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 »
Jeff Goldblum on an episode of "Finding Your Roots." (Screenshot from PBS)
(JTA) — The latest episode of PBS’ celebrity genealogy show “Finding Your Roots” was a lesson in Jewish history. Titled “Beyond the Pale” — a reference to the Pale of Settlement, the region of what was then Imperial Russia where many Ashkenazi Jews have roots — the episode that… Read more »
In 2019, some 500 of 3,500 immigrants to Israel from North America were retirees. (Jonny Finkel Photography)
JERUSALEM – For a growing number of Jews in the Diaspora, turning retirement dreams into reality also means realizing a lifelong dream of living in Israel. Over the past decade, more than 6,000 Jews from North America and Britain have retired to Israel. In 2019, some 500 of 3,500… Read more »
Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg speaks at a rally in New York City, Jan. 15, 2020. (Scott Heins/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — We ran a story last week on where the top seven Democrats running for president stood on Iran policy. Try as we could, we could not pin down a position for Mike Bloomberg, the former New York mayor who was not included in the last debate,… Read more »
Maria Nowak at her 100th birthday celebration in her home in Krakow, Poland, Jan. 20, 2020. (Tytus Kondracki)
(JTA) — One week before International Holocaust Remembrance Day, dozens of European officