News

Israel airstrike in Iraq is 1st in 4 decades

(JTA) — Israel has carried out an airstrike on a weapons depot in Iraq that officials said was being used by Iran to move weapons to Syria, the New York Times reported. The attack, which happened last month and is believed to be the first Israeli bombing in Iraq… Read more »

Nadler criticizes Tlaib and Omar for sharing controversial cartoon

NEW YORK (JTA) — Rep. Jerry Nadler criticized fellow Democrats Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib for sharing a cartoon that shows President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu covering their mouths. Omar, D-Minn., and Tlaib, D-Mich., were criticized for sharing it last week because the cartoonist Carlos… Read more »

Israeli girl, 17, killed in West Bank terrorist attack

(JTA) — A 17-year-old Israeli girl was killed and her father and brother were severely wounded in a bomb attack at a nature reserve in the West Bank. Rina Shnerb of Lod, her father Eitan, a rabbi, and her brother Dvir, 19, were hiking at the Ein Bubin spring… Read more »

Temple Emanu-El adds Sierra Vista location for Taste of Judaism

The Union for Reform Judaism’s Taste of Judaism classes, taught by Temple Emanu-El’s Rabbi Batsheva Appel, will be offered in Sierra Vista on Thursdays, Aug. 22 and 29 and Sept. 5; at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on Sundays, Sept. 8, 15 and 22; and at Temple Emanu-El on… Read more »

Fall Arts Preview Art Directory

In this directory, we present some of the finest arts companies in Tucson: ANDREW SMITH GALLERY www.andrewsmithgallery.com • 984-1234 Andrew Smith Gallery is the leading gallery in the world specializing in buying and selling historic, classic, and contemporary Western American photography. The gallery is the international source for the… Read more »

Tucson teens make friends and win big at JCC Maccabi Games in Atlanta

With a cowboy as their logo for the 2019 JCC Maccabi Games, Team Tucson galloped out at the July 28 opening ceremonies in Atlanta to the song “Old Town Road.” From left: Grant Cohen (front), Gabe Green, Pasha Maher (basketball coach), Elijah Nogales,Josh Shenker (delegation head), and Gianna Miltenberger

Tucson’s team for the annual JCC Maccabi Games for Jewish teens, held July 28-Aug. 2 in Atlanta, was “small but mighty” with four athletes, says Josh Shenker, delegation head and director of children, youth and camping services at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. “Though we were the smallest delegation… Read more »

Local player helps Team USA bring home Maccabi gold

Cody Blumenthal (back row, center, in white) played point guard for Team USA at the July Maccabi Pan American games in Mexico City. Team USA won gold over Team Israel (in blue) by 20 points.

Cody Blumenthal brought home a gold medal from his participation on the age 18 and under Team USA basketball team at the 14th Pan American Maccabi Games in Mexico City, July 5-15. “Winning gold with my new best friends was the best feeling in the world,” he says. Every… Read more »

Arizonan earns pride in grueling Maccabi competition

David Tannenbaum approaches the finish line at about 28 MPH at the Maccabi Pan American Games in Mexico City. (Michelle Rousnack@altiusevents)

David Tannenbaum of Hereford, Arizona, was the sole bicycling competitor in Team USA’s Master Division at the 2019 Maccabi Pan American Games in Mexico City, July 5-15.  He finished in eighth-place in the 55-59 year age group, receiving a medal for completing all three races. “That makes me the… Read more »

Local wildlife artist to exhibit at BSTC

The art gallery at Beth Shalom Temple Center in Green Valley will present “The Art of Paying Attention,” wildlife drawings and stories by award-winning Tucson-based artist and storyteller Beth Surdut, Sept. 18-Oct. 23. “My ‘Art of Paying Attention’ series is an invitation to look closely and appreciate the lives… Read more »

Tucson is not immune to hate messaging, fliers show

Tucson police are investigating instances of anti-Semitic fliers, like the one pictured, which was spotted July 30 on a pole at the intersection of East Toole Avenue, North 6th Avenue and East Alameda Street in downtown Tucson. (Courtesy photo)

At least one anti-Semitic flier recently was sighted, posted on a pole in downtown Tucson. Tucson Police Department Sgt. Ben Frie told the AJP on Aug. 7 that “they started showing up about a week ago … at a couple of different locations.” Paul Patterson, Jewish Federation of Southern… Read more »

Local call goes out to make ‘never again’ now

Jewish History Museum/Holocaust History Center staff Bryan Davis, left, and Josie Shapiro, center, unfurl a new banner on the fence in front of the museum Aug. 12 while Rabbi Stephanie Aaron, right, looks on. (Debe Campbell/AJP)

In the decades since the Holocaust, “‘never again’ has been the language spoken as an unattainable aspiration,” Bryan Davis told a group gathered Monday at Tucson’s Holocaust History Center. “But now, in this moment, people all over the country are demanding that never again is now and that never… Read more »

JFSA women teaming up with Youth On Their Own

Bethany Neumann

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Women’s Philanthropy board has partnered with Youth On Their Own, a local non-profit that has been helping homeless or unaccompanied students become high school graduates since 1986. Each year, the WP board chooses a social action focus to foster community engagement. “We’re creating… Read more »

Tucsonans join Tisha b’Av vigils protesting migrant deaths

Allison Stuewe reads while Marc Goodman blows the shofar and Deborah Mayaan demonstrates movement to release grief during a Jewish Voice for Peace Tisha b’Av vigil at Tucson’s Historic Y on Aug. 10. (Brooke Hotez)

More than 50 Jewish demonstrations were held across the country last weekend in opposition to U.S. immigration policy and to mark Tisha b’Av, the traditional Jewish day of mourning. The call to action came from T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights and other organizations, including the refugee aid… Read more »

UA research center studies the relationship between humans and dogs

Black Labrador Sisu spends her days in the laboratory, helping conduct research. (Shane Tarquinio/AJP)

Sisu is a black Labrador. She wears a red collar and has sweet eyes and spends her days on the third floor of the University of Arizona anthropology building, assisting in research at the AZ Canine Cognition Center. Sisu mills around the lab, getting pats from lab coordinators and… Read more »