News

Lawyers see Passover, immigration link

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)
March 30, 2017 / Korene Charnofsky Cohen, Special to the AJP

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 Jews imagine life under President Marine Le Pen

French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen speaks in Henin-Beaumont, France, Dec. 6, 2015. (Sylvain Lefevre/Getty Images)
March 29, 2017 / Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA

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 »

Feeling sad is ‘new normal’ in Trump’s America, therapists say

Jewish mental health professionals say there has been an unprecedented rise in anxiety, stress and sadness since Donald Trump was elected president. (Lior Zaltzman)
March 29, 2017 / Josefin Dolsten, JTA

(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 »

New immigrants’ soccer team hopes to beat Israel at its own game

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)
March 29, 2017 / Andrew Tobin, JTA

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 »

AIPAC 2017 preview: Seeking a bipartisan spirit in an extremely polarized capital

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)
March 29, 2017 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

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 »

Rare Judaica part of auction
March 27, 2017 /

 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 »

ANALYSIS Is Trump owed an apology after the JCC bomb threat arrest? Is anybody?

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)
March 24, 2017 / Andrew Silow-Carroll, JTA

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 »

6 decades after synagogue bombing, Atlanta Jews feel threats again
March 23, 2017 / Ben Sales, JTA

  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 »

Israeli-American teen arrested in Israel for over 100 JCC bomb threats
March 23, 2017 /

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 »

Chef Michael Solomonov goes ‘In Search of Israeli Cuisine’ in new film

Michael Solomonov, left, stars in a new documentary about Israeli cuisine. (Florentine Films)
March 21, 2017 / Lucy Cohen Blatter, JTA

(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 »

Trump era prompts Jewish donors to step up giving to liberal causes

Jewish Funders Network President Andres Spokoiny speaking at the group's international conference, March 20, 2017. (JFN)
March 21, 2017 / Ben Sales, JTA

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 »

Groundbreaking TV comedy introduces Israelis to their Ethiopian neighbors

The cast of “Nebsu,” the first Israeli prime-time show to feature a black actor in a lead role. (Reset)
March 20, 2017 / Andrew Tobin, JTA

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 »

In bid to defeat Le Pen, French right-wing candidate cozies up to Jews

Francois Fillon (center) shakes hands with CRIF President Francis Kalifat in Paris, March 14, 2017. (Courtesy of CRIF)
March 20, 2017 / Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA

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 »

Journalist David Gregory to speak on spiritual path at JFCS event

David Gregory
March 16, 2017 / David J. Del Grande, AJP Staff Writer

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 »

In face of bomb threats to Tucson J, locals respond with love

Messages of support for the Tucson Jewish Community Center include chalk art and postcards. (Eitan Penner/Tucson Jewish Community Center
March 16, 2017 / Phyllis Braun, AJP Executive Editor

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 »

With emotional link to new musical, Tucsonans become Broadway producers

Dick and Sherri Belkin at the opening night of "Come From Away" on Broadway, March 12. (Courtesy Dick Belkin)
March 16, 2017 / Renee Claire, Special to the AJP

Dick and Sherri Belkin, known for their dedicated energy and philanthropy in the Tucson Jewish community, recently donned new hats as Broadway producers. The couple attended the New York premiere of “Come From Away,” a musical about 9/11, at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre last week. A musical about 9/11? … Read more »

In Tucson talk, author details how modern Germans helped, hindered quest for lost legacy

Author Dina Gold, left, with J. Edward Wright, director of the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies, at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on March 6 (Korene Charnofsky Cohen)
March 16, 2017 / Korene Charnofsky Cohen, Special to the AJP

In December 1990, Dina Gold marched into a government building at Krausenstrasse 17/18 in the formerly Soviet-controlled East Berlin, and announced that she had come to claim her family’s property. She was bluffing. At that point in her quest for justice, she had no evidence. Gold showed an official,… Read more »

Shoah survivor on global healing mission to speak here
March 16, 2017 /
Leslie Schwartz

Holocaust survivor Leslie Schwartz will speak about his experiences as a teenager in Auschwitz, Dachau and Mühldorf and show a film titled “The Mühldorf Death Train” on Wednesday, April 5 at 6 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. The event is sponsored by the German studies department at… Read more »

UA Hillel students plan for 26th annual Holocaust vigil
March 16, 2017 /

The University of Arizona Hillel Foundation will hold its 26th annual Holocaust vigil later this month, a 24-hour program dedicated to the remembrance of the Holocaust as well as to promoting tolerance and understanding on campus and in Tucson.  A student committee designed and organized the vigil. This year’s… Read more »