News

A big shout out to the Weintraub Israel Center and the Fox Theatre for bringing us the fantastic David Broza with a special appearance by Alberto Rios, Arizona’s first poet laureate. Their joyous performance together brought the house down. If you’ve been to Broza’s concerts, you know that his… Read more »

The Southern Arizona Jewish community has been chosen to participate in a special initiative called PJ Goes to School. Many local families already particpate in PJ LibraryTM, a  national Jewish engagement program that mails free, high-quality Jewish literature to families raising Jewish children. The program here is coordinated by… Read more »

Asher Susser

The University of Arizona Center for Judaic Studies will present “From the Arab Spring to ISIS: The Upheavals in the Middle East and What They Mean for Israel” on Monday, Dec. 8 at 7 p.m. as part of its free Shaol & Louis Pozez Memorial Lectureship Series. Asher Susser,… Read more »

(L-R) University of Arizona students Liao Dong, Jing Xia, Hao Jun Yang and Ming Xuan Xiao on University Boulevard in Tucson, Nov. 7, at the start of homecoming weekend. (Sheila Wilensky/AJP)

Do stereotypes vary based on traditional socialization in any given country? Yes, if you’re talking about China, at least according to four Chinese students at the University of Arizona who attribute characteristics such as intelligence, success and business acumen to being Jewish. “I didn’t know why Jews are so… Read more »

Carlos Hernandez

Carlos Hernandez’s 20-year experience in the behavioral health field has run the gamut from social worker and case manager to administrator. Recently named president and CEO of Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Southern Arizona, Hernandez, 44, says his new role is the next logical step in his career.… Read more »

Shalom Tucson will hold its annual Hanukkah Mall Madness event for children of all ages and their parents on Sunday, Dec. 7, from 1-3 p.m. at Park Place Mall. Local synagogues and Jewish agencies will present activities to celebrate the joyous holiday. The event will feature arts and crafts,… Read more »

Sharon B. Megdal, Ph.D., director of the University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center, will speak at the Hadassah Southern Arizona luncheon on Sunday, Dec. 7 at noon at Skyline Country Club, 5200 E. St. Andrews Drive. Her presentation, “Water Management Innovations in Water-Scarce Regions,” will address Arizona and… Read more »

Vice President Joe Biden speaks at the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly at National Harbor, Md., Nov. 10. (Ron Sachs)

There was the vice president of the United States, two Supreme Court justices and an Academy Award-winning actress with a compelling Jewish story. There were Jewish professionals, lay leaders, clergy and recent college graduates. The West Point cadets’ Jewish choir performed. The Israeli prime minister appeared via satellite from… Read more »

Vadim Gluzman (Marco Borggreve)

When they first handed Soviet-born Israeli musician Vadim Gluzman the violin he plays today, he had the “distinct feeling” he was being watched. This is no ordinary violin, mind you, so it’s practical to think that a number of people were looking on. But this feeling was different, supernatural… Read more »

(JTA) — A fraternity at the University of Arizona was put on interim suspension after 15 of its members allegedly attacked members of a Jewish fraternity. Members of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity are accused of assault and discrimination in the incident at the apartment of an Alpha Epsilon… Read more »

Hundreds of Israelis mourn at the funeral of three of the victims killed earlier today when two Palestinian terrorists from East Jerusalem entered the Kehilat Yaakov synagogue in the Jewish orthodox neighborhood of Har Nof, Jerusalem, with pistols and axes, and began attacking Jewish worshippers. Four orthodox Jewish men were killed and several more injured. The attackers were shot and killed at the scene. November 18, 2014. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

TEL AVIV (JTA) — They all lived on the same street. They had all moved there from abroad. They were all rabbis. They all prayed at the same synagogue. And it was at that Jerusalem synagogue that they were all murdered on Tuesday morning. Mosheh Twersky, 59; Kalman Levine,… Read more »

From left, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, EU Foreign Policy chief Catherine Ashton of the European Union, Omani foreign Minister Yusaf bin Alawi and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at three-way negotiations about the future of Iran's nuclear program in Muscat, Oman, Nov. 9, 2014. (U.S. State Department)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — With the Nov. 24 deadline for an Iran deal looming, there’s no guarantee that the Obama administration will achieve its long-sought goal of an agreement over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program. But there’s at least one outcome that is a virtual certainty: Obama will face a… Read more »

PARIS (JTA) — Shadowed by two bodyguards, Hassen Chalghoumi — a target of numerous anti-Semitic attacks in recent years — mingled with friends and colleagues at the fifth national convention of France’s Jewish community umbrella group, CRIF. But Chalghoumi is not a member of the Jewish community. Rather he… Read more »

Aftermath of deadly attack on the Bnei Torah Kehillat Yaakov synagogue

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Four Israelis were killed in a terror attack during morning prayers at a Jerusalem synagogue. Two Palestinian assailants entered the synagogue and rabbinical seminary in the Har Nof neighborhood of western Jerusalem and attacked worshippers on Tuesday with a gun, axes and knives. Three of those killed… Read more »

A U.S. Marine in Vietnam featuring a Magen David on his helmet, circa 1968 (Courtesy National Museum of American Jewish Military History)

WASHINGTON (JTA) – Mementos of Jacob Goldstein slide across the 3-foot-by-4-foot horizontal screen like cards being dealt at a casino: his photograph, his name, an Operation Urgent Fury headline denoting the 1983 military campaign in Grenada, Goldstein’s explanatory text summarizing his role during the invasion. Even more striking than… Read more »

LOS ANGELES (JTA) — Devorah Brous’ San Fernando Valley home is shaded by green trees, studded with 19 fruit trees and patrolled by a pair of affable chickens that strut around the backyard. But at the moment, she is eager to show a visitor her dying lawn. Comparing the… Read more »

Some of the hundreds of Palestinians who work at SodaStream's West Bank factory that will be shit down. They could be put out of work with the facility's relocation to southern Israel. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

TEL AVIV (JTA) — SodaStream, the Israeli at-home seltzer machine company, announced last month that it would be closing its West Bank factory and moving the facility’s operations to southern Israel next year. Here’s what you need to know about SodaStream, the controversy that has bubbled up in its… Read more »

LOS ANGELES (JTA) — Members of the American Studies Association gathered last year for their annual meeting and a vociferous debate on the wisdom of initiating an academic boycott of Israel. One year later, the debate is over and the boycott resolution has long since passed — but the… Read more »

Israel and Kenya signed an agreement today, pledging to strengthen ties and increase cooperation between the two countries. Representatives from Kenya’s National Assembly met with their counterparts in the Knesset to sign the agreement in Israel. The agreement stated that Israel and Kenya’s “shared belief in the values of freedom,… Read more »

Hélène Berr

  In commemoration of Kristallnacht (the night of broken glass), which for many marks the beginning of the Holocaust in 1938,  the Jewish History Museum will host an opening reception of an exhibit entitled “Hélène Berr, A Stolen Life” on Sunday, Nov. 9 from 3 to 5 p.m., at… Read more »