News

At Tuscany’s only kosher winery, owners can’t touch the Chianti

Maria Pellegrini, who owns the winery with her husband, grew up in a winemaking family in southern Italy. But because she isn't Jewish, she can't take part in the winemaking in her own winery. (Ben Sales)
August 20, 2015 / Ben Sales, JTA

CASTELNUOVO BERARDENGA, Italy (JTA) — Up a windy road in the tranquil Tuscan hills, down a gravel path and past acres of grapevines, a visitor will come across a stainless steel door frame secured with a piece of clear packing tape. The Hebrew scrawled on the adhesive reads: “David Solomon.”… Read more »

Becoming a Jewish mother – by way of adoption – in Japan
August 20, 2015 / Leza Lowitz, Kveller via JTA

(Kveller via JTA) — I’m standing on a cliff 50 feet above the Pacific Ocean, balanced on a precipice between two worlds. I don’t know how life has brought me to this place, this beautiful rock on the Izu Peninsula in Japan, but I’m here with my Japanese husband… Read more »

Wearing my kippah in Italy — and feeling fine

Diners at a Jewish restaurant in the Ghetto district of Rome, July 20, 2013. JTA's Ben Sales found a thriving Jewish community in the Italian capital. (Giorgio Cosulich/Getty Images)
August 20, 2015 / Ben Sales, JTA

(JTA) — During my four months studying in Italy in the fall of 2007, you could say I had more than my fair share of strange Jewish experiences. Running late for a train one morning in Florence, I decided the best course of action would be to lay tefillin… Read more »

Where does Bernie Sanders, the Jewish candidate for president, stand on Israel?

Sen. Bernie Sanders speaking at the Iowa Democratic Wing Ding in Clear Lake, Aug. 14, 2015. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
August 18, 2015 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) – Bernie Sanders’ best friend is a Zionist who teaches Jewish philosophy, he had a formative experience on a kibbutz and “Saturday Night Live” dubbed him the “old Jew.” Still, Sanders can’t get away from the inevitable “But where is he on Israel?” question, especially now that… Read more »

Meet the Baptist baseball lifer who will coach Israel’s team
August 18, 2015 / Hillel Kuttler, JTA

PHILADELPHIA (JTA) – Visiting Israel the past few winters to see his daughter and her family led to an unexpected job for Jerry Narron, a devout Christian and a baseball lifer: a coaching position for Israel’s team in the next World Baseball Classic. In 2013, Callie Mitchell had just… Read more »

All over the map: Where dozens of local Jewish groups stand on the Iran deal
August 18, 2015 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

(JTA) — Across the United States, Jewish community groups have appeared unsure about exactly how to respond to the Iran nuclear deal. Consider Massachusetts. Three groups in the state last month attempted to coordinate a single statement on the Iran nuclear deal now under consideration by Congress. The underlying… Read more »

A tally of how Jewish lawmakers are voting on the Iran deal
August 18, 2015 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

(JTA) — There are 28 Jewish members of Congress: 26 Democrats, one independent who caucuses with the Democrats and one Republican. Nine of them are senators and 19 are representatives. Nine back the Iran deal, seven oppose it and 12 are undecided. The positions of Jewish lawmakers are being watched as Congress decides… Read more »

Here’s why Hamas and Israel may be secretly negotiating

Senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh arriving at a Liberation Youths summer camp organized by the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, Aug. 1, 2015. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)
August 18, 2015 / Ben Sales, JTA

TEL AVIV (JTA) — After more than a decade of failed diplomacy, Israel could be close to signing a major agreement with the Palestinians. They’re just not the Palestinians you thought. After years of vowing not to negotiate with Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, Israel may be finalizing… Read more »

Meet the ‘RaBBi-Q’ — Kansas City’s kosher BBQ star

Mendel Segal, aka "RaBBi-Q, cleaned up at the Chicago Kosher BBQ Competition with first places in chicken, brisket and beans on his way to being the grand champion, June 2015. (Courtesy of Segal)
August 17, 2015 / Victor Wishna, JTA

LEAWOOD, Kan. (JTA) — Mendel Segal wears two particular titles that each reflect a devotion to tradition, imply an unending pursuit of precision and command immediate respect. One is rabbi. The other is pitmaster. The 33-year-old Orthodox rabbi (and follower of the late Lubavitcher rebbe) is readying to oversee… Read more »

Volunteer to professional and back: Jewish causes engage Tucsonan
August 14, 2015 / Sarah Chen, Special to the AJP
Elaine Lisberg

