News

A troubling recent incident in the heart of Krakow’s old Jewish quarter, Kazimierz, has raised questions anew about the scope and impact of anti-Semitism in the age of instant response and interactive social media. The incident involved a waiter (or waiters) at a popular cafe, Moment, who rudely refused… Read more »

Following the early start of Tucson’s schools, Tucson Hebrew High will begin on Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2012 at its host synagogue, Congregation Anshei Israel. The first session will include a welcome back pizza and last minute registration party, classes, a storytelling slam by Hebrew High faculty, and an ice… Read more »

  When the school year starts at Tucson Hebrew Academy on Aug. 16, every middle school student will have a laptop computer that they can take with them from class to class — and home with them at night. Lesson plans will be designed around this technology, which will… Read more »

The Women’s Academy for Jewish Studies at Congregation Chofetz Chayim will hold a free brunch and presentation next month, “What Does G-d Have in Mind for You?” with Esther Becker, based on the book “As Long as I Live: The Life Story of Aharon Margalit.” By age 7, Margalit’s… Read more »

Jewish youth ages 7-14 are invited to join the Tucson Jewish Youth Choir, which will kick off its 13th season on Aug. 22 at 3:45 p.m. with a rehearsal at Tucson Hebrew Academy. No prior musical experience is necessary. Under the direction of Cantor Janece Cohen, the TJYC performs… Read more »

Alexis Sokoloff holds the Torah at her Bat Mitzvah ceremony (Courtesy Gwen Sokolof)

Fourteen-year-old Alexis Sokoloff smiles as she recalls her Bat Mitzvah on June 9. “I wasn’t nervous at all,” she told the AJP. “I really love learning Hebrew.” Sokoloff was born with Down syndrome, but with the support of her parents, Gwen and Mitchell Sokoloff, and her younger sister, Rebecka,… Read more »

Participants on a Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona-sponsored Birthright Israel trip hike in Ein Avdat in the Negev. (Courtesy Nicole Walters)

The Tucsonans on the first Birthright Israel trip sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona had heard rave reviews from friends who’d been on one of Birthright’s free, 10-day trips to Israel — and they were at least a bit skeptical. But this group came back believers. “Everyone… Read more »

(L-R) Tucsonans Donna Moser, Audrey Brooks, Marlyne Freedman and Deanna Evenchik at the Birthright Israel Mega Event at Haifa Naval Base July 12

The faces of our grandparents are with me in early July as I leave for the Jewish Federations of North America Campaign Chairs and Directors Mission to Odessa and Israel with my sister, Donna Moser. Grandpa Nathan and Grandma Sadie came to the United States in 1899 from Odessa;… Read more »

Suzi Hileman

Jared Lee Loughner will spend life in prison after pleading guilty Tuesday to 19 charges stemming from the Jan. 8, 2011 shooting rampage that killed six people and wounded 13, including former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. “Thank God that he pled guilty and there won’t be a trial,” said… Read more »

Sheldon Adelson's backing of Republican candidates and pro-Israel causes have garnered widespread media attention this campaign. (Oliver Fitoussi/Flash90/JTA)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Call it the Adelson conundrum: What happens when the guy who acts as if he owns the room really does? In March at TribeFest, the annual gathering of young adults organized by the Jewish Federations of North America at the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas, Sheldon… Read more »

(Jewish Ideas Daily) — This week, the Deferral of Military Service for Yeshiva Students Law, better known as the Tal Law, expires.  This law is the latest enactment of the so-called “status quo arrangement,” which frames the uneasy relationship between Israel’s Haredi and secular populations.  As such, the expiration… Read more »

A candlelight vigil for the victims of the shooting at the Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisc., Aug. 6, 2012. (Courtesy of Overpass Light Brigade)

(JTA) – Almost as soon as she heard the news about a deadly shooting at a Sikh temple near Milwaukee, Elana Kahn-Oren’s phone started ringing. As director of the Jewish Community Relations Council at the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, Kahn-Oren fielded call after call from concerned area Jews asking what… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The U.S. State Department’s report on religious freedom described a “global increase” in anti-Semitism and said the “rising tide of anti-Semitism” was among the key trends of last year. The executive summary of the report for 2011, released July 30, also detailed the “impact of political… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) – Seven years on, many Jews still have lingering questions about the addition to the pro-Israel lobbying scene of Christians United for Israel, the project of evangelical leader the Rev. John Hagee. Hagee believes he has a biblical mandate to press on and is undeterred. “As Isaiah… Read more »

State Treasurer Josh Mandel , a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Ohio, ias shown during his service as a Marine in Iraq. (Citizens for Josh Mandel)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — A flood of money brought in by prominent national political action committees has become the norm in this year’s U.S. Senate race in Ohio, which pits first-term incumbent Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, against Republican Josh Mandel, the state treasurer and a Jewish Iraq war veteran. Because… Read more »

Mitchell Flint standing in front of his P51 Mustang fighter plane in Israel in 1948. (Courtesy Tom Tugend)

LOS ANGELES (JTA) — After a 64-year detour, Mitchell Flint, a former fighter pilot for the United States and Israel, has finally landed for the London Olympic Games. In the summer of 1948, Flint, with a four-year wartime stint as a U.S. Navy fighter pilot in the Pacific under… Read more »

More than 90,000 people packed MetLife Stadium in New Jersey for the Siyum HaShas, celebrating the completion of the Daf Yomi page-a-day Talmud study cycle, Aug. 1, 2012. (Yisroel Golding/Siyumphotos)

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (JTA) – As a light drizzle tapered off over MetLife Stadium, more than 90,000 Jews packed into the home of the NFL’s Jets and Giants for an event quite unlike any the popular sports and concert venue had ever seen. They came dressed in black and… Read more »

LONDON (JTA) — Was the only Israeli on the International Olympic Committee instrumental in stopping a tribute to the Munich 11 at the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Games? In the past few weeks, a war of words has erupted between the official, Alex Gilady, and the families… Read more »

Left to right, Ed Hofland, David Rosenblatt and Yosef Abramowitz, co-founders of the Arava Power Company. (Courtesy Arava Power Company)

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Yosef Abramowitz is running out of time. With only minutes to go until he has to speak to a group of donors at the Jewish National Fund, Abramowitz looks like he just finished a workout. He’s wearing sneakers, shorts and a white T-shirt featuring an… Read more »

Some Jewish leaders accused Rep. Michele Bachman, left, for launching a "witch hunt" following her allegations that Huma Abedin had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. (Gage Skidmore/Creative Commons)

WASHINGTON (JTA) – Rep. Michele Bachmann has incurred the wrath of leading Jewish groups and some Republican leaders, even though she may be one of Israel’s staunchest defenders in Congress and one of its best-known Republicans. The reaction was spurred by the Minnesota congresswoman’s call for an inquiry into… Read more »