News

This medical school is putting a uniquely Jewish spin on doctor training

Founded in 1860, New York Medical College was an affiliate of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese from 1971 until Touro, a Jewish-run university, took over in 2011. (Courtesy of NYMC/JTA Photo Service)
October 25, 2019 / Ben Harris

For her final project in a course on the history of medicine, first-year medical student Raeesa Hossain joined with four fellow students from New York Medical College to interview a Holocaust survivor deported to Auschwitz as a child. The survivor told the students how his experience during the war… Read more »

Award-winner set for UA stage next month
October 25, 2019 /

The year is 1939 and while Hitler is invading Poland, Atlanta’s close-knit Jewish community is preparing for Ballyhoo, the social event of the year. The Arizona Repertory Theatre of the University of Arizona College of Fine Arts School of Theatre, Film & Television will present Alfred Uhry’s “The Last… Read more »

New program offers degrees in Israel
October 25, 2019 /

The Council for Higher Education in Israel recently launched the national initiative “Study in Israel” to double the number of international students enrolled in Israeli colleges and universities, initially targeting students in North America, China, and India. There are currently about 12,000 international students studying in Israel. “Study in… Read more »

AMA taskforce issues roadmap to combat opioid abuse, addiction, death
October 25, 2019 / StatePoint

As America’s opioid epidemic continues to impact communities large and small, new trends are raising new challenges for doctors and policymakers. While opioid-related overdose remains a top concern, the epidemic now is driven by illicitly manufactured fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine. In 2017, more than 70,000 people died from… Read more »

Northwest celebrates Shabbat with seniors

Bob Lewkowitz, center, and Rhoda Braun, right (mother-in-law of AJP Executive Editor Phyllis Braun), were among the residents and staff who joined in a Shabbat celebration at Sunrise Senior Living. Photo: Fran Katz/JFSA
October 25, 2019 /

Pinchas Zohav, community chaplain for the Ruth & Irving Olson Center for Jewish Life (Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Northwest Division); his wife, Rita Zohav; Northwest Director Phyllis Gold; and Northwest staff member Carol Nudelman celebrated Shabbat on Friday, Oct. 4, with residents at Sunrise Senior Living. Zohav celebrates… Read more »

People in the news 10.25.19
October 25, 2019 /

Jonathan Mosher, the chief criminal deputy at the Pima County Attorney’s Office, will run for Pima County Attorney in 2020. Mosher has been a lawyer for 25 years and an Arizona prosecutor for 15 years, serving more than a decade under Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall. For more information,… Read more »

Business Briefs 10.25.19
October 25, 2019 /
Andrew Gale

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona has hired Andrew Gale as campaign manager. Gale grew up in Southern Arizona and attended Northern Arizona University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and management.  Most recently, he was the donor relations manager at Habitat for Humanity Tucson, where… Read more »

A new book takes readers on a journey through Jewish Latin America

Ilan Stavans and his new book, "Seventh Heaven" (Courtesy of Stavans/JTA Montage)
October 24, 2019 / Alan Grabinsky, JTA

MEXICO CITY (JTA) —More than 10 years ago, Ilan Stavans scandalized language purists of the Spanish-speaking world by translating a chapter of “Don Quixote” — into Spanglish. Since then, the so-called czar of Latino culture has become one of the most important interlocutors for Hispanics in the United States. In… Read more »

A year after disaster, Pittsburgh is so much more than a site of tragedy

A group of volunteers takes to the streets to beautify Pittsburgh. (Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh)
October 24, 2019 / Jeffrey Finkelstein, JTA

PITTSBURGH (JTA) —As we approach the one year since the worst anti-Semitic attack in American history, I am grateful for the outpouring of support for the Pittsburgh Jewish community. Over the last year, people across the world have stood shoulder to shoulder with all of us in the 412.… Read more »

Squeezed for burial space, Jerusalem prepares to open an underground city of the dead

At capacity, a new tunnel network will hold some 23,000 bodies and is expected to be filled within a decade. (Sam Sokol)
October 24, 2019 / Sam Sokol, JTA

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Carved into the rock on the side of a mountain directly under the Har HaMenuchot cemetery here lies the entrance to Jerusalem’s newest necropolis, a city of the dead that its designers hope will relieve a shortage of burial space in the capital. A local engineering… Read more »

How Bernie Sanders became a favorite among Muslim Americans

Muslim women attend a Bernie Sanders campaign rally at the Riverside Municipal Auditorium in Riverside, Calif., May 24, 2016. (David McNew/AFP/Getty Images)
October 24, 2019 / Josefin Dolsten, JTA

(JTA) — Bernie Sanders was one of only two Democratic presidential candidates to address the Islamic Society of North America Convention in August, the largest annual gathering of Muslim Americans in the country. Organizers invited the 10 highest-polling contenders at the time to the Houston event, but the Vermont… Read more »

A Rosh Hashanah ritual — in space

Daniel Shorr, far right, and other members of Stanford’s Student Space Initiative escort a rocket he built. (Courtesy of Shorr)
October 24, 2019 / David A.M. Wilensky, JTA

SAN FRANCISCO (J. The Jewish News of Northern California via JTA) — Typically, Jews gather after Rosh Hashanah services to recite a brief prayer and then symbolically cast away their sins by tossing breadcrumbs into a body of water. The ritual, called tashlich, isn’t mandated by Jewish law — it’s just… Read more »

Nearly 9 in 10 American Jews say anti-Semitism is a problem in U.S.

Members of the Jewish community and their allies protest anti-Semitism and a National Students for Justice in Palestine conference at the UCLA campus in Los Angeles, Nov. 6, 2018. (Ronen Tivony/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
October 24, 2019 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — More than eight in 10 American Jews say that anti-Semitism has spiked in recent years and even more believe it is a problem in the United States, according to an American Jewish Committee survey. More than three-quarters of respondents see the extreme political right as more… Read more »

JFSA invites all to “Pause with Pittsburgh” on Oct. 27
October 23, 2019 /

On Oct. 27, 2018, in was the most brutal anti-Semitic attack in the history of the United States, a gunman opened fire in the Tree of Life building in Pittsburgh, taking the lives of 11 innocent people from three congregations: Dor Hadash, New Light and Tree of Life *… Read more »