Filipinos light Chanukah candles in their home in South Tel Aviv on Nov. 24, 2010 in advance of the Jewish holiday. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90/JTA) TEL AVIV (JTA) — With eyes closed, it would have been difficult to guess that the female voice with the amazing range singing a Hebrew classic was a shy-looking, 11-year-old Filipina. But there was Kathleen Eligado performing Miri Aloni’s “Ballad of Hedva and Shlomik” before a prime-time television audience… Read more »
A swastika spray-painted on a window of Temple Beth Israel in Hackensack, N.J., Dec. 10, 2011. (ADL) NEW YORK (JTA) — As Jews in some northern New Jersey communities made their way to synagogue last Shabbat, the scene was slightly different from the typical day of rest. Extra police cars were on patrol near synagogues. At Bnei Yeshurun in Teaneck, a new buzzer system had been… Read more »
Yair Lapid, alongtime television anchor, is quitting journalism to enter politics. (Yair Lapid's official Facebook page) JERUSALEM (JTA) — One of the big open questions after Israel’s social protests last summer was whether or not the one-time mass movement would be able to translate its newfound clout into lasting political power. During the weeks of protests and for months afterward, none of Israel’s political parties… Read more »
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The decision by Israel and the United States to delay a massive joint anti-missile exercise set off a frenzy of speculation as to what the move says about relations between the two allies amid mounting tensions with Iran. U.S. and Israeli officials confirmed to JTA over… Read more »
JTA’s new “Seeking Kin” column aims to help reunite long-lost friends and relatives. BALTIMORE (JTA) — Even after seven decades, Peter Nurnberger’s most basic biographical facts remain elusive. The Slovakian doesn’t know his birth date, his natural parents’ fate or whether they had any other children. Peter’s adoptive parents… Read more »
Alex Dunai, second from right, has become a leading purveyor of Jewish heritage tourism in Ukraine. (Alex Weisler) LVIV, Ukraine (JTA) — Alex Dunai is not Jewish. But over 15 years of leading Jewish tourists searching for their roots in Ukraine, he’s built up a serviceable knowledge of Yiddish — though sometimes he has to make things up. “I make up sayings — you have highway roads, we… Read more »
Gustav Zoltay, left, the director of the Federation o Hungarian Jewish communities, and Peter Feldmajor, its president, at the founding of the new Hungarian Jewish Congress. (Szabolcs Panyi) BUDAPEST (JTA) — A whistle-blowing rabbi and a reform-minded lay leader are at the forefront of new efforts to shake up Hungary’s entrenched Jewish establishment. Late last year, Rabbi Zoltan Radnoti reportedly alerted authorities to complaints of embezzlement and tax fraud in the operation of Budapest’s main Jewish cemetery on Kozma… Read more »
Reporter Alex Weisler, second from right, and his mother, second from left, unite with lost relatives in Ukraine. (Alex Weisler) LVIV, Ukraine (JTA) — The more I thought about it, the more it began to seem like a reasonable choice: I would roam around Europe for six months, visiting Jewish museums, talking to youth groups and covering various community happenings. I would travel from vibrant London to the post-Communist… Read more »
The memorial stone to be dedicated Jan. 29 reads ‘Remembering the Victims of the Holocaust’ Beth Shalom Temple Center of Green Valley will host a free community gathering in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Sunday, Jan. 29 at 10 a.m. in the chapel of Green Valley Mortuary and Cemetery, 18751 S. La Canada Dr. The program will feature historical perspectives, readings, poetry,… Read more »
Rabbi Shalom Hammer Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging will host Rabbi Shalom Hammer, who will speak on “Finding Inner Peace,” on Friday, Jan. 27 at 1 p.m. The presentation will include a video about Alice Herz-Sommer, the oldest living Holocaust survivor. Hammer will explore Jewish perspectives on maintaining a positive emotional… Read more »
Temple Emanu-El will host a Jewish Camp Fair on Sunday, Jan. 22 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Representatives from at least 16 Jewish overnight camps from across the country will be available to meet with children and parents. Overnight camps from as close as Prescott, Ariz., and California,… Read more »
Shaol and Evie Pozez The Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona announced last week that the Shaol & Evelyn Pozez Endowment Fund has received a multi-million dollar bequest from the Pozez estate. Thirty-six nonprofit organizations have been named as beneficiaries and will receive an initial distribution in early 2013. These beneficiaries, which provide… Read more »
Elliott Abrams, former deputy national security adviser under President George W. Bush, will be the keynote speaker at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s 2012 Tucson Annual Dinner, which will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 24 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Abrams is senior fellow for Middle Eastern… Read more »
Chief Justice John G. Roberts. Jr. and Justice Elena Kagan stand at the top of the steps following her formal Investiture Ceremony pn Oct. 1, 2010. (Steve Petteway, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States) WASHINGTON (JTA) — Two groups each known for their internal divisions on religion-state issues found themselves in a degree of accord this week: the justices of the United State Supreme Court and the organized Jewish community. In a decision issued Wednesday, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the right of… Read more »
Carol Karsch The Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona will honor Executive Director Carol Karsch at its 20th anniversary celebration of the Endowment Book of Life signing event, which will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 7 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Karsch is retiring after 23 years at the Foundation,… Read more »
Meryl Press represented the University of Arizona Hillel Foundation at Super Sunday in 2011. Make a few phone calls in the annual Jewish Federation phone-a-thon to support the 2012 Community Campaign. Donate blood. Swab your cheek for the Gift of Life bone marrow registry. Make a card for a military service member. These are a few of the ways volunteers will help change… Read more »
David Sattinger What are the origins of our seven-day week? Why do the Jewish holidays move around from year to year? Why are there 12 tribes of Israel, as well as 12 apostles and 12 stations of the cross? David Sattinger will offer answers to these questions in a presentation on… Read more »
Rabbi Shais Taub Chabad of Tucson is launching its 2012 lecture series with Rabbi Shais Taub, a scholar, author and blogger on Jewish mysticism, on Sunday, Jan. 15, 7 p.m. at the Hacienda del Sol Guest Ranch Resort. Dubbed “an expert in Jewish mysticism and the 12 steps” by National Public Radio… Read more »
The Weintraub Israel Center will screen “Faces of Israel: A Discussion about Marriage, State & Religion in the Jewish Homeland,” a documentary film by director Amy Beth Oppenheimer, on Wednesday, Jan. 25 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Oppenheimer will facilitate the interactive program, which includes presentations and dynamic… Read more »
Mayim Bialik Mayim Bialik may be known as the brainy Amy Farrah Fowler on the popular TV sitcom “The Big Bang Theory,” but she’s also an observant Jewish mother, writer and neuroscientist. Bialik will be the speaker at this year’s Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Women’s Philanthropy Connections brunch on Feb.… Read more »
