Yisrael Kristal (JTA) — A Holocaust survivor in Haifa many now be the oldest man in the world. Yisrael Kristal, 112, achieved that status after Yasutaro Koide of Japan, also 112, died on Jan. 12, Haaretz reported. Kristal’s grandson, Oren, received an email from the Gerontology Research Group, an international organization… Read more »
Certified health coach and author Freddi Pakier will present “It’s the Little Things that Create a Heart Healthy Lifestyle” at a Hadassah Southern Arizona luncheon on Sunday, Feb. 14. Pakier, a former Tucsonan, is the author of “52 Weeks of Food for the Soul,” a cookbook that features gluten… Read more »
Kathleen Erickson as Anne and Jack Neubeck as Bernie in Warren Bodow’s “Deelmayker” (Tim Fuller)
Invisible Theatre will stage the world premier of Tucson playwright Warren Bodow’s “Deelmayker” Feb. 9-21. “Deelmayker” (the spelling refers to an Internet account) tells the story of Bernie Harris, a charismatic 65-year-old wheeler-dealer living in Palm Springs with a wife he adores. Harris realizes that as he’s been getting… Read more »
Rabbi Adam Chalom The Secular Humanist Jewish Circle has planned two lectures this month by Rabbi Adam Chalom of the Kol Hadash Humanistic Congregation in Lincolnshire, Ill. The first, “Holidays Without the Holy: Secular Approaches to Religious Tradition,”will be held Thursday, Feb. 11 at 6 p.m. at the University of Arizona Hillel… Read more »
(L-R): Breezy Bochenek, Haven Shepherd, Kelly Ray and Lucy Coombs
The Tucson Jewish Community Center will hold a Consider Yourself Challenged fundraising event on Sunday, Feb. 21, from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Admission is free for the family-friendly event, which is designed to inspire able-bodied and physically challenged athletes alike to get active. Adaptive athletes from the University of Arizona will… Read more »
When the performers of the Capitol Steps take the stage at the Fox Tucson Theater, there’s a good chance Barack Obama will sing a rock song, Joe Biden will sing a show tune and Chris Christie will dance. Even Vladimir Putin, shirtless, of course, cannot stay off the stage.… Read more »
Shockwaves were sent throughout the Tucson community on Jan. 18 following the death of local businessman and philanthropist Donald Baker, 59, co-owner of commercial real estate firm Larsen Baker L.L.C., and his wife, Dawn Hunter-Baker, 55, in a plane crash. Baker was piloting his Cessna Citation 525, returning to… Read more »
Elaine Hall with participants from “The Miracle Project,” a theater and expressive arts program for people living with autism and other disabilities (Courtesy Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona)
If she didn’t have it all, Elaine Hall had a lot of it. A Hollywood acting coach at the top of her game, Hall worked with the likes of Elizabeth Taylor and John Goodman. Her specialty was coaching children. Only one thing was missing. What she really wanted was… Read more »
(JTA) — The Iowa caucuses are over – and the first real test of the presidential candidates’ viability gave us more questions than answers. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, won the Republican caucus on Monday night, relegating Donald Trump, the real estate billionaire, to second place. Both Trump and Cruz ran… Read more »
David Adelman, president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines, introducing Hillary Clinton before a speech at federation headquarters, Jan. 25, 2016. (Josh Tapper)
DES MOINES, Iowa (JTA) – Ten minutes into her speech at the Jewish Federation of Des Moines on Monday, Hillary Rodham Clinton had a coughing fit. She popped a lozenge, but that didn’t help. After a few long seconds and still gasping for air, Clinton turned to federation president… Read more »
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton participating in a town hall forum at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, Jan. 25, 2016. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Hillary Rodham Clinton made her ability to talk Israel’s leadership down from military action a centerpiece of her foreign policy credentials. Clinton, appearing Monday evening at a town hall-style event at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, was asked to outline her foreign policy philosophy. Two of… Read more »
A still from “The Settlers,” which premiered Jan. 22 at the Sundance Film Festival. (Courtesy of Shimon Dotan)
PARK CITY, Utah (JTA) – What is a settler? That’s the question that opens the new documentary film “The Settlers,” which premiered last week at the Sundance Film Festival here. Written and directed by Shimon Dotan, the film offers an answer almost immediately: a religious fundamentalist driven by messianic… Read more »
The Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem on a rainy day, Oct. 25, 2015. (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP/Getty Images)
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Israel’s government on Sunday approved a compromise to expand the non-Orthodox Jewish prayer section of the Western Wall, putting to rest the decades-long fight between Women of the Wall and Israel’s haredi Orthodox religious establishment. The deal achieves what had been an elusive goal: an interdenominational consensus on Judaism’s… Read more »
Restaurants at Disney World in Orlando serve kosher meals by special request, but 48-hour advance notice is required. (Uriel Heilman)
ORLANDO, Fla. (JTA) – As any religiously observant Jew knows, going on vacation can take a lot of work. Aside from the customary preparations, there are the added complications of organizing kosher food and Shabbat logistics. Many kosher tourists spend days before trips precooking meals to freeze and bring… Read more »
Isaac Newton (Wikimedia Commons)
(Jewniverse via JTA) — After Sir Isaac Newton died in 1727, his papers were given to the University of Cambridge. Valuing his scientific manuscripts most, the university eventually decided to auction off what was left — Newton’s manuscripts on alchemy and theology. In 1936, on what was probably a rainy… Read more »
Shye Ben-Tzur, right, playing with Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood at the Sacred Jerusalem Festival, Sept. 1, 2015. (Noam Chojnowski)
(JTA) — For most musicians working in the underappreciated genre of world music, recording an album with Jonny Greenwood, the guitarist of the famed English rock band Radiohead, would be something of a pipe dream. And what about having that experience filmed by acclaimed director Paul Thomas Anderson (“There… Read more »
WASHINGTON (JTA) – On Monday, Iowans will gather to launch the 2016 presidential election with an arcane ritual — the caucus. In living rooms and meeting halls throughout the state, caucus-goers will group themselves into clusters according to which presidential candidate… Read more »
The March of Remembrance is an international event honoring the memory of those who perished in the Holocaust. The Tucson event, organized by Pastor Steve Shermett of Book of Life Community Church and Congregation Beth Sar Shalom (a Messianic congregation), will be held on Sunday, Jan. 31 at the… Read more »
Courtesy photo
Berlin (TPS) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel directly addressed contemporary anti-Semitism during the opening of an exhibition on the night of Monday, January 25. Art from the Holocaust was opened to the public at the German Historical Museum in the nation’s capital at an event commemorating International Holocaust Remembrance Day.… Read more »
(L-R) Leslie Glaze, screenwriter Pamela Gray, Janet Lang and Marcia Abelson on Lion of Judah mission to Los Angeles A roaring good time In early December, 24 Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Lions of Judah flew to Tinseltown. In Los Angeles, the group explored the Jewish influence on the entertainment industry, while strengthening their bonds with one another. According to Marcia Abelson, Tucson Lion and JFSA Women’s Philanthropy… Read more »
