Adina Lytle and Elliya Griver at Congregation Anshei Israel's Hamentaschen for Hunger event on Feb.26. (Yvonne Ethier)
The joy of Purim commemorates the survival of the Jewish people from a plot to annihilate them in ancient Persia, as recorded in the Megillah, the Book of Esther. But the joy goes beyond the events of ancient times. Jews have survived over and over again, in a world… Read more »
Todd Rockoff, president and CEO of the Tucson Jewish Community Center, says he "could not be more proud" of his staff's response to the bomb threat.
The Tucson Jewish Community Center was on lockdown for about 90 minutes Monday evening after a caller claimed there were explosives set to go off in the parking lot. The call was part of the latest wave of bomb threats targeting JCCs and other Jewish institutions across the country… Read more »
J Street activists deliver a petition to the Senate opposing the nomination of David Friedman as ambassador to Israel, Feb. 28, 2017. (J Street)
WASHINGTON (JTA) – The Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the umbrella body for the community’s policy groups, and J Street, the liberal Middle East peace lobby, held conferences this weekend about seven blocks apart. Downtown D.C. is pleasantly people-free on weekends, and the weather, weirdly unseasonable, was mild, so… Read more »
Vice President Mike Pence speaks at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership meeting at The Venetian Las Vegas, Feb. 24, 2017. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS (JTA) – Republican Jews have President Donald Trump to thank for their party’s renewed dominance of Washington politics. So what do they think of him? Marlyn Appelbaum paused to contemplate the question at the opening of the Republican Jewish Coalition’s confab at the Venetian resort hotel here Friday evening. Then she… Read more »
Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota at a town hall meeting at the Church of the New Covenant-Baptist in Detroit, Dec. 22, 2016. (Sarah Rice/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The race to lead the Democratic National Committee is nothing if not granular. Among the leading candidates Tom Perez, the former labor secretary, says “every ZIP code counts.” Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, touts his “50 plus” states strategy. Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn.,… Read more »
Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg founded the anti-Trump group Indivisible with other former congressional staffers. (Courtesy of Greenberg)
NEW YORK (JTA) — The group at the forefront of “resisting the Trump agenda” started in the middle of December with a single document circulated among friends. One that was “poorly formatted” and “full of typos,” in the words of one of its authors, Leah Greenberg. As of this week,… Read more »
Runners at the Jerusalem Marathon, March 18, 2015. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
TEL AVIV (JTA) – Noah Roth likes to recall two moments from Israeli marathons in which he’s raced: a competitor in Jerusalem breezing by him in 2010 wearing all-black, haredi Orthodox garb but for a white athletic shirt; and a Russian woman on this city’s Allenby Street who last… Read more »
Last November settlement leaders celebrated the victory of Donald Trump over Hilary Clinton for president, expecting the departure of former President Barack Obama from the White House to usher in an unlimited period of Israeli building around Judea and Samaria. More recently, Prime Miniser Binyamin Netanyahu looked more relaxed and… Read more »
President Donald Trump delivers remarks after touring the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Feb. 21, 2017. (Kevin Dietsch/Pool/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) – He hates it, he really hates it. Now what’s he going to do about it? President Donald Trump on Tuesday culminated three weeks of missed opportunities to condemn anti-Semitism and doubling down on missed opportunities to condemn anti-Semitism with a statement unequivocally condemning anti-Semitism. “The anti-Semitic… Read more »
(JTA) — At least 10 Jewish community centers across the United States were targeted with bomb threats on Monday, for the fourth time in five weeks. The threats have been called in to JCCs across the country, according to Paul Goldenberg, the director of Secure Community Network — an affiliate… Read more »
The FBI logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, D.C., July 5, 2016.
(Yuri Gripas/AFP/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) — A person calls a Jewish institution, makes a bomb threat and hangs up. The call lasts no more than a minute, the caller’s voice is disguised and the call is made to look as if it came from inside the building. How do you… Read more »
Jason and Julianne Kanter started talking about religion more seriously when they started to think about having children. (Courtesy of Julianne Kanter)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Leading up to their wedding in 2012, Julianne and Jason Kanter hadn’t really discussed how they would incorporate their respective religions into their home. Julianne was raised by Catholic and Presbyterian parents, while Jason grew up culturally Jewish. At first, it was simple to mark… Read more »
Rabbi Ari Edelkopf and wife Chana in 2009 in Sochi, Russia. (Courtesy of Federation of Jewish Communities)
(JTA) — Three years ago, Rabbi Ari Edelkopf and his wife, Chana, worked around the clock for weeks to show off their community and city to the many foreigners in town for the Winter Olympics in Sochi. The Chabad emissaries from the United States came to the city on… Read more »
LAURIE WETTERSCHNEIDER has been nominated for a Women of Influence Award in the Public Service Champion category. The awards ceremony, hosted by Inside Tucson Business and Tucson Local Media, will be held March 1 at Casino del Sol Resort. Wetterschneider has raised millions of dollars to support a variety… Read more »
Jeffrey Cornish with children from a remote village in The Gambia, where he was Peace Corps director before coming to Tucson in 2012. Cornish is director of the International Rescue Committee in Tucson.
(Courtesy Jeffrey Cornish)
Jeffrey Cornish wants to dispel the myth that refugees in the United States are a threat and a burden to society. “We need … to change the conversation about refugees,” says Cornish, the director of the International Rescue Committee in Tucson. “These people have fled oppression and the terror… Read more »
As a young attorney, Linda Hirshman, realized that fighting for the disenfranchised was her calling. “I wanted to do something that was hard, so if you accomplished it, it would be an honor,” says Hirshman, now a political pundit and author. “And there was no honor in making powerful… Read more »
The Tucson Festival of Books returns to the University of Arizona campus March 11 and 12. Now in its ninth year, the festival is the third largest in the country, with more than 300 authors and millions of visitors attending each year. While Jewish authors have always been among… Read more »
Randall Balmer The Arizona Center for Judaic Studies will present a free President’s Day lecture, “Religion and the 2016 Election: Historical Context and Unusual Alliances,” with professor and author Randall Balmer on Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Religion played an unusual and unexpected role in… Read more »
Elliot Glicksman The Steven M. Gootter Foundation will present its annual Philanthropic Award to Elliot Glicksman at the 12th annual Gootter Gala on Friday, March 3 at the Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa. Glicksman, a lawyer in Tucson, “has supported the Gootter Foundation since its inception 12 years ago. As… Read more »
Hadassah Southern Arizona women and men will once again perform the mitzvah of tikkun olam, repairing the world, by cleaning the roadways around the Tucson Jewish Community Center, on Sunday, March 5, from 8-10 am. This event will mark the 20th year that chapter members have participated in the… Read more »
