WASHINGTON (JTA) – It happens almost like clockwork: Something happens in the Middle East, and it reverberates across the Atlantic with new letters from the U.S. Congress. With so many relatively new members looking to establish their pro-Israel credentials, the reaction in Congress to the recent violence in Israel… Read more »
News
Rise of French anti-Semite Le Pen’s daughter poses dilemma for Jews
On the second floor of the town hall in Paris’ third Arrondissement, leaders of France’s major Jewish institutions gathered to denounce the leader of the far-right National Front party and to assert that she remains unworthy of dialogue with the Jewish community. Last week’s gathering was precipitated by two… Read more »
JCC seeks WWII memorabilia for exhibit
In preparation for an upcoming display at the Tucson Jewish Community Center celebrating the Allied victors of World War II and the liberation of Europe, volunteer Bill Kugelman and JCC communications specialist Marty Johnston are collecting historical artifacts. To date, Jeffrey A. Marks has donated a World War II… Read more »
Local authors to read at Hadassah book swap
Hadassah Southern Arizona will hold an ice cream social and book swap/sale on Sunday, April 3 at 2 p.m. at Congregation Young Israel. Two local Jewish authors, Roni Capin Rivera-Ashford and Sheldon Sid Brodkin, will read from their works. Rivera-Ashford is the author of two bilingual books for children,… Read more »
Shaliach to give trip tricks at ‘Israel to Go’
The Weintraub Israel Center and the Tucson Jewish Community Library will present “Israel to Go,” an event designed to help participants plan a trip to Israel, on Sunday, March 27 from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in the library, located in the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Guy Gelbart, director of… Read more »
Former diplomat to probe Arab revolutions
Former U.S. Ambassador Thomas Price will speak on “Change in the Arab World: Opportunity or Menace?” at a meeting of the Tucson chapter of Parents of North American Israelis on Sunday, April 10 at 10 a.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Price, a visiting scholar at the Arizona… Read more »
Torah to get new home at Chabad on River
Chabad on River will welcome its first Sefer Torah on Sunday, April 10 at 10 a.m. with a processional from the Tucson Jewish Community Center to Chabad on River, followed by a celebratory brunch. The Torah, says Rabbi Ram Bigelman, was originally written for a yeshiva in Tiberias, Israel,… Read more »
Got seder? Operation Elijah pairs first night hosts, guests
In an effort to ensure that every Jew in Southern Arizona has a seat at a seder table for Passover, the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona and local synagogues are joining forces for Operation Elijah, which pairs seder guests and hosts. All who are new to the community, single,… Read more »
THA tidbits: Great books promote debate
Learning to read is part of any school curriculum but loving to read is another story. For the past two years, Tucson Hebrew Academy has been using the Great Books Foundation K-12 program from the University of Chicago, an established literature curriculum that promotes outstanding reading choices and shared-inquiry… Read more »
Film explores power of one woman’s kindness
“A Small Act,” an award-winning documentary about a Holocaust survivor’s $15 a month contribution to educate a child in Kenya, will be screened Sunday, April 10 at 2 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. In the 1930s, Hilde Back’s parents sent her from Germany to Sweden to escape… Read more »
CUFI’s second Israel night to feature survivor
Holocaust survivor Irving Roth will be the keynote speaker when Christians United for Israel at the University of Arizona hosts its second Night to Honor Israel. The dinner event will take place on Monday, April 11, the 66th anniversary of Roth’s liberation from the Buchenwald concentration camp. It will… Read more »
Discrimination focus of museum exhibit, film
The Jewish History Museum will exhibit “Discrimination Yesterday & Today: A Look at the Cause of the Holocaust,” April 3 through May 14. The exhibit will feature the FBI’s “Enduring Eyes” Holocaust posters and anti-Semitic literature and artifacts from the JHM permanent collection, the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the… Read more »
On visit to Tucson, J Street policy director explains group’s mission
J Street, a pro-peace, pro-Israel lobbying group and political action committee, is often presented in the media as a left-wing counterweight to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. But that’s not J Street’s mission, Hadar Susskind, J Street policy and strategic planning director, told a lunch crowd of about… Read more »
Young Tucsonans rock to Federation beat at Tribefest
Twenty-three young Jewish Tucsonans headed off to Las Vegas earlier this month — not to gamble, but to make up one of the largest delegations to Tribefest, the newly re-branded Young Leadership conference of the Jewish Federations of North America. “Connect, Explore and Celebrate” they did, along with more… Read more »
For new Reform leader Richard Jacobs, big tent movement is the idea
NEW YORK (JTA) — For the man tapped to lead American Jewry’s largest religious denomination, keeping the movement’s 900-plus synagogues welcoming to the unaffiliated, inspiring for members and a home for disaffected traditional Jews may require a high-wire balancing act. As a former dancer and choreographer, Rabbi Richard Jacobs… Read more »
Is Obama’s J-Dar off? Probing, once again, the ‘kishkes question’
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Does President Obama need a “Shalom Chaver” moment a la Bill Clinton? More fraught back-and-forth between the organized Jewish community and the Obama administration again has brought to the fore the question of what the president feels in his gut toward Israel and the Jewish people.… Read more »
North American immigrants lead in Israel’s nonprofit sector
TEL AVIV (JTA) — When David Portowicz was a new immigrant to Israel from Brooklyn in the 1970s, he began research on poverty in Jaffa that would lead to his life’s work: the creation of a nonprofit organization that now serves thousands of disadvantaged children and their families. A… Read more »
Israel, United States woo Latin America after neglect leads to tilt aways
WASHINGTON (JTA) — It’s time for the West to woo Latin America — some will say it’s about time. The United States and Israel appear to be heading toward increasing their focus on the area following years of neglect that has resulted in closer ties between Latin America and… Read more »
Do Congressional hearings on Muslim radicalization leave room for nuance?
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Are the congressional hearings on radicalization among American Muslims an instance of McCarthyism, or is the opposition to them political correctness run amok? Jewish groups may disagree on why, but there appears to be wide consensus that the congressional hearings led by Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.),… Read more »
Expanding its presence in heart of Africa, Chabad faces unique challenges
Congolese President Joseph Kabila probably had other things on his mind last week besides the celebration in his capital city of Kinshasa marking the 20th anniversary of the city’s Chabad center. On Feb. 27, about 100 fighters armed with assault rifles and rocket launchers staged two simultaneous attacks in… Read more »