News

OP-ED Why a rabbi under the chuppah may boost Jewish engagement in intermarried homes

Intermarried couples whose weddings were officiated by Jewish clergy as the only officiant are more highly engaged in Jewish life than other intermarried couples, a new study has found. (Ashley Novack)
October 31, 2016 / Leonard Saxe and Fern Chertok, JTA

WALTHAM, Mass. (JTA) — At a summit meeting held last week at the National Museum of American Jewish History, several hundred communal professionals, rabbis, scholars, philanthropists and young intermarried couples gathered to discuss engagement of interfaith families in Jewish life. There is widespread communal agreement that intermarriage has reshaped the… Read more »

OP-ED In breast cancer testing, knowledge is power — and potentially distressing

Women representing Sharsheret, a support group for Jewish breast and ovarian cancer patients and their families. (Sharsheret/Facebook)
October 31, 2016 / Peggy Cottrell, JTA

(JTA) — Five years ago, on a whim, Cindy, a 27-year-old Jewish woman, decided to pursue genetic testing through an online laboratory. She wasn’t expecting any surprises because she had no family history of cancer or increased risk factors. She was young and living a healthy lifestyle. But Cindy’s… Read more »

Ari Shavit scandal shines a focus on organizations’ sexual assault policies

Ari Shavit, left, and Danielle Berrin (Shavit photo: Jason Merritt/Getty Images; Berrin photo: Facebook)
October 30, 2016 / Ben Sales, JTA

NEW YORK (JTA) — Hillel International’s swift decision to cancel a campus tour featuring Israeli journalist Ari Shavit has prompted other organizations to consider similar policies on speakers and sexual assault. On Thursday, following allegations that Shavit sexually assaulted a reporter, Hillel nixed a speaking tour featuring Shavit scheduled for later… Read more »

A Brooklyn judge becomes America’s first Hasidic woman to serve in public office

Rachel Freier in her Borough Park law office with, from left to right, nephew Shmuel Freier, husband David Freier and son Mayer Freier. (Andrew Katz)
October 30, 2016 / Andrew Katz, JTA

  (JTA) — For much of her adult life, Rachel Freier has been a trailblazer in her Hasidic Brooklyn community of Borough Park: a lawyer, an advocate for higher education, the founder of an all-female ambulance service and of a nonprofit to aid underprivileged mothers during the Gulf War. Now… Read more »

Black rabbinical student leads ‘Army of Moms’ in fighting Chicago gun violence

'I was always taught that Jews were survivors,' says Tamar Manasseh. 'Black people were never taught that we were survivors.' (Courtesy of Manasseh)
October 26, 2016 / Ben Sales, JTA

CHICAGO (JTA) — The same week Tamar Manasseh’s African-American son was going to become a bar mitzvah, gang violence killed two 13-year-old black boys who were also from Chicago’s South Side. As she picked out the bar mitzvah suit for her son, Manasseh couldn’t shake the image of the slain boys’… Read more »

Joe Lieberman, stumping for a Clinton in Florida, feels like he’s ‘home again’

Joe Lieberman speaks to Jewish voters on behalf of Hillary Clinton at The Shul in Surfside, Fla., Oct. 20, 2016. (Courtesy of the Hillary Clinton campaign)
October 26, 2016 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

(JTA) — Joe Lieberman is in South Florida doing the shul and seniors circuit for a Clinton, and he’s relishing the gig. “How does it feel? It feels like I’m home again,” Lieberman said Thursday in a phone interview, his voice relaxing into a remarkable confession for the former… Read more »

Leaked emails show Hillary Clinton eager to patch things up with Netanyahu

Hillary Clinton, then the U.S. secretary of state, meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his office in Jerusalem, Nov. 20, 2012. (Avi Ohayon/Israeli Government Press Office via Getty Images)
October 26, 2016 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Hillary Clinton’s plan to meet the Israeli prime minister in her first month as president is listed high in an internal campaign memo outlining the priorities of her first 100 days — a sign of how important it is to repair U.S.-Israel tensions. The campaign’s determination to… Read more »

JFCS lecturers to focus on end of life wishes, traditions
October 21, 2016 /

Two experts on end of life issues will help answer questions such as “How can I be sure my Jewish traditions will be respected? What if I want my family to celebrate me and not mourn me?” when Jewish Family & Children’s Services presents “Embracing Culture & Traditions at… Read more »

Jews of the Caribbean topic for Hadassah lunch talk
October 21, 2016 /

Bonnie Wasserman, Ph.D., an assistant professor of Africana studies at the University of Arizona, will present “The Jews of the Caribbean” at a Hadassah Southern Arizona lunch on Sunday, Nov.  13, at 11:30 a.m. at Skyline Country Club. Wasserman is currently writing a book on religions of the African… Read more »

Tucson’s third annual Mega Challah Bake to celebrate Shabbat tradition

(L-R) Fanny Bangoura, Kim Boling and Ellie Boling roll dough in preparation for braiding at the 2015 Mega Challah Bake at the Tucson Jewish Community Center.
October 20, 2016 /

