News

Philanthropic spirit helps feed schoolchildren

Tucsonan Nina Straw is a proponent of the ‘Blessings in a Backpack’ program to feed schoolkids on weekends.

Nina Straw grew up in a Conservative Jewish home in Milford, Conn. The concept of tikkun olam (repairing the world) was part of her daily life. “My father lived Judaism,” she told the AJP. “He was a gentle, quiet man who walked the talk. He taught us to live… Read more »

Phoenix-area Jews shocked, grieving over apparent murder-suicide

The Butwin family of Tempe, Ariz., shown in a photo from May 2009 (Yafit Butwin's Facebook page)

The Phoenix-area Jewish community is grieving after hearing of the suspected murder-suicide of a local Jewish family that was active in Jewish life. The Butwin family of Tempe was found burned to death in the family’s SUV on June 2. Police believe that James Butwin died of a gunshot… Read more »

New JCF director will focus on tzedakah, community building

Tracy Salkowitz

  It’s a given that the new executive director of the Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona would be smart and dedicated, with a long, impressive resume. Tracy Salkowitz is also funny. Phrases like “delightfully witty and warm,” “levity, humility, and humor” and “with laughter and a clear vision”… Read more »

Sotheby’s to auction off JTA-Albert Einstein letters

NEW YORK (JTA) — Albert Einstein stepped forward several times in the 1930s and 1940s to help raise money for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Now, more than half a century later, the international Jewish news service known these days as JTA is hoping the father of relativity can come… Read more »

Shimon Peres has journeyed from ‘loser’ to Israel’s most popular public figure

Israeli President Shimon Peres, center, meets with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro, right, and former Major Leaguer Brad Ausmus, who will manage Israel's team in the World Baseball Classic, in Jerusalem, May 24, 2012. (Kobi Gideon/ GPO/FLASH90/JTA)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — For decades, the joke in Israel went: How do you know when Shimon Peres is headed for defeat? When he announces that he is running. Peres — today Israel’s extremely popular president and on Wednesday a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom — always seemed doomed to… Read more »

Miami shul controversy harbinger of political tone in Jewish community

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) speaks at the Jewish Museum of Florida in Miami in 2008. (Courtesy Debbie Wasserman Schultz for Congress)

WASHINGTON (JTA) – When does a bimah turn into a political soapbox? The controversy last month over a Miami temple’s invitation and then disinvitation to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) — which prompted the resignation of an influential congregant who also is a Republican activist — has revived with… Read more »

Athens’ Jewish school, the community’s jewel, imperiled by Greek economic crisis

Kindergarten students in yellow caps run out into the school yard to rehearse for their end of year concert at the Athens Jewish Community School. (Gavin Rabinowitz/JTA)

ATHENS, Greece (JTA) – When the bell rang, the sixth-graders who had been playing basketball rushed off to a computer class. Their place in the yard at Athens’ Jewish Community School was taken by two dozen giggling 4- and 5-year -olds practicing dance steps for the year-end concert. “One,… Read more »

Australia’s poor record prosecuting Nazis highlighted by pending Karoly Zentai case

Marika Weinberger, a Holocaust survivor and former president of the Australian Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants. (Henry Benjamin)

SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) — When Australia’s highest court soon rules on whether the 90-year-old Karoly “Charles” Zentai should be extradited to Hungary, it likely will be passing judgment on the last known Nazi war criminal suspect residing in the country. The pending end of the drawn out legal proceedings is… Read more »

Ohio Jews poised for big impact In November

Cincinnati (N.Y. Jewish Week) — Out here in the America between the coasts, in what may be the most prized electoral catch of all come November, Sam Samet is President Barack Obama’s worst nightmare. And Michael Heines is Mitt Romney’s. Sipping a cup of coffee after the morning minyan at suburban Adath Israel… Read more »

