A scene from 'The MeshugaNutrcracker!' (Betsy Kershner)
“The MeshugaNutcracker!,” featuring a Klezmer-ized orchestration of Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite,” debuts in movie theatres nationwide for one night, on Tuesday, Dec. 19. Called an “enchanting festival of light-hearted glee and meaningful warmth” (Los Angeles Times), this Hanukkah-themed musical comedy arrives on the last night of the holiday, presented by… Read more »
A scene from 'Fanny's Journey,' coming to the Tucson International Jewish Film Festival
Movies about Jews evading the Holocaust are, frankly, irresistible. We never tire of these celluloid beacons of hope, not least because we can never forget that the victims greatly outnumbered the escapees. The challenge that filmmakers face in this area is keeping the rays of light in proportion to… Read more »
This is one of the nearly 200 menorahs at the Museum of Lights in Casale Monferrato (Foundation for Jewish Art, History, and Culture at Casale Monferrato and in Eastern Piedmont - Onlus)
It’s always Hanukkah in this picturesque town in northern Italy’s Piedmont region. Jews have lived in Casale Monferrato for more than 500 years, with the community reaching its peak of 850 members at about the time Jews here were granted civil rights in 1848. The town still boasts one… Read more »
A view from the second floor of the Harvey and Deanna Evenchik Center for Jewish Philanthropy. (David J. Del Grande/AJP)
When the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona began designing its new building, not only did Federation leaders want to modernize their workspace, they wanted to create a sacred landmark, says President and CEO Stuart Mellan. “We really wanted the building to be a place of meaning,” says Mellan. “We… Read more »
(JTA collage)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Jared Kushner stands up to bullies. He makes new friends. His academic progress — well, the first year is more about socialization than acing tests, right? President Donald Trump, in the first fraught months of his administration, heralded the promise of his Jewish daughter, Ivanka, and… Read more »
Michael Masters rose through police ranks in Chicago and elsewhere in Cook County, Ill. (Andrew Collings/Jewish Federations of North America)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The U.S. Jewish community is more secure than it was a decade ago but must brace for new challenges, according to the officials who oversee communal security. These include lone wolves weaponizing easy-to-access items like cars; increasingly disruptive protests on campuses; the persistence of attackers inspired… Read more »
Nissim Guedj unpacks merchandise at a kosher meat shop in Amsterdam, Oct. 26, 2017. (Cnaan Liphshiz)
PARIS (JTA) – When Jerry Levy’s family opened one of the first gourmet kosher meat shops in France, they had some of the country’s best-laid business plans. Hailing from a long line of Jewish butchers in their native Algeria, they had the expertise and diligence in 1977 to cater… Read more »
Anthony Scaramucci, center, speaks
alongside officials of the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce at a news conference at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, Nov. 21, 2017. (Courtesy of Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce)
JERUSALEM (JTA) – Anthony Scaramucci, the short-lived White House communications director, is not a member of the tribe. But he came close to declaring himself one during a visit to Israel this week. “A few more days here and I’d probably convert to Judaism,” Scaramucci joked to JTA… Read more »
Henny Goudeketing, left, and Anne van de Geest at the main hall of the Immanuel Jewish hospice in Amsterdam, Nov. 1, 2017. (Cnaan Liphshiz)
AMSTERDAM (JTA) — Henny Goudeketting, a 95-year-old Holocaust survivor, is ailing and preparing to leave the world. Goudeketting, who was sterilized in Nazi medical experiments at Auschwitz, has neither children nor other relatives to care for her. Now, after multiple infections and recurrent falls, she’s readying to say goodbye.… Read more »
Rep. Eliot Engel is featured on a Kosovo postage stamp in what may be a first. (Office of Eliot Engel)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Rep. Eliot Engel has become the first U.S. congressman to be featured on a postage stamp in Kosovo. Engel, a New York Democrat, may be the first Jewish member of Congress on a stamp, period. Bella Abzug helped inspire a 1999 stamp celebrating the women’s rights… Read more »
Rose Holm at her apartment holding a photo of her late husband, Joe, Oct. 31, 2017. (Josefin Dolsten)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Nazis came for Rose Holm’s family in the afternoon. By the evening, the 16-year-old was lying among corpses in the underground bunker where she and her family had been hiding. “I was between those dead ones, and I didn’t know if I’m alive or I’m… Read more »
Contributions to the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Community Campaign help support the JDC — and a variety of other causes in Tucson, Israel, and around the world.… Read more »
Women at work in the communal workspace of ICON. (Ben Sales)
SUNNYVALE, Calif. (JTA) — Before she boarded the plane from Israel to Silicon Valley, Darya Henig Shaked already was bucking stereotypes of women in tech. Among married Israeli techies in the Bay Area, it’s assumed that the man in the marriage was the one who obtained a work visa… Read more »
The flag of the Palestine Liberation Organization seen above its offices in Washington, D.C., Nov. 18, 2017. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — In 1987, Congress passed legislation that declared there would never be an office of the Palestine Liberation Organization on U.S. soil. President Ronald Reagan agreed and signed the law. Seven years later the law was still on the books. But that year the PLO opened an… Read more »
A photo of Avraham Mengistu on a shirt worn by a relative protesting in Israel, Aug. 17, 2015. (Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Ilan Mengistu knows his pitch to rescue his brother, Avera, should be a no-brainer to Jews — “pidyon shvuyim,” the redemption of the hostage, is among the greatest of commandments. But Mengistu also knows that the story he has to tell is not the straightforward narrative… Read more »
Kids can be Samson bringing down the walls at Courageous Pages, the play area at the new Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. (Ron Kampeas)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — As the Burning Bush crackles, God is heard. “Mow-zes,” God says in the mysterious mid-Atlantic accent that Hollywood once trained its actors to use — the one Anne Baxter as Nefertiti used to summon Charlton Heston’s Moses in the 1956 blockbuster “The Ten Commandments.” “Mow-zes, Mow-zes.”… Read more »
Dean Issacharoff is the spokesman for Breaking the Silence, a much-maligned nonprofit that opposes Israel's military occupation in the West Bank. (Screenshot from Facebook)
TEL AVIV (JTA) – Imagine for a moment that a soldier is suspected of misconduct in the field. Typically, someone might be expected to report the soldier, prompting the army to investigate. The soldier might deny any wrongdoing. Well, in Israel, a recent case unfolded in almost exactly the opposite way.… Read more »
Heinz-Christian Strache, the leader of Austria's right-wing Freedom Party, at the party's election event following Austrian parliamentary elections in Vienna, Oct. 15, 2017. (Alex Domanski/Getty Images)
VIENNA (JTA) — When it comes to the Holocaust, Austria has made a lot of progress assuming responsibility. In recent years, Austrian officials have consistently acknowledged their country’s support of Adolf Hitler, an Austria native, and his war of annihilation against Jews. In the early 2000s, the government dropped… Read more »
Carl Bernstein speaking at the SVA Theatre in New York City, Oct. 6, 2017. (Brad Barket/Getty Images for The New Yorker)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Just who is Bernie Bernstein, exactly? Well, first things first: He — or, more accurately, it — is a disembodied voice that has become a supporting character in the brouhaha surrounding Roy Moore, the U.S. Senate candidate in Alabama who has been accused of sexual… Read more »
A handful of Tucson’s restaurateurs are working through the holidays, but instead of dreading their blistering schedule they’re welcoming in the busy season. Filling your plates and bowls warms their souls. Jason McCarty, a managing partner at Eclectic Cafe, says he sees the 37-year-old eatery as an unofficial anchor… Read more »
