Pope Francis, then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, speaking at a B'nai B'rith Argentina event commemorating Kristallnacht, Nov. 12, 2012. (Courtesy B'nai B'rith Argentina) ROME (JTA) — When the white smoke rose last week at the Vatican, signaling to the world that the College of Cardinals had chosen a new pope, Catholics weren’t the only ones waiting with bated breath. Jews, too, were eager to see whether the new pontiff would be someone… Read more »
Ipara Bolan (right) and Georgia Trester take part in an eyes-closed get-to-know-you exercise at the University of Arizona Hillel’s Avi Shabbat on Feb. 8. (Courtesy UA Hillel Foundation) If a college student told you that as a child she studied violin with a strict Russian Jewish teacher, would you think that she’s Jewish … or Muslim? Participants at the University of Arizona’s second interfaith Avi Shabbat were surprised to discover that this childhood experience belonged to Ipara… Read more »
Israel Defense Forces soldiers visit Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial museum, as part of their training. (Sheila Wilensky/AJP) Sheila Wilensky was in Israel recently with the American Jewish Press Association. The new Yad Vashem museum, run by The Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority, was packed when I visited on Jan. 14. I had toured the museum, which was established in 1953, with my daughter 20 years… Read more »
Dylan J. Williams, J Street director of government affairs (left) and Tucsonan Larry Gellman, J Street National Advisory Committee member, at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, Feb 13 (Sheila Wilensky/AJP) Israel’s current situation vis-a-vis the West Bank is untenable, and it’s even worse with Gaza, making movement toward a two-state solution ever more urgent. That was the message Dylan J. Williams, J Street’s director of government affairs, delivered in Tucson on Feb. 13 at a luncheon sponsored by Jewish… Read more »
Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid hugging Jewish Home party chief Naftali Bennett following Lapid's first speech at the Knesset, Feb. 11, 2013. (Miriam Alster/Flash90.JTA) TEL AVIV (JTA) — When he emerged bruised but unbeaten following the Jan. 22 elections, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced some tough choices. Should he aim for a narrow, right-wing governing coalition comprised of haredi Orthodox, nationalist and religious Zionist parties that would give him a narrow majority… Read more »
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visiting soldiers in the Golan Heights near the Israeli-Syrian border, Jan. 13, 2013. (Kobi Gideon/Flash 90/JTA) KATZRIN, Israel (JTA) — For nearly 40 years, Israel’s border with Syria has been, perhaps improbably, its quietest. The two countries technically have been in a state of war since the cease-fire that ended the 1973 Yom Kippur War. But over the past four decades, while Israel’s other borders… Read more »
Jim Belushi Most family men spend weekends mowing the lawn or tinkering in the garage. Not Jim Belushi. He’s out almost every weekend, making audiences around the country laugh, performing with his improv troupe, the Chicago Board of Comedy. “Most guys, they golf on the weekend,” said Belushi, 58. “I go… Read more »
Ann Kirschner, author of the acclaimed “Sala’s Gift” and the upcoming “Lady at the OK Corral: The True Story of Josephine Marcus Earp,” will be the keynote speaker in the Jewish History Museum’s Jewish Storytelling Festival. She will give a free lecture about her new book on Thursday, March… Read more »
(L-R) Hebrew University students Bar, Yael and Amit comment on the Jan. 22 Israeli election during a night out on Ben Yehuda Street. (Sheila Wilensky/AJP) Sheila Wilensky was in Israel recently with the American Jewish Press Association After spending a week in Israel one thing is certain: discussion about politics is a national sport – and with more than 30 political parties running in the Jan. 22 election, it’s not surprising. I arrived in… Read more »
Max Aaron skates his way to a gold medal at the 2013 U.S. Figure Skating Championship in Omaha, Neb., January 2013. (Courtesy USFSA) NEW YORK (JTA) — With consecutive quadruple jumps at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Max Aaron launched himself not only to a gold medal and a national championship. The 20-year-old Arizonan also joined the ranks of Jewish athletes who have made it big For Aaron, that was even more… Read more »
Israeli schoolchildren studying at Tel Aviv elementary school, 2010. (Moshe Shai/Flash90/JTA) WASHINGTON (JTA) – An in-depth comparative study of Palestinian and Israeli school textbooks is offering some conclusions that already are making some Israeli government officials very unhappy: Palestinian textbooks do not have as much anti-Israel incitement as often portrayed. While this finding might appear to be welcome news for… Read more »
Pope Benedict XVI praying at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, May 12, 2009. (Flash90/JTA) ROME (JTA) — Pope Benedict XVI’s eight-year reign as head of the world’s 1 billion Catholics sometimes was a bumpy one for the Vatican’s relations with Israel and the wider Jewish community. But it was also a period in which relations where consolidated and fervent pledges made to continue… Read more »
Arik Lubovsky Before I left for Israel, friends and family asked if I was afraid. “Not really,” I replied. It wasn’t until I was actually there, relaxing on the patio of the Mizpe Hayamim health farm … Read more »
Joshua Bell with the Gibson ex Huberman Stradivarius (Photo: Lisa-Marie Mazzucco) Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell will play with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra on Saturday, Feb. 16 at 8 p.m. at the Tucson Music Hall. The program of romantic classics will include the overture to Mozart’s “Marriage of Figaro,” Grieg’s “Wedding Day at Troldhaugen,” the “Wedding March” from Mendelssohn’s “A… Read more »
Robert Klein will headline a live radio broadcast celebrating the 10th anniversary of "Too Jewish" (Courtesy Temple Emanu-El) The “Too Jewish” radio show with Rabbi Sam Cohon and Friends will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a live radio variety show broadcast from the Fox Theatre on March 2 at 7:45 p.m., featuring comedian Robert Klein along with Mayor Jonathan Rothschild, U.S. Rep. Ron Barber, Amy Hirshberg Lederman,… Read more »
A chart said to belong to SEBIN, Venezuela's secret service, implicating Rabbi Pynchas Brener as the Mossad's top spymaster in the country. (Analises24) NEW YORK (JTA) — Espacio Anna Frank says its goal is to promote tolerance by teaching the life story of the teenage diarist murdered by the Nazis. But is there something sinister lurking behind the Venezuelan organization’s benevolent facade? SEBIN, the Venezuelan intelligence service, seems to believe so. According… Read more »
Israeli postal workers distribute gas masks to Jerusalem residents amid warnings of chemical weapons used by both sides in the Syrian civil war, Jan. 30, 2013. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Israeli planes reportedly struck a Syrian weapons transport on the Lebanese border amid increasing fears that the country’s chemical weapons stockpile could fall into the hands of Hezbollah. The strikes, which occurred in the early hours of Wednesday morning, were reported to Reuters by a… Read more »
Yesh Atid chief Yair Lapid addressing party supporters in Tel Aviv following the release of exit poll results from the Israeli elections, Jan. 22, 2013. (Avishag Shaar Yashuv/Flash 90/JTA) (JTA) — This week’s election in Israel was a watershed — but not in the ways one might think. In almost every election cycle, the campaign has been about one thing. To adapt James Carville’s famous adage: It’s about security, stupid. Except this time, it wasn’t. The reason is… Read more »
The American-born Rabbi Dov Lipman of the Yesh Atid party says there is no contradiction between working, serving the country and being haredi Orthodox. (Yossi Zeliger/Flash90/JTA) TEL AVIV (JTA) – Last week’s Israeli election saw a major shakeup in the country’s government, with 53 new members elected to its parliament, the Knesset. Some already have received wide attention, including Yair Lapid, the middle class-focused chairman of Yesh Atid; Naftali Bennett, the high-tech entrepreneur who chairs… Read more »
Rabbi Arthur Green Rabbi Arthur Green has forged his own spiritual path for a half-century. A preeminent authority on neo-Hasidism, mysticism and Jewish spirituality, Green will be in residence at Temple Emanu-El from Feb. 7 to 9 as the distinguished scholar for its 2013 Arthur T. Bilgray lecture series. Recognized as one… Read more »
