(Copyright 2014 Trillium Studios)
Eight of Tucson’s long-running film festivals have come together to create the Tucson Festival of Films, a three day event showcasing features, documentaries and shorts from Oct. 8-10. Among those is the Arizona premiere of “Raise the Roof,” a documentary presented by the Tucson International Jewish Film Festival about… Read more »
Rise of the Forgotten by Lisa E. Mishler
The messages and memories of the Holocaust remain a prevalent and enduring part of the global culture. “This is a story that repeats itself over and over and over again,” says Lisa E. Mishler, author of “L’Chayim — To Life,” a new book that interprets the survival stories of… Read more »
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 »
The social action committee of Congregation Or Chadash and the Pima County Interfaith Council will present “Voting and Social Justice,” a discussion of the pros and cons of the Pima County bond election, on Thursday, Oct. 1, from 7-8:30 p.m. in room 8 at Or Chadash. Seven propositions are… Read more »
Anne Lowe Anne Lowe, who recently spent five weeks in Singapore, will give a slide presentation on “The Jews of Singapore: Past and Present” at a Hadassah Southern Arizona lunch on Sunday, Oct. 18, 11:30 a.m. at Lodge on the Desert, 306 N. Alvernon Way. In Singapore, Lowe attended services at… Read more »
The Young Women’s Cabinet of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona will hold its fourth annual Mahj and Mitzvahs event on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Tucson Hebrew Academy. Mah jongg players of all levels, including beginners, are welcome. Participants will make care packages to donate to the… Read more »
Rabbi Israel and Esther Becker of Southwest Torah Institute and Congregation Chofetz Chayim will host a “Love of the Land” orientation meeting Wednesday, Sept. 30 at 7 p.m. to introduce their third Tucson Jewish community Israel trip, which is slated for May 22 through June 5, 2016. Refreshments will… Read more »
From left, University of Arizona professors Philip A. Pinto, Faten Ghosn and Asher Susser serve as panelists for “The Iranian Nuclear Agreement: Containment or Catastrophe” held Sept. 17. (Courtesy Arizona Center for Judaic Studies)
Iran will not be able to produce a nuclear weapon in the near future; the most recent Iranian nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, makes it so. This was the consensus of a panel of University of Arizona professors who met Thursday, Sept. 17, to… Read more »
A dinghy carrying refugees arriving at a beach on the island of Lesbos in northern Greece. (Boaz Arad/IsraAid)
LESBOS, Greece (JTA) — As the small rubber dinghy crowded with Syrians and Afghans emerged from the midnight-black sea to land on a desolate pebble beach, the first people to greet the bewildered and frightened refugees were two Israelis. “Does anyone need a doctor?” Majeda Kardosh, 27, a nurse… Read more »
Palestinians throwing rocks at Israeli police during clashes in eastern Jerusalem, Sept. 18, 2015. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
TEL AVIV (JTA) — For Israelis, the Ten Days of Repentance from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur have turned into days of violence. Unrest has swelled in Jerusalem following an Israeli ban on a protest group at the Temple Mount, the holy site known to Muslims as the Haram… Read more »
Hans Breuer at his pasture near Vienna, March 2015. (Courtesy of Hans Breuer)
(JTA) — Even at his remote sheep pasture in the Austrian countryside, Hans Breuer was too disturbed by the plight of the Syrian refugees streaming into his country to go about his daily routine. Especially troubling to Breuer, a 61-year-old Jewish shepherd and singer of Yiddish songs, were the overcrowded conditions at… Read more »
(Heritage Florida Jewish News via JTA) – It all started with a little bump on his neck. Now Jason Mendelsohn is on a mission to conquer cancer and spread the word about human papilloma virus-related cancer, or HPV. In April 2014, Mendelsohn was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma, which… Read more »
Richard Joel NEW YORK (JTA) — Richard Joel, the president of Yeshiva University, announced that he will step down by the end of his current term. Joel, 65, made the announcement Sept. 10 in an email sent to Y.U. staff, students and alumni, and obtained by JTA. His term is set… Read more »
WEIMAR, GERMANY - APRIL 12: The figural group by Fritz Cremer and the belltower at the memorial for the victims of the Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald are seen during the marking the 70th anniversary of the camp's liberation which takes place at the Buchenwald memorial on April 12, 2015 near Weimar, Germany. The Nazis began incarcerating mostly political prisoners at the camp in 1937, and later added Jews and prisoners-of-war in an operation that provided slave labor for factories in the region. An estimated 56,000 prisoners died at Buchenwald before its liberation by U.S. troops on April 11, 1945 following an uprising by prisoners. (Photo by Jens Schlueter/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) – A small government agency for preserving European historical sites has been accused of criminal malfeasance, roiling Jewish community officials who say the agency has played a critical role in memorializing Europe’s Jewish past. The controversy surrounding the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad offers a… Read more »
Refugee children visit a fire station in Berlin, September 2015. (Judith Kessler)
BERLIN (JTA) — When supporters of the anti-immigrant PEGIDA movement and right-wing extremists in the former East Germany started demonstrating by the tens of thousands this year against foreigners and “American Zionist” policies, I got mad. When the first refugee homes in Germany were set on fire, I was shocked. When… Read more »
Rabbi Barry Freundel exits the courthouse after entering his guilty plea, Feb. 19, 2015. (Dmitriy Shapiro)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Writing from his jail cell last week, just days before the Jewish New Year, Rabbi Barry Freundel said he was sorry. It was the rabbi’s first public statement since his arrest almost a year ago and his subsequent sentencing to 6-and-1/2 years behind bars for secretly filming women undressing in… Read more »
Haredi Orthodox Israelis protest in Jerusalem against compulsory military service for men, Aug. 25, 2015. (FLASH90)
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Secular and haredi Orthodox Israelis differ on many things, but there’s one thing both sides agree on: When it comes to religious affairs, the government is failing. That’s one of the findings of an annual survey of Israeli religious identification and attitudes toward religious policy released… Read more »
The driver, Mohammed, holding an etrog. (Ben Sales)
ASSADS, Morocco (JTA) — We had to cross the gorge, and the only way was to walk single file on a narrow concrete gutter, maybe a foot wide, that bridged the two cliffs. Below us was a long, perilous drop onto the rocky depths. I was traveling deep into the rural communities of… Read more »
Don Francisco -- born Mario Luis Kreutzberger Blumenfeld -- celebrating the 50th anniversary of his record-making show "Sabado Gigante." (Courtesy of Univision)
(JTA) — On Saturday, the Spanish language television network Univision will host the final broadcast of “Sábado Gigante.” With 53 years on TV, the world’s longest-running variety show is an eclectic, strange mashup of a game show, a talk show and live entertainment. There are singing competitions — the poor-performing contestants are… Read more »
Merchants walk a dirt path between the coastal city of Agadir, Morocco, and the highland etrog groves in Assads, Sept. 8, 2015. (Ben Sales)
ASSADS, Morocco (JTA) — Why the Jews want etrogs, Mohammed Douch does not entirely understand. What he does know is that they are his main customers. Each August and September, Jewish merchants come from around the world to his remote grove in the highlands of Morocco — an hourlong hike through… Read more »
