News

NEW YORK (JTA) — Few artifacts of the Holocaust move me like the yellow star. Homely and seemingly innocuous, they sit in museum cases either by themselves or still attached to a jacket or blouse, the stitching rough and the lettering surprisingly crude. They are almost comically, cartoonishly blunt,… Read more »

(JTA) — It was a day before Hurricane Harvey was due to make landfall, and Rabbi Shira Stern knew she was headed for Texas. As a director of Disaster Spiritual Care for the American Red Cross, she knew there would be people who would have other needs beyond shelter,… Read more »

(JTA) — Three weeks ago, Lauren Laderman left Camp Young Judaea-Texas after serving as the unit head for 14-year-olds this summer. Then Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas coast, and Laderman was back at camp, this time preparing the cabins for evacuees in need of a place to live. On Tuesday,… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — There’s a small music room in the basement of cellist Maya Beiser’s large, kempt house in the leafy Riverdale section of the Bronx. It’s pretty spare — a few cellos, some basic recording equipment and posters from past concerts. Against one wall, though, rests a… Read more »

(JTA) — Berlin’s mayor, many local Jewish leaders agree, could do more to counter the city’s vocal BDS movement. But does that make him an anti-Semite? A report that the California-based Simon Wiesenthal Center may include Mayor Michael Müller on its annual list of the world’s 10 worst cases… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) – Israel recently got two new statues of political leaders: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Supreme Court President Miriam Naor. However, both statues were torn down within hours. For their creators, that was part of the point. Israel has very few official statues of its leaders —… Read more »

KRAKOW, Poland (JTA) — Michal Zielinski, a 47-year-old from this city, grew up unaware of his Jewish roots. Thirty years after discovering that his paternal family is Jewish, following the death of his grandmother, Zielinski and his wife, Elizabeth are active members of the Jewish Community Center of Krakow,… Read more »

The Arizona Jewish Post and Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona will be relocating to our new home at the Harvey and Deanna Evenchik Center for Jewish Philanthropy. We will share this new site with the Jewish Community Foundation. The move is scheduled  for Sept.  & and 8. We will resume… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) – Jerusalem therapist Miriam Ballin is the kind of person who takes the initiative. Despite resistance from her haredi Orthodox community, she became a medic. Then she launched a pacesetting psychological first aid unit. Clearly she was not just going to stand idly by while Tropical Storm… Read more »

What: “White Supremacy, Monuments and Memory: Charlottesville in Historical Context,” a panel discussion with experts from the University of Arizona history department When: 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 30 Where: Integrated Learning Center, 1500 E. University Blvd., Room 120 TUCSON, Ariz. — In light of recent events, cities across the… Read more »

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona has joined with the Jewish Federations of North America to help the victims of Hurricane Harvey, now a tropical storm. In an email to the community today, Stuart Mellan, JFSA president and CEO, and Shelly Silverman, JFSA chair, wrote: “Over the past few… Read more »

Ten teen-aged athletes from Tucson teamed up with other Jewish athletes from across the United States, Israel and Ukraine for the 2017 Maccabi Games in Birmingham, Ala., this summer.  And they’re already looking forward to next summer’s games — not just for the sports or the fun, but for… Read more »

Not everyone gets the opportunity to follow their passions, so when I happened upon a program that would enable me to pursue my two greatest loves – travel and teaching – it was an easy decision to apply. TALMA, a teaching fellowship sponsored by the Charles and Lynn Schusterman… Read more »

Even if you don’t follow pop music, you may have heard pianist and songwriter Regina Spektor singing the catchy “Orange Is the New Black” theme song, “You’ve Got Time,” covering The Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” in the animated feature “Kubo and the Two Strings,” or in numerous… Read more »

Project Isaiah, the Jewish community’s annual High Holidays food drive benefiting the Community Food Bank, begins Sept. 1 and runs through Oct. 2. The project is named for the Prophet Isaiah, who when asked why we fast on Yom Kippur, responded, “Is it not to share your bread with… Read more »

The Tucson Jewish Community Center and Chabad Tucson will present “Tales of a Hollywood Screenwriter” at the Tucson J on Thursday, Sept. 7, at 7 p.m. David Weiss will share stories of his wild ride to success and spirituality as screenwriter of the Academy Award-nominated “Shrek 2,” “Jimmy Neutron:… Read more »

Asher Susser

Professor Asher Susser, Ph.D., will return to the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies to give the first lecture of the 2017-18 season, “Fifty Years Since the Six Day War — How the Middle East Has Changed,” on Tuesday, Sept. 5. The Six Day War of June 1967 was a… Read more »

Fifteen thespians from San Francisco’s Jewish high school have taken their original play to the prestigious Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The students arrived in the United Kingdom earlier this month to perform the show, “Alice and the Black Hole Blues,” at the world’s largest arts festival four times during a… Read more »

Binyamin Wood-Isenberg

The train was packed. It was rush hour on a Thursday evening traveling back from work in Manhattan. Most people had in their ear phones, some had out books, and a few people stared blankly into space. As I sat there with the Hebrew text of Toras Menachem on… Read more »

A new exhibit, “Invisibility & Resistance: Violence Against LGBTQIA+ People” will occupy the Contemporary Human Rights space of the Holocaust History Center on the campus of the Jewish History Museum when the museum opens for a new season Sept. 1. The exhibit, which will be on display through May 31,… Read more »