Edith Eger, Ph.D.
Forgiveness is the ultimate spiritual freedom, says Edith Eger, Ph.D.: “It takes forgiveness to heal.” One of the last remaining Holocaust survivors, Eger, a psychologist, will be the guest speaker at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Women’s Philanthropy Connections 25th Anniversary brunch, “The Power to Heal,” on Feb.… Read more »
Harriet and Jerry Belenker
Communication. Give and take. Love. These are some the themes that emerged when the AJP spoke recently with nine couples in the Jewish community who have been married more than 50 years – six, remarkably, in the 60-plus range — about the secrets to a long marriage. Here, without… Read more »
Chen Dinatzi and Tamir Shecory are Tucson's latest Israeli teen volunteers. (Courtesy Weintraub Israel Center)
Chen Dinatzi and Tamir Shecory, Tucson’s second cohort of shinshinim (Israeli teen emissaries), will present a series of Israel education events for adults, “Talking Tachles with Chen and Tamir” at community congregations and organizations. Tachles is a slang Hebrew word, derived from Yiddish, that means “to the point” or… Read more »
Izzy Kornman
Relocating from Atlanta in the midst of Tucson’s hottest summer on record wasn’t Izzy Kornman’s greatest challenge. She’d already met one big challenge, being chosen as one of 25 national recipients of the Hillel International Springboard Fellowship. She also had to adjust to the Southwest vibe. “That’s a really… Read more »
(L-R) Arizona Theatre Company's David Ivers directs a rehearsal of 'Outside Mullingar' with actors Robynn Rodriguez (Aoife Muldoon), John Hutton (Tony Muldoon) and Larry Bull (Anthony Reilly). (Tim Fuller)
In May, the Arizona Theatre Company announced the arrival of David Ivers, the new artistic director who took over the reins from David Ira Goldstein after Goldstein’s 25-year stint leading ATC. Ivers suggested “Outside Mullingar” for the 2017/18 transition season and will make his ATC directorial debut with the… Read more »
Temple Emanu-El students Nora and Sawyer Sevy practice Hebrew reading skills with Yofi, a certified therapy dog. (Courtesy Marjorie Hochberg)
Yofi has her credentials and began teaching this month at the Kurn Religious School of Temple Emanu-El. No matter that Yofi is a floppy-eared golden doodle. She’s available to listen to children as they read aloud, practicing their Hebrew reading skills. Research shows that reading to dogs helps children… Read more »
Rabbi Raziel Shevach, right, shown with his family, was killed in a shooting near Nablus in the northern West Bank. (Facebook)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The U.S. ambassador to Israel blamed the Palestinians for the lack of peace with Israel in the aftermath of a shooting in the West Bank that killed an Israeli man. David Friedman tweeted Wednesday morning, as the Israeli military expanded its search for the killer or killers, including… Read more »
Stephen Bannon at a White House news conference, Feb. 16, 2017. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Steve Bannon, the former top strategic adviser to President Donald Trump, is leaving his powerful perch at Breitbart News. Breitbart News in a statement Tuesday said Bannon is a “valued part of our legacy,” but various media, including The New York Times, said he was ousted… Read more »
Two Delta Connection passenger jets at LaGuardia Airport in New York, October 2017. (Robert Alexander/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) — It wasn’t long after Nahum Amir began working for Delta Airlines as a mechanic that he says his manager started calling him “the Jewish guy.” Then Amir says the manager accused him and other Jews of “killing kids in Gaza.” During the same period, Yaron… Read more »
Jared Kushner at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, D.C., July 31, 2017. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) — On Season 3 of “The West Wing,” a bomb goes off outside a cafe on Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem, killing two American students. “What were they doing there?” asks C.J., the White House press secretary. C.J.’s question always struck me as the prime example of… Read more »
Congregants from Temple Hadar Israel in New Castle, Pa., gather at the local Tifereth Israel cemetery to bury ritual objects from their defunct synagogue, Dec. 31, 2017. (Alanna E. Cooper)
NEW CASTLE, Pa. (JTA) — It was a frigid 10 degrees on Sunday, the last day of 2017, but some 20 people gathered at Congregation Tifereth Israel’s cemetery in this city of 22,000 on the Ohio border. A blue tent and folding chairs had been set up for… Read more »
Michael Oren attends a meeting in the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, June 27, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90
(JTA) — If a Palestinian appears to be committing a terror attack, do they deserve to die on the spot? The answer is yes, says Michael Oren. The former Israeli ambassador to the United States, now a deputy minister in Israel’s Cabinet, tweeted last week that the Israel Defense… Read more »
Gal Gadot was the sixth most searched person on Google in 2017. Here, the actress attends an event at the 92nd Street Y on October 1, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Is Gal Gadot the most famous Israeli ever? Judging by 2017’s top Google searches, the answer might be yes. Gadot was the sixth-most searched person worldwide, and the third-most searched actor. The 32-year-old, who was born and raised in Israel and served in the Israel Defense Forces, starred… Read more »
Lorde performs during the iHeartRadio Secret Sessions by AT&T at the magical Houdini Estate in Los Angeles, California, Aug. 29, 2017. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Pop star Lorde’s decision to cancel her scheduled concert in Israel has sparked some fierce reactions, even if most of them were expected. The 21-year-old New Zealand native’s move earned praise from proponents of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, who said she was taking a stand for the… Read more »
Elhanan Miller, a journalist and rabbinical student who speaks fluent Arabic, sees his videos as a way to bridge a religious divide. (Bruria Hammer)
(JTA) — Is it true that Judaism doesn’t accept converts? Is it true that Jews have to wash their hands before they pray? Is it true that Jews have historically killed their prophets? These are just a few of the questions Elhanan Miller has heard over the years. A… Read more »
Jason Greenblatt, in gray shirt, visits the Nahal Oz military base near the Gaza border, Aug. 30, 2017. (Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Jason Greenblatt, President Donald Trump’s chief Israeli-Palestinian negotiator, has an office just around the corner from the White House. On his computer monitor is a Post-it note, inscribed with a quote from former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo: “At the end of the day, a peace agreement… Read more »
Leah Goldin, mother of late Israeli soldier Hadar Goldin, at a meeting in the Israeli parliament, April 19, 2017. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Israel’s government may be ambivalent about the nascent reconciliation between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, but it outright opposes Palestinian bids for statehood recognition through international bodies, including the United Nations. However, for one influential Israeli constituency — the families of Israelis held captive in Hamas-controlled… Read more »
(JTA collage)
(JTA) — It’s been a busy year here at JTA, where we’ve published thousands of stories covering topics as diverse as celebrity profiles to the rise of Europe’s right-wing to breaking the news of bomb threats at Jewish institutions across the U.S. Among the nearly 5,000 pieces we… Read more »
Sholom Rubashkin, seen in Postville, Iowa, in December 2004, served eight years of a 27-year prison term for bank fraud. (Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune/TNS via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Why did President Donald Trump commute the sentence of Sholom Rubashkin, the former CEO of an Iowa kosher meat plant sentenced to 27 years in prison for bank fraud? The official line is that the bipartisan support for Rubashkin’s cause made cutting short his sentence a… Read more »
National Front leader Marine Le Pen addresses activists at the Espace Francois Mitterrand in Henin Beaumont, France, April 23, 2017. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
PARIS (JTA) — On the surface, at least, Europe has not changed much over the past 12 months. In fact, when it comes to European politics, this year may appear mild in comparison to 2016, which saw several dramatic and shocking developments, such as Brexit, a refugee resettlement crisis… Read more »
