Amy Oestreicher performs ‘Gutless and Grateful’ at the Triad Theatre in New York in October 2012. (Courtesy Amy Oestreicher)
On the night of the second Passover seder 12 years ago, Amy Oestreicher’s parents had to ask their guests to leave their Connecticut home so they could take Oestreicher, then 18, to the hospital with a severe stomachache. She was rushed into surgery where her stomach exploded due to… Read more »
Tucsonan Goggy Davidowitz takes part in a Partnership2Gether team- building exercise at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on Feb. 27. (David J. Del Grande)
Hosting the annual Partnership2Gether leadership mission in Tucson this year was ambitious and quite successful, says Oshrat Barel, director of the Weintraub Israel Center. Six partnership delegates from Israel, Tucson delegates and local community stakeholders spent a week, from Feb. 26-March 5, discussing the program, its strengths and ways… Read more »
(L-R) Patty Vallance, Jennifer Cassius and Anita Feder (Courtesy Family Friends, LLC)
Jennifer Cassius, Anita Feder and Patty Vallance recently formed Family Friends, LLC, an estate sales company. Family Friends aims to help families with the distribution and disposition of personal property, whether due to downsizing, a transition to alternative living arrangements or the loss of a loved one, “with an… Read more »
Jeremy Vega and Liz Cracchiolo (standing), Kelli Workman and Dennis Tamblyn in ‘Stars of David’
Arizona Onstage Productions will present “Stars of David: A New Musical,” based on Abigail Pogrebin’s 2005 bestseller, subtitled “Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish,” April 15 and 16 at the Berger Performing Arts Center. The musical revue presents little known stories about some of the most famous Jews of… Read more »
Fred Klein (right) with Lievin Niyongabo at the Tucson's International Rescue Committee office. An immigrant from Burundi, Niyongabo is an Americorps VISTA volunteer at the IRC and also works as a caregiver. He was a university student in Namibia when his family got permission to resettle in the United States and plans to resume his studies. (Courtesy Fred Klein)
Passover is the time of freedom. We eat matzah, the bread of affliction, we eat bitter herbs and dip karpas (vegetables) in salt water to recall our suffering and tears. We eat charoset, made with ground almonds, cinnamon and wine to recall the mortar used by Jewish slaves to… Read more »
French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen speaks in Henin-Beaumont, France, Dec. 6, 2015. (Sylvain Lefevre/Getty Images)
PARIS (JTA) — Like many Jews in France, Ludwig Fineltain is hoping against hope that Marine Le Pen will not be elected president of the country five weeks from now. At the moment, the head of the far-right National Front party is leading in the polls with 26 percent… Read more »
Jewish mental health professionals say there has been an unprecedented rise in anxiety, stress and sadness since Donald Trump was elected president. (Lior Zaltzman)
(JTA) — The text messages started pouring in at 6:30 a.m. as Tracey Rubenstein was getting her kids ready for school. By the end of the day the Boca Raton, Florida-based social worker had spoken to most of her clients, either in person or via text. They were shocked, disappointment, sad and scared.… Read more »
Ricardo Horvath, manager of the Inter Aliyah soccer club, holds up a team jersey following a victory over Beitar Jaffa in Tel Aviv, March 17, 2017. (Andrew Tobin)
TEL AVIV (JTA) – “Vamos!” “Pass it!” “Ladrao!” For most of the match on a local field Friday, the Inter Aliyah Club soccer players speak a variety of languages. But when the ball hits the back of the opposing team’s net, they join in soccer’s universal victory cry: “Goooal!” Inter… Read more »
The crowd at last year's AIPAC conference at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., listen to Hillary Clinton speak, March 21, 2016. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Maintaining Iran sanctions, crushing BDS and ensuring aid to Israel are high on the agenda, of course. But the overarching message at this year’s conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee is, if you want a break from polarization, come join us. “This is an unprecedented… Read more »