Women and girls ages 9 and up will come together for the Mega Challah Bake on Thursday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. The event is a joint initiative of Chabad Tucson and the Tucson J with the participation of local congregations and organizations.… Read more »

Local thrift store volunteers in vocational program have a 1st Rate experience

Brian Puffer (left), a Chapel Haven West resident, and Hallah Karaman, store manager at 1st Rate 2nd Hand Thrift Store, share a laugh during a shift at the charitable secondhand shop. (David J. Del Grande/AJP)
October 20, 2016 / David J. Del Grande, AJP Intern

Brian Puffer says his volunteer work has made Tucson feel more like home, and his new life here is starting to bloom. Puffer, 19, grew up in Tempe, Ariz., and moved to Tucson after enrolling in a two-year residential program at Chapel Haven West, a school and transitional home… Read more »

‘Jewish soul’ singer returning to Tucson stage

Neshama Carlebach
October 20, 2016 / KAYE PATCHETT, Special to the AJP

Neshama Carlebach’s albums have sold 1 million-plus copies — but she views her success as a way to help others through the pain of life transitions toward inner strength and spiritual growth. “Music brings healing to our souls,” says Carlebach, who will perform at the Fox Tucson Theatre on… Read more »

Dutch survivor’s diary called an Anne Frank story with a ‘happy’ ending

Carry Ulreich, right, and her older sister, Rachel, in a photograph taken during their time in hiding in Rotterdam during the Nazi occupation. (Boekencentrum/Mozaïek)
October 20, 2016 / Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA

AMSTERDAM (JTA) — A Holocaust survivor dubbed “Rotterdam’s Anne Frank” in her native Netherlands published her wartime diary, which she wrote while hiding in the bombed-out city. “At Night I Dream of Peace,” the Dutch-language diary of 89-year-old Carry Ulreich, hit bookstores in the Netherlands last week. The book generated strong… Read more »

Homeless youth spend a day taking ‘Pictures of Hope’

Annie Schlesinger, project designer at Skinnytees, helps a ‘Pictures of Hope’ student snap some photographs at the Tucson Museum of Art on Saturday, Oct. 1. (David J. Del Grande/AJP)
October 20, 2016 / David J. Del Grande, AJP

Fourteen children enrolled in Our Family Services, a local program that provides support for homeless families and youth, pack a small conference room on a crisp Saturday morning, listing their future goals, decorating coloring sheets and snacking on cheese sticks. Linda Solomon, a Tucson native and founder of Pictures… Read more »

JFSA women eager to help homeless shelter

Jean Fedigan, executive director of the Sister Jose Women’s Center (left) and Lean Avuno, a Tucson shinshinim volunteer from Israel, spoke at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Women’s Philanthropy annual welcome Sept. 28.
October 20, 2016 / Korene Charnofsky Cohen, Special to the AJP

When we work together, when we reach out to the least among us, we improve the lives of others while enriching our own lives and our community, Jean Fedigan, executive director of the Sister Jose Women’s Center, told about 90 people attending the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Women’s… Read more »

Report: Bob Dylan still has not mentioned Nobel Prize

Bob Dylan onstage during the 17th Annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards at The Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, California, on Jan. 12, 2012. (Christopher Polk/Getty Images for VH1)
October 20, 2016 /

(JTA) — American singer and songwriter Bob Dylan has not been in contact with the Swedish Academy since it awarded him the Nobel Prize for Literature last week. Dylan also has not made a public statement about the honor, the New York Times reported Tuesday. Sara Danius, the permanent… Read more »

Joining peers in Poland, local fire chief takes lessons of Auschwitz to heart
October 20, 2016 / Nancy Ben Asher Ozeri, Special to the AJP

Jonathan McMahan, Rural/Metro Fire Department chief in Pima County, was recently in Poland as one of seven U.S. fire chiefs invited to present a symposium on American firefighting expertise at the Main School of the Fire Service in Warsaw. This was the first delegation of U.S. fire chiefs invited… Read more »

Local firefighters get hands-on training as volunteers in Israel

Southern Arizona firefighters (from left) Marcela Donovan Hammond (Nogales Fire Department), Capt. Bruce Avram (Tucson Fire Department), Chief Randy Ogden (Mt. Lemmon Fire District), Jeremy Carillo (Rio Rico Fire and Medical District) and Captain Pete Ashcraft (Nogales Fire Department) tour a mobile command post in Haifa with Guy Caspi, chief mass casualty incident instructor of Magen David Adom, Israel’s emergency medical services unit (seated). (Facebook)
October 20, 2016 / Nancy Ben-Asher Ozeri, Special to the AJP

Five Southern Arizona firefighters recently spent nine days in Israel training and battling blazes with fire crews in Jerusalem and Petach Tikvah. As the latest Firefighters Beyond Borders delegation, they were the first personnel from Arizona to participate in the Emergency Volunteer Project, a program that trains first-responders to… Read more »