News

A new Jewish Community Foundation Israel Discovery Fund will provide funds to 501(c)(3) organizations in Southern Arizona that in turn select Jewish and non-Jewish participants for organized trips to Israel. The fund is managed through the JCF’s competitive grants process. The application deadline is Nov. 17; funding will be… Read more »

The Tucson Association of Jewish Libraries will hold its annual book sale in conjunction with the Jewish Culture Shuk on Sunday, Nov. 16 at the Tucson Hebrew Academy. The sale will begin at 6:15 p.m. in the auditorium. The sale will be unique because there will be no prices… Read more »

The 10th annual CHAI Circle Retreat, “A Day for Healing and Spirituality,” will take place on Sunday, Nov. 2 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Canyon Ranch Health Resort, 8600 E. Rockcliff Road. CHAI, which stands for Cancer, Healing and Inspiration, is a support group for Jewish… Read more »

MODIIN, Israel (JTA) — With the news that Rabbi Barry Freundel, a prominent Orthodox rabbi, has been arrested for peeping at the naked bodies of his female congregants through a secret camera in the mikvah, or Jewish ritual bath, many disturbing questions are being raised about the implications of… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) – When Rabbi Barry Freundel asked Bethany Mandel to take a “really long shower” before a “practice dunk” in the mikvah prior to her formal conversion to Judaism, the whole request seemed a bit odd, she says. For one thing, Freundel instructed her to skip the… Read more »

Miami has seen ans increase in Jewish population to 123,000 -- up 9 percent sicne 2004 and reversing a decline begun in 1975 -- according to a survey released on Oct. 13, 2014. (Shutterstock)

(JTA) – For the first time in four decades, Miami Jewry is growing. That’s the official finding of the new Miami Jewish population study released Monday by the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. The Jewish population of Miami-Dade County increased 9 percent over the last decade, to 123,000 from 113,000… Read more »

David Broza

Israeli folk star David Broza returns to Tucson on Oct. 30 for a solo performance — with a few special guests — at the Fox Tucson Theatre. With a career spanning almost four decades, Broza’s eclectic musicianship ranges from flamenco rhythms to lightning fast guitar picking to his own… Read more »

A representative of Jewish Voice for Peace speaking with a student at the Open Hillel conference at Harvard University, Oct. 12, 2014. (Gili Getz)

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (JTA) — Harvard senior Rachel Sandalow-Ash scanned the exuberant crowd that packed a campus auditorium on Saturday night. “Wow,” she said, speaking to an audience of some 350 composed primarily of American college students. “This is amazing. This is really cool.” Sandalow-Ash, 21, went on to discuss… Read more »

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (JTA) — Loading a newly released video of a beheading in Syria on his smartphone, Nabil Abuznaid, the Palestinians’ ambassador here, shakes his head in disbelief. “Look at those animals,” he says, referring to the fighters from the ISIS jihadist group who carried out the decapitation.… Read more »

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Having coffee with Stav Shaffir is little different from meeting up with other 20-somethings in Tel Aviv. She rushes into the cafe a few minutes late, glances repeatedly at her phone and complains about high rents and an out-of-touch government. It’s hard, she says, being… Read more »

Ibrahim Barzak with his sons before leaving Gaza. (Courtesy Ibrahim Barzak)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Ibrahim Barzak spent his childhood counting the days to weekends, when he would travel with his father to see friends in Tel Aviv, Herzliya, Ashdod and Jerusalem. For Barzak’s young sons, by contrast, the names of those cities conjure malevolent exotica. Barzak, 38, has worked for… Read more »

Andrew Romanoff

(JTA) — With midterm elections just around the corner, four races for the House of Representatives in particular are catching our Jewish eyes. In California, succeeding Waxman: Ted Lieu vs. Elan Carr California’s 33rd Congressional District, stretching along the Pacific Coast and extending into the west side of Los… Read more »

Rabbi Gil Steinlauf

LOS ANGELES (JTA) — Gil Steinlauf, a nationally prominent Conservative rabbi, made headlines this month when he announced to his large Washington, D.C., synagogue that he is gay, and that he and his wife of 20 years would divorce. As surprised as his congregants at Adas Israel may have… Read more »

Stanley Feldman (Athol Cline)

Stanley G. Feldman, 82, retired as an Arizona Supreme Court justice in 2002, but he hasn’t retired from the legal profession. Now in his sixth decade of fighting for the rights of all, Feldman will receive the Jewish Heritage Award at the Tucson Jewish History Museum’s annual benefit on… Read more »

The small cardboard box in Elyashiv Drori’s palm looks like it’s full of black pebbles. Closing the box quickly, he explains that it cannot be open for long. The pebble-like pieces, which were uncovered in an archaeological dig near Jerusalem’s Old City, are in fact remains of a kilo… Read more »

Ingredients are set out for a mega challah bake. (Courtesy Chabad Tucson)

The Shabbos Project, a global movement to celebrate the Jewish day of rest on the weekend of Oct. 24-25, will be marked in Tucson with a Mega Challah Bake for women and girls (ages 9 and up) at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on Thursday, Oct. 23, from 7… Read more »

Tucson’s 6th annual multifaith pride service in support of Southern Arizona’s LGBTQ community, “Weaving a Common Sacredness,” will be held Tuesday, Oct. 14, from 7-9 p.m. at Temple Emanu-El. Rev. Debra Peevey, faith outreach director from Why Marriage Matters Arizona, will be one of the key speakers. Rabbi Batsheva… Read more »

The local BBYO chapters of Abba Godol AZA and Kadimah BBG are participating in “Can-Tribute,” a food drive partnership between BBYO and DoSome thing.org. The local chapters are working with chapters from around the world to help fight poverty by collecting canned food to donate to local food banks.… Read more »

Shirley Christie (Photo: Gloria Christie-Bishop)

Healing from the trauma of domestic violence and sexual assault can be elusive. For Shirley Christie, bicycling from Boston to Seattle, then South to her hometown of Pasadena, Calif. — covering 4,000 miles over 105 days — was the right route. Christie will discuss her journey, “Cycling to End… Read more »

Rabbi Gary Zola

Rabbi Gary Phillip Zola, Ph.D. will be the Mitch Dorson scholar-in-residence at Congregation Or Chadash on Oct. 24 and 25. Zola is executive director of the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives, professor of the American Jewish Experience at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in… Read more »