An aerial view of Rio 2016 Olympic Park during construction (Gabriel Heusi/Brasil2016.gov.br)
RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) — Mazel tov! That’s perhaps how the big shots in charge of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the first to take place in South America, will toast victories when the competition gets underway Aug. 5. Three of the top officials of the Rio 2016 Organizing… Read more »
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin opens the Herzliya Conference June 14.
Jerusalem (TPS) – Israeli President Reuven Rivlin hosted a discussion of shared national identity and citizenship between Israeli Arabs and Jews during the opening of the annual Herzliya Conference at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem on Tuesday. Rivlin rebutted critics who claimed he is a “post-Zionist” for inclusive remarks… Read more »
Donald Trump addressing the Republican Jewish Coalition in Washington, D.C., Dec. 3, 2015. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Jewish Republicans are criticizing Donald Trump for his renewed call to ban Muslim immigration, although few of his Jewish supporters seem to be reconsidering their endorsement of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. But at least one, celebrity Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, rescinded his apparent backing of… Read more »
The Weintraub Israel Center and the Tucson J, with the support and cooperation of members of Catalina Council, Boy Scouts of America, announce a free performance bythe Israeli Scouts on Monday, June 20 at 6 p.m. in the ballroom of the Tucson J. The troupe of 10 Israeli Scouts… Read more »
Dear friends, On the evening of June 26, the Jewish History Museum will host the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona (JFSA) Pride program Celebrating Marriage Equality, an event that will mark the one year anniversary of the Marriage Equality Act, a landmark moment for our country and for LGBT… Read more »
Phyllis Maizlish, center, with her grandchildren, their spouses and friends (Courtesy Homer Davis Elementary School)
Creating a legacy for future generations of compassionate community volunteers is an important part of being a member of the Maizlish family, which so far encompasses three generations in Tucson. Phyllis Maizlish started the Maizlish Family Foundation because she wanted to help others and inspire her family. “My husband… Read more »
(L-R): Lisa Hale, a Washington, D.C., Lung Force representative; Marlene Harris; U.S. Rep. Martha McSally; and Kathryn Forbes, chair of the American Lung Association, in Washington on March 16. (Courtesy Marlene Harris)
Marlene Harris is a stage 4 lung cancer survivor. The staff at the University of Arizona Cancer Center call her their “miracle kid.” “Trust me, I am,” she says. Harris was diagnosed on Jan. 18, 2013 with stage 4 non-small cell adenocarcinoma, an advanced stage of cancer. “My very… Read more »
Tucsonan Paul Gordon, M.D., talks about the Affordable Care Act with a café patron in Kalamazoo, Mich. (Courtesy Paul Gordon)
University of Arizona College of Medicine professor Paul Gordon, MD, MPH, is living a dream he’s held onto for 40 years. An avid cyclist since high school, Gordon has always wanted to bike across the continental United States. On April 22, his dream came to life when he put… Read more »
A PulsePoint banner hangs at Tucson Fire Central. The Gootter Foundation and Tucson Fire Department held a press conference April 20 to introduce the app. (Facebook)
It was a mild evening in late January 2014 when Michael Chaison’s heart stopped beating. He was working as a referee at a high school soccer game between Sabino and Salpointe, he says, and “about 20 minutes in, I turned to run up the field and I basically just… Read more »
JFSA Pride, a program of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, will hold a celebration of the first anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on marriage equality on Sunday, June 26, 7-9 p.m. in the Jewish History Museum’s Einstein-Sim Memorial Garden. “It’s going to be a very simple… Read more »
Joel Feinman, left, and Barbara LaWall Barbara LaWall, a Democrat first elected in 1996, is running for her sixth term as Pima County Attorney. Joel Feinman, who practiced criminal law as a Pima County public defender from 2007-2015 and who is also a Democrat, announced his candidacy for the county attorney position in October. Both… Read more »
Tel Aviv (TPS) – Two Palestinian gunmen in suits opened fire on a crowd of shoppers and diners in Tel Aviv’s central Sarona Market shortly after 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday, killing at least four victims. “What we know so far is that two terrorists arrived at the Sarona compound… Read more »
A mass shooting terror attack occurred in the center of Tel Aviv shortly after 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday, claiming the lives of at least three victims. According to Magen David Adom (MDA), at least nine individuals have been injured in several locations surrounding Tel Aviv’s trendy Sarona Market. “MDA… Read more »
Young visitors entering the Isaak Jakubowicz Synagogue in Krakow during the Night of the Synagogues in the wee hours of the morning, June 5, 2016. (Ruth Ellen Gruber)
KRAKOW, Poland (JTA) – For the sixth year in a row, the seven synagogues in Krakow’s historic Jewish district, Kazimierz, opened their doors for 7@Nite – or the Night of the Synagogues, a one-night mini-festival aimed at bolstering Jewish pride and promoting Jewish awareness among the public. Each synagogue… Read more »
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, right, looks on at the international summit in Paris to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, June 3, 2016. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Here a plan, there a plan, everywhere a peace plan. Conditions in Israel and the Palestinian Authority may not exactly seem conducive topeace — Israel just formed what may be its most right-wing government ever, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is aging and becoming less popular.… Read more »
The conversion process included full body immersions in a river located a 90-minute drive away from Antananarivo, Madagascar's capital. (Deborah Josefson)
ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar (JTA) — A nascent Jewish community was officially born in Madagascar last month when 121 men, women and children underwent Orthodox conversions on the remote Indian Ocean island nation better known for lemurs, chameleons, dense rain forests and vanilla. The conversions, which took place over a 10-day… Read more »
The Golan Heights Distillery is the first whiskey to be bottled and sold in Israel. (Courtesy of the Golan Heights Distillery)
KATZRIN, Israel (JTA) — David Zibell is busy testing the alcohol level of the liquid flowing out of his outdoor copper still. Then, touching his head to ensure his kippah is in place, he heads inside to carefully place labels on the whiskey bottles lined up inside his distillery.… Read more »
Alex Law left his job as an IBM consultant over a year ago to run for a House seat against a formidable incumbent. (Courtesy of the Law campaign)
(JTA) — Alex Law is not your typical Jewish 25-year-old Bernie Sanders supporter. Instead of simply posting tweets with the hashtag #feelthebern or attending campaign rallies, the Collingswood, New Jersey, resident is running to be Sanders’ colleague in Congress. The aptly named Law, who if elected would become the… Read more »
NEW YORK (JTA) – Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is facing growing accusations that his campaign is countenancing anti-Semitism – if not encouraging it outright. Trump’s foreign policy slogan, “America First,” echoes the World War II-era noninterventionist movement championed by a notorious anti-Semite. During the height of the… Read more »
The United Nations hosted an anti-BDS summit at its New York City headquarters, May 31, 2016. (Shahar Azran)
UNITED NATIONS (JTA) – It was an incongruous sight: The U.N. General Assembly hall filled to capacity with 1,500 cheering people waving miniature Israeli flags and singing “Hatikvah,” Israel’s national anthem. No, hell hadn’t frozen over. The occasion was a one-day conference hosted by Israel’s U.N. mission devoted to… Read more »
