Maksim Kats, shown in Moscow in 2012, says the campaign of Moscow mayoral candidate Alexei Navalny is about making big changes in the political life of Russia. (Maksim Kats) MOSCOW (JTA) — On the rooftop of a Soviet-era apartment block, a young man straps into climbing gear and rappels down the side as a small gathering of city workers and police officers watch from below. On the way down, the climber stops at a balcony and tears loose… Read more »
Ethiopian Jews kiss the ground upon arrival at Ben Gurion Airport as part of Operation Wings of Dove, which ended the Ethiopian immigration to Israel, Aug. 28, 2013. (Miriam Alster/Flash 90/JTA) LOD, Israel (JTA) — The airplane landed on the tarmac, “Ethiopia” emblazoned in red on its side. A few government officials trickled down the airplane’s steps. They were followed by groups of Ethiopian Jews descending to the runway, some falling to their knees and kissing the ground. Inside the… Read more »
KRASNAIYA SLOBODA, Azerbaijan (JTA) — Even at 70, Yedidia Yehuda can negotiate a narrow mountain path in northern Azerbaijan with a confidence easily mistaken for carelessness. “You take care not to fall yourself and don’t worry about me,” he tells a visitor following him toward a small town on… Read more »
Tucson Jewish educators at a statewide conference in Phoenix Aug. 11. Bottom row (L-R): Teena Serlachini (Congregation Or Chadash), Rina Liebeskind (Or Chadash education director/Hebrew High); second row: Deborah Witchey and Ashley Hall (Or Chadash), Maya Collier, Hila Lamdan, Michaela Davenport and Page Confino (Congregation Chaverim), Justin Iaconis (Or Chadash); third row: David Weintraub (Or Chadash), Jason Moore (Chaverim), Cantor Janece Cohen and Cindy Weintraub (Or Chadash), Nancy Auslander (Congregation Anshei Israel), MeMe Aguila (Anshei Israel/Chaverim), Naomi Present (Chaverim education director), Daniella Bardack (Anshei Israel), Julie Unger Zorn and Scott Zorn (Or Chadash); fourth row: Oren Riback, Lily Peters, Rebecca Groff, Jared Erman and Caleb Groff (Or Chadash), Renee Hulsey (Anshei Israel), Noga Panai (Or Chadash/Hebrew High), Rabbi Ben Herman (Anshei Israel education director), Bryan Gordon (Anshei Israel); fifth row: Ariel Nadler (Or Chadash), Devin Hulsey (Anshei Israel) On Sunday, Aug. 11, 34 Jewish educators and directors from the religious schools of Congregation Anshei Israel, Congregation Chaverim, Congregation Or Chadash and Tucson Hebrew High boarded a chartered bus for the Ina Levine Jewish Community Campus in Scottsdale to join educators from around the state for the first… Read more »
Project Isaiah, the Jewish community’s annual High Holidays food drive benefiting the Community Food Bank, begins today and runs through Sept. 30. The project is named for the Prophet Isaiah, who when asked why we fast on Yom Kippur, responded, “Is it not to share your bread with the… Read more »
Humane Borders will hold its second annual multi-faith “Blessing of the Fleet,” giving thanks for the trucks that service its desert water stations, on Sunday, Sept. 8, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the House of Neighborly Services, 243 W. 33rd St. in Tucson. Participants will include Rabbi Ben… Read more »
Tucsonans will have the chance to see Tucson born-and-bred Rabbi Jen E. Krause, who lives in New York City, lead High Holiday services at the 92nd Street Y. Services will be webcast live via www.92Y.org/HHLive and will also be available to military personnel at Davis Monthan Air Force Base… Read more »
President Barack Obama speaking at the White House with members of Congress about the situation in Syria, Sept. 3, 2013. (Photo by Dennis Brack/Getty Images/JTA) WASHINGTON (JTA) — Jewish groups backing President Obama’s call to strike Syria militarily are citing moral outrage and U.S. national security as primary considerations, but concern for Israel — however muted — also looms large in their thinking. A lingering sensitivity over misrepresentations of the role of the pro-Israel… Read more »
Positive Jewish experiences in college may predict greater future involvement with Judaism. And if that’s the case, the new director of student life at the University of Arizona Hillel Foundation, Ryan Woloshin, says he’s raring to go. Woloshin arrived on campus from Virginia in mid-July. He will focus on… Read more »
