News

(JTA) — A timeline of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s life. 1928 — Born Ariel Sheinerman in Kfar Malal, near Tel Aviv. 1942-48 — Member of the Haganah, the pre-state Jewish fighting force. 1948 — Wounded while serving as an infantry commander in Israel’s War of Independence. 1952-53… Read more »

Ariel Sharon is pictured in Jerusalem with the Temple Mount in the background on July 24, 2000. (Flash90)

Ariel Sharon, one of Israel’s last warrior statesmen, whose military and political careers were woven into his nation’s triumphs and failures, has died. Sharon, 85, died Saturday at the Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv after eight years in a coma. “He went when he decided to go,” said his younger… Read more »

Menachem Stark, shown with his wife and seven children, was hailed as a loving father and generous giver by his Hasidic community. (Courtesy photo)

 NEW YORK (JTA) — The murder of Menachem Stark has sparked intense media scrutiny of the Brooklyn real estate developer’s troubled business record, prompting the New York Post to ask “Who didn’t want him dead?” on its front page. But while mainstream media outlets scrutinized the Satmar hasid’s relationships… Read more »

On Jan. 8, 2011, the peace of a sunny Tucson day was shattered at 10:10 a.m. in front of a Northwest Safeway, when a lone gunman killed six Tucsonans and wounded 13 others at a Congress on Your Corner event with U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. One of those wounded… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Until recently, the rule of thumb in the pro-Israel community was that the bigger the academic group, the less likely it was to consider a boycott of Israeli colleagues. But with the 30,000-member Modern Language Association set to host a panel on BDS at its convention… Read more »

Prof. Evyatar Erell with a prototype of the Seasons window.

“We spend most of our lives in a controlled environment,” says Evyatar Erell, associate professor of desert architecture and urban planning at Ben-Gurion University’s Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research. “We live and work under conditions that are different from those outside. When it’s hot, we turn on our… Read more »

Linor Abargil in ‘Brave Miss World’

Nearly two dozen films from around the world will be screened at the 23rd annual Tucson International Jewish Film Festival. Running Jan.16 to 25, this year’s program features several international award winners, Arizona premieres and special guests. A pre-festival kickoff is scheduled Sunday, Jan.12 at the Desert View Performing… Read more »

Thinking about going to Israel in 2014? At least five Tucson congregations would be delighted to have you join them. Congregation Or Chadash is first up with a trip March 5 to 12. Congregation Chofetz Chayim’s trip will be May 4 to 18, followed by Congregation Bet Shalom June… Read more »

Cantor Ivor Lichterman

Cantor Avraham Alpert has gathered an eclectic group of performers for Congregation Bet Shalom’s “An Enchanted Evening: A Jewish Music Concert” on Saturday, Feb. 1 at 8 p.m. at the Berger Performing Arts Center. Cantor Ivor Lichterman will be the special guest artist. “I think everybody knows Cantor Lichterman,”… Read more »

Bruce Magid, dean of the Brandeis University International School of Business, will discuss “Not Business as Usual: How Changes in the Global Economy Will Impact Your Lives,” at the Tucson chapter of the Brandeis National Committee’s annual University on Wheels event on Thursday, Jan. 9 at 9:30 a.m. The… Read more »

Congregation Anshei Israel will present a three-week adult education series offering a wide range of speakers on being Jewish and Judaism. The series will take place on Wednesdays, Jan. 22, 29 and Feb. 5, from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. A different keynote speaker will open each evening from… Read more »

Hava Tirosh-Samuelson

“Judaism and the Contemporary Pursuit of Happiness” will be the topic of the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies Shaol & Louis Pozez Memorial Lecture on Monday, Jan. 13 at 7 p.m., at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Hava Tirosh-Samuelson, of Arizona State University, will discuss happiness as a central… Read more »

Twenty-five percent of adults in the United States have a mental illness — from depression and anxiety, to bipolar disorder and schizophrenia — according to a 2011 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, “Mental Illness Surveillance among Adults in the United States.” The percentage of Jewish adults with… Read more »

Aurora tallit by Beth Surdut

                                    Beth Surdut, a designer of tallitot from Santa, Fe., N.M., will discuss the importance of personalized prayer shawls on Sunday, Jan. 12 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish… Read more »

(Above) Members of Team Tamara at Liver Life Walk Tucson on Dec. 14. Front row (L-R): Lavina Tomer, Bryan Kaplan, Tamara Novak, Sandra Wortzel, Judith Weiser, Lyla Michelson, Rabbi Helen Cohn, Joel Alpert; back row: Gabi Zimerman, Linda Horowitz, Renate Wasserman, Carol Weinstein, Marlyne Freedman, Kenny Wortzel, Nan Rubin, Tanya Fleisher, Nancy Lefkowitz, Ann Markewitz, Byron Michelson. (Courtesy Congregation M'kor Hayim)

As my wife, Tamara, and I anxiously awaited news of a liver donor, it seems as if the third time truly was the charm. Three years ago she started gaining weight and experienced an unfamiliar level of fatigue. She could barely make it out of the house for more… Read more »

The Women’s Philanthropy Advisory Council of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is seeking nominations for the eighth annual Bryna Zehngut Mitzvot Award. The award, honoring the late Bryna Zehngut, recognizes the outstanding achievements of a Jewish teenage girl in Tucson. Award nominees must be high school juniors or… Read more »

Desert Caucus President Chuck Gannon, M.D., in the waiting room of his ophthalmology office. (Nancy Ben-Asher Ozeri)

Although it’s been around for 37 years and currently has over 200 members, the Desert Caucus has a reputation as the best-kept secret in Tucson’s Jewish community. President Chuck Gannon would like to see that change. According to Gannon, an ophthalmologist who has been with the organization for the… Read more »

(JTA) — NBA star Tony Parker has apologized for performing an anti-Semitic salute after a three-year-old photo was published in the French media. The photo shows Parker, a French national born in Belgium, performing the quenelle salute with its inventor, the French comedian Dieudonne Míbala Míbala. The quenelle is… Read more »

(JTA) — In 1992, Edgar Bronfman was preparing to leave North America for Paris for his first meeting with then-French President Francois Mitterand at the Elysee Palace when at the last minute Bronfman decided he wanted to take an unexpected meeting in Geneva instead. So he asked Serge Cwajgenbaum, Bronfman’s right-hand… Read more »

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Growing up in the Urals, Pavel Polev was a precocious ice skater and a member of the Soviet Union’s national youth figure-skating team. But in 1992, at age 15, Polev’s life was upended when he joined the massive wave of Jews immigrating to Israel from… Read more »