News

Luuk Koole, the manager of Holland’s only kosher butcher, says a proposed shechitah ban would make doing business more expensive. (Alex Weisler/JTA)

(Amsterdam) – A few streets over from the bookstore where Anne Frank bought her famous diary, the only kosher butcher shop in Holland is bustling. Two employees man the long counter at Slagerij Marcus, pausing from chopping meat to sell customers a bit of this or that for Shabbat… Read more »

A poster campaign sponsored in part by the Jewish community's Security Community Network urges Jews to keep an eye out for suspicious objects.

(Washington) – Focus on behaviors common to all extremists: That’s the advice security experts are offering in the wake of the recent attacks in Norway by a perpetrator who appeared to be anti-Muslim rather than an Islamist. In the United States, the attacks in Oslo and on the island… Read more »

'Sunset II,' acrylic, by Diana Madaras

An art exhibit by Diana Madaras is on display at the Tucson Jewish Community Center Fine Art Gallery through Aug. 11. Madaras, known for her bold, colorful paintings in watercolor and acrylic, owns two galleries in Tucson that feature her work exclusively. She is president of the nonprofit Art… Read more »

Congregation Chofetz Chayim’s annual Spirit program will again give Tucson’s Jewish men the opportunity to experience one-on-one or intimate group learning with rabbinical students. Two full weeks of free study sessions will be held this month. Spirit participants will study with students from Rabbi Israel Becker’s alma mater, The… Read more »

Applications for the 2011 Cohon Award will be accepted until Sept. 1; forms are available at www. cohonaward.com. This year’s award for achievements in the areas of Jewish unity, education/information, rescue or creative arts will be $30,000. In addition to the major award, which will go to individuals, smaller… Read more »

Shalom Tucson will present the ninth annual Gateway to our Synagogues bagel brunch on Sunday, Aug. 14, from 10:30 a.m. until noon at the Tucson Jewish Community Center at 3800 E. River Road. The event, which is for newcomers and anyone interested in hearing about Tucson’s synagogues, is one… Read more »

Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging and JoiN (Jewish Organized i-Network), a program of Too Jewish Radio, will co-host a business mixer on Thursday, Aug. 11 at 5:30 p.m. at Handmaker. Local business owners and professionals will have the chance to network and learn about business practices based on… Read more »

Detective Donna Jacob, who retired last month from her position in intelligence and hate crimes with the Tucson Police Department, is now serving as a Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona community security consultant on a part-time contract, funded by the Federation for six months. Jacob will be available to… Read more »

Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging will hold a celebration for the holiday of Tu B’Av on Monday, Aug. 15 at 10 a.m. . The holiday celebrates the end of a three-week period of mourning that commemorates tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people. Tu B’Av is considered a… Read more »

The Outreach Connections of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is sponsoring Jewish Heritage Night at a Tucson Padres baseball game on Sunday, Aug. 21 at 7 p.m. at Kino Park (formerly Tucson Electric Park). The Padres will play against the Sacramento River Cats. Cosponsors of the event include… Read more »

Members of a young adult group in Kiryat Malachi, Israel, sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, recruited other young adults from the city to demand affordable housing. The sign reads, “Welcome to the tent city — Kiryat Malachi.” About 100 people joined the protest on July 25. (Courtesy Jewish Agency for Israel)

The wave of protests sweeping Israel is about much more than the lack of affordable housing: It’s a grass-roots demand for a major redistribution of the nation’s wealth. In social terms, protesters are calling for a more caring government attuned to the needs of young, middle-class citizens who serve… Read more »

"Mrs. Cohen's Shabbat Table" is part of the new Jewish History Museum exhibit

A new exhibit, “History & Nostalgia: The Southern Arizona Jewish Experience, 1850-1950,” exploring the daily life of Jews of the Southern Arizona region, will be on display at the Jewish History Museum from Aug. 14 through Dec. 30. The exhibit is part of Tucson’s birthday celebrations (see tucsons birthday.org).… Read more »

Emily Ellentuck

Congregation Anshei Israel will hold a special Shabbat evening service called “Shir Hadash: A New Song,” beginning Friday, Aug. 19, at 5:45 p.m., and continuing approximately once a month. The service will be led by Rabbis Robert Eisen and Ben Herman and feature Emily Ellentuck as cantorial soloist. Ellentuck… Read more »

Members of the Weintraub Israel Center and the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona have formed an Israel Action Network to counter efforts to delegitimize Israel. The network is “part of a national trend among Jewish communities,” says Dan Karsch, chair of the network… Read more »

Hebrew High students (L-R) Shane Weinstein, Ariel Nadler and Ben Bressler celebrate Purim 2011 with a hamantashen break. (Courtesy Hebrew High)

Sharon Glassberg was a member of Tucson’s second Hebrew High graduating class in 1980. Thirty years later, as director of the Coalition for Jewish Education at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, she’s the principal of Hebrew High. The evening program’s main goal is still the same, to enhance… Read more »

A screen shot of C-Span counting votes in the U.S. House of Representatives for a debt ceiling deal on Aug. 1, 2011, just as Rep. Gabrielle Giffords enters the chamber to cast her first vote since she was shot on Jan. 8. Giffords voted for the deal. (Philip Bump via Creative Commons)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Even before the debt deal was signed Tuesday in Washington, U.S. Jewish groups and recipients of government largesse were asking the same question: Who’s going to get cut? It’s still too early to say. But the new “super committee” created to hash out the details of… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Does Glenn Beck get Jews? It depends on whom you ask – to a degree – but it also seems to depend on the day of the week. Here he is on the night of July 19: “The Jewish people have been chased out of almost… Read more »

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (P.K.Weis/southwest photobank.com)

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords returned to Congress today to vote in favor of legislation that will avoid a default by the U.S. government. It was the first vote she has cast since she was shot and critically wounded on Jan. 8 while meeting with her constituents in… Read more »

BERLIN (JTA) — Aviv Russ stands behind a console with his headphones on and speaks into a large microphone. “We’re here: ‘Kol Berlin,’ the German-Israeli radio program. Shabbat shalom!” says Russ, 34, an Israeli expatriate. Russ has been on the radio in Berlin nearly every Friday for about three… Read more »

Trees left standing by Joplin High School following the May 22, 2011 tornado collected debris from the heavily damaged school, June 4, 2011. [John Daves/U.S. Army via Creative Commons]

NEW YORK (JTA) – When a tornado devastated the small city of Joplin, Mo., in late May, the city’s lone synagogue was left untouched — at least, physically. Bu tthen came the flood. Not as water, but in the form of phone calls from across the United States from… Read more »