Opinion

It’s Human to Want to Give

Arizona. California. Israel. Peru. Boston. No matter what state, country, time zone or zip code, I call my mother every day. And at 97, she still answers the phone with energy and excitement. Calling home was a decision I made over two decades ago to intentionally stay connected to… Read more »

Guest Columnist: Rosh Hashanah Reminds Us That We Have the Power to Change

Amy Hirshberg Lederman, guest speaker at upcoming JPSA Advanced Gifts/Summit dinner

Amy Hirshberg Lederman will be a guest speaker at Jewish Philanthropies of Southern Arizona’s (JPSA’s) Campaign Summit & Advanced Gifts Dinner, October 25, 2022, details are forthcoming. It’s that time of year again. Backpacks and school binders tumble off the shelves at Target, crossing guards in bright orange vests… Read more »

My Single, Senior, Challenging, Meaningful Life

My birthday this year came and went with no bouquet of roses gifted to me by a special man and nary a sweet nothing whispered in my ear. It’s just not fair, I silently reproached the universe.  Why are there so many more women than men over 60 looking… Read more »

Tzedek Project: Comparing trial processes then and now

Watching a TV drama unfold as a crime is committed, the suspect is apprehended, tried, and convicted in one hour (including commercials) has always been unrealistic to those of us who have been participants in both sides of “law and order.” The juxtaposition of watching the entire trial seeking… Read more »

Honoring on the legacy of the Arizona Jewish Post

The Arizona Jewish Post (AJP), like the Southern Arizona Jewish community, grew, blossomed, and transformed over the past 75 years. The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona (JFSA) honors and celebrates the rich history of the AJP and its special place in our community. Timeline A powerful team Over the… Read more »

Boycotting Twitter to protest its handling of anti-Semitism could backfire

The Twitter logo is superimposed on anti-Semitic tweets. (Screenshots/JTA Montage)

NEW YORK (JTA) — On Friday afternoon, a few hours before Shabbat, I found myself scrolling through Twitter when I stumbled upon an anti-Semitic rant. This by itself is hardly unusual — the amount of anti-Semitic vitriol on Twitter is horrifying. But when I checked the account, I found that… Read more »

I’m an Israeli settler. American Jews are debating my future, but here’s what they don’t understand.

A woman walks with her child in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Efrat, April 26, 2020. (David Vaaknin for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

MITZPE YERICHO, West Bank (JTA) — It’s been surreal watching from Israel as Americans discuss my future. I’ve gotten used to presidents spending years developing plans for my neighborhood and other towns in Judea and Samaria, also known as the West Bank — they mean well and I truly… Read more »

Stop using Israel as an excuse not to support Black Lives Matter

A Black Lives Matter protester raises his fist during a march to honor George Floyd in New York City, May 31, 2020. (John Moore/Getty Images)

This story originally appeared on Alma. Take a moment and remember where you were when you first heard about the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. I was in Tel Aviv getting ready to go to the movies after Havdalah. I didn’t end up going —… Read more »

Thanks from Strauss Manor to the Tucson community

I would like to express our appreciation for the incredible donations of DVDs, CDs, yarn, hygiene items, coloring books, colored pencils, etc. to everyone who donated to our residents at B’nai B’rith Strauss Manor during this pandemic. The love and compassion everyone showed and the response was amazing. Our… Read more »

White Jews have been able to flee to the suburbs. Black Americans largely could not. Here’s why that matters today.

A view of suburbia (Getty Images)

CLEVELAND (JTA) — I turned on my phone and felt an overwhelming sense of frustration, sadness and hopelessness. While I had been enjoying two days without electronics in observance of Shavuot and Shabbat, cities across the country were engulfed in a combination of civic protests and police riots. Weapons… Read more »

To accurately count Jews of color, we need to radically alter assumptions

Marc L. Dollinger (Courtesy)

Two summers ago, I published an academic book about blacks and Jews that did not include a single black Jew in the narrative. Ilana Kaufman, founder and president of the Jews of Color Field Building Initiative, encouraged me to open my eyes to my own implicit assumptions about Jews,… Read more »

Honoring father, scientist seeks WWII info

My beloved father and hero, Solomon Eisenberg, served on the USS Daly DD-519, a naval destroyer during World War II. He saved two men who fell overboard into the Bering Sea off the coast of Adak, when the Japanese occupied the Aleutian Islands of Alaska after the bombing of… Read more »

It is time for Hasidic leaders to embrace the internet

SUFFERN, N.Y. (JTA) — My two children, aged 13 and 15, attend daily Zoom classes from designated corners of our suburban home. Slovenly habits aside, their workspaces are virtual classrooms in which they analyze George Orwell’s work and ponder Talmudic passages in equal measure. Online classes — the ones they… Read more »

Our post-pandemic Shabbat meals should include far less meat

Melissa Hoffman (Justin Hackworth)

LOS ANGELES (JTA) — Last year I wrote about how, as we come to terms with the existential threat of climate change, our joyous occasions will shift in both spirit and practice — including the food we eat and how it is produced. The same is true in the… Read more »

Knitting teaches good lessons for pandemic

Recently I’ve been reading articles by clergy, including several rabbis, that reassure us of life beyond coronavirus. One way practically anybody can reinforce this hope in tomorrow is to work on a long-term craft project today. Great talent is not a requirement — I have been an intermediate knitter… Read more »