News

Jewish Community Foundation honors Greg Gadarian’s service

Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona President and CEO Graham Hoffman, left, and Greg Gadarian at a seminar honoring Gadarian July 31 at the Harvey and Deanna Evenchik Center for Jewish Philanthropy (Brenda Landau/Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona)

Introducing Greg Gadarian, who was honored at a recent Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona Summer Series seminar for his 30 years of service as co-founder of JCF’s Professional Advisory Group, Sarah Singer said, “Greg is honest, ethical, smart, and some might even say brilliant — but he will… Read more »

Temple Emanu-El summer Israel trip was a first for everyone

Participants on Temple Emanu-El’s congregational trip to Israel, from left, Larry Shire, Leslie Shire, Rabbi Batsheva Appel, Janet Kenigsberg, and Marcy Tigerman, overlooking Jerusalem, June 25. (Courtesy Appel)

Temple Emanu-El’s Jewish heritage tour of Israel this summer was Rabbi Batsheva Appel’s first turn at tour leading. “It was wonderful to be back in Israel and to lead a trip for the first time,” she says. Joining her on the June 20-July 1 journey were Marcy Tigerman, Janet… Read more »

As a Mexican-Jewish lawmaker, I feel doubly targeted by hateful rhetoric

Alma Hernandez (center) with her family at her naming ceremony at Congregation Chaverim, April 8, 2016. (Courtesy Hernandez)

I  am proud to be Jewish, Latina and bilingual. I have the honor of representing the state House of Representatives district where I was born and raised in Arizona. My home in Tucson is less than one hour away from the U.S.-Mexico border. Tucson and El Paso in many… Read more »

BBYO teen leader featured in national publication

Chapter and regional leaders from Tucson and Scottsdale at the BBYO International 2019 Kallah summer program. (L-R) Gabe Friedman and Sam Goldfinger of Tucson, and Caroline Carter, Elsa Harris and Mimi Yonover of Scottsdale.

Tucsonan Sam Goldfinger, president of Tucson’s AZA chapter of BBYO, was featured in an article “A Shabbat to Remember and Never Forget” from eJewishPhilanthropy, an independent online publication. Sam and five other teens gave a D’var Torah honoring visiting Holocaust survivors during BBYO’s International Kallah summer program in Lake… Read more »

Homer Davis Elementary School teachers overjoyed by donation

Homer Davis Elementary School teachers are thrilled with the school supplies donation from Truly Nolen staff and customers. (Mary Ellen Loebl/JFSA)

Truly Nolen volunteers recently delivered $700 in cash and more than a dozen boxes of school supplies donated by Truly Nolen customers and staff to Homer Davis Elementary School. Truly Nolen is a community partner in the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s community outreach program, “Making a Difference Every… Read more »

ICE officer who drove into Jewish demonstrators placed on leave as 5 protesters hospitalized

Undocumented Mexican immigrants are photographed while being processed at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement center in Phoenix, Ariz., April 28, 2010. (John Moore/Getty Images)

(JTA) — The Immigration and Customs Enforcement official who drove a pickup truck into a row of Jewish protesters in Rhode Island has been placed on leave, and police have announced that they will investigate the incident. Five of the protesters were hospitalized, according to Tal Frieden, an organizer… Read more »

Ilhan Omar likens Israel banning her to Trump’s travel ban

(JTA) — Rep. Ilhan Omar likened Israel’s decision to deny entry to her and Rep. Rashida Tlaib to President Donald Trump’s Muslim ban. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., tweeted that the decision is “a sign of weakness.” In a statement Thursday, the Minnesota Democrat called Israel’s decision “an affront.” “Trump’s… Read more »

In Hungary, some left-wing Jews are ready to work with a far-right party led by a former neo-Nazi

Hungarian supporters of the far-right Jobbik party participatingin a nationalist march through Warsaw, Poland, Nov. 11, 2015. (JanekSkarzynski/AFP/Getty Images)

BUDAPEST (JTA) — In 2011, Hungary’s largest Jewish group called on the Justice Ministry to ban the far-right Jobbik party, describing it as “anti-Semitic” and “fascist.” Now some in the Jewish community, and even inside Mazsihisz, see Jobbik as a legitimate partner for effecting democratic change, despite its blunt… Read more »

NY Jewish schools are fighting a proposal that would force many yeshivas to increase secular education (and they’re not alone)

Pedestrians walk past a yeshiva in the South Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, April 9, 2019. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

NEW YORK (JTA) — Orthodox yeshivas, Catholic schools and elite private schools in New York are coming together to oppose a government initiative that would more clearly define what they are required to teach. The proposal, a set of regulations from the state Department of Education, aims to ensure… Read more »

Israel has been barring lawmakers of friendly nations for years (just not from the US)

French lawmaker Clementine Autain participating at a demonstration in Paris, France on April 19, 2018. (Michel Stoupak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

(JTA) — When Israel announced that it would deny entry to Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, the decision struck many as an unprecedented step. But Israel has blocked multiple lawmakers from coming in recent years. The difference this time is that it’s lawmakers from the United States who are… Read more »

Gal Gadot to play Hedy Lamarr in series

It’s official: Gal Gadot will portray Jewish actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr in a Showtime limited series. The cable network made the announcement on Aug. 9. Gadot had been rumored as the leading candidate for the role for about a year. The Israeli actress and her husband, Yaron Varsano,… Read more »

AIPAC and other Jewish groups join prominent lawmakers in criticizing Israel’s decision to ban Tlaib and Omar

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, said Reps. Rashida Tlaib, center, and Ilhan Omar, right, provided an itinerary that "revealed that they planned a visit whose sole objective is to strengthen the boycott against us and deny Israel’s legitimacy.” (Laura E. Adkins for JTA/Getty Images)

This is a developing story. (JTA) — Israel’s decision on Thursday to ban Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar from entering the country has quickly prompted a wave of impassioned responses from across the Jewish community. Pro-Israel groups, including AIPAC, and prominent Democratic lawmakers are already objecting to the… Read more »

Israel confirms it is banning Tlaib and Omar from entering country

(JTA) — Israel’s deputy foreign minister confirmed that Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar will not be allowed to enter the country. “We won’t allow those who deny our right to exist in this world to enter Israel. In principle this is a very justified decision,” Tzipi Hotovely told… Read more »

Obituary: Pearl Joseph

Pearl Joseph of Oro Valley, 88, formerly of Brooklyn and White Plains, New York, and Lake Waubeeka, Connecticut, died July 7, 2019. Mrs. Joseph was a teacher, ceramicist and poet. As a volunteer, she was a founding member of the Greenburgh Nature Center and WISH Westchester, both in New… Read more »

Belgian editor defends publication of column saying Jews have ‘ugly noses’

"Being Jewish is not a religion, no God would give creatures such an ugly nose," Dimitri Verhulst wrote. (Screenshot from YouTube)

(JTA) — The editor of a prestigious Belgian daily defended an op-ed described as anti-Semitic, saying its critics were trying to silence criticism of Israel. The column, written by Dimitri Verhulst, was published July 27 in De Morgen and quickly drew outrage. It describes Jews in Israel as land… Read more »