Elaine Lisberg doesn’t like to live in the past or dwell over what she’s accomplished. “To me, life’s all about moving forward.” A lifelong devotee of Jewish causes and educational nonprofits, Lisberg has transitioned from active volunteer to trained professional, then to professional volunteer and now officially considers herself… Read more »

Helping others, local man fosters own sense of belonging

Allan Mendelsberg at the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s Great Strides walk in Tucson on March 29
August 14, 2015 / Renee Claire, Special to the AJP

Allan Mendelsberg serves on the community advisory board for the Special Olympics. He began volunteering for the organization when he was a high school student in Denver. “I really enjoyed working with the kids and when I moved to Tucson to attend the University of Arizona, I just stayed… Read more »

THA full of energy, innovation
August 14, 2015 / Jon Ben-Asher, Tucson Hebrew Academy
Jonathan Ben-Asher

It’s time for school, and the view from THA is tremendously exciting! At the eagle’s perspective, you’ll see our beautiful building (designed like a tallit, or prayer shawl) and grounds, ready to embrace teaching and learning every day; our wonderful, engaged, energized community of students, parents, teachers and staff… Read more »

Op-Ed: Obama is ‘dog whistling’ about Jews? Ridiculous

President Barack Obama speaking about the Iran nuclear agreement at American University in Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2015. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
August 14, 2015 / Alan Solow, JTA

CHICAGO (JTA) — Debaters know that when they are losing an argument, a good tactic is to change the subject. So it goes with the current accusations, completely untethered from reality, that President Obama is resorting to anti-Jewish “dog whistles” in his defense of the nuclear deal with Iran.… Read more »

At TIHAN’S Poz Café, locals serve up simple pleasures

(L-R): Patrice White, Naomi Present, Max Harris and Barbara Holtzman of Congregation Chaverim are recognized for their service to Poz Cafe at Tucson Interfatih HIV/AIDS Network in March.
August 13, 2015 / Craig S. Baker, Special to the AJP

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a diagnosis of HIV or AIDS was essentially a death sentence. Pharmaceutical representative Pa­trice White was fresh out of grad school at that time and employed as a social worker for the local hospitals. “It was just awful,” says White of the… Read more »

Local Jewish schools eager to start new year
August 13, 2015 / Phyllis Braun, AJP Executive Editor

As students sharpen their pencils and charge their laptops and smartphones for the new school year, Tucson’s Jewish schools are keeping their programs fresh with everything from new electives to new teachers. Temple Emanu-El’s Kurn Religious School will hold a geniza (archive) ceremony field trip as students learn about… Read more »

Memoir of love, survival focus of book brunch
August 13, 2015 /
Lola Lieber

“A World After This” will be the focus of the Women’s Academy of Jewish Studies eighth annual High Holy Days season book brunch with Esther Becker on Sunday, Sept. 20 at Congregation Chofetz Chayim. A memoir by Holocaust survivor Lola Lieber, “A World After This” spans 91 years, moving… Read more »

History museum reopens with postcard show
August 13, 2015 /

The Jewish History Museum, which reopens Aug. 15, will present “Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Postcards from the Permanent Collection,” Aug. 19-Dec. 20. The collection of handwritten cards shows Southern Arizona from the early 1900s through the 1960s. Visitors will have the opportunity to write their own postcards and send them… Read more »

Tucson Jewish Montessori preschool opening
August 13, 2015 /

Tucson Jewish Montessori, Tucson’s first Jewish Montessori preschool, founded by Rabbi Israel and Esther Becker, will open Monday, Aug. 31. Classes are aimed at 3- to 6-year-olds, and will run from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday through Friday, with childcare available before and after classes. “Our focus is honoring the… Read more »

At autism forum, educator says inclusion also a spectrum
August 13, 2015 / Laura Wilson Etter, Special to the AJP
Stephen Shore

For some students who have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder or Asperger’s syndrome, the start of a new school year can be especially difficult. Adjusting to new teachers, schedules, classmates and rules can be hard for all children, but for children with ASD or Asperger’s syndrome, changes in… Read more »

Emotions, diversity imbue JFSA leadership mission to Israel

At a stop on the drive back to Jerusalem from Masada and the Dead Sea, Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona leadership mission participants, from left, Dinah Lucas, Roe Callahan, Linda Immerman-Stoffers, Ellen Freeman and Priscilla Storm prepare to ride a camel — an activity, says JFSA President and CEO Stuart Mellan, that was “strictly optional.”
August 13, 2015 / Nancy Ben-Asher Ozeri, Special to the AJP

“Israel is an inspirational and complicated place,” Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild said upon returning from the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona interfaith community leadership mission last month. “Visiting Israel teaches that one must have great resolve and still, at the same time, be very open to hear competing views.”… Read more »