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 »
News
In Tucson talk, author details how modern Germans helped, hindered quest for lost legacy
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
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
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 »
Local sobriety group blends recovery, Yiddishkeit
The Jewish sobriety support group just entered in its third year as a regular weekly group. Although we are quite eclectic, with participants from all ages and backgrounds, we do have a few things in common. We are all Jewish, we are all in recovery and we all love… Read more »
ANALYSIS The false choice between Zionism and feminism
NEW YORK (JTA) — Two weeks ago the Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour started a fundraising campaign to help restore the graves at a St. Louis-area Jewish cemetery damaged by vandalism. The Jewish community there and across the country generally welcomed the effort — wildly successful, as it turned… Read more »
UA experts help bring medicines, inventions to market
How does an invention get from “there” to “here”? The University of Arizona is at the cutting edge in science, medicine, optical sciences, engineering, agriculture and other areas — but bringing inventions from the lab to the marketplace is a complex process, calling for talented experts with extensive technical,… Read more »
THA adding art component to annual STEM festival
Tucson Hebrew Academy will host its third annual free community STEM ((Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Festival on Sunday, March 26 from 10 am.-2 p.m. At last year’s event, more than 1,500 visitors enjoyed more than 75 interactive exhibits and activities. This year, an art element is being added… Read more »
Nepal focus of Tucson J photography exhibit
Tucson artist Aryen Hart’s photos capture distant Nepal, a land of monasteries, monks and the Himalayas. The Tucson Jewish Community Center will present Hart’s photography exhibit, “Inner Yatra: Meeting Nepal’s High Spirit on the LightSeed Path” through April 19 in the Fine Art Gallery. “Yatra” is a Sanskrit word… Read more »
Team Israel baseball gear a home run with kvelling American Jewish fans
TEL AVIV (JTA) — A couple weeks ago, Adam Atkins didn’t know Israel had a baseball team. But since the squad started winning games last week in the World Baseball Classic, he has become a fan. Atkins and his friends wanted team caps, but were frustrated to discover they were… Read more »
Trump the change agent looks positively traditional on Mideast peace
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Trump administration rhetoric about Israeli-Palestinian peace is typical of a president who would make everything great: President Donald Trump is going to bring about a “historic” deal, the White House has said, one that would “reverberate positively throughout the region and the world.” What isn’t typical, at… Read more »
In Turkey-Netherlands row, a foreboding sign for Jews
ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (JTA) — The thousands of people who gathered outside the Turkish consulate of this port city on Saturday patiently waited for hours, chatting with friends and relatives. Waving Turkish flags, they had gathered on a chilly evening to listen to a Cabinet minister from Turkey arguing in… Read more »
How Israeli women turned this Purim into a feminist holiday
TEL AVIV (JTA) – Wonder Woman, Rosie the Riveter and a female Israeli fighter pilot walked into a bar. They were just a few of the heroines out in Tel Aviv Saturday for the night of Purim. With International Women’s Day falling a day before the holiday weekend this… Read more »
Camp becomes the endless summer — thanks to social media and smartphones
(JTA) — For 12-year-old Sophie Golden, camp is “kind of like a different world,” where electronics are a no-go and her bunkmates feel more like sisters than friends. When she misses that feeling during the year, there’s an easy way to get it back, even if just for a… Read more »
Here’s how summer camps welcome their youngest charges
(JTA) — Wondering if your child is ready for overnight camp? A sure sign, according to Karen Alford, a sleepaway camp consultant, is that he or she has grown tired of day camp. “At 9 , you’ve probably been doing day camp for several years,… Read more »
Not just prayers: synagogues are organizing to fight Trump’s agenda
NEW YORK (JTA) – The day after the presidential election, as congregants gathered in her Brooklyn synagogue to air their feelings, Rabbi Rachel Timoner was already starting to organize against the incoming administration. She called her local city councilman, Democrat Brad Lander, and together they organized an activists’ panel… Read more »
Former officers fight to keep Israel’s military friendly to women and gays
TEL AVIV (JTA) – Shahaf Ben-Yakov always found it maddening when her ability as a combat soldier was questioned just because of her gender. Nonetheless, she dismissed as nonsense the notion that army service “has driven our girls crazy” — as a rabbi who runs a pre-military academy in the Eli… Read more »
While some parents pull out of JCCs, others vow to remain despite bomb threats
(JTA) — When Cincinnati’s Mayerson Jewish Community Center was hit with a bomb threat on Jan. 18, Adam Bellows was satisfied with how the staff handled the preschool kids, including his two-year-old son. The kids, said Bellows, had no idea the threat had happened. They were evacuated and taken to… Read more »
Knesset holds emergency debate about U.S. anti-Semitism
MK Nachman Shai (Zionist Camp) slammed the government on Tuesday for displaying indifference to the wave of anti-Semitism that has swept the United States in recent weeks, in contrast to Israel’s history of standing up for Jewish communities under threat in other places. “We have seen dozens of terrible… Read more »
What exactly is a Jewish community center?
(JTA) — Nearly 100 bomb threats have been made against Jewish community centers across the United States since January. The threats — in five waves and all hoaxes — have unsettled Jewish communities and shined a spotlight on American anti-Semitism. After weeks of demurring, President Donald Trump recently condemned… Read more »