News

In this undated photo David Gerbi poses in front of Sla dar Bishi, the synagogue in Tripoli that he hopes to renovate. Gerbi, an Italian Jew born in Libya, played a central role in 2002 in the rapprochement between Moammar Gadhafi and Libyan Jews. (Courtesy David Gerbi)

WASHINGTON (JTA) – Now it can be told: For the last decade or so, the Jews had secret back channels to Moammar Gadhafi. What led the pro-Israel community into a careful relationship with Gadhafi 10 years ago were considerations of U.S. national interests, Israel’s security needs and the claims… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — In her final months as a political science major at the University of Pittsburgh, Susanna Zlotnikov had a positive outlook about landing a job. But as the months passed and her network of contacts led only to dead ends, Zlotnikov decided she needed a backup.… Read more »

Israeli President Shimon Peres visiting Gilad Shalit at the Shalit family home in the northern Israeli town of Mitzpe Hila, Oct. 24, 2011. (Ziv Binyonski/Flash 90)

JERUSALEM (JTA) — A week after Gilad Shalit returned to Israel after being held in captivity for more than five years in Gaza, things were getting back to normal at the Shalit family home — sort of. The Israel Police said they would remove a barrier placed in front… Read more »

ROME (JTA) — Auschwitz,  the most notorious camp in the Nazi killing machine, may soon claim success in its campaign to preserve the legacy of the Holocaust. The foundation supporting the site in southern Poland has attracted tens of millions of dollars from donor countries, and the camp’s barracks… Read more »

An Occupy Wall Street protestor who says his name is David Smith holds a sign in Zuccotti Park in New York that offers an overtly anti-Jewish message, Oct. 11­. (neolibertariannet via YouTube)

NEW YORK (JTA) — The most unloved man in Zuccotti Park, the epicenter of the Occupy Wall Street protests, isn’t a Wall Street banker but a fellow who wears a baseball cap and carries signs denouncing “Jewish bankers.” The man, who told Slate his name is David Smith, comes… Read more »

Rep. Kay granger, the chairwoman of the foreign operations subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, greets Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at a subcommittee hearing while Rep. Nita Lowey, the subcommittee's senior Democrat, looks on, March 11, 2011. (Courtesy office of rep. Kay Granger)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — In any other town at any other time they would be a boring, if worthy, pair: Wonkish grandmothers sorting through nitty-gritty foreign policy and budgetary details to keep their country influential and safe. But in Washington at a time of intense partisan rancor, the friendly and… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Iran watchers say the revelation of an alleged plot to hire Mexican contract killers to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador to Washington signals the Iranian regime’s deepening radicalization. It also underscores the urgency of the threat posed by Tehran’s nuclear plans, they say. “We need to… Read more »

Palestinian prisoners who were freed from Israeli jails as part of the exchange deal for Gilad Shalit arriving at the Rafah crossing border in the Gaza Strip, Oct. 18, 2011. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash 90)

(JTA) — In exchange for Gilad Shalit’s release, Israel is freeing 1,027 Palestinian security prisoners. The first 477, agreed upon with Hamas, were released Tuesday. Most had been serving life sentences for their roles in attacks against Israelis, and they included the organizers or perpetrators of many of the… Read more »

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looks on as freed soldier Gilad Shalit is embraced by his father, Noam, at Israel’s Tel Nef Air Force base shortly after Shalit’s release from more than five years of captivity, Oct. 18, 2011. (GPO)

JERUSALEM (JTA) — It seemed that all of Israel breathed a sigh of relief when Gilad Shalit returned to Israel after being transferred from Hamas captivity in Gaza into Egyptian custody. After more than five years of campaigning for Shalit’s release, and seeing little of him other than the… Read more »

Former Duke University basketball star Jon Scheyer, who will be playing pro ball for Maccabi Tel Aviv, at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel following his group aliyah flight, Aug. 30, 2011. (Sasson Tiram)

JERUSALEM (JTA) – Call it circumstantial Zionism. There’s been a recent uptick in North American aliyah — of basketball players. More than a dozen North American players have become Israeli citizens and joined professional Israeli basketball teams and second division squads in the past few years. It’s not exactly… Read more »

Mitt Romney is the whack-a-mole front-runner: He consistently leads the Republican pack, but only by beating back one conservative challenger after another. First it was Michele Bachmann, then Rick Perry, and now a surging Herman Cain. His contradictory status — as a front-runner caught in a constant rearguard action… Read more »

Scene from the 2010 Tucon Meet Yourself Festival (Steven Meckler)

Tucson’s Jewish community will have a significant presence at the Tucson Meet Yourself Festival this weekend. In celebration of the weeklong Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which started Thursday, the Jewish History Museum will house its festival booth in a sukkah (which is apropos, as the word “sukkah” means “booth”)… Read more »

The Jewish Genetic Disease Center of Greater Phoenix will offer genetic screening on Sunday, Oct. 30 from 10 a.m. till 4 p.m. at the Ina Levine Jewish Community campus, 12701 N. Scottsdale Road. One in five Jewish individuals of Ashkenazi/Eastern European descent is a carrier for one or more… Read more »

Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging will hold its third annual “Celebration of Tucson’s Oldest Jewish Residents” on Tuesday, Oct. 25 at 11 a.m. The free lunch is a celebration of Jewish Tucsonans ages 90 and older. The lunch will begin with a color guard presentation by Tucson’s Jewish… Read more »

Jewish Family & Children’s Services will hold events celebrating two programs next month. The LEAH — Let’s End Abusive Households program, which serves victims of domestic violence within a Jewish cultural and religious context, will mark its 11th year of service with a free house party at Covenant House… Read more »

In commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the U.S. Civil War, the Jewish History Museum, in partnership with the Tucson Jewish Community Center, will present a free screening of “Jewish Soldiers in Blue & Gray” on Sunday, Oct. 23 at 2 p.m. at the JCC. The film reveals the… Read more »

Shalom Tucson will hold a free bagel brunch on Sunday, Oct. 23, 10:30 a.m. to noon at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, with the theme “One Stop Shopping for the Tucson Jewish Community!” Geared toward newcomers and those interested in connecting to Jewish Tucson, the event will include the… Read more »

Participants embrace prior to Occupy Wall Street's Kol Nidre service across from Zuccotti Park in downtown New York, Oct. 7, 2011. (Danielle Fleischman)

Rachel Feldman originally had meant to attend a traditional synagogue Kol Nidre service. Aimee Weiss hadn’t found a place to daven but was looking for something more interesting than a “big box synagogue.” Come Yom Kippur eve, they and several hundred other Jews found themselves drawn to lower Manhattan,… Read more »

Pope John Paul II visits Rome’s Great Synagogue with Chief Rabbi Elio Toaff in April 1986, the first recorded papal visit to a synagogue.

The Northwest Division of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is sponsoring a bus trip to Phoenix on Tuesday, Nov. 29 to attend the exhibit, “A Blessing to One Another: Pope John Paul II and the Jewish People.” The 2,000 square foot, multi-media traveling exhibit chronicles the friendship of… Read more »

Robert Morris

Growing up in Tucson during the 1950s, Robert Morris, Jr. learned about the importance of fresh vegetables from a local Jewish peddler. “When I was elementary school age Toby would let me ride on his truck for a few blocks,” says Morris. Today, fresh vegetables have often disappeared from… Read more »