Lynda Rogoff, left, and Linda Tumarkin This is the final part of a series on the Jewish agency volunteers who received 2018 Special Recognition Awards at the Jewish Community Awards Celebration, held May 10. The Jewish History Museum recognized a pair of volunteers, Lynda Rogoff and Linda Tumarkin, for outstanding service, because they are such… Read more »
Uri Shani at May 21 University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center lecture on "The Red-Dead Conduit — A Regional Approach to Water Scarcity.”
As part of the University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center’s ongoing efforts to compare water management experiences of Israel and Arizona, the WRRC has scheduled two lectures this spring and summer. On May 21, Uri Shani, Ph.D., a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, presented “The Red-Dead… Read more »
The group made its first visit and shehecheyanu (blessing for new experiences) at the Kotel on Wednesday, May 9, and returned to the Western Wall for a pre-sunset Kabbalat Shabbat on Friday, May 11. (Courtesy Tucson Hebrew Academy)
Tucson Hebrew Academy eighth graders enjoyed the annual graduation trip to Israel, May 6-17. Highlights included an archeological dig at Beit Guvrin and Bar Kochva Caves, and a Bedouin experience with a drum circle and desert tent sleepover in Kfar HaNokdim, along with the requisite camel ride. Unique on… Read more »
President Donald Trump holds a news conference ahead of his early departure from the G7 Summit in La Malbaie, Canada, June 9, 2018. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Israeli and American Jews disagree on much — settlements, religious pluralism, even the degree to which they are “family.” And now you can add Donald Trump to the mix. Twin polls of Israeli and American Jews published by the American Jewish Committee on Sunday uncovered divides… Read more »
Flaming kites sent from Gaza have caused thousands of shekels of damage on Israel's western border. (Sam Sokol)
NAHAL OZ, Israel (JTA) — Dani Ben David fiddles with his radio, switching between it and his cellphone as he drives through the Beeri Forest, a nature reserve located on the border of Israel and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. As his Jeep jolts over the dirt road, he quickly… Read more »
A picture of Susanna Maria Feldman is placed among flowers at a makeshift memorial in Wiesbaden where the 14-year-old girl was allegedly raped and murdered by an Iraqi asylum seeker, June 8, 2018. (Boris Roessler/AFP/Getty Images)
(JTA) — In Germany, the case of a young Muslim refugee charged with the rape and murder of a teenage girl has captured media attention and rocked Germany’s Jewish community: The victim, 14-year-old Susanna Feldmann, was Jewish. Missing since May 22, the girl’s body was found June 6 buried… Read more »
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump at their historic summit in Singapore, June 12, 2018. (Kevin Lim/The Strait Times/Handout/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Amos Yadlin likes talking about the Begin doctrine, which calls for removing existential threats to Israel before they are manifest — maybe because he lived it twice. As an Israeli Air Force pilot, Yadlin flew one of the planes that took out Iraq’s nuclear reactor… Read more »
Lionel Messi, left, and Gonzalo Higuain of Argentina play against the United States during the 2016 Copa America Centenario in Houston, June 21, 2016. (Bob Levey/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Israelis want nothing more than for their country to be considered normal. That may have to wait. A much-anticipated soccer game between the Argentine and Israeli national teams was cancelled Wednesday because, Israeli and Argentine officials say, of physical threats made to the Argentine players — including… Read more »
Patrons at the Synagoga Cafe in Trnava, Slovakia, Sept. 13, 2017. (Wikimedia Commons)
TRNAVA, Slovakia (JTA) — Growing up, Robert Sajtlava remembers playing near what used to be his native city’s Orthodox Synagogue. A rectangular structure with a deceptively unimpressive facade, its ornate ceiling and interior walls suffered extensive damage from the precipitation leaking through the roof and, occasionally, by trespassers who… Read more »
