Rabbi Yossie Shemtov Two thousand five hundred years ago, Haman — then prime minister of the Persian Empire — succeeded in convincing King Ahasuerus to issue a decree to destroy the Jews throughout the land. Following the issuance of this decree, Haman and his comrades went strolling with jovial hearts and encountered the… Read more »
Rabbi Moshe Peretz Gilden
“Tucson Mezuzah Week’ is the first community-wide opportunity, offered by Congregation Chofetz Chayim and the Southwest Torah Institute, to have every Jewish home in Tucson protected by the mitzvah of placing mezuzot on every doorpost,” says the congregation’s Rabbi Israel Becker. Often called the “Jewish security system,” the mezuzah is… Read more »
Bella Wexler Editor’s note: The March 8 Connections event has been postponed to the fall due to concerns about the spread of coronavirus. Bella Wexler, a junior at Catalina Foothills High School, will receive the Bryna Zehngut Mitzvot Award March 8. The Women’s Philanthropy advisory council created the award, which recognizes… Read more »
Kenny Mirman and Marlene Burns celebrate Purim at Chabad Oro Valley. (Photo courtesy Chabad Oro Valley)
A full array of Southern Arizona Purim parties will ensure that this most fun holiday of the Jewish calendar is action-packed. Take your pick from a string of family-friendly events, submitted by area synagogues and agencies. Friday, March 6 6 p.m.: Purim Shabbat Early Shabbat tot and child-friendly service;… Read more »
Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging continues its annual Three Rabbis Lecture Panel next month, exploring “The Future of the Tucson Jewish Community.” Rabbi Yossie Shemtov of Orthodox Congregation Young Israel, Rabbi Robert Eisen of Conservative Congregation Anshei Israel, and Rabbi Thomas Louchheim of Reform Congregation Or Chadash will… Read more »
(CSA Images/Getty Images)
This story originally appeared on Kveller. Way back in 1828, Noah Webster learned 28 languages in order to write his groundbreaking dictionary. But “kvell” was nowhere to be found among his 70,000 words. His family was surely proud, but it’s safe to assume that not one of them told… Read more »
Kansas City Chiefs offensive tackle Mitchell Schwartz enters the game against the Tennessee Titans at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., Jan. 19, 2020. (William Purnell/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
(JTA) — Kansas City Chiefs lineman Mitchell Schwartz does more than start for perhaps the best offense in the NFL. The 6-5, 320-pound tackle is a star at his position and has been for much of his eight-year career since turning pro following a standout career at the University… Read more »
Diego Schwartzman, listed at 5-7 but probably shorter, is congratulated by Alexander Zverev, who stands 6-6, at the 2019 U.S. Open. Schwartzman defeated Zverev in the fourth round. (Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)
This article originally appeared on Alma. I was never the best tennis player. Nor was I particularly good at soccer, basketball or any other sport my parents signed me up for. Still, I stuck with tennis through my junior year of high school, when I was unceremoniously cut from the… Read more »
Team Israel players Danny Valencia, left, and Jeremy Bleich with students at the Hand in Hand Galilee School in Eshbal, Israel, Jan. 16, 2020. (Hillel Kutler)
MISGAV, Israel (JTA) – As more than 20 men wearing blue-and-white baseball uniforms walked along Tel Aviv’s bustling Allenby Street on a recent Tuesday, a motorcyclist called out in Hebrew and English. “Good luck! We’re behind you!” the man shouted to the group, members of the baseball team that… Read more »
JERUSALEM (JTA) — American teen Ezra Schwartz will never play on the baseball field in Raanana that bears his name. But hundreds of Israeli young people, including some of Ezra’s cousins, will have the chance. In doing so, they will be honoring the memory of a young man who… Read more »
Dozens of Jewish figures had enormous impacts on the 2010s. (Getty Images/Photo illustration by Grace Yagel)
(JTA) — The 2010s were nothing if not turbulent. The decade brought us unprecedented political polarization, war and increasing conflict in Israel, dozens of horrific mass shootings, and a new age of election hacking and private data collection enabled by the proliferation of social media. It was capped by… Read more »
The Rintel Menorah on display at the Jewish Historical Museum of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. (Courtesy of the Jewish Cultural Quarter/JCK)
AMSTERDAM (JTA) — For the Amsterdam Jewish Historical Museum, Hanukkah this year entailed the stressful chore of assembling the world’s most expensive menorah. Last week, the Rintel Menorah, a 266-year-old menorah valued at over a half-million dollars, was put back on display at Amsterdam’s Jewish Historical Museum following the… Read more »
MANAUS, Brazil (JTA) — A large menorah at a McDonald’s branch has become the only Hanukkah symbol in the streets of Brazil’s largest city in the Amazon region. In a first, the 7-foot-tall, nine-branched candelabrum made of iron in the front yard of the Jewish-owned fast-food restaurant has become… Read more »
Rabbanit Jenna Englender dances with the Torah during her graduation ceremony from Yeshivat Maharat in New York, June 17, 2019. (Shulamit Seidler-Feller/Maharat)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Growing up in a Modern Orthodox community in South Africa, Sara Hurwitz never imagined that she would one day become a clergy member. The Conservative and Reform movements have been ordaining female rabbis for decades. But in the Orthodox world, women are barred from many… Read more »
Friday night prayers at the Union for Reform Judaism Biennial featured a 78-person choir and screens projecting the words of the service, Dec. 13, 2019. (Rob Dicker/Union for Reform Judaism)
CHICAGO (JTA) — Josh Nelson sat onstage in front of 5,000 people, accompanied by eight other musicians and perched next to a ginormous video screen bearing the words to one of Judaism’s central prayers, the Shema. It was the largest Shabbat service in America and the apex of the… Read more »
Hanukkah’s proximity to Christmas can complicate the holiday. For those who try to make Hanukkah more like Christmas, it inevitably seems to fall short. Yet while Hanukkah traditionally was not one of the most central holidays of the Jewish calendar, it can offer many opportunities for fun and joyous… Read more »
Esther and Rabbi Israel Becker Photo: Britta Van Vankren
Rabbi Israel and Esther Becker of Congregation Chofetz Chayim will celebrate “40 Years of Torah Growth Together” with an on-line fund-raising campaign on Sunday and Monday, Dec. 8 and 9, and a 40th-anniversary dinner on the last night of Chanukah, Sunday, Dec. 29, at 5 p.m. at the synagogue.… Read more »
Sula Miller Tucson resident Sula Miller will discuss her recent book “Welcome to … The Widows Club” (CreateSpace Independent Publishing, 2017) at two local venues next week. Tucson is the last stop on Miller’s seven-state book tour that began in Florida. The novel was inspired by her mother-in-law, Bernyce, who became… Read more »
Joan Nathan Photo: joannathan.com
If you’re part of a Jewish family in the U.S., there’s a decent chance you grew up in the vicinity of a Joan Nathan cookbook. Her many books, like “Jewish Cooking in America,” have been staples of the American Jewish experience for decades. Nathan, 76, was honored Dec. 2… Read more »
Brittany Bristow, center, plays Brooke in the first of two new Hallmark Channel Hanukkah-themed features, ‘Holiday Date.’ Photo courtesy Crown Media
The Hallmark Channel will premiere its first two Hanukkah-themed movies this month in honor of the holiday, which starts this year on Dec. 22. “Our audience is very vocal, and they tell us when they’d like to see more of something,” says Michelle Vicary, Crown Media’s executive vice president… Read more »
