News

Kol Simchah choir marks 20th year of concerts

A choir started over 20 years ago by the late Karla Ember at Congregation Ner Tamid continues to perform at concerts and Shabbat and holiday services. “There have been many changes in content and personnel over the years, but Congregation Kol Simchah, successor to Congregation Ner Tamid, carries on,”… Read more »

Award-winning violinist will play with TSO

Gil Shaham

Grammy-award winning violinist Gil Shaham will perform Tchaikovsky’s “Concerto in D major, Op. 35,” considered one of the best known and yet most difficult of all violin concertos, with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra on Friday, Jan. 12 at 7:30 p.m. The concert also will include Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet… Read more »

Hadassah speaker to provide Israel update at brunch

Laura Green

Laura Green, Zionist affairs chair of the Desert-Mountain Region of Hadassah, will present an Israel update for Hadassah Southern Arizona on Sunday, Jan. 7 at 10:30 a.m., during a brunch at Skyline Country Club. Green, who last spoke in Tucson in October 2014, grew up on Long Island, New… Read more »

Personal injury lawyers stress compassion, looking out for the ‘little guy’

Getting injured in an accident can impact everyday life for individuals and their families, and personal injury lawyers help people through these difficult situations. Four local personal injury lawyers weighed in on why they like this field of law, and also provided advice on what do do if injured… Read more »

In Tucson and beyond, b’nai mitzvah kids already are Jewish philanthropists

Pictured, Brenda Landau, right, with seventh graders at the Or Chadash annual meeting on May 9, 2016. Landau and her son Matt Landau are the Noah Cohen Memorial Philanthropy Program advisors.

SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) — Lyla Maymon and Jane Shvartzman went to interview officials last year at the Larkin Street Youth, a San Francisco organization fighting homelessness among young people, to see if their programs were worthy of a philanthropic grant. Maymon and Shvartzman asked all the right questions, like… Read more »

Russian-American violinist to share immigration story with JFSA

Yevgeny Kutik will be hosted by UA Presents and the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona. (Corey Hayes)

World-renowned Russian-American violinist Yevgeny Kutik was only 5 when his family immigrated to the United States, so he doesn’t clearly remember the anti-Semitism they faced in Belarus. But he’s heard his parents’ and grandparents’ stories. Kutik, who was born in Minsk in 1985, told the AJP the discrimination was… Read more »

Why Jewish day schools are breathing a little easier on tax bill

An illustrative photo of students at a Jewish day school. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Lawmakers finalizing the proposed tax overhaul reportedly have removed a provision that had sent shivers through the graduate student and Jewish day school communities. The House version of the reform bill, which was drafted by the Republican leadership, had removed the qualified tuition credit. The credit… Read more »

What Israel and the Palestinians make of Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem

Protesters burn a poster of President Donald Trump in front of the Damascus Gate at the entrance to Jerusalem's Old City, Dec. 11, 2017. (Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

JERUSALEM (JTA) – Amid the global controversy over President Donald Trump’s recognition last week of Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state, Israeli and Palestinian leaders actually found rare consensus: They agreed that the development was a win for Israel and a loss for the Palestinians. To be… Read more »

Israelis are flocking to this Silicon Valley community center

Children participate in a Yom Kippur event at the Palo Alto JCC, October 2017. (Ilyanne Photographic Art)

PALO ALTO, Calif. (JTA) — With a foot in the tech world and another in Jewish culture, the JCC in Palo Alto has transformed itself into a hub for local Israeli expatriates. Located on a sprawling 8.5-acre campus, the place known formally as the Oshman Family Jewish Community Center… Read more »

Congress will miss its deadline to reimpose sanctions on Iran deal. What happens next?

Activists in front of the White House protest President Donald Trump's decision to decertify the Iran deal, Oct. 12, 2017. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

  WASHINGTON (JTA) — Two months ago, President Donald Trump triggered a deadline about to come due on the Iran nuclear deal by decertifying Iran’s compliance. That meant Congress had 60 days to reimpose sanctions. Sixty days later — on Dec. 12 — Congress is not about to reimpose… Read more »

Debates with Israel weigh on Reform movement’s largest-ever gathering

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, addresses delegates at its 2017 biennial in Boston, Dec. 7, 2017. (Courtesy of the Union for Reform Judaism)

BOSTON (JTA) – President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel became an unexpected agenda item as 6,000 members of the Reform movement from across North America gathered here for their four-day convention. Addressing the Union for Reform Judaism’s 2017 biennial on Friday, Sen. Elizabeth… Read more »

Al Franken’s resignation pains his Jewish fans in Minnesota

Sen. Al Franken at a Capitol Hill committee hearing on hurricane recovery efforts in Puerto Rico, Nov. 14, 2017. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

  (JTA) — It’s a shame Al Franken has to go, Minnesota Jews say. But he has to go. That’s the feeling Minnesota Jewish leaders expressed a day after the Democratic senator announced he would resign his seat in the coming weeks following a string of sexual harassment allegations… Read more »

At a Jerusalem market, shrugs greet an announcement from President Trump

Uzi Sharabi sells baked goods at the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem, Dec. 6, 2017. (Andrew Tobin)

JERUSALEM (JTA) — President Donald Trump’s official recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital may have sent shock waves across the Middle East. But here, in the epicenter of a city where fewer than a million people work, eat, pray and shop, the first day’s reaction was muted. The municipality… Read more »

Following Trump’s declaration, European Union doubles down on its Jerusalem policy

President Emmanuel Macron of France at an EU meeting in Brussels, Oct. 19, 2017. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

  AMSTERDAM (JTA) — Following President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and pledge to move the U.S. Embassy there, Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett said Jews all over the world “expect the rest of the world to follow suit.” If that’s true, they may be in… Read more »

Trump’s Jerusalem announcement is a big deal — but won’t actually change much

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House, Feb. 15, 2017. (Andrew Harrer/Pool/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — In announcing U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, President Donald Trump spoke loud and clear — except when he didn’t. That’s not to say that Israel and many of its supporters weren’t thrilled with what many called the “long overdue” acknowledgement by the United States… Read more »

Trump recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House, Feb. 15, 2017. (Andrew Harrer/Pool/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Donald Trump signed a proclamation recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, but emphasized that he was not pre-empting negotiations over the final status of the city. “It is time to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,” Trump said in a televised address from the… Read more »