Tagged FRONT

Gov. Doug Ducey announced the closure of Arizona schools on Sunday, March 15  to mitigate the spread of coronavirus. On March 16, Tucson Hebrew Academy was ready with online learning, says Head of School Laurence Kutler, Ph.D. ”We were prepared two weeks before it happened,” Kutler says, explaining that THA… Read more »

Jennifer Selco

The Tucson Jewish Community Center will present a virtual Yom Limmud, a day that celebrates Jewish learning, on Sunday, May 17. “While we cannot be together in person due to the current health crisis, we must create opportunities to gather virtually as a Jewish community,” says Jennifer Selco, the J’s… Read more »

For students, the University of Arizona experience has been turned upside down during this COVID-19 era. The university has switched to online classes and all in-person activities have been canceled or postponed until further notice. Many students have felt the impact of social distancing and have been struggling with school… Read more »

Liz Kanter Groskind

As Jews, we are commanded to be just, to aid and care for those most vulnerable among us. The word “tzedakah” itself translates to “justice,” not simply “charity,” as many believe. This is a value  Jews have internalized and acted upon over the centuries. Social justice is not merely a… Read more »

Imagine you are planning to open a wine bar in Arizona on April 1 and the day before, the government shut down all of the state’s bars and restaurants, due to the coronavirus pandemic. It sounds like a really bad April Fool’s Day joke. But it was no joke… Read more »

(JTA) — The road to reopening for houses of worship has been paved in a handful of states, even as the coronavirus pandemic continues to kill more than 1,500 Americans a day. But synagogues in the Republican-led states that are relaxing some restrictions — including Georgia, Texas and South… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Nearly six weeks have passed since Arie Even, an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor, died of the coronavirus. It happened at the end of Shabbat dinner on a Friday night in March at the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. Even drew headlines as Israel’s first COVID-19 fatality.… Read more »

More than 45,000 women and children spend each Mother’s Day in domestic violence shelters. At this unprecedented time in the U.S., many women who have escaped abuse for the safety of shelters now find themselves stuck in place, unable to move forward with rebuilding their lives. Jewish Women International’s Flower… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — Rabbi Jennie Rosenn has spent most of her career working on Jewish social justice causes. Until recently, however, there was one issue that didn’t resonate as strong. “The environment was something that I knew was important, but I wasn’t passionate in my kishkes about… Read more »

(JTA) — Midway through Lila Duke’s bat mitzvah ceremony, her family’s cat made an appearance. Minnie’s interruption was one of many ways that Lila’s coming-of-age ceremony was different from what she had expected. While the 12-year-old still read her Torah portion in front of more than 100 people, still… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — This time of year — the convergence of Passover, Easter and Ramadan — is peak tourism time for this city. This year is the first time since 1992 that all three festivals fall in the same month. But traveling as a tourist to Jerusalem right now… Read more »

“What You Do Matters: Lessons from the Holocaust” is an educational partnership initiated in early 2017 between the Jewish History Museum/Holocaust History Center and law enforcement in Arizona. The program parallels the “Law Enforcement and Society: The Lessons of the Holocaust” initiative launched by the Jewish Community Foundation of… Read more »

Senior living facilities in Southern Arizona and all across the country have been on lockdown for several weeks due to the coronavirus pandemic, with non-essential visitors not allowed. “This means no family and friends, and it also means no exercise teachers, musical performers, Shabbat service leaders, lecturers, Torah study… Read more »

Gila Silverman

The last few weeks have been difficult, as our entire world has changed in response to the coronavirus. There have been times recently when I have been overwhelmed by fear and sadness and grief. At other times, I have savored the quiet of a slowed-down life and been awed… Read more »

Marvin Slepian, M.D.

A renowned researcher at the University of Arizona Health Sciences has taken the university’s reputation as a basketball powerhouse to a new level — designing an easily manufactured and low-cost ventilator prototype that uses a basketball to respond to the fast-spreading COVID-19 pandemic. “We are in a period where ventilators… Read more »

Editor’s note (April 20): A fourth round of Downtown Tucson Partnership gift cards, worth $35 but costing $25, will go on sale here on Wednesday, April 22 at 6 a.m. HSL Properties helped fund the third round, which sold out in less than 15 minutes, and is also sponsoring… Read more »

Jeffrey Goldberg

The University of Arizona will lose one of its stars in May as Jeffrey Goldberg, Ph.D., dean emeritus of the College of Engineering, retires. Speaking prior to the coronavirus pandemic, he said he planned to travel, see his grandkids more often, and practice a healthier lifestyle in his golden… Read more »

Bob Schwartz has been involved with the Jewish community since he was a child growing up in the suburbs of New Jersey. He has been a part of nine congregations in six states and has been active within the Jewish community in Tucson for two years. A former attorney,… Read more »

After the deluge of negative headlines over the last several weeks, when COVID-19 is finally beaten back, it will be the scenes of police cordoning off Bnei Brak like a medieval plague city that will define the corona crisis for most Israelis and international observers. These media attacks, which… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — Every Passover, we strive to experience Egypt in our own lives. Locating the suffering of our Egypt wasn’t hard this year: It seems like most days my husband and I share the names of new people we personally know who have passed away from COVID-19… Read more »