News

(JTA) — A police officer and two gunmen are dead in the aftermath of an hourlong shootout Tuesday afternoon at a kosher supermarket in Jersey City, New Jersey. The gunmen, described as young juveniles, had holed up in the JC Kosher Supermarket after shooting a police officer in the… Read more »

(JTA) — Billionaire philanthropist Ronald Lauder is funding a $25 million campaign against political candidates in the United States who support or normalize anti-Semitism. Lauder, the president of the World Jewish Congress, announced the new campaign, called the Anti-Semitism Accountability Project, or ASAP, on Monday. The effort will include… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — The Genesis Prize Foundation has announced that Natan Sharansky, a Jewish refusenik, prolific leader in the Soviet Jewry emigration movement and former Israeli politician, will be awarded the 2020 Genesis Prize. The Genesis Prize, dubbed the “Jewish Nobel,” was started in 2013 and is financed through… Read more »

(JTA) — Two Democratic Jewish Congress members have called on the White House to condemn anti-Semitic comments by TruNews founder and host Rick Wiles and deny TruNews any future access to the White House. Reps. Ted Deutch of Florida and Elaine Luria of Virginia sent a letter on Monday… Read more »

(JTA) — More than 30 employees of West Virginia’s Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation have been suspended over a photo showing trainees making a Nazi salute. The photo of dozens of participants in a basic training class reads “Hail Byrd!” at the top, a reference to a training instructor… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he discussed annexing the Jordan Valley with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo when they met in Portugal, but the State Department has denied the claim. On Thursday, a day after meeting Pompeo in Lisbon, Netanyahu told reporters that they… Read more »

There are scores of reasons and occasions that may require legal advice or action. When it’s time to find an attorney, making a choice can seem complicated. Take methodical steps to research, seek recommendations, and prepare before you make a selection. Specialty The law is complex and changes rapidly.… Read more »

Israeli singer/songwriter David Broza is considered one of the world’s most dynamic and vibrant performers. From his whirlwind finger picking to flamenco percussion and rhythms, to a signature rock and roll sound, his charismatic and energetic performances have delighted audiences throughout the world. Broza recently told the AJP that… Read more »

Rabbi Israel and Esther Becker of Congregation Chofetz Chayim will celebrate “40 Years of Torah Growth Together” with an on-line fund-raising campaign on Sunday and Monday, Dec. 8 and 9, and a 40th-anniversary dinner on the last night of Chanukah, Sunday, Dec. 29, at 5 p.m. at the synagogue.… Read more »

Sacha Baron Cohen has made a career out of playing absurd comedic characters, from the dopey Brit Ali G to the Kazakh journalist Borat to the Israeli veteran Erran Morad. He rarely gives interviews and stays relatively far from the movie star limelight. But on Nov. 21, Cohen tossed… Read more »

Robin Bessier

Jazz vocalist and songwriter Robin Bessier and her jazz trio will bring the rich history of jazz alive at the Ruth and Irving Olson Center for Jewish Life’s 2020 Northwest Division of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Campaign Kickoff dinner, “An Evening of Jewish Jazz Throughout the Ages”… Read more »

“Cabaret,” on stage at the Arizona Theatre Company in Tucson through Dec. 29, “has toe-tapping, show-stopping musical numbers,” says Sara Bruner, who is directing the ATC production. “It’s wildly entertaining … but it also has real meaning.” It’s such a famous show — there’s Bob Fosse’s 1973 film, the… Read more »

Susan Kasle is vice president of community services at Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Southern Arizona, which coordinates services for Holocaust survivors living in Southern Arizona. For Kasle, a highlight of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s recent interfaith mission was representing JFCS during the mission’s Nov. 3… Read more »

Sula Miller

Tucson resident Sula Miller will discuss her recent book “Welcome to … The Widows Club” (CreateSpace Independent Publishing, 2017) at two local venues next week. Tucson is the last stop on Miller’s seven-state book tour that began in Florida. The novel was inspired by her mother-in-law, Bernyce, who became… Read more »

Larry Gellman

J Street will honor Larry Gellman at a Tucson reception on Monday, Dec. 16, at 6 p.m., with guest speakers Ambassador Wendy R. Sherman and J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami. Sherman led the U.S. negotiating team that reached the Iran nuclear agreement in 2015. Gellman has chaired the boards… Read more »

A collaborative Jewish community initiative that sprang from the Oct. 24 day of a learning journey to the U.S.-Mexico border at Nogales, Arizona, continues to move forward. “There are clearly two tracks of interest that emerged from the initial education event,” Jewish History Museum Director Bryan Davis told the… Read more »

The Hallmark Channel will premiere its first two Hanukkah-themed movies this month in honor of the holiday, which starts this year on Dec. 22. “Our audience is very vocal, and they tell us when they’d like to see more of something,” says Michelle Vicary, Crown Media’s executive vice president… Read more »

Congregation M’kor Hayim has joined the Union for Reform Judaism, the association of nearly 900 Reform congregations in North America.  “Our congregation began in 2008. Now that we are fully established locally, we felt it was time to connect with the wider Jewish community,” Rabbi Helen Cohn said. She… Read more »

On a Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona interfaith mission Oct. 27-Nov. 5, dubbed “Connecting Cultures, Communities, and Hearts,” 28 participants got a taste of Israel’s diversity and complexity, coming away with a new appreciation for the nation’s challenges, but no easy answers. Members of the group “were touched so… Read more »

About 85 community members joined a trip to the U.S.-Mexico border wall in Nogales, Arizona, on Wednesday, Nov. 20. The bus trip, hosted by the Ruth and Irving Olson Center for Jewish Life and Hadassah Southern Arizona, included several speakers along the journey: immigration attorneys Alexandra Miller from Humane… Read more »