Tagged Arizona Jewish Post

Cello goddess Maya Beiser wants classical music to rock like Janis Joplin

Maya Beiser performing an orchestral version of David Bowie's "Blackstar" album at the L'Auditori in Barcelona, Spain, July 13, 2017. (Robert Marquardt/Redfern)

NEW YORK (JTA) — There’s a small music room in the basement of cellist Maya Beiser’s large, kempt house in the leafy Riverdale section of the Bronx. It’s pretty spare — a few cellos, some basic recording equipment and posters from past concerts. Against one wall, though, rests a… Read more »

Does Berlin’s mayor belong on Wiesenthal Center’s top 10 list for anti-Semitism? Local leaders say no.

Berlin Mayor Michael Muller, right, speaks with Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal in Berlin, July 19, 2017. (Matthias Nareyek/Pool/Getty Images)

(JTA) — Berlin’s mayor, many local Jewish leaders agree, could do more to counter the city’s vocal BDS movement. But does that make him an anti-Semite? A report that the California-based Simon Wiesenthal Center may include Mayor Michael Müller on its annual list of the world’s 10 worst cases… Read more »

When Israelis protest, they don’t tear down statues. They put them up.

A gold statue of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is taken down at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, Dec. 6, 2016. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

JERUSALEM (JTA) – Israel recently got two new statues of political leaders: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Supreme Court President Miriam Naor. However, both statues were torn down within hours. For their creators, that was part of the point. Israel has very few official statues of its leaders —… Read more »

Krakow JCC’s new preschool signals hope for a community’s rebirth

Sara Zielinski, with her mother Elizabeth, center, and a volunteer at a pre-Shabbat program at the Jewish Community Center of Krakow. Sara is part of the inaugural class of Frajda, the first pluralistic Jewish nursery and preschool in Krakow since World War II. (Courtesy of Jewish Community Center of Krakow)

KRAKOW, Poland (JTA) — Michal Zielinski, a 47-year-old from this city, grew up unaware of his Jewish roots. Thirty years after discovering that his paternal family is Jewish, following the death of his grandmother, Zielinski and his wife, Elizabeth are active members of the Jewish Community Center of Krakow,… Read more »

Arizona Jewish Post and Jewish Federation move dates set

The Arizona Jewish Post and Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona will be relocating to our new home at the Harvey and Deanna Evenchik Center for Jewish Philanthropy. We will share this new site with the Jewish Community Foundation. The move is scheduled  for Sept.  & and 8. We will resume… Read more »

This haredi medic pioneered psychological first aid in Israel — now she’s helping Houston

Miriam Ballin, holding her baby daughter, at the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem. (Courtesy of Ballin)

JERUSALEM (JTA) – Jerusalem therapist Miriam Ballin is the kind of person who takes the initiative. Despite resistance from her haredi Orthodox community, she became a medic. Then she launched a pacesetting psychological first aid unit. Clearly she was not just going to stand idly by while Tropical Storm… Read more »

How Rabbi Shai Held is shaping the conversation around love and politics

Rabbi Shai Held, a co-founder of Mechon Hadar, a traditional egalitarian yeshiva, has just released a book of Torah commentaries. (Courtesy of Mechon Hadar)

NEW YORK (JTA) — After the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, voices abounded calling the demonstration an affront to American values. Rabbi Shai Held called it an attack on God. “One of the most fundamental claims Judaism makes about the world is that every human being on the face… Read more »

Harissa Bloody Mary Recipe

Harissa Bloody Mary (Leetal Arazi)

(The Nosher via JTA) —  Like Italians with their tomato sauce, home cooks across North Africa and the Middle East are serious about their harissa. Each cook has his or her own special method for grinding the chiles and blending in oil, garlic and spices. That’s why our harissa… Read more »

OP-ED 11 former White House Jewish liaisons: Trump doesn’t understand anti-Semitism

President Donald Trump shown before making a statement on the violence in Charlottesville, Va., Aug. 14, 2017. (Chris Kleponis-Pool/Getty Images)

(JTA) — As Jewish liaisons to four different presidents, we had the responsibility inside the White House to give voice to the perspectives and priorities of the American Jewish community. While our community may not be unified in matters of policy and politics, our spiritual practice, cultural traditions and… Read more »

