Participants in the Passages program visit Jerusalem to explore the history of their Christian religion. (Courtesy of Passages)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — As evening descended on Jerusalem one Friday last month, 1,000 students gathered at the Western Wall for the traditional prayers to welcome the Jewish Sabbath. They joined the throngs who dance and sing at the holiest site in Judaism as Shabbat begins. When it was over,… Read more »
Hasidim, government officials and police officers stand in front of the K'hal Adas Greenville synagogue next door to the JC Kosher Supermarket in Jersey City, N.J., the site of a deadly shooting, Dec. 11, 2019. (Laura E. Adkins/JTA)
CHICAGO (JTA) — Some commentators have used the word “epidemic” to describe the recent spikes in anti-Semitism. They may not realize how correct they are. Twenty years ago, upon my return to the United States after serving as a senior infectious disease epidemiologist at the World Health Organization in… Read more »
Diego Schwartzman, listed at 5-7 but probably shorter, is congratulated by Alexander Zverev, who stands 6-6, at the 2019 U.S. Open. Schwartzman defeated Zverev in the fourth round. (Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)
This article originally appeared on Alma. I was never the best tennis player. Nor was I particularly good at soccer, basketball or any other sport my parents signed me up for. Still, I stuck with tennis through my junior year of high school, when I was unceremoniously cut from the… Read more »
From left: Israel's ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Vice President Mike Pence and U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman meet at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, Jan. 23, 2020. (Matty Stern/U.S. Embassy Jerusalem/Flash90)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The timeline is growing hazy for an Israeli Cabinet vote on annexing Jewish settlements in the West Bank, one day after U.S. President Donald Trump revealed a peace plan endorsing the move. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday after Trump unveiled the plan at the… Read more »
Rabbi Levi Shemtov attends a ceremony posthumously awarding Raoul Wallenberg with the Congressional Gold Medal in honor of his heroism during the Holocaust, at the U.S. Capitol, July 9, 2014. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Early Friday afternoon, I received a call inviting me to the White House to participate in a same-day signing ceremony for legislation authorizing $375 million in Homeland Security grants to help protect synagogues, churches, mosques and other places of worship. I replied that while I would… Read more »
(JTA) — The Trump administration put questions about the seriousness of its Israeli-Palestinian peace proposal to rest Tuesday by delivering a 181-page, detail-laden document that outlines a clear — if one-sided — vision for the future of the region. The document includes sections on history, security and economics, among… Read more »
Andre Azoulay, adviser to the Moroccan king, poses for a picture at the Bayt Dakira Jewish museum, in Essaouira, Morocco, Dec. 14, 2019. (Fadel Senna/AFP via Getty Images)
(JTA) — Morocco’s king has inaugurated a $1.5 million center dedicated to Jewish culture in the city of Essaouira. Last week, King Mohammed VI attended the inauguration for Bayt Dakira, which means House of Memory in Arabic. The port city was formerly home to a large population of Jews,… Read more »
Diego Schwartzman shown during his match against Serbia's Dusan Lajovic at the 2020 Australian Open, which Schwartzman won in straight sets, Jan. 24, 2020. (Manan Vatsyayana/AFP via Getty Images)
(JTA) — Jewish Argentine tennis star Diego Schwartzman is currently rolling at the Australian Open. After beating Serbian Dušan Lajović in straight sets on Friday, he has made it into the round of 16 for the second time in his career. He has yet to drop a set in… Read more »
James “Sneaky” White Jr., moments after his release from prison, Jan. 21, 2020. (Alix Wall)
BLYTHE, Calif. (J., the Jewish News Weekly of Northern California via JTA) — James A. “Sneaky” White Jr., a Jewish inmate convicted of murder and imprisoned for nearly four decades, is now a free man. As he stepped out of prison on Jan. 21 to begin his life anew, his many… Read more »
Gil Landau, left, and Yael Cohen make up Lola Marsh. (Michael Topyol)
(JTA) — Gil Landau and Yael Cohen, the two core members of Lola Marsh, don’t seem to care much about any of it — the pressure of being Israel’s biggest indie band, the baggage that comes with being labeled as Israeli occupiers in some of the places they perform,… Read more »