Everything But The House, an online estate sale marketplace, is auctioning a variety of rare, Judaica items from the 19th–mid 20th centuries. Items include: The Torah Crown – an early 20th century Sefer Torah crown that was made during one of the first years of the Bezalel School of Arts… Read more »
The American-Israeli teenager arrested on suspicion of making over 100 bomb threats to American JCCs leaves the court in Rishon Lezion, Israel, March 23, 2017. (Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Literally within seconds of the news of the arrest in Israel of an Israeli-American teenager for the bulk of the JCC bomb threats, Twitter lit up with Jewish anxiety. “ fear the inevitable backlash from haters who we whipped a frenzy for our own nefarious political… Read more »
ATLANTA (JTA) — When Janice Rothschild Blumberg first heard that a bomb threat had hit an Atlanta Jewish center, she had only one thought: “It’s happening all over again.” Blumberg, 93, remembers her shock in 1958 when white supremacists bombed her synagogue, then called the Hebrew Benevolent Congregation… Read more »
JERUSALEM (JTA) — A Israeli teenager who also has American citizenship was arrested on suspicion of carrying out more than 100 bomb threats on Jewish institutions in the United States. Israel’s anti-fraud squad arrested the 19-year-old suspect at his home in southern Israel and searched the premises on Thursday.… Read more »
A new organization hopes to lure young adults in their 20s and 30s back to camp. (Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) — The campers wake up in their cabins on Friday morning, dress and go to breakfast. Next comes a range of activities — arts and crafts, archery, kickball. Then, after an hour of primping and preening for Shabbat, they gather as the sun sets and head… Read more »
Michael Solomonov, left, stars in a new documentary about Israeli cuisine. (Florentine Films)
(JTA) — “I thought it was just going to be about falafel and hummus.” That was the perception of Israeli cuisine that filmmaker Roger Sherman had when he reluctantly decided to accompany his friend, the acclaimed Jewish cookbook writer Joan Nathan, on a food tour of Israel in 2010. But the reality exceeded… Read more »
Jewish Funders Network President Andres Spokoiny speaking at the group's international conference, March 20, 2017. (JFN)
ATLANTA (JTA) — For decades, the Lippman Kanfer family has focused its philanthropy on local Jewish communities and national initiatives to teach Torah — funding causes from the Anshe Sfard Congregation in Akron, Ohio, to a Jewish day school network. But since Nov. 8, Election Day, the family has… Read more »
The cast of “Nebsu,” the first Israeli prime-time show to feature a black actor in a lead role. (Reset)
TEL AVIV (JTA) – Last week, Israelis for the first time saw a black lead character on a homegrown, primetime television show. “Nebsu,” a half-hour comedy, focuses on an Ethiopian man who is married to an Ashkenazi Jewish woman. Misunderstanding ensues. “There is definitely a lot of cultural confusion in the… Read more »
Francois Fillon (center) shakes hands with CRIF President Francis Kalifat in Paris, March 14, 2017. (Courtesy of CRIF)
PARIS (JTA) — Even to his supporters, France’s center-right presidential hopeful Francois Fillon is a flawed candidate. Dogged by corruption scandals Fillon, who represents The Republicans party of former President Nicolas Sarkozy, was indicted Tuesday for allegedly funneling public funds illicitly to his children and wife. Fillon, a career… Read more »
David Gregory
David Gregory, political analyst for CNN and author, says reconnecting with Judaism centered his life in the right way. Gregory’s book, “How’s Your Faith? An Unlikely Spiritual Journey,” is an autobiographical tale about his return to faith in adulthood. Simon & Schuster published the book in September 2015. “The… Read more »
Messages of support for the Tucson Jewish Community Center include chalk art and postcards. (Eitan Penner/Tucson Jewish Community Center
On the evening of Monday, Feb. 27, the Tucson Jewish Community Center received a bomb threat phone call, making Tucson part of the disturbing trend of more than 100 bomb threats targeting JCCs and other Jewish institutions across the country since mid-January. Last Friday, March 10, as the AJP… Read more »
