News

(JTA) — A Brown advisory committee has issued a formal recommendation that the Ivy League university divest from “any company that profits from the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.” The recommendation was contained in an official report made to the university president and its highest governing body, The Brown… Read more »

(JTA) — The Auschwitz Memorial and the site of the former Nazi camp are closed to visitors due to concerns over the coronavirus. The memorial announced on Wednesday that it would shut down until March 25. The announcement comes on the heels of the decision by the Polish government… Read more »

(JTA) — Disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison on Wednesday, more than two weeks after being found guilty on two counts of rape and sexual assault. Weinstein, 67, could have been sentenced to a maximum 29 years or as little as five years,… Read more »

(JTA) — Half of the scientific committee of Belgium’s national Holocaust museum resigned over the institution’s plan to host an event that was to honor a promoter of boycotts against Israel. The resignation Tuesday of nine historians from the Kazerne Dossin memorial followed an outcry over its plan from… Read more »

(JTA) — On a typical Friday, some 200 people show up for services at Temple De Hirsch Sinai, a Reform congregation in Seattle. But last week, there was no one in the pews as Rabbi Daniel Weiner welcomed Shabbat in the synagogue’s smaller sanctuary. Instead, some 1,500 people watched… Read more »

(JTA) — The outbreak of the coronavirus in northern Italy forced Claudia Bagnarelli to make a painful choice. “To keep visiting my 94-year-old mother, I needed to stop seeing everyone else in my life,” Bagnarelli, a Jewish ballet teacher from Milan, said Monday. To avoid the risk of infecting… Read more »

The   Tucson Festival of Books board of directors canceled the 2020 festival, which was scheduled for this weekend, March 14 and 15, after more than 100 authors withdrew due to fears of coronavirus (COVID-19). “We know the festival brings much joy to many in our community,” an announcement from… Read more »

(JTA) — Israel will require all travelers from abroad to complete a 14-day quarantine, according to the latest regulation aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus in the country. The decision, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced late Monday, capped days of open deliberations about how far Israel… Read more »

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Women’s Philanthropy Connections 2020 event with Dr. Ruth Westheimer, scheduled for Sunday, March 8, has been postponed due to concerns about COVID-19, aka coronavirus. “Like many of you and all of us here at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, Dr. Ruth is concerned… Read more »

Rabbi Yossie Shemtov

Two thousand five hundred years ago, Haman — then prime minister of the Persian Empire — succeeded in convincing King Ahasuerus to issue a decree to destroy the Jews throughout the land.  Following the issuance of this decree, Haman and his comrades went strolling with jovial hearts and encountered the… Read more »

Ruben Golran had studied for a year and a half in anticipation of his bar mitzvah, when 600 of his relatives and friends were supposed to converge on Milan to celebrate. First he planned to have a ceremony Tuesday, Feb. 25, when he would put on tefillin, a Jewish… Read more »

It’s no surprise to us who live in the Sonoran Desert that, on average, we enjoy 286 sunny days a year in Tucson — while the U.S. average is 205. Old Pueblo residents can get ample doses of vitamin D while those in the Pacific Northwest are depleted. We… Read more »

David Graizbord

Editor’s note: This event has been postponed until November due the spread of COVID-19. The Jewish Federation and Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona have canceled all public events through April 16 out of an abundance of caution.   Israeli politics, water scarcity, and medical advances will highlight “Israel… Read more »

Editor’s note: Due to the spread of COVID-19, the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona on March 13 has cancelled all public events through April 16.  Tucson Maimonides Society’s March presentation sounds like it comes straight from the set of a television medical drama. Indeed, speaker Allan Hamilton, M.D., is… Read more »

“Tucson Mezuzah Week’ is the first community-wide opportunity, offered by Congregation Chofetz Chayim and the Southwest Torah Institute, to have every Jewish home in Tucson protected by the mitzvah of placing mezuzot on every doorpost,” says the congregation’s Rabbi Israel Becker. Often called the “Jewish security system,” the mezuzah is… Read more »

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona and the Jewish History Museum/Holocaust History Center are sponsoring a bus tour, “Preserving Jewish History in Southern Arizona: An Experiential and Mobile Day of Learning,” on Wednesday, March 11, led by Stuart Mellan, JFSA president and CEO, and Bryan Davis, JHM executive director.… Read more »

Editor’s note: Due to the spread of coronavirus, Congregation M’kor Hayim has postponed this event. HIAS’ National Refugee Shabbat is a call to congregations across the country to dedicate sacred time on the March 20-21 Shabbat to honor refugees and asylum seekers. Congregation M’kor Hayim will hold a special Friday,… Read more »

Senior athlete David Tannenbaum of Hereford, Arizona, recently completed a “decathlon” of his own making. “I set a goal to win 10 medals in three different sports,” he says. Achieving that goal at the 2020 Arizona Senior Olympics in February wasn’t easy but it qualified him for participation in… Read more »

Sara Lopez

Arizona Theatre Company launched a new program this year as another way to involve the local community. The program, called the Cohorts Club, gives citizens of Tucson and Phoenix the opportunity to see everything that encompasses a show ATC puts on. Designated members of the public attend rehearsals, tech… Read more »

The Spaces We Inhabit” encourages art enthusiasts to explore the points of view of seven local female artists. The exhibit will be on display March 16-April 27 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center Fine Art Gallery. The seven artists, members of group called “Women Who Art,” use a variety… Read more »