News

Holocaust rescuer gets a surprise 100th birthday party in Poland

Jozef Walaszczyk was taken by an Italian sports car to his centenary birthday party in Warsaw, Poland, Nov. 14, 2019. (From the Depths)

(JTA) — The day after he turned 100, Jozef Walaszczyk prepared to attend yet another Holocaust commemoration ceremony in his native Warsaw. Walaszczyk is Poland’s oldest living Righteous Among the Nations – a title given by Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust museum to non-Jews who risked their lives to save… Read more »

Israel and Gaza terror groups reach cease-fire

JERUSALEM (JTA) — A cease-fire went into effect between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, as well as other terrorist groups in Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces confirmed that the cease-fire went into effect at 4 a.m. Thursday, and Egyptian negotiators said it would begin at 5:30 a.m. Several rockets… Read more »

Brazilian-born Holocaust survivor has bar mitzvah at age 91

RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) – At 91, Holocaust survivor Andor Stern no longer fears the Nazis who imprisoned him in Auschwitz. Living in his native Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest metro area of nearly 25 million, what scares him today are burglars – his modest house has been broken into… Read more »

Quentin Tarantino and Israeli wife Daniella Pick rent home in Tel Aviv

JERUSALEM (JTA) — U.S. filmmaker Quentin Tarantino and his Israeli wife, actress, and model Daniella Pick, are renting a home in Tel Aviv. The home in an affluent neighborhood in the northern part of the city rents for nearly $23,000 a month, the Israeli business daily Globes reported. It is… Read more »

NASA renames cosmic body after nicknaming it with term used by Nazis

(JTA) — NASA has renamed the most distant object ever explored by a spacecraft after it was criticized for calling it by a name with Nazi connotations. It will now be called Arrokoth, which means “sky” in the Native American Powhatan language. The trans-Neptunian object’s official designation is 2014… Read more »

Haim, Jack Black and more record songs for a Hanukkah album

(JTA) — Adam Sandler is finally getting some competition in the Hanukkah music world. Haim, Jack Black, the Flaming Lips, Yo La Tengo and other prominent artists have recorded songs for a Hanukkah album titled “Hanukkah+,” the record label Verve Forecast has announced. The album is out Nov. 22 and also features contributions from folk… Read more »

In Veterans Day address, Trump told story of American who defied Nazi command to identify Jewish soldiers

Master Sgt. Roddie Edmonds refused a Nazi command to identify Jewish American soldiers. (Yad Vashem)

NEW YORK (JTA) — President Donald Trump told the story of an Army sergeant who defied a Nazi command to identify which of his fellow American soldiers were Jewish. During his Veterans Day speech Monday in New York, Trump told the story of Master Sgt. Roddie Edmonds, Military.com reported. Edmonds, who… Read more »

Ruth Bader Ginsburg misses courtroom arguments due to illness

(JTA) — Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg missed courtroom arguments on Wednesday due to illness. She was not on the bench for oral arguments in two cases, NBC News reported. Chief Justice John Roberts announced from the bench that Ginsburg was “indisposed due to illness.” A court spokesman… Read more »

Jewish institutions and tourists warned of terror attack in India

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Intelligence agencies in India have warned Israel that Jewish institutions and Jewish tourists are under threat of terror attacks in the country. Terrorist organizations in India associated with the global jihad movement plan to attack Jewish and Israeli targets, including synagogues in Kerala, in the country’s… Read more »

Michael Bloomberg preparing to run for president

NEW YORK (JTA) — Michael Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor and billionaire media mogul, appears to be preparing to run for president. Bloomberg, 77, flirted with presidential runs in past election cycles before declining to run. As recently as March, he ruled out a presidential campaign this… Read more »

Nita Lowey, retiring after 32 years in Congress, gets teary recalling her Jewish legacy

Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., in the Capitol, Oct. 16, 2019. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Nita Lowey, who is retiring after 32 years in Congress, fields a question about her legacy as a Jewish lawmaker. No trouble there — she talks about Israel and her Jewish pride all the time. Then there’s one about her legacy as one of the pioneering… Read more »

JHM learning trip digs deep into southern border migration issues

Eduardo “Lalo” Garcia of the Alliance for Global Justice, left, speaks at the border wall between Nogales, Arizona, and Nogales, Sonora, on the Oct. 24 Jewish History Museum learning day trip. (Courtesy Jewish History Museum)

“Migration is not beautiful, it is a result of violence and poverty and influences that make it impossible for people to stay in their homes. The task is to reflect on how to impact governments from intervening in countries.” — Eduardo “Lalo” Garcia, Alliance for Global Justice Prison Imperialism… Read more »

JFSA’s new Olson Center open in Northwest

(L-R) Todd Rockoff, Tucson Jewish Community Center president and CEO; Fran Katz, Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona senior vice president; Phyllis Gold, director of the Ruth and Irving Olson Center for Jewish Life; Stuart Mellan, JFSA president and CEO; and Nancy Mellan at the Olson Center opening brunch, Oct. 27. (JFSA)

The Oct. 27 dedication for the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Ruth and Irving Olson Center for Jewish Life in the Northwest received high marks from approximately 100 attendees at the brunch and open house event, says Alan Kendal, Olson Center advisory committee chair. By that day, the center’s… Read more »

Museum to honor Eilat-Kahn, second generation Holocaust survivor

Rosie Eilat-Kahn, left, with brother Phillip and parents, Holocaust survivors Meyer and Susan Neuman, upon the family’s arrival in Tucson in 1956. (Courtesy Rosie Eilat Kahn)

The Jewish History Museum/Holocaust History Center will honor Rosie Eilat-Kahn on Sunday at its 2019 Fall Benefit, “A Call to Courage.” “Rosie has been a leader among the second generation of Holocaust survivors in this community for decades,” says Bryan Davis, executive director of the museum. “She has coordinated… Read more »