Chava Gal-Or (Courtesy Gal-Or)
As Hurricane Harvey swept over Houston, Chava Gal-Or counted herself lucky. The water rose up to her door and a little bit seeped in, but her home did not flood. However, many in the Reform synagogue where she works had it much worse: Twenty-nine families lost their homes —… Read more »
Tovah Feldshuh
Broadway comes to Tucson on Thursday, Nov. 30 at 7 p.m., when six-time Tony and Emmy-nominated actor Tovah Feldshuh takes the stage at Congregation Anshei Israel for the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s free event, Together: A Night of Song, presenting her acclaimed show, “Tovah: Out of Her Mind!”… Read more »
The Weintraub Israel Center is planning its biggest Israel trip for October 2018. A focus on people-to-people connections will make the trip unique, says Oshrat Barel, director of the Israel Center, emphasizing that this reflects the Israel Center’s mission, “building living bridges between Tucson and Israel.” Each day, participants… Read more »
Bryce Megdal Cantorial candidate Bryce Megdal will present a musical program at Hadassah Southern Arizona’s lunch on Sunday, Dec. 3. Carolynn Scherer Katz, Desert Mountain Hadassah regional vice-president, will install the 2018 officers of Hadassah Southern Arizona and the Woman of the Year Award will be presented. Megdal, a Tucson… Read more »
(L-R) Mark Zimmerman, Rabbi Israel Becker, Esther Becker, Lyn Lewis and Sue Ross at the Western Wall on Oct. 22
Traveling to Israel is like entering a time machine, where you connect to the past amidst advanced technology. Rabbi Israel Becker and his wife Esther of Congregation Chofetz Chayim led five people on a spiritual journey to Israel Oct. 15-26 with the theme of “Where the Past Shapes Your… Read more »
The Arizona Repertory Singers will perform the world premiere of ‘Festival of Lights’ next month. (David Sanders)
The Arizona Repertory Singers will feature several pieces of Jewish music during its 2017-2018 season. In its winter concert series, the 47-member ensemble directed by Elliot Jones, Ph.D., will perform the world premiere of “Festival of Lights” by New York composer Karen Siegel, as well as the Ladino Hanukkah… Read more »
Neta Riskin (left) and Golshifteh Farahani in ‘Shelter’ (Beta Cinema)
“When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.” These words of Jimi Hendrix could well be the introduction to the 27th annual Tucson International Jewish Film Festival, which will run Jan. 11-21 with 20 films, says Anne Lowe, film festival committee member.… Read more »
(L-R): Rachel Rivera (Women’s Philanthropy summit co-host), Grace Rodnitzki, Batel Marsha and Peggy Langert (Women’s Philanthropy summit co-host) at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Nov. 8. (Danielle Larcom/JFSA)
Batel Marsha, an 18-year-old Ethiopian-Israeli, says the Ethiopian National Project’s SPACE (School Performance and Community Empowerment) program “saved me — maybe not literally saved my life, but totally helped me get to where I am today.” Batel will join the Israeli Air Force next month, where she will train… Read more »
Flam Chen’s performances merge daredevil acrobatics and pyrotechnics. (Courtesy Tucson Jewish Community Center)
The Sculpture Garden at the Tucson Jewish Community Center will take on a “Big Top” atmosphere for the Tucson J early childhood education program’s new winter fundraiser, Cirque D’Arte. The event, which will be held Saturday, Dec. 2 at 6:30 p.m., will begin in the Sculpture Garden with characters… Read more »
Leonard Bernstein was renowned worldwide for his flamboyant conducting style as well as his talent as a composer, pianist and educator. (Paul de Hueck, courtesy of the Leonard Bernstein Office, Inc.)
Tucson will be marking the 100th birthday of Leonard Bernstein in a very big way. “Bernstein at 100 — A Celebration of the Life and Music of Leonard Bernstein” will take place from Jan. 16 through Feb. 4, 2018. The Tucson Desert Song Festival, under the direction of George… Read more »
Yael Aronoff, Ph.D. Yael Aronoff, Ph.D., director of Jewish studies at Michigan State University, will present “The Political Psychology of Israeli Prime Ministers” on Monday, Dec. 4, at 7 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, continuing the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies’ 20th anniversary Shaol & Louis Pozez Memorial Lectureship Series… Read more »
Art by students of Tucson Hebrew Academy is on display at Beth Shalom Temple Center in Green Valley. (Courtesy Amy Pozez)
The art gallery at Beth Shalom Temple Center in Green Valley will present “A Visual Exploration of Jewish Values: The Art of Jewish Youth,” featuring art by students at Tucson Hebrew Academy, through Dec. 21. “Values are the mainstay of our belief. Thoughts often swim in my head about… Read more »
‘Picasso Revisited,’ stained glass by Bob Samson
The Tucson Jewish Community Center will present “Spiritual Voices,” a juried art show, Nov. 30-Jan. 10. The exhibit will include 20 Jewish artists from Southern Arizona. Local artists Aimee Smythe and Lisa Mishler are the curators of “Spiritual Voices.” Both women have participated in numerous art shows throughout the… Read more »
The members of the Brandeis School's 2017-18 seventh-grade class said they appreciated hearing from a range of nonprofits in their city. (Ben Sales)
SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) — Lyla Maymon and Jane Shvartzman went to interview officials last year at the Larkin Street Youth, a local 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 what… Read more »
Stephen Bannon speaking at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C., October 23, 2017. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Stephen Bannon, the former chief strategist for President Donald Trump, called himself a “Christian Zionist” at the Zionist Organization of America’s annual dinner. He also praised Republican Jewish megadonor Sheldon Adelson for his help in guiding Trump through a sexual assault scandal. Bannon, at what… Read more »
Some of the tens of thousands of nationalists marching through Warsaw, Nov. 11, 2017. (Jakob Ratz/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
(JTA) — The sight of far-right activists waving racist banners and shouting anti-Semitic slogans during a nationalist march in the capital of Poland over the weekend shocked many around the world. It was an understandable reaction to witnessing tens of thousands in Warsaw marching near what used to be… Read more »
WASHINGTON (JTA) — It’s lunch break during a one-day conference on “Israeli Cuisine as a Reflection of Israeli Society” — so naturally I’m eating lunch. Everything on my white plastic plate can be considered Israeli food. There is a burek (which originally heralds from Spain, by way of Turkey),… Read more »
Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center testifies before the House Judiciary Committee, Nov. 7, 2017. (Screenshot from YouTube)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Jewish and pro-Israel leaders exchanged heated remarks at a congressional hearing on how to define anti-Semitism. Tuesday’s hearing of the House Judiciary Committee took up a bill that would, among other things, define as anti-Semitism language that “demonizes” Israel. Of the nine witnesses who addressed the… Read more »
This man in Puerto Rico lives in a nursing home that has not had power since Hurricane Irma. (Josefin Dolsten)
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (JTA) — “Feeling lucky today?” reads a flier for a casino tucked into the seat pocket of Adolfo Vasquez’s car. The car actually belongs to his wife, Vasquez explains. He borrowed hers, which is bigger, to drive a group from the San Juan Airport… Read more »
Ralph Northam, Virginia's governor-elect, greeting supporters at an election night rally in Fairfax, Nov. 7, 2017. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The big post-Election Day headline is the stunning Democratic sweep in Virginia’s gubernatorial and House elections, coupled with the predicted Democratic win of the governor’s mansion in New Jersey. Republicans are wondering what this says about the train that was Trumpism. In Virginia, Ed Gillespie was… Read more »
