"Midnight Serenade, Pos 1" by Pokey Park
Fifteen new additions to the Tucson Jewish Community Center’s sculpture garden will be unveiled on Sunday, March 8, at a free reception from 1-3 p.m. The 6th Annual Sculpture Garden Exhibition features the work of artists from Tucson and across the country. The opening will be preceeded by an… Read more »
Sarah Schultz, right, presents the Bryna Zehngut Mitzvot Award to Sarah Cassius at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Women’s Philanthropy Connections brunch. (Martha Lochert)
The advisory council of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Women’s Philanthropy awarded Sarah Cassius its ninth annual Bryna Zehngut Mitzvot Award at the annual Connections brunch on Sunday, Feb. 22. The award recognizes an outstanding Jewish teenage girl. The council, which includes past Womenís Philanthropy chairs and campaign… Read more »
Seder plates, kiddish cups and Elijah cups are among the Passover wares at Congregation Anshei Israel’s gift shop. (Korean Charnofsky Cohen)
Passover surrounds us with beauty. The spiritual concepts of struggle, freedom and renewal are timeless and universal. Our wishes for freedom include all people and not just Jews. Our family traditions keep the spirit alive and connect us to all the generations that have come before us. The cleaning… Read more »
Bella Vivante
Bella Vivante was born Bella Zweig in the Bad Reichenhall displaced persons camp in Germany in 1946. Now a professor emerita of classics at the University of Arizona, Vivante recently started Ariela, LLC, a travel and educational touring company that celebrates ancient Greece. She’s traveled a long way as… Read more »
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks about Iran during a joint meeting of Congress, March 3, 2015. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech, in the end, was about reminding Americans that the enemy of your enemy may still be your enemy. He may have lost some friends in the process. Netanyahu spoke before the U.S. Congress on Tuesday following a six-week buildup that spurred questions about… Read more »
Tucson Hebrew Academy fourth-grader Dahlia Tolby and art teacher Amy Pozez add tiles to the students’ peace wall mosaic.
Tucson Hebrew Academy students consistently learn how Jewish values help them make a difference in the world, and at the 8th annual Passport to Peace day on Jan. 28, everyone participated. THA students spent the afternoon visiting booths in the school courtyard to learn about a variety of service… Read more »
The Young Men’s Group of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona will take over a private dining room at Sullivan’s Steakhouse, 1785 E. River Road, for its 5th Annual Poker Tournament on Tuesday, March 10, 5:30-8:30 p.m. All men ages 21+ are invited to play in the Texas Hold… Read more »
The Northwest Division of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona will sponsor a bus trip to the Scottsdale Celebration of Fine Art on Wednesday, March 18. Participants can watch as 100 artists from around the world, including three Jewish artists, work in a variety of media, from painting and… Read more »
Daniel James Brown Joe Rantz was dying. He was north of 90 years old, completely dependent on oxygen, and living in hospice care at his daughter Judy Willman’s house near Seattle when he met award-winning author Daniel James Brown. Brown, a neighbor of Willman’s, wasn’t looking for a book topic when he… Read more »
Leader of the Zionist Union faction Isaac Herzog speaking to foreign press in Jerusalem, Feb. 24, 2015. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Isaac Herzog paces slowly up and down the stage, one hand in his suit pocket, a slight smile forming through his slender lips. Quietly, his heavy breath audible through the microphone, the center-left candidate for prime minister runs down a detailed a list of policy… Read more »
The following is a transcript of the address Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered to Congress on March 3, 2015. The text was provided by the Prime Minister’s Office. Speaker of the House John Boehner, President Pro Tem Senator Orrin Hatch, Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, And House Majority… Read more »
(JTA) – In his address to Congress, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu argued that the proposed nuclear deal being negotiated with Iran will lead inexorably to a nuclear-armed Iran and war in the Middle East. “This deal has two major concessions: One, leaving Iran with a vast nuclear program,… Read more »
Some of the tens of thousands in Moscow protesting the murder of Boris Nemtsov, March 1, 2015. (Alexander Aksakov/Getty Images)
(JTA) — During the past two years, Dima Zicer has skipped several political rallies opposing the chauvinistic policies of Russian President Vladimir Putin. A Jewish scholar of education from St. Petersburg, Zicer, 55, has limited hope for change in a country that is ranked 148th in the Press Freedom Index and where several… Read more »
Yair Lapid presenting his Yesh Atid party's platform at a news conference in Tel Aviv, March 2, 2015. (Ben Kelmer/FLASH90)
TEL AVIV (JTA) — The key word in Yair Lapid’s political vocabulary might be “but.” His Yesh Atid party is not right-wing, he says, but it isn’t left-wing either. He wants to withdraw from the West Bank, but disavows both a unilateral pullout and bilateral Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. He wants… Read more »
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the AIPAC policy conference a day before his scheduled speech to Congress, March 2, 2015. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) – For all its focus on Iran, AIPAC can’t seem to get away from the controversy surrounding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s impending speech to Congress. Speaking to attendees Sunday at the launch of the largest-ever annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, CEO Howard… Read more »
Leonard Nimoy, circa 1980. (Larry D. Moore/Wikimedia Commons)
(JTA) -- As a struggling young actor in the early 1950s, Leonard Nimoy, inspired by the rebirth of the Jewish state and childhood memories of Zionist rallies in Boston Garden, considered making aliyah to join Habimah, Israel's national theater. Upon cooler reflection on the huge language barrier he would face,… Read more »
(JTA) — Leonard Nimoy, the actor best known for his role as Spock on “Star Trek,” died Friday morning at his home in Los Angeles. The cause of death was end-stage chronic pulmonary disease, the New York Times reported. He was 83. Nimoy’s Spock has proved to be one… Read more »
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s congressional address and its biggest-ever annual conference, AIPAC wants to keep the focus squarely on Iran and the traditionally bipartisan nature of American support for Israel. Good luck with that. Tensions between Democrats and the Israeli prime minister are… Read more »
U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice, shown addressing Jewish leaders during the National Leadership Assembly for Israel in July 2014, called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's upcoming speech to Congress "destructive." (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told top Senate Democrats he regretted that his planned address to the U.S. Congress is being perceived as partisan, as President Barack Obama’s top security adviser said the speech was “destructive.” Netanyahu wrote Tuesday to decline an invitation from Sens. Dick… Read more »
Eating disorders are associated with a higher rate of mortality than any other mental illness, a fact that may not be widely known among the general population. As many as 20 percent of people suffering from anorexia will prematurely die from complications related to their disorder, according to a… Read more »
