In partnership with Tucson’s synagogues and Jewish agencies, the Coalition for Jewish Education of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona will host a Global Week of Jewish Learning, Nov. 4-11, in conjunction with the Global Day of Jewish Learning, the first worldwide, trans-denominational event devoted to Jewish learning. On… Read more »
Noach Braun, left, and Gadi Yarkoni practice runningtied to each other in preparation for the New York Marathon, July 2010. (Courtesy of Michael J. Leventhal) NEW YORK (JTA) — When Noach Braun and Gadi Yarkoni run this year’s New York City marathon on Nov. 7, they’ll be tied together at the hip — literally. Yarkoni, an Israeli who lost his sight during combat in Lebanon 15 years ago, will be tethered by a strap… Read more »
U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor, shown speaking at the 2009 General assembly of the Jewish Federations of North American, is poised to shepherd the GOP to regain control of the U.S. House of Representatives. (Robert A. Cumins/ Jewish Federations of North America) WASHINGTON (JTA) – Eric Cantor has spent a lifetime relishing wearing the other hat. Among Jews, the Republican congressional whip from Richmond, Va., likes to play the genteel Southern conservative, the posture that won over his wife, a socially liberal banker from New York. Among southerners, he’s the nice… Read more »
Rabbi Steven Burg (OU) NEW YORK — I was saddened to hear of the death of Tyler Clementi, an 18-year-old college student driven to suicide by bullying over his sexual orientation. While Clementi’s case has grabbed national headlines, it sadly is far from unique. Last September alone, no fewer than six boys in… Read more »
Activist Ed Rosenthal, shown in an undated photo in a marijuana greenhouse, says "Jews have a special affinity to marijuana." photo courtesy of Ed Rosenthal) OAKLAND, Calif. (JTA) — Ed Rosenthal has been working to legalize marijuana in California since he moved to the state in 1972. Vindication may finally be at hand for the Bronx-born former yippie. On Nov. 2, California voters will consider Proposition 19, a ballot initiative to legalize the cultivation… Read more »
Torah scribes Linda Coppleson, Rabbi Chana Klebansky and Rachel Reichhardt, l-r, discuss the placement of text on a panel before it is sewn onto the rest of the scroll, Oc.t 13, 2010 in Seattle. (Joel Magalnick/JT news) SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) — It took seven years to write and just a few days to sew together, but on Oct. 15 the first Torah scroll written entirely by a group of women was attached to its wooden poles and declared complete. The ceremony was held at Seattle’s Kadima… Read more »
Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is facing Tea-Party challenger Sharron Angle. (Brian Finifter) WASHINGTON (JTA) — Talk to veteran campaign watchers about this year’s congressional races, and within seconds they will tell you that they’ve never before seen elections quite like these. “We’ve never seen a cycle where there’s been this many races this close to an election and you don’t know… Read more »
Clara Davidov, in traditional Bukharan costume, participated in last year’s “Israel Ethnic Epicurian Gala.” (Photo courtesy of Sue Schergin) The second annual “Israel Ethnic Epicurean Gala,” sponsored by the TIPS (Tucson, Israel, Phoenix and Seattle) partnership, will be held Nov. 3 with food prepared by nine ethnically diverse Israeli women from our Partnership 2000 region of Kiryat Malachi and Hof Ashkelon. The women, who will spend a week… Read more »
Dean Hank Dobin of Washington and Lee University dedicates the school's new Hillel house, a $4 million, 7,000-square-foot facility funded by private gifts, in September 2010. (Kevin Remington/Washington and Lee) SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) — Last year, 19-year-old Max Chapnick ate plenty of vegetables. Chapnick, who comes from a kosher home in White Plains, N.Y., is a sophomore at Washington and Lee University, a small liberal arts school in Lexington, Va. His freshman year he ate in the dining hall… Read more »
This architectural rendering shows the interior of the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre. "Khumbula" is the Zulu word for remember. (Lewis Levin) CAPE TOWN, South Africa (JTA) — At a South African Holocaust museum that plans to open late next year in Johannesburg, the Holocaust will be featured beside a more local genocide: the Rwandan violence of 1994. The inclusion of the African mass murder is not a mere gesture toward… Read more »