Local chefs dish on dream dinners for mom and the vegetable joys of spring

Ah, asparagus! As Mother’s Day approaches, local chefs and restaurateurs are turning their thoughts to burgeoning spring produce — and time spent in the kitchen with their mothers and grandmothers. “I’m excited to cook with artichokes, asparagus and peas,” says Tyler Fenton, chef/co-owner at Reilly Craft Pizza & Drink.… Read more »

7 incredible new things the world can thank Israel for

TEL AVIV (JTA) – To build a Jewish state in the Middle East, Israelis had to be innovators. Some of what they’ve come up with has been used mostly by their fellow citizens — think Hebrew slang, Bamba snacks and the Iron Dome missile defense system — at least so far.… Read more »

What the North Korea crisis tells us about the Iran nuclear deal

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un arrives for a military parade in Pyongyang, April 15, 2017. The picture was released the following day by the state's Korean Central News Agency. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (JTA) – The Trump administration last week endorsed a narrative long promoted by critics of the Iran nuclear deal: It’s North Korea all over again. “An unchecked Iran has the potential to travel the same path as North Korea, and take the world along with it,” Secretary of State Rex… Read more »

Why Marine Le Pen is confident she will be France’s next president

National Front leader Marine Le Pen addresses activists at the Espace Francois Mitterrand in Henin Beaumont, France, April 23, 2017. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

(JTA) — Supporters of Emmanuel Macron were not alone in cheering his victory Sunday in the first round of France’s presidential elections. Far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, who finished second in the voting, saw it as excellent news. The two will face off in the final round next month after… Read more »

Albert Einstein was a sex magnet? 4 surprising facts about the Jewish genius

Geoffrey Rush as Albert Einstein with Emily Watson as his wife Elsa in National Geographic’s show "Genius." (National Geographic/Dusan Martincek)

NEW YORK (JTA) — Think “Albert Einstein,” and certain images or phrases likely come to mind: “genius,” “kooky,” “wild hair,” “theory of relativity,” “E = mc2” — maybe even “Zionist.” Sex and violence? Not so much. Then there’s “Genius,” a TV series premiering on Tuesday — National Geographic channel’s first scripted… Read more »

ANALYSIS Is Mike Pence’s marriage rule anti-women, or pro-religion?

Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen, walk in the presidential inauguration parade in Washington, D.C., Jan. 20, 2017. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

(JTA) — I am a huge fan of monogamy. My wife and I have been married for — well, let’s just say we met in high school (we didn’t get together until after college, but I was trying to avoid saying “a long time”). I took it personally when… Read more »

Recalling lessons of Passover, Israelis pray for their Syrian ‘enemies’

A view of the Suruc refugee camp in Turkey, which houses some 35,000 Syrian refugees. (Carl Court/Getty Images)

TEL AVIV (JTA) – At a Shabbat service in Tel Aviv on Friday evening, congregants recited the mourner’s prayer for those killed in Syria’s civil war. Standing before a mural of the Tree of Life, the rabbi of Beit Daniel, the largest Reform synagogue in Israel, delivered a sermon… Read more »

Why Israelis are happy about Trump’s missile strike — and why they should be wary

The USS Porter fires a Tomahawk missile at a Syrian military airfield in the Mediterranean Sea, April 7, 2017. (Ford Williams/U.S. Navy via Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (JTA) – Israel’s government and pundits are unabashedly pleased by the missile strike ordered by President Donald Trump early Friday on the Syrian airfield from where Tuesday’s deadly chemical attack is believed to have been launched. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put out a statement out at 6 a.m.… Read more »

The Israeli response to the Syrian chemical attack — A wave of donations

Hassan Dallal, a survivor of the chemical attack in Syria, receives medical treatment at a hospital in Idlib, April 5, 2017. (Mohammed Karkas/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

TEL AVIV (JTA) – In response to the alleged chemical attack in Syria on Tuesday, Israelis have donated hundreds of thousands of shekels to help children and others caught in the conflict raging on their northern border. With Israel maintaining a policy of noninterference, giving money has been a way for people here to… Read more »