Members of the Jewish Orthodox community walk through a Brooklyn neighborhood on the Yom Kippur holiday, Oct. 9, 2019. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Relentless campaigns calling for curricula reform in the nation’s yeshivas. Misleading headlines about educational standards at Orthodox schools. Zoning efforts aimed at keeping large Jewish families out of suburban towns. Some see a direct link between such things and the anti-Semitic violence that has erupted… Read more »
(L-R) Rabbi Thomas Louchheim of Congregation Or Chadash, Bryan Davis of Tucson’s Jewish History Museum, and Pastor Margaret Redmond McFaddin of Prince Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church speak at the ‘No Hate No Fear’ solidarity rally Jan. 12 in Barrio Viejo. Photo Courtesy JHM
About 160 people filled the forecourt of Tucson’s Jewish History Museum on Sunday, Jan. 12, for a “No Hate. No Fear” solidarity rally organized by the museum and its next-door neighbor, the Prince Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church. The rally was a response to rising anti-Semitism in the United… Read more »
Janice Kaplan What began as a challenging idea — to spend a full year living gratefully — became a life-changing experience for author, magazine editor, and producer Janice Kaplan. Her inspirational memoir, “The Gratitude Diaries: How a Year Looking on the Bright Side Transformed My Life” (Dutton 2015) reached the New… Read more »
Artist Lisa Amie Sturz manipulates a puppet representing Cantor Izo Glickstein as she narrates ‘My Grandfather’s Prayers.’ Photo courtesy Red Herring Puppets
Relocating her well established Red Herring Puppets studio from North Carolina to Tucson last year was a big move for Lisa Amie Sturz. She brings to the Old Pueblo 40 years of experience in building, performing, and directing puppetry for film and television, theater, museums, educational institutions, and special… Read more »
Miriam Peretz, left, and Rachel Valfer of the Ladino Project will perform ‘MADRE’ in Tucson on Feb. 2.
The Jewish History Museum is sponsoring “In Diaspora We Are Many,” a festival that explores the Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewish cultures. The festival will take place Friday, Jan. 31 through Sunday, Feb. 2. This is the museum’s first Sephardic and Mizrahi festival. “We are holding a Sephardic and… Read more »
‘Irises in Bloom’ by Lily Rosenberg, 21 x 24 inches, giclee
The Tucson Jewish Community Center Gallery will present “Elements of Nature through the Artist’s Eye: The works of Lily Rosenberg and Lisa Mishler” Feb. 2–March 14. An artist reception will be held Sunday, Feb. 9, 1:30-3 p.m. Rosenberg uses acrylic paint in a contemporary impressionistic style to express her… Read more »
Esther Sherberg is the only civilian to be honored with transport toward her final resting place in The Last Alarm Foundation fire truck.
Esther Sherberg, a longtime Tucson resident and Jewish community volunteer, died Jan. 9, 2020, at the age of 86. Services were held Jan. 10 at Evergreen Mortuary, with Rabbi Robert Eisen of Congregation Anshei Israel officiating. Interment was in St. Louis, Missouri. Ms. Sherberg was born Oct. 1, 1933… Read more »
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with Vice President Mike Pence at the U.S. .Embassy in Jerusalem, Jan. 23, 2020. (Koby Gideon, Israeli Government Press Office)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Donald Trump will meet at the White House on Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Benny Gantz to talk in part about Middle East peace. Vice President Mike Pence extended the invitation at a meeting Thursday in Jerusalem with Netanyahu. The… Read more »
Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg speaks to voters in Cedar Falls, Iowa, Jan. 15, 2020. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
(JTA) — This is the second op-ed in a series of pieces about anti-Semitism and Jewish issues written by 2020 presidential candidates. This one is by Pete Buttigieg, 38, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency has sent five questions on the topic to all… Read more »
Selma van de Perre, right, is interviewed about her book at the National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam, Jan. 9, 2020. (Cnaan Liphshiz)
(JTA) — Cancer may have weakened Edward Mosberg’s body, but it has done nothing to dissuade the 94-year-old Holocaust survivor from New Jersey from traveling to his native Poland at least once a year to commemorate the Nazi genocide. “I wouldn’t wish my medical situation on Hitler,” Mosberg told… Read more »
