-imposed silence in 1993 about Holocaust survival as a child. At the insistence of his daughter, Ruth, he shared the story with his family of the young boy born Sevek Finkelstein. Born in Poland to a well-to-do family of seven, he lived an idyllic childhood… Read more »
Tucson Jews for Justice members and supporters ready to take donations to the Kino Border Initiative shelter in Nogales, Sonora, from left: Tony Zinman, Marty Johnston, Daniel Hernandez, Alma Hernandez, and Consuelo Hernandez. (Courtesy Tucson Jews for Justice)
What started as a 24-hour community drive on social media last week turned into a tikkun olam (repairing the world) mission for Tucson Jews for Justice, coinciding with World Refugee Day, June 20. “It’s difficult to hear the news of what’s going on,” says Alma Hernandez, referring to the… Read more »
Janet Belkin wears a League of Women Voters badge. [Courtesy Belkin)
Janet Belkin felt a compelling need to do something “to insure our democracy continues to exist.” She turned to the local chapter of the League of Women Voters, a group she was a member of in the past in her native New York. “There’s a very strong and useful… Read more »
Summer camp is not just for kids anymore. Summer camps targeted for adults are popping up throughout the country, and Tucson is embracing the trend. The Tucson Jewish Community Center will launch its first One Day Adult Summer Camp on Sunday, July 29. The Foundation for Jewish Camping says,… Read more »
The Jewish History Museum will stage a digital exhibit, “Mapping Migration,” that documents the trajectory of Jewish community migration to Southern Arizona through triptychs comprising historical to contemporary family photos. The exhibit will open Sept. 1. “Two things I particularly love about this concept are that it is inclusive… Read more »
Shoshanna Nambi wants to teach her rabbinical school colleagues about Ugandan Jewish traditions. (Courtesy of Nambi)
(JTA) — Growing up in Uganda, Shoshanna Nambi was active in her small Jewish community. She taught songs and the Torah portion to younger children and was a member of her community’s youth group. Learning Hebrew also seemed to come easily. So it seemed obvious to her that she… Read more »
During World War II, Miriam Dubi-Gazan registered falsely as the daughter of a Nazi collaborator without his knowledge. (Courtesy of Dubi-Gazan)
AMSTERDAM (JTA) — As a seasoned ghost writer who specializes in biographies, Miriam Dubi-Gazan says there is no such thing as a boring life story. Her attention to detail, creativity and editing skills yield satisfying results even for clients whose resumes are not exactly the stuff of spy novels… Read more »
Rabbi Daniel Lehmann will be the first rabbi to lead the Graduate Theological Union based in Northern California. (Daniel Kates/Hebrew College)
SAN FRANCISCO (J. The Jewish News of Northern California via JTA) — Breaking religious barriers is nothing new for Rabbi Daniel Lehmann. Ordained at New York’s Yeshiva University, the flagship of Modern Orthodoxy, he most recently was president of Hebrew College near Boston, which is devoted to pluralistic Jewish… Read more »
