Tagged FRONT

I sat between Grandmother and Aunt Etta. I never had a chance. Grandmother would point to her forearm, the numbers tattooed there … and that’s how I learned to count.   I sat between Grandmother and Aunt Etta. Between spoonfuls of regret they fed me: “From this you shouldn’t… Read more »

After several years of planning and fundraising and more than nine months of construction, the Tucson Jewish Community Center will hold the official grand opening of its new 15,000-square-foot sports and wellness center on Sunday, March 29, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The day will start with a… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — Seated in his Lower East Side office, in front of a large portrait of company patriarch Aron Streit, Alan Adler avoids becoming too nostalgic. “It’s like I tell my family members: none of you own a car from 1935, why do you think a matzah… Read more »

Tucson Hebrew Academy students consistently learn how Jewish values help them make a difference in the world, and at the 8th annual Passport to Peace day on Jan. 28, everyone participated. THA students spent the afternoon visiting booths in the school courtyard to learn about a variety of service… Read more »

Daniel James Brown

Joe Rantz was dying. He was north of 90 years old, completely dependent on oxygen, and living in hospice care at his daughter Judy Willman’s house near Seattle when he met award-winning author Daniel James Brown. Brown, a neighbor of Willman’s, wasn’t looking for a book topic when he… Read more »

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Isaac Herzog paces slowly up and down the stage, one hand in his suit pocket, a slight smile forming through his slender lips. Quietly, his heavy breath audible through the microphone, the center-left candidate for prime minister runs down a detailed a list of policy… Read more »

(JTA) — During the past two years, Dima Zicer has skipped several political rallies opposing the chauvinistic policies of Russian President Vladimir Putin. A Jewish scholar of education from St. Petersburg, Zicer, 55, has limited hope for change in a country that is ranked 148th in the Press Freedom Index and where several… Read more »

Jane Lynch

Fresh from her Emmy Award-winning portrayal of Sue Sylvester on “Glee” and her 2013 Broadway debut as Miss Hannigan in “Annie,” Jane Lynch will bring her comedic skills and musical talent to the University of Arizona’s Centennial Hall on Sunday, March 8 at 7 p.m. The evening, “See Jane… Read more »

Masha Gessen

Russian-American journalist Masha Gessen is intent on exposing injustice, whether in her three talks in Tucson on Feb. 2, her books or articles in the New York Times, Slate and other publications. Her personal family history has run head-on into conflict with both the former Soviet Union and the… Read more »

Mindy Bernstein, executive director of the Coyote Task Force, a local behavioral health agency, landed in Tucson in 1976. She wasn’t sure then what her path would be, but she never imagined a career in mental health advocacy. “I’ve been working in public behavioral health since 1986,” Bernstein told… Read more »

At the Ethiopian Cultural Center in Beit Shean, Israel, Nina Isaac (left) and Sandi Henderson watch as Lyana Rotstein, tour guide for the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Women’s Philanthropy mission, and Chava Alamo display traditional breads. (Courtesy Melissa Goldfinger)

For Nina Isaac, the impact of spending 10 days in Israel with Jewish women from Tucson and around the United States was brought into sharp contrast after she spent the next three days in Dubai, training Muslim nurses. “It was a huge shift, being in Israel, the land of… Read more »

David Cohen, seen here at a Capitol Hill hearing on Iran sanctions in 2011, was recently named to the No. 2 position at the Central Intelligence Agency. (Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — David Cohen’s path to second in command at the Central Intelligence Agency is, in many respects, a typical one in Washington. A seasoned Ivy League lawyer who began his career defending the right of religious groups to display menorahs on government property, Cohen was the Obama… Read more »

Chabad emissaries won't set foot in Havana's Orthodox synagogue, Adath Israel. (Josh Tapper)

HAVANA (JTA) — On the freshly painted, salmon-colored walls of Alberto and Rebeca Meshulam’s apartment, two portraits of the late Lubavitcher rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, frame the entranceway leading to a wide, airy vestibule. Miniatures of the same portrait sit atop a glass-covered countertop near an image of the… Read more »

Ashton Carter, President Obama's nominee for defense secretary, at his confirmation hearing, Feb. 4, 2015. The hearing had none of the sharp exchanges over Israel that were featured in the confirmation proceedings of the last defense secretary, Chuck Hagel. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (Washington Jewish Week) — American-Israeli relations may be enduring a challenging period due to the political drama surrounding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s upcoming speech to Congress, but you’d never know it from the recent confirmation hearing for defense secretary nominee Ashton Carter. Carter’s appearance on Feb. 4… Read more »

Sarri Singer

Sarri Singer has always been closely connected to her Jewish community, whe­ther in New Jersey, New York or Israel. On Sept. 11, 2001, at age 28, she was director of recruitment for the National Conference of Synagogue Youth summer programs, two blocks from Ground Zero. Since that date surviving… Read more »

Copenhagen's main synagogue, where a guard was shot and killed early Feb. 15, 2015. (Wikimedia Commons)

(JTA) — From the window of the Jewish Community of Copenhagen’s crisis center, Finn Schwarz can see his country changing before his eyes. Hours after the slaying of a guard outside the Danish capital’s main synagogue early Sunday morning, two police officers toting machine guns were on patrol outside… Read more »

Bonnie Golden, Temple Emanu-El president and yoga teacher, and Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon lead a yoga routine at the Old Stone House on the David Yetman Trail during Temple’s Wandering Jews Shabbat hike on Nov. 1.

There’s a passage in the Talmud that asks “Why didn’t you take advantage of all the beauty I’ve provided for you in the world?” says Rabbi Thomas Louchheim of Congregation Or Chadash, one of several local synagogues that includes hikes and other opportunities for congregants to worship in the… Read more »

Israeli army veteran Yinon Cohen, 31, surprised his ski instructors at Challenge Aspen with his determination to ski unaided except for his prosthetic legs. (Nina Zale)

(JTA) — After Yinon Cohen lost his legs in an accident involving a rocket-propelled grenade, it wasn’t clear he’d ever be able to walk again, much less ski down a peak in the Rocky Mountains. A fresh-faced soldier in the Israel Defense Forces’ elite Golani brigade, Cohen was in… Read more »

Former Israeli President Shimon Peres, with microphone, meeting in Tel Aviv with, from left, Sayyid Syeed of the Islamic Society of North America, Rabbi Steve Gutow of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church of the United States, Jan. 20, 2015. (JCPA)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — After the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris last month, Kari Alterman heard from every one of her Detroit-area Muslim dialogue partners, all of them calling to express their sadness and concern. They just didn’t do so publicly. Statements condemning violence are normally made after formal dialogues… Read more »

Amos Oz revisits interviews with soldiers he recorded almost 50 years ago in 'Censored Voices.' (Dogwoof)

PARK CITY, Utah (JTA) — In the wake of Israel’s seemingly miraculous triumph in the Six-Day War in 1967, the country’s victorious soldiers were lionized as heroes. But in private, even just one week after the conflict, many of them didn’t feel that way. One describes feeling sick to… Read more »