In outreach to Orthodox Jews, Obama repeats commitment to Israel

WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Obama is spreading the word, one Jewish constituency at a time: He has Israel’s back. Obama defended his record on Israel and on religious freedoms on Tuesday during a White House meeting with Orthodox leaders. Challenged by one of those leaders on the efficacy of his… Read more »

Gymnast David Sender’s Olympic Games journey began in Israel

David Sender at the 2009 Maccabiah Games Tel Aviv. (Courtesy Maccabiah USA)

NEW YORK (JTA) — Nineteen years ago, gymnast David Sender and his family attended the opening ceremonies of the Maccabiah Games in Israel, where the then-7-year-old told his mom, “Someday, you’re all coming back here to watch me back down here.” Sixteen years later, Sender was one of the U.S.… Read more »

Ethiopian-Israeli Jews, mistaken for African migrant workers, feel racism’s pain

Elias Inbram wears a shirt he made that features a yellow star and reads: "Caution -- I am not an illegal African immigrant!"

JERUSALEM (JTA) — When violent riots against African migrant workers erupted in south Tel Aviv recently, a mob attacked Hanania Wanda, a Jew of Ethiopian origin, mistaking him for a Sudanese migrant worker. “Wanda is my friend,” says Elias Inbram, a social activist in the Ethiopian community and a… Read more »

Was Barak’s call for unilateral action with the Palestinians a trial balloon?

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak during an Independence party meeting at the Knesset, May 21, 2012. (Uri Lenz/FLASH90/JTA)

(JTA) — Was Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s recent suggestion that Israel take “unilateral action” to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a hint at a policy under discussion or just an off-the-cuff remark? And how will the response of others — such as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — shape the… Read more »

Resident finds new zest for life at Handmaker: ‘I’ve never been happier’

Brian Litwak

Brian Litwak, 75, has gone through life coping with poor health. Nine years ago, following quadruple bypass surgery and suffering from diabetes, he came from Los Angeles to Handmaker Services for the Aging, brought here by his younger brother. “No one told me I was supposed to die,” says… Read more »

Obama’s same-sex marriage nod echoes historic Catholic-Jewish debate

Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black was among the justices who agreed with the decision on the 1962 Engel v. Vitale case, which banned prayer in public schools. (Photo courtesy United States Library of Congress)

When President Obama publicly endorsed same-sex marriage last month, most secular Jewish leaders applauded while some religious ones disagreed — the latter group joining their Catholic counterparts. In doing so, these representatives echoed sentiments thrust into the public sphere five decades earlier, ones that simultaneously symbolized a new Jewish… Read more »

D.A., Orthodox clash on sex abuse cases

Pressure is growing on the Brooklyn district attorney and the country’s major haredi Orthodox umbrella organization to change the ways they handle allegations of sexual abuse and molestation in the Orthodox community. A series of recent reports by The New York Jewish Week, the Forward and The New York… Read more »

JFSA Think Tank 2020 highlights priorities

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona held a community discussion, Think Tank 2020, on May 2. Nearly 100 community members representing diverse ages and backgrounds met at the Tucson Jewish Community Center to begin framing the issues to be explored as part of the Federation’s strategic planning process. The… Read more »

Egyptian election promises uncertainty for ties with U.S., Israel

An Egyptian woman casting her vote in the city of al-Mahalla in northern Egypt, May 23, 2012. (Nehal ElSherif via CC)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Egyptians stunned even themselves in the vote to elect their next president — and observers are warning that the United States and Israel should be ready for continued uncertainty in their relations with Egypt. Two finalists emerged following the roller-coaster first round at the polls… Read more »

Abuse among the Orthodox: Bad news, good news

(Jewish Ideas Daily) — First, the bad news: Sexual, physical, and emotional abuse occurs in Orthodox Jewish communities. Next, the worse news: Though there is no evidence that such abuse occurs more frequently among the Orthodox than in other populations, two recent front-page New York Times stories are just… Read more »