JERUSALEM (JTA) — A proposal to overhaul the conversion system in Israel would remove its control from the haredi Orthodox-dominated Chief Rabbinate. The chief rabbis of Israel and dozens of haredi and religious Zionist rabbis are objecting to the plan, which recommends the establishment of a new state-run Orthodox… Read more »
The headquarters of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel is located in Jerusalem. (Flash90)
(JTA) — Jewish converts in America may have a much harder time being accepted in Israel because of a new set of regulations proposed by Israel’s Chief Rabbinate. If adopted, some activists in Israel say, the new guidelines for religious courts could drive a deeper wedge between Israel and… Read more »
Paul van der Bas reads a Dutch newspaper featuring an article about him and Anne Fleur Dekker, May 7, 2018. (Courtesy of Anne Fleur Dekker)
AMSTERDAM (JTA) — Like many young intellectual couples their age, Anne Fleur Dekker and Paul van der Bas enjoy going on walks together, dining out, discussing art and attending cultural events. A Dutch couple in their 20s, they have different dress styles — he has a clean-cut look and… Read more »
U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman speaks at the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, May 14, 2018. (Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — David Friedman, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, waded into the debate over media coverage of Israel with a pointed request to journalists. Reporters should “just keep your mouths shut until you figure it out,” he was quoted as saying at a conference launching a new Jerusalem… Read more »
Iris Yifrach speaks at a June 2014 rally in Tel Aviv calling for her kidnapped son Eyal's safe return. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
JERUSALEM — It’s easy to spot Iris Yifrach as she walks through the crowds in a packed shopping mall in central Israel. And it’s not just because she’s wearing a bright yellow blouse and matching headscarf. Yifrach has been a public figure since June 2014, when her 19-year-old son,… Read more »
Jack Phillips, owner of the Masterpiece Cakeshop, celebrates in his Colorado store after the U.S. Supreme Court voted 7-2 in his favor in a dispute with a gay couple, June 4, 2018. (Joe Amon/The Denver Post via Getty Images)
(JTA) — Seven Supreme Court justices sided with a Colorado baker in his legal fight with a gay couple. And seven major Jewish groups weighed in on the decision. Six of the Jewish groups disagreed with the decision. But one Jewish organization, the Orthodox Union, dissented from the rest,… Read more »
A New Jersey bill seeks to outlaw marriage for teenagers under 18. (Justin Oberman/Creative Commons)
(JTA) — A bill that would ban teenagers under 18 from marrying in New Jersey has been stalled because of opposition from the state’s haredi Orthodox community. Agudath Israel of America, the national haredi organization, says it supports the bill but that its provisions are too strict. Citing child… Read more »
Rabbi Gershom Sizomu leads Uganda's Jewish community. (Courtesy of Be'chol Lashon)
(JTA) — A Ugandan rabbi called on Israel to recognize his community after the government ruled against allowing members to move to the Jewish state. Rabbi Gershom Sizomu confirmed a report in Haaretz last week that the Israeli Interior Ministry had denied a community member’s immigration application. The Interior… Read more »
Josh Phillips stands inside his new e-cigarette shop, London Vapes. (Tracy Frydberg)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The idea came to Yotam Gross as a commander in the Givati Brigade following 2014’s Operation Protective Edge in Gaza: Instead of heading back to school after his Israeli military service, he wanted to spend his days bringing people together over warm plates of hummus… Read more »
(Michelle Shapiro)
Philip Roth, a literary giant, passed away May 22 at age 85. As Charles McGrath wrote in his obituary in The New York Times, “he was drawn again and again to writing about themes of Jewish identity, anti-Semitism and the Jewish experience in America.” But what Roth provided, of… Read more »
In celebration of all that makes Tucson’s food scene sizzle, the AJP recently asked several local chefs and restaurant owners to talk about their favorite spices or condiments. Turmeric, which gives dishes a lovely golden color and a delicious, pungent flavor, also is good for you, says Mintu Sareen,… Read more »
