News

Senior Israeli first responders to greet Tucsonans at Q&A

The Weintraub Israel Center and the Greater Tucson Fire Foundation will present “Israeli Response and Readiness —Terrorism and Natural Disasters,” a meet and greet and Q&A with the senior officials who develop and implement Israel’s emergency preparedness, response and recovery services, on Monday, Oct. 19, from 5:30-7 p.m. at… Read more »

Local groups collaborate for second Mega Challah Bake

(L-R): Jessica Shulem, Rachel Rush, Hilary Kelpel, Jodie Friedman and Alyssa Silva at the 2014 Mega Challah Bake at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. (Roland Bosma)

The Tucson Jewish Community Center and Chabad Tucson will present the 2nd Annual Mega Challah Bake on Thursday, Oct. 22, at 7 p.m. in the Tucson J ballroom. The event is part of the global Shabbos Project. Other local partners include numerous synagogues, the Jewish Community Foundation of Southern… Read more »

Kickboxing star to keynote wellness fest

Leah Goldstein, author of "No Limits"

The Tucson Jewish Community Center and Tucson Medical Center will present the second annual Family Wellness Festival on Sunday, Oct. 18 from noon-4 p.m. at the Tucson J. Pavilions throughout the J will be organized around themes such as safety, physical activity, health and wellness, food and literacy. Exhibitors… Read more »

Tucson gets a Moishe House — without walls

Moishe House Without Walls held a pre-Rosh Hashanah event at Brush N Bottle on Sunday, Sept. 13. Back row: Oren Riback, Alexa Ravit, Eric Natter, Taylor Pfeifer, Allie Healy, Eric Vornholt; front row: Jamie Oko, Emily McDonell, Alyssa Silva, Aimee Katz, Jami O’Rourke, Brandon Hellman (Photo courtesy Alyssa Silva)

A painting and wine class served as more than just a fun night out with friends in the Jewish community this past week. An organization called “Moishe House Without Walls” has been established in Tucson and post-grads from the University of Arizona and beyond are relishing its opportunities. “Every… Read more »

The Jewish lawyer who is defending a synagogue vandal

WASHINGTON (Washington Jewish Week via JTA) — From murderers to sex offenders, some of the least desirable citizens of Maryland’s Montgomery County have walked through the doors of attorney Barry Helfand’s office. But it took a quiet teenager to make Helfand question his responsibility as a lawyer. Sitting in Helfand’s… Read more »

Why Israelis are fearing a third intifada

Palestinian protesters in the West Bank throwing stones and burning tires during clashes with Israeli security forces over the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, Sept. 30, 2015. (Flash90)

TEL AVIV (JTA) — First it was clashes on the Temple Mount. Then a mother and father were shot before the eyes of their four children. Then two men were killed in a stabbing attack in Jerusalem’s Old City. Now Israelis fear the wave of conflict will only rise.… Read more »

Eric Cantor almost became first Jewish speaker, Boehner aide reveals

Rep. Eric Cantor, then-House majority leader, delivers an address at the Virginia Military Institute, Feb. 17, 2014. (Courtesy of House Majority Leader)

(JTA) — Former Rep. Eric Cantor apparently just missed becoming the first Jewish speaker — second in line to the presidency after the vice president. An aide to Boehner, the Republican House of Representatives speaker who is quitting, dropped the bombshell last Friday: Boehner had wanted to step down last year,… Read more »

Netanyahu and Abbas agree: Blame the UN

alestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking at the U.N. General Assembly in New York City on Sept. 30, 2015, and Oct. 1, 2015 respectively. (Both Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas took plenty of shots at each other. But in their dueling dueling speeches to the United Nations General Assembly, the Israeli prime minister and Palestinian Authority president directed much of their fire at the same target: the assembled world leaders. Netanyahu… Read more »

Sanders to hold rally in Tucson

Bernie Sanders

Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination for president in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, will hold a rally in Tucson on Oct. 9. The Vermont senator will speak at 7 p.m. at the Reid Park DeMeester Outdoor Performance Center, 920 South Concert Place. Gates will open… Read more »

Everyone’s talking ISIS at the UN, leaving Netanyahu glaring

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the U.N. General Assembly at United Nations headquarters in New York City, Oct. 1, 2015. (Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

(JTA) – All anyone attending the United Nations General Assembly opening seemed to want to talk about was the threat posed to the world by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. That was much to the consternation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who argued in his speech… Read more »

Hillary Clinton talks to Lena Dunham about feminism, college years

(JTA) — In the wake of the never-ending email scandal and Bernie Sanders’ rise in the polls, Hillary Clinton is feeling some serious heat in the 2016 presidential race. In an attempt to connect with younger voters, the Democratic front-runner agreed to be interviewed by Lena Dunham, the Jewish… Read more »

Ivanka Trump is pregnant with her third child

(JTA) — If you can’t get enough Trump, good news: Another one is on the way! Ivanka Trump, who converted to Judaism in 2009, announced across her social media platforms that she is expecting her third child with husband Jared Kushner, a real estate mogul who owns the New… Read more »

Russia’s kosher kingpin aims to launch halal-meat empire

Pinhas Slobodknik center, with staff at a Moscow event serving kosher food in 2014. (Courtesy Pinhas Slobodnik)

MOSCOW (JTA) — At Russia’s largest kosher food factory, owner Pinhas Slobodnik welcomes his Muslim workers with a greeting in Arabic that he pronounces in a thick Russian accent. Some 120 workers, most from the predominantly Muslim republics of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, are employed at the factory — a sprawling… Read more »

Israeli ministry plows ahead with ‘world Jewry’ project, even as funding and future remain uncertain

Natan Sharansky, left, head of the Jewish Agency, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the latter's Jerusalem office, June 18, 2013. (Kofi Gideon/Flash90)

TEL AVIV (JTA) — With a budget reaching $300 million, it was conceived as a broad partnership between the Israeli government and leading Diaspora Jewish groups. Its goal: to create a stronger connection between global Jews and Israel. But nearly two years after its launch was announced with much… Read more »

Surging Trump, Carson have Republican Jews worried

Donald Trump and Ben Carson at the second Republican presidential debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California on Sept. 16, 2015. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (JTA) – The Republican Jewish establishment is watching the surge of political outsiders — like Donald Trump and Ben Carson — in the presidential primaries with dismay. “It’s like we have a conference call every morning, and we ask, ‘What can we do to screw ourselves up today?’”… Read more »

Novelist finds nuance beyond notoriety of Rosenbergs

Two women, both mothers, become friends; the concept is simple enough. And when you get down to the nuts-and-bolts of it, it only seems logical, really: they live on the same floor of the same building in Cold War-era Knickerbocker Village, an apartment complex in New York City; their… Read more »

Scholar to discuss exiled composers at JHM

Sabine Feisst

The Jewish History Museum has partnered with Arizona Opera to bring Arizona State University professor Sabine Feisst to Tucson for a night of history, music and culture. On Thursday, Oct. 1 at 7 p.m., Feisst will present “Arizona Lady and Exiled Composers from Nazi-Occupied Europe,” a historical account of… Read more »