Rabbi David Lazar, left, showing a Torah scroll to Swedish government minister Stefan Attefall at the Great Synagogue of Stockholm, November 2011. (Regeringskansliet, The government of Sweden) (JTA) — Having grown up in a devoutly Christian home, Irene Lopez would probably not be raising her daughter Jewish if not for David Lazar, the charismatic rabbi of the Great Synagogue of Stockholm. Lopez and her Jewish husband, Samuel Sjoblom, are among the Swedes who were drawn to… Read more »
Gene Sperling, the chairman of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisors, speaking at the Reform movement's Consultation on Conscience, April 23, 2013. (Courtesy Religious Action Center) WASHINGTON (JTA) — In the battle to end the across-the-board budget cuts known as sequestration, it’s all hands on deck. Increasingly for the Obama administration, which is deadlocked over the budget with the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, that means reaching out to Jews. In conference calls and in appearances… Read more »
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the chairwoman of the Republican Conference in the U.S. House of Representatives, at the center of a Jewish leaders roundtable in Washington, April 12, 2013. (Courtesy House Republican Conference) WASHINGTON (JTA) — He had them until abortion. U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) was addressing the Reform movement’s Consultation on Conscience conference about his passion, human rights and success in creating mechanisms to combat human trafficking and shine a light on global anti-Semitism. The crowd gathered in a large… Read more »
Avraham Rivkind, the chief of surgery at Hadassah Medical Center in jerusalem, has pioneered several medical techniques, including several that helped save victims of the Boston Marathon. attacks. (Hadassah Medical Center) TEL AVIV (JTA) — Minutes after a terrorist attack killed three at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, doctors and nurses at the city’s hospitals faced a harrowing scene — severed limbs, burned bodies, shrapnel buried in skin. For Boston doctors, the challenge presented by last week’s bombing… Read more »
From the creation of the world’s first hybrid cucumber in the 1950s to the building of particle collectors for Switzerland’s Large Hadron Collider, which led to the 2012 discovery of the Higgs Bosun or “God Particle”(a subatomic particle that accounts for the existence of matter and diversity in the… Read more »
In January, separated from my American Jewish Press Association group while touring Old Jaffa, I had little choice but to walk five miles back to our Tel Aviv hotel. For me, it was a happy opportunity to stroll along the Tel Aviv promenade by the Mediterranean Sea. I passed… Read more »
Michael Lavigne Michael Lavigne, winner of the 2007 Sami Rohr Choice Award for emerging Jewish writers for his first novel, “Not Me,” will speak about his new novel, “The Wanting,” on Sunday, May 5, from 3:30 to 5 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. The free event is cosponsored by… Read more »
The Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona will hold a breakfast and panel discussion on “The Future of Higher Education in Arizona: Is the Current Model Sustainable?” on Friday, April 26, from 7:30 to 10 a.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. The program… Read more »
Handmaker Youth Leadership Team, the B’nai Tzedek teen philanthropy program, Tucson Hebrew High and Young Judaea are partnering in J-Serve Volunteer Day, part of an international day of Jewish youth service, on Sunday, April 28, from 2 to 5:30 p.m. at Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging. The event… Read more »
Women and children living at Tucson’s Emerge! Center Against Domestic Abuse will receive flowers and a basket of beauty products on Mother’s Day through Jewish Women International’s 15th annual Mother’s Day Flower Project. Two other shelters in Arizona, Chrysalis Shelter in Phoenix and Chrysalis Shelter in Scottsdale, also will… Read more »
Members of a police SWAT team make a door-to-door search in Watertwon, Mass., for the 19-year-old Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on April 19, 2013. (Spencer Platt/Getty) (Jewish Exponent) — Shelly Levy and Ken Lebowitz had planned to bake their own challah for Shabbat on Friday, but then came the lockdown. As residents of Watertown, Mass., ground zero for the citywide manhunt for the second suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing, they weren’t able to get… Read more »
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The U.S. senators who defeated a bill that would toughen background checks for gun purchasers “brought shame on themselves,” former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords said. “The senators who voted against background checks for online and gun-show sales, and those who voted against checks to screen out would-be… Read more »
Israelis on a motorcycle pique the interest of haredi Orthodox Jews in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Mea Shearim. (Photo: Serge Attai/Flash90/JTA) Natan Sharansky’s proposal last week to expand the space for non-Orthodox prayer at the Western Wall could be historic (see related story, page 10). But for most Israelis, changes at the Western Wall are of only trivial interest. Far more pressing are state restrictions on marriage and conversion, Sabbath… Read more »
Josh Schachter: photographer, educator, environmentalist, storyteller It’s a big deal when any organization wins a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation grant. In November, Pima County Public Library learned that it did just that, receiving $100,000 from the foundation and the Institute of Museum and Library Services to design a mobile media lab, youth… Read more »
Jane Kivel, JFSA Woman of the Year The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona will honor its 2013 award winners at its Annual Meeting and Awards Celebration on Thursday, May 2 at 7 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. “Feddys,” the custom metal and glass awards designed by Lynn Rae Lowe for the Federation, and other… Read more »
Mary Peachin, right, with fishing boat captain, Adolpho, and a rooster fish she caught in Zihuatenejo, on the
Pacific coast of Mexico. (Courtesy Mary Peachin) Mary Peachin is proud to be a third-generation Tucsonan, a granddaughter of the pioneer Jewish Levy family. She’s also forged her own path. At 72, she can count flying her own plane, sky diving, bungee jumping and swimming with sharks among her experiences. Her life of adventure traveling began… Read more »
The Tucson Cardozo Society, a program of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, will hold a breakfast seminar on ethics and professionalism on Tuesday, May 7, 8 a.m. to noon at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. The Hon. Richard E. Gordon will lead a panel of judges. Gordon took… Read more »
Marlyne Freedman For more than a decade, Marlyne Freedman has been there for members of the Tucson Jewish community. Not just through her job as senior vice president at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, but as a compassionate supporter of all things Jewish — both people and causes. At 66,… Read more »
Exterior of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw showing the "gap." (Ruth Ellen Gruber) WARSAW, Poland (JTA) — Krzysztof Sliwinski, a longtime Catholic activist in Jewish-Polish relations, gazed wide-eyed at the swooping interior of this city’s Museum of the History of Polish Jews. Nearly two decades in the making, the more than $100 million institution officially opened to the public last month amid… Read more »
David Popovits, owner of the Matzah Soldier, sits down for a meal at his upscale restaurant in Budapest, March 2013. (Canaan Liphshiz/JTA) BUDAPEST, Hungary (JTA) — On a corner in the heart of the former Jewish ghetto here, David Popovits sits down for some matzah ball soup and super-sized dumplings at his newly opened kosher-style restaurant. A burly, 40-year-old Hungarian Jewish businessman, Popovits used to eat in the restaurant as a… Read more »