Hadassah Southern Arizona will form a young women’s special interest group this fall for women 45 and under. “There are a lot of younger people who are members but don’t really use their memberships. We’d like to get them to come out, get involved and make some positive changes… Read more »
(L-R) Stuart Mellan, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona; Capt. Mark Lytle, Green Valley Fire District; Capt. Rich Johnson, Tucson Fire Department; Lt. Thomas Tucker, Tucson Airport Fire District; Mike McKendrick, chairman, Greater Tucson Fire Foundation; Capt. Kyle Canty, Northwest Fire District; and Battalion Chief Kelly McCoy, Northwest Fire District, outside the JFSA office (Phyllis Braun/AJP) The Greater Tucson Fire Foundation has announced Firefighters Without Borders, a two-week mission that will send local Arizona firefighters to Israel in October to learn from their Israeli counterparts. The firefighters will travel as private citizens, but their resumes reflect expertise with nearly a dozen local fire departments and… Read more »
The Arizona Jewish Post asked Tucson’s congregational rabbis for a few words on how they hope to inspire their congregants for the new year. Here are their diverse and enlightening responses:… Read more »
Although Israel is 7,500 miles from Tucson, for some in the Jewish community it may seem like a hop, skip and a jump away. During the High Holidays, we’re particularly conscious of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people. For some Tucsonans affiliated with the University of Arizona,… Read more »
Israelis flocking to a southern Tel Aviv post office to receive free gas masks -- a scene being played out throughout Israel amid fears of an attack by Syria. (Ben Sales) TEL AVIV (JTA) — Daniela Hayoum arrived at a Tel Aviv post office at 7 a.m. and took a number. The line of people waiting for gas masks was long and Hayoum stepped away to run errands. She returned in the afternoon to find hundreds of Israelis crowding under… Read more »
Stephen Ost could win “College Entrepreneur of the Year” for his Ufree app. (Courtesy Stephen Ost) The bold letters “Ufree?” emblazon the T-shirt Stephen Ost wears and the license plate on his car. Ironically, these days he rarely is free as he speeds from one appointment to the next, working to determine the valuation of his company Ufree, LLC. Ost has spent the last three… Read more »
Tucson author Jillian Cantor’s spare, elegant new novel, “Margot,” begins with a startling premise: What if Anne Frank’s sister had survived the Holocaust and was living under an assumed name in Philadelphia? Cantor, 35, says the first time she read “The Diary of a Young Girl” at age 13,… Read more »
Oshrat Barel and her husband, Eli, with daughters (L-R) Ronnie, Shira, and Yuval Earlier this month, Oshrat Avitan Barel arrived in Tucson as the sixth director of the Weintraub Israel Center. The five shlichim (emissaries from Israel) who preceded her were men, making Barel the community’s first shlicha (female emissary). “Oshrat has an outstanding background and we thought she’d do wonders for… Read more »
SDEROT, Israel (JTA) — A thick concrete bomb shelter sits by the side of a central street in this embattled southern Israeli town, but Naomi Moravia can’t get inside. Shelters like this one are crucial in Sderot, which is located about a mile from the Gaza Strip and is… Read more »
A model of the Second Temple at an exhibit of Third Temple vessels in the Temple Institute's offices in Jerusalem. (Ben Sales/JTA) JERUSALEM (JTA) – No praying. No kneeling. No bowing. No prostrating. No dancing. No singing. No ripping clothes. These are the rules that Jews must abide by when visiting the Temple Mount, the site where the First and Second Holy Temples once stood, located above and behind the Western… Read more »
Ilya Farber during his trial in Tver, Russia, July 2013. (Zhekov.ru) MOSCOW (JTA) — Clutching the bars of the defendant’s cage, Ilya Farber assumes the posture of a crucifix as he proclaims his innocence and pleads for freedom with characteristic thespian flare. “I implore the judge to rule in favor of the children,” the Moscow-born Jewish artist begs the court,… Read more »
