News

Sheldon Adelson, a major donor to Republican candidates, attending a Republican Jewish Coalition event at the party's convention in Tampa, Fla., on Aug. 27, 2012. Jewish republicans say the party should expect to hear from donors about how to do better in the next election. (Ron Kampeas)

WASHINGTON (JTA) – Think immigration through — again. Forget about gay marriage. And for heaven’s sake, when it comes to rape, shut up! The Republican Party as a whole is having the morning-afters, reconsidering how it might have done better in an election that saw the party fail to… Read more »

Congregation Bet Shalom will present a lecture, “Genes, Jewish History, and Jewish Migration,” by Matthew Kaplan, facility manager of the Functional Genomics Core at the University of Arizona, on Thursday, Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. Kaplan previously served as a staff scientist in the Arizona Research Laboratories division of… Read more »

The 9th Annual Muslim-Jewish PeaceWalk will be held Sunday, Nov. 11. There will be a gathering outside the Islamic Center of Tucson, 901 1st Street (at Tyndall) at 1:15 p.m., with a welcoming ceremony at 1:45 p.m. The walk will begin at 2:15 p.m., with a stop at Catalina… Read more »

President Obama hugging his campaign manager, Jim Messina, during a stop at his campaign headquarters in Chicago, Nov. 7, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

WASHINGTON (JTA) – President Obama’s Jewish numbers are down, but by how much and why? Expect four more years of tussling between Jewish Republicans and Democrats about the meaning of Obama’s dip from 78 percent Jewish support cited in 2008 exit polls to 69 percent this year in the… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) is no closer to having a minyan. The majority leader will remain the sole Jewish member of his party’s caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives. In a generally rough night for Republicans, the party’s top Jewish congressional prospects all went… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — A week after Sandy swept into the New York area with fierce winds, driving rain and a high tide for the history books, the nation’s largest Jewish community was still picking up the pieces. JTA gathered stories from around the storm zone about Sandy’s destruction,… Read more »

Haredi Orthodox Jews watching the victory speech of President Obama at the American Center in Jerusalem, Nov. 7, 2012. (Miriam Alster/Flash90/JTA)

TEL AVIV (JTA) – Most Israelis were asleep as the polls closed in America and voters waited for the results, but on one rooftop in central Tel Aviv a party with loud classic rock music and flashing lights was going strong. It was the pro-Obama election-watching party of Israel’s… Read more »

President Obama at Camp David, Oct. 21, 2012. (Official White House photo by Pete Souza)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The day after the election looks a lot like the day before for President Obama, particularly in areas that have attracted the attention of Jewish voters: Tussling with Republicans domestically on the economy and health care, and dancing gingerly with Israel around the issue of a… Read more »

Obama surrogate Jack Lew making a point during his debate with Romney surrogate Tevi Troy at Green Road Synagogue in Beachwood, Ohio, with moderator Nathan Diament listening in the background, Nov. 1, 2012. (Ron Kampeas)

BEACHWOOD, Ohio (JTA) — The family wedding. The entrance to the local synagogue. The future of Israel. Your precious grandchild. In the final days of what has been a close and bitterly contested election, it’s not so much that nothing is sacred in the fight for the Jewish vote.… Read more »

This image shows Tropical Storm Ivo in the Pacific Ocean on Sept. 12, 2001. The storm never reached hurricane status, but did make political waves when it was nearly named "Israel." (NASA)

While Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc on East Coast Jewish communities, another storm 11 years ago made serious political waves in the Jewish world. It’s not unusual for Jewish organizations to clash with United Nations agencies over issues related to Israel. But in 2001, Jewish groups’ concern for Israel drew… Read more »

Members of HaNoar Ha'Oved V'HaLomed, a left-wing youth group, attending the rally in memory of the slain Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in Tel Aviv, Oct. 27, 2012. (Roni Schutzer/Flash90/JTA)

TEL AVIV (JTA) — About a year before Guy Ben-Simon was born, his parents attended the Tel Aviv rally where Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. It was a night of shock and sadness, they recalled for him while he was growing up. They had called all of their friends, telling… Read more »

Erica Fishbein volunteered with JDC's Entwine group in south Brooklyn following Hurricane Sandy. (Courtesy Cheryl Fishbein)

NEW YORK—Hurricane Sandy stormed into New York and New Jersey with unmitigated force, carrying death and destruction, disrupting lives, and devastating neighborhoods in America’s most densely populated regions—which happen to be home to some of the country’s largest Jewish populations. In response, the Jewish community banded together to meet… Read more »

At Mazel Academy in Brooklyn, Torah scrolls were unrolled to dry after being damaged by the floodwaters from Hurricane Sandy, Oct. 31, 2012. (Ben Harris)

NEW YORK (JTA) — When Rabbi Avremel Okonov arrived Tuesday morning at the school he co-founded 10 years ago in the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn, the water in the basement had already receded from the high water mark. It only came up to his knees. Everywhere he looked… Read more »

Walter Ferguson’s childhood encounter with birds piqued a lifelong interest.

Road kill, for most people, is something you try not to look at too closely and leave behind. But for Walter Ferguson these misfortunate animals could be a prized treasure. Ferguson, one of the world’s preeminent wildlife artists, would never wish for a little creature to be maimed. However,… Read more »

Maddy Melichar, Becky Monroy, Hayley Flanigan and Catalina Foothills High School Principal Angela Chomokos with Day of the Girl proclamations from the City of Tucson and the Pima County Board of Supervisors (Alison Hughes/Pima County/Tucson Women's Commission)

Last month, at the request of sophomore Becky Monroy and four friends at Catalina Foothills High School, the City of Tucson and the Pima County Board of Supervisors issued proclamations naming Oct. 11, 2012 “The Day of the Girl,” building on a successful campaign in almost 100 countries to… Read more »

Rick Recht (Jeff Hirsch)

Congregation Anshei Israel, Congregation Or Chadash and Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging will present Rick Recht live in concert on Monday, Nov. 12 at 6:30 p.m. at Congregation Anshei Israel. “The concert is a collaboration between three Jewish organizations, promoting the idea that music not only transcends boundaries,… Read more »

Congregation Or Chadash will present the fourth Jewish Food Festival and Fun Fair on Sunday, Nov. 4, from 11 a.m. to 4 pm. The festival gives the larger Tucson community the opportunity to try traditional and not-so-traditional Jewish foods in a family-friendly environment. Admission is $4 per person with… Read more »

Adina Bar-El, Ph.D.

The TIPS (Tucson, Israel, Seattle, Phoenix) Partnership 2Gether program (previously known as Partnership 2000) and the Weintraub Israel Center will host Adina Bar-El, Ph.D., author and expert on Hebrew and Yiddish children’s literature, in Tucson Nov. 5 through Nov. 9. Bar-El is the author of 19 books for children… Read more »

Barry Friedman

The Jewish History Museum will honor Barry Friedman with the 2012 Jewish Heritage Award at its annual luncheon later this month. Designed to honor an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the museum’s mission and to the larger Southern Arizona community, the award recognizes Friedman’s contribution to preserving… Read more »

C. Diane Ealy, Ph.D.

“From Fear to Excitement: Your Personal Journey of Empowerment” will be the focus of a fundraising workshop for Congregation Chaverim on Sunday, Nov. 11 from 9 a.m. till noon. “Chaverim has been through extremely difficult times these past two years with the death of Karla Ember and Gabby’s shooting,… Read more »