News

The Tucson Jewish Community Center has added JPride to its programming roster. JPride, then known as the LGBT Jewish Inclusion Project, began in 2005 when the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona became one of the first federations in the country to create an outreach program for lesbian, gay, bisexual… Read more »

Driving one of Tucson’s new Israeli teen emissaries, Leah Avuno, from a lunch and learn on the University of Arizona campus to her next destination, Cantor Avraham Alpert found his talking point. Avuno, originally from Ethiopia, told him Ethiopian Jews would never have made it to Israel if it… Read more »

The Arizona Theatre Company pulled off a fundraising feat this summer, raising $2 million in pledges from Tucson and Phoenix supporters in less than three weeks. That effort staved off concerns that ATC would have to suspend operations, despite the success of its past three seasons. In the wake… Read more »

The Tucson Jewish community will hold its annual Project Isaiah food drive benefiting the Community Food Bank from Sept. 15-Oct. 15. The project, timed to coincide with the High Holy Days, is named for the Prophet Isaiah, who when asked why we fast on Yom Kippur, responded, “Is it… Read more »

The Temple Emanu-El board of directors has unanimously voted to be a chartering organization for a Cub Scout pack of the Boy Scouts of America. Recruitment is beginning in both the Jewish and general communities for charter members of Pack 613, says Herbert A. Cohn, assistant district commissioner, Spanish… Read more »

A Jewish community “Northwest Fun in the Sun Day” will be held on Sunday, Sept. 25, 1-4 p.m. at Cañada Del Oro Riverfront Park in Oro Valley, hosted by the Tucson Jewish Community Center and the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Northwest Division. The free event, open to all,… Read more »

Leah Avuno

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Women’s Philanthropy will hold its annual welcome, “Making Our Mark in Tucson, Israel and around the World” on Wednesday, Sept. 28 at 7 p.m. at Hacienda del Sol Guest Ranch Resort. The guest speakers will be Leah Avuno, one of two Israeli teens… Read more »

A three-part campus-wide dialogue at the University of Arizona, “Will Today’s Global Unrest Lead to Genocide?” will examine the roots of genocide and current political discourse to reflect on the state of the world today. Sponsored by the UA Hillel Foundation, the Holocaust History Center at the Jewish History… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Most Israeli Jews would prefer Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump as the next president of the United States — even though more of them think Trump would be better for the “Israeli government’s policy.” According to a poll released Wednesday, 43 percent of Israeli Jews prefer… Read more »

The Hebrew University researcher who unearthed evidence that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas served as an agent for the Soviet Union during the 1980s says that this should not derail Russia’s current attempt re-ignite Israel-Palestinian peace talks. But at least one senior MK said the revelation is serious enough… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — When Rosh Hashanah came around last year, Rabbi Aaron Gaber wanted to grapple with an issue roiling the country. So he decided to focus his sermon on racism. But several members of Brothers of Israel, a 120-family Conservative synagogue in suburban Philadelphia, weren’t pleased. “Some… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — American Jews are likely to vote for Hillary Clinton in November, but American Jewry’s fastest-growing community is likely to go the other way. A solid majority of haredi Orthodox Jews will vote for Donald Trump, say experts and Republican operatives in the haredi enclave of… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Trump and Clinton campaigns issued tough-on-Iran statements in the wake of a report alleging that negotiators allowed Iran secret loopholes in the nuclear agreement. The Institute for Science and International Affairs, a think tank founded by a former United Nations nuclear weapons inspector, David Albright,… Read more »

BERLIN (JTA) – In a corner of former East Berlin, where shabby, red brick buildings meet cobblestone streets, lies a new Promised Land. Kanaan — a casual, vegetarian Middle Eastern restaurant named for the biblical lands before they were conquered by the Israelites — is something of a dream… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — A Florida state senator caught up in a boycott-Israel controversy. A Wisconsin state representative who combated anti-Israel bias on his campus. The diversity of Israel-related outlooks among the 63 candidates endorsed by Our Revolution underscores the eclecticism of the left-leaning movement launched last week by Bernie… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — When Jessica Abdelnabbi-Berrocal wanted her local public schools in Jersey City, New Jersey, to close for the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha in September, she looked to her Jewish heritage. The daughter of a Sephardic Jewish mother and Catholic father, Abdelnabbi-Berrocal never had… Read more »

It’s not every day you see a dog getting a massage. But in this Israeli city, somehow it seems expected. At Tel Aviv’s first official dog festival, hundreds of dogs took over Yehoshua Park and its dog park on Friday afternoon. As canine customers wandered among vendors selling dog-related… Read more »

Jerusalem (TPS) – The Jerusalem Municipality has been promoting a unique initiative to build a cable car that would connect the city’s western neighborhoods with the Old City and Mount of Olives in its east. While the city intends for the project to serve its residents as well as… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — Rebecca Raab was shopping recently in a South Florida Costco, wearing the trademark Orthodox outfit of a long skirt and baseball cap, when an employee waved to her and said “Shalom! We’re voting for Trump because we can’t have Hillary in the White House. She’s… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) – Can you go alt–right without going anti-Semitic? The movement that has emerged from conservatism — and in some ways has turned against it — appears to be nudging its way into the American mainstream as it attaches itself to the success of Donald Trump,… Read more »