News

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

Photos of a smiling Gabrielle Giffords, the Arizona congresswoman who was shot in the head in January, were released on her Facebook page. The photos show Giffords with close-cropped hair. According to a statement on the Facebook page, they were taken May 17, the day after her husband, Mark… Read more »

The Tzofim (Israel Scouts) Friendship Caravan national tour will stop in Tucson with a free concert of song and dance on Thursday, June 30, at 6 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. The Weintraub Israel Center is seeking host families to house the Israeli teens for one night.… Read more »

Retired pediatrician Marilyn Heins serves on the board of the University of Arizona Humanities Seminar Program. (Sheila Wilensky/AJP)

Lifelong learning is often touted as an essential ingredient for aging gracefully, but for some Jewish Tucsonans the appeal goes far beyond that notion. The University of Arizona Humanities Seminars Program has filled a need “for something that gets into my brain and grabs me,” says Marilyn Heins, 80,… Read more »

Rabbi Yehuda Ceitlin [Britta Van Vranken)

Congregation Young Israel appointed Rabbi Yehuda Ceitlin as associate rabbi as of May 2011. He will work alongside CYI’s spiritual leader of 27 years, Rabbi Yossie Shemtov. Ceitlin grew up in Montreal, where his parents are both educators. He studied in yeshivot in Bnei Brak and Kfar… Read more »

Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon of Temple Emanu-El in front of the Knesset, where 30 American rabbis were briefed during a ‘Rabbis Engaging with Israel’ mission last month

It’s not unusual for rabbis to frequently visit Israel, but last month Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon of Temple Emanu-El enjoyed the rare opportunity of traveling to the Holy Land as part of a select group from around the United States and Canada that included 10 Reform, 10 Conservative and… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — In its first partnership with a faith-based community, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is working with Jewish organizations to expand awareness of suspicious behavior. The “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign will distribute posters and customized announcements in synagogues, Jewish community centers and related… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Did Yale’s program on anti-Semitism die a natural death from lack of academic vigor, as the university says? Should it have been saved, as two major Jewish groups are arguing? Or was it killed for being politically incorrect about Muslim anti-Semitism, as alleged by others? The… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — AIPAC photo-ops? Check. Initiate and pass Iran divestment bill? Check. Pheasant-hunt fundraisers, sandbagging for flood protection and running a bail bonds business… Check. Could Dan Lederman, an energetic and peripatetic 38-year-old Republican state senator in South Dakota, set a new template for Jewish politicians? “He’s somebody… Read more »

Hip-hop artist Y-Love presents at a session in Australia of Limmud-Oz 2009. (Shalom Institute)

SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) — Legitimate criticism or illegitimate dissent? Censorship or free speech? Fighting for a democratic Jewish state or sleeping with the enemy? These are some of the vexing questions Australian Jewry is grappling with in the wake of a controversy surrounding Limmud-Oz, the Australian arm of the… Read more »

Faina Dorfman, whose only child, Yevgenia, 15, was killed in a suicide bombing at Tel Aviv’s seaside Dolphinarium disco. (Dina Kraft)

Tel Aviv — Faina Dorfman, who immigrated to Israel from Uzbekistan hoping that her only child would have a better life here, walks along a stretch of beach just south of a tattered seaside disco called the Dolphinarium. Ten years ago, a young Palestinian detonated a bomb packed with… Read more »

The Tucson Jewish Community Center summer camp (“Camp J”) and the Weintraub Israel Center are seeking host families for two Israeli counselors who will be working at Camp J this summer. Yael Weizner, 19, has a passion for dance and painting. She comes from a non-religious background and although… Read more »

As the summer begins, Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona campaign leaders are working to close the 2011 Campaign by contacting past donors who have not yet made a pledge for this year. “The budgeting process for next season begins this summer,” explains Campaign Chair Kathryn Unger. “And the 2011… Read more »

Rabbi Ben Herman

Congregation Anshei Israel has hired Rabbi Ben Herman to serve as director of congregational learning, effective July 1. In this new position at CAI, Herman will be responsible for the synagogue’s religious school and adult education programs and will also be the liturgical coordinator, arranging for congregants to lead… Read more »

Dr. Gilat Raish (far, left), an Israeli post-trauma expert, guides Japanese teachers through a recovery course in Watari, Japan, sponsored by IsraAid. (Nofar Tagar for IsraAid)

In northeastern Japan, the area hardest hit by the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami, a team of Israeli post-trauma experts guided local teachers and officials through their lingering pain. One kindergarten teacher broke down in tears as she related how another teacher saw the great wall of water… Read more »

Rabbi Gil Leeds, right, performs a brit milah in Palo Alto, Calif., in July 2010. The baby is being held by Mitchell Ackerson. [Alex Axelrod]

In November, San Franciscans will vote on a ballot measure that would outlaw circumcision on boys under the age of 18. Although experts say it is highly unlikely the measure will pass — very few state ballot propositions pass in the state, much less one this controversial… Read more »

ulian Barcelo plants an herb garden in March 2011 with students in his kindergarten class at the Davis Bilingual Magnet Elementary School.

Merrill Eisenberg is a dynamo — a medical anthropologist and assistant professor at the University of Arizona’s Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health whose $16 million grant strikes at obesity from multiple fronts. “The bottom line is to make the healthy choice the easy choice,” says Eisenberg,… Read more »

Scene from inside the "Balint Haz" Jewish Community Center in Budapest. (Ruth Ellen Gruber)

BUDAPEST, Hungary (JTA) — A generation after the fall of communism, Jews in Central Europe feel comfortable where they live but are concerned about anti-Semitism. They like to visit Israel but don’t want to move there. And they feel that they don’t have to be religious to be a… Read more »

In a Middle East policy speech at the State Department, President Obama said the pre-1967 border should serve as the basis for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, May 19, 2011. (Pete Souza/White House)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — From accolades like “compelling” to accusations like “Auschwitz borders” to radio silence, to label the Jewish response to President Obama’s speech on Middle East policy as diverse understates matters. The very breadth of the Middle East policy speech — 5,600 words and covering the entire Middle… Read more »

Ever wonder what’s in the Talmud and why it was written? Who wrote it and where? Why we study it and what we can learn from it? The Tucson Board of Rabbis will host “Talmud in Twenty” on Sunday, June 5 at Congregation Anshei Israel. The program will begin… Read more »

Congregation Anshei Israel’s Esther B. Feldman Preschool/Kindergarten will open its summer camp June 6 to children ages 2 to 6. This year, an additional 4-week morning camp for children with special needs ages 3 to 5 will be offered. Staffed by Debby Eisen, a certified special education teacher with… Read more »