News

Some 400 people attended “All That Jazz,” a party honoring Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona President and CEO Stuart Mellan, at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on Saturday night, March 30. The elegant evening was briefly marred by reports of shots being fired near the JCC around 10:45 p.m.,… Read more »

Mayor Jonathan Rothschild

Being Tucson’s mayor will involve bumps in the road but Jonathan Rothschild — the fourth Jewish mayor of Tucson’s last six — is enthusiastic about his new role. He’s spent his first months in office actively promoting the city’s revitalization, despite some “tough” spending cuts. “We’ve really been able… Read more »

Congregation Or Chadash Cantor Janece Cohen and Rabbi Thomas Louchheim mark the dedication of a new Torah scroll in December 2007.

A magnificent view of the Santa Catalina Mountains contributes to the peaceful ambiance at Congregation Or Chadash, but many congregants would say that it is Thomas Louchheim, their rabbi of almost 17 years, who provides the true inspiration. In May, Louchheim will receive an honorary Doctor of… Read more »

Dutch composer Leo Smit

Sixteen members of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra will perform the work of Leo Smit, a Dutch Jewish composer killed in the Holocaust, at the community’s annual Holocaust commemoration, “A Grave in the Air: A Musical Remembrance,” on Sunday, April 22. Smit, who was of Portuguese descent, was born in… Read more »

Gary Small, M.D.

Who knew that physical exercise may have a greater impact on the brain than so-called mind exercises? Dr. Gary Small, author of “The Alzheimer’s Prevention Program,” will discuss the latest scientific evidence on the aging brain in his presentation, “Mind Games,” Thursday, April 26 from 5 to 8 p.m.… Read more »

Sonia Reich is a Holocaust survivor who, as a child, hid from the Nazis in the forests of Poland and witnessed the murder of family members. Sixty years later, she’s transferred the horrors of her past to the present, experiencing late-onset post- traumatic stress disorder, which manifests in paranoid… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Tzipi Livni’s resounding fall in the leadership vote for Kadima, Israel’s largest political party, was as dramatic as her rise to political power. Ahead of last week’s vote, most polls were predicting that Livni would defeat Shaul Mofaz, a former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff.… Read more »

Djerba Jews spending some time at the El-Ghriba Synagogue on Tunisia's southern island. (upyneroz via CC)

TUNIS (JTA) — Tucked on a quiet side street blocks from the Mediterranean Sea, the last kosher restaurant in the Tunisian capital is a thriving center of Jewish tradition in a country of 10 million with nearly an entirely Arab and Muslim population. Yet Jacob Lellouche, who has owned… Read more »

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Capitalism in pursuit of social justice. The notion is becoming more common in Israel as a new generation of entrepreneurs and innovators in the fields of high-tech, industry and real estate is delving into philanthropy. “The culture of venture capital and the startup nation also… Read more »

Richard Hyman, great-grandson of Titanic survivor Joseph Abraham Hyman, in front of the family business his great-grandfather started a year after the ship sank. (J.A. Hyman Titanics Ltd.)

Manchester, England is home to an estimated 20,000-30,000 Jews, roughly 40 percent of whom keep kosher. Three of the community’s six kosher butcher/delicatessen shops are run by Richard Hyman and his wife, Joanna. The 99-year-old family business, known to locals as “Titanics,” was born out of the most famous… Read more »

Women raising flags during a demonstration in Paris to protest recent murders in Toulouse, March 20,2012. (Daniel Hoffman)

PARIS (JTA) — With the first round of France’s presidential election less than four weeks away, the attacks that left four Jews and three French soldiers dead are reshaping the race — but for now it’s not clear exactly how. In the days leading up to the attacks, President… Read more »

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach ata 2011 menorah lighting ceremony at Newark City Hall in New Jersey. (Robert Wiener, NJ Jewish News)

(NJ Jewish News) — Known by some as “America’s rabbi,” he is a Lubavitcher rabbi, a television host, frequent talk-show guest, and the author of 27 books — among them such provocative titles as “Kosher Sex” and “Kosher Jesus.” As of March 12, Englewood, N.J., resident Shmuley Boteach can… Read more »

The TucsonSurvivors.org website has been updated to include the texts of 13 Russian Holocaust survivors’ testimonials, which have been translated into English. Each story is accompanied by photographs, many from the 1940s and ’50s. Richard Fenwick, a volunteer with Jewish Family & Children’s Services, provided the translations. The original… Read more »

Since 1970, Jewish Family & Children’s Services has helped local families celebrate a traditional Seder through its annual Matza & More Passover project. JFCS is joined by local synagogues and businesses that help collect and deliver a variety of food items to more than 300 individuals in need. Participating… Read more »

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is partnering with local synagogues for Operation Elijah, an annual effort to ensure that every Jew in Southern Arizona has a seat at a Seder table for Passover. Now in its seventh year, Operation Elijah will match Seder hosts and guests for the… Read more »

At Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Southern Arizona’s third annual Celebration of Caring fundraising event on March 7, there was more that was new than the meal time (lunch instead of breakfast) and the venue (the Doubletree Hotel). After a brief welcome by President and CEO Shira Ledman,… Read more »

Israel’s Iron Dome defense system near the Israeli town of Ashdod intercepted a volley of rockets fired by terrorist groups from the Gaza Strip area, March 11. (Flash90/JTA)

If Israel has its way, this is how future conflicts with Gaza-based terrorists will unfold: Israeli aircraft launch surgical strikes on rocket launchers; terrorist leaders are assassinated as necessary; Israeli civilians along the southern frontier are protected by advanced technology that shoots enemy rockets out of the sky; and… Read more »

Tamir Goodman, the ‘Jewish Jordan,’ is now retired from professional basketball.

Tamir Goodman, 30, has been known as basketball’s “Jewish Jordan” but these days he’s an inspirational speaker promoting Jewish identity, president of Tamir Goodman Sports Consultant LLC, a husband and father of four. A former professional player for the Maryland Nighthawks who’d previously sported jerseys for six seasons with… Read more »

Israeli Ambassador Uri Bar-Ner, left, presents Jewish Community Foundation Executive Director Carol Karsch with a Recognition Award on behalf of the state of Israel at JCF’s 20th anniversary celebration of its Endowment Book of Life on Feb. 7. Holding the award is Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona President and CEO Stuart Mellan. (Martha Lochert)

Nearly 400 community members attended the Jewish Community Foundation’s 20th anniversary celebration of its Endowment Book of Life on Feb. 7. Representatives of 12 community partners participating in Areivim, a nationally and locally funded pilot program to encourage community members to establish legacies to benefit each of the partners,… Read more »

Ron Barber

The Tucson chapter of the America-Israel Friendship League will honor Kate Hoffman and Ron Barber with its Building a Diverse and Vibrant Tucson Award at its annual dinner on Sunday, April 15 at the Westin La Paloma Resort. Hoffman created the nonprofit Live the Solution, which helps Arizona families… Read more »