Rahm Emanuel, seen here at a Chanukah lighting in Washington on Dec. 13, 2009, left the White House to run for mayor of Chicago. (Israel Bardugo for American Friends of Lubavitch) WASHINGTON (JTA) — They were two Jewish aides who had offices within shouting distance of the Oval Office. But the Oct. 1 resignation of Rahm Emanuel as White House chief of staff and the imminent departure of David Axelrod, the president’s senior adviser, is raising the question of what… Read more »
"Partnership" by Natalie Leonard Drawings by Natalie Leonard and Zevi Bloomfield are the local winners in an art contest sponsored by the TIPS communities of Tucson, Israel, Phoenix and Seattle. The drawings are printed on note cards the Israel Center will distribute at community events. This is the fourth year of the TIPS… Read more »
Eighteen years ago, Stuart Mellan and Nancy Etter, both widowed, single parents, met, fell in love and united their combined five children to create their new family. Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona President and CEO Stuart Mellan and his wife, Nancy, will celebrate 18 years of marriage by hosting an open house anniversary party to benefit the Homer Davis Elementary School’s Friday food pack program on Sunday, Oct. 10, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at the… Read more »
‘Fractured Bubble’ by Henry Grosman and Babak Bryan won the Sukkah City architectural competition in Manhattan. (Courtesy of Reboot) It was a surprise hit on the cultural roster of a city that may be the most culturally busy city in the nation. And even though the Sukkah City architectural competition in New York was being dismantled this week, look for Sukkah City next year in a town near… Read more »
Jerry Silverman, right, president and CEO of Jewish Federations of North America, with Stuart Mellan, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, and Carol Karsch, executive director of the Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona. “Jerry brings the future into every conversation about the present,” says Mellan. “Change is the new normal and we need to embrace that concept,” Jewish Federations of North America president and CEO Jerry Silverman told a Tucson audience on Sept. 15. Making one of the dozens of community visits he’s become known for since taking the JFNA helm in September 2009,… Read more »
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and Palestinian President Abbas R) at Netanyahu residence in Jerusalem, Sept. 15, 2010. (Kobi Gideon / Flash90) WASHINGTON (JTA) — When the fat lady sings on Sept. 26, it may only be an intermission. That’s the word from an array of Mideast experts across the political spectrum. They are predicting that the seeming intractability between Israel and the Palestinians over whether Israel extends a settlement moratorium… Read more »
Mark and Michael Levkowitz of the Chicago Music Store There’s an optimistic spirit in downtown Tucson. Whether it’s about food, the music scene or the arrival of artisanal coffee, many Tucsonans say it’s about time, while business people rejoice. Returning to downtown after 12 years, Janos Wilder will open Downtown Kitchen & Cocktails next month in the former… Read more »
Jonathan Rothschild, chair of Tucson’s Jewish Community Relations Council, left, with Pastor Keni Ashby (Teaneck, N.J.) and Larry Schooler (Austin, Texas). (Courtesy JCPA) Some pundits have declared the historic black-Jewish alliance of the civil rights era over, dead, finished. Not so, say Tucsonans Jonathan Rothschild and Barbara Lewis, who in June took part in a Jewish Council on Public Affairs-sponsored African-American/Jewish Community Leaders Mission to Birmingham, Ala., to witness the still vibrant… Read more »
Inbal and Guy Gelbart with (L-R) Arbel, 5; Carmel, 7; and Clil, 3 As a teen growing up in Haifa, Guy Gelbart was active in the Israeli Scout Movement, the Tzofim. “It was about the coolest thing you could do,” Gelbart told the AJP. Now, at age 36, the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s new Israel Center director and community shaliach, or… Read more »
Palm fronds are a favorite form of schach for sukkahs in the Los Angeles area. (Edmon Rodman) LOS ANGELES (JTA) — His 14-foot-long pole saw in hand, Paul Nisenbaum is ready to head out into the great urban forest in a search for schach. The Los Angeles teacher and small businessman is among the many Jews throughout North America who will search their neighborhoods, from wilderness… Read more »
