Religion & Jewish Life

The fifth annual Mega Challah Bake, bringing together hundreds of women for an evening of community and instruction in the art and mitzvah of baking challah, a staple of the Shabbat table, will be held Thursday, Oct. 25 at 7 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. The event, for… Read more »

This summer my son Boaz and I traveled to Poland for the great pleasure and privilege of participating in the Ride for the Living, a 55-mile bicycle ride from Auschwitz-Birkenau to the Jewish Community Center of Krakow, Poland, from the scene of the greatest destruction of our people to… Read more »

Allen Langer keeps a photo on his desk of the ship that brought him and his parents from Germany to the United States in 1949, when he was 21 months old; his parents, survivors of the Holocaust, spent four years in the Bergen Belsen Displaced Persons Camp, waiting for… Read more »

TEL AVIV (JTA) – In the summer of 2011, Yuval Fenta saw two guys tossing a football on the beach in Herzliya. He asked to participate. “You’re too small,” they responded. A dejected Fenta retreated, but not before hearing them mention an American football league that played in Israel.… Read more »

(Kveller via JTA) — I’m starting a new year in which my oldest is in high school (!) and my youngest is in Pull-Ups. Repeating the mantra, “No one goes to college in diapers,” I have decided that the latter issue will work itself out somehow, sometime. (After six… Read more »

WHIPPANY, N.J. (New Jersey Jewish News via JTA) — When Clifford Kulwin celebrated his 13th anniversary as rabbi at Temple B’nai Abraham in Livingston, New Jersey, he knew he had to mention another local institution. “I understand there are some present who do not consider this a ‘real’ bar… Read more »

LUBLIN, Poland (JTA) — When German air force pilots took aerial photographs of western Ukraine in 1941, they did it to help Nazi Germany defeat the Soviet Union in a war that saw the genocide of 6 million Jews. But in a twist of fate, the German government has… Read more »

PRAGUE (JTA) — A new Torah scroll is being used in this historic city by one of its two Reform Jewish congregations to welcome the High Holidays and the series of solemn and joyous celebrations that conclude with, what else, Simchat Torah — the rejoicing of the Torah. But it’s… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — The holiday of Sukkot isn’t is complete without a lulav and an etrog, the four species that Jews are commanded to wave on the harvest holiday. But according to a new book, it wasn’t until the Second Temple period that Jews started using the lemon-like… Read more »

(JTA) — Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels didn’t mince words when he criticized Stephen Miller, a senior adviser to President Donald Trump and a former congregant of his Southern California synagogue, in his Rosh Hashanah sermon. “Honestly, Mr. Miller, you’ve set back the Jewish contribution to making the world spiritually whole… Read more »

Cody Blumenthal and Gabe Green were among 2,600 athletes at the largest annual JCC Maccabi Games this summer, representing the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Blumenthal participated in 16 and under basketball while Green vied in 14 and under soccer at the Aug. 5-10 games in Orange County, California. Josh… Read more »

Legendary all-star Rose Bowl running back Calvin Murray played football for the Philadelphia Eagles in the early ’80s. Yet he says his greatest touchdown was converting to Orthodox Judaism five years ago, and with his wife, Emunah, preparing to make aliyah. Murray, who now goes by the name Yosef,… Read more »

This summer season marked the 18th anniversary of Birthright Israel, the program that brings Diaspora Jews, ages 18-26, on a free trip to Israel. From May 24-June 4, Bus #1545 carried University of Arizona students along with participants from the University of Southern California, Arizona State University, and San… Read more »

The sweetest time of year is upon us, quite literally: It’s Rosh Hashanah. And while I know most families have their standard holiday dishes they make year after year, sometimes it’s nice to swap in a new appetizer, alternating main dish or quick but delicious new dessert to serve.… Read more »

The truth is, there is no commandment in Judaism to dip an apple in honey on Rosh Hashanah. But what would the Jewish New Year be without the custom? It’s a question that bedevils vegans, many of whom won’t eat honey because it’s an animal product. So what’s a… Read more »

One family after another hurried through Erin Jones-Avni’s front door, anxious to get their first glimpse of the new arrival — to admire its ornate silver breastplate and touch its satiny mantle. “People just kept coming, and they’d make a beeline for the Torah,” she told JTA from her… Read more »

Each year, the Jewish Federations of North America invites professionals and lay leaders to participate in a mission that highlights the unique challenges, programs and impact of federations’ overseas funding. In mid-July, Melissa Goldfinger, Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona 2019 Campaign chair; Leslie Glaze, JFSA Women’s Philanthropy Campaign chair;… Read more »

(The Nosher via JTA) – Rosh Hashanah has a way of sneaking up on you, and it’s a bittersweet feeling when it does. Bitter because it means the summer is over, but sweet because the Jewish New Year is a sweet and delicious time of year to spend with… Read more »

(The Nosher via JTA) – There’s nothing more comforting than a slice of babka and a glass of milk to break a long fast on. In my family, it’s pretty much all we eat. But I don’t always make babka, and I do always make challah, especially during the… Read more »

TEANECK, N.J. (JTA) — For many Americans, no hamburger is complete without cheese. Whether a slice of no-fuss American or something fancier, the cheese melds the beef patty with the bun into umami-laden perfection. Until now, the cheeseburger was the stuff of daydreams for Jews observing kosher dietary laws that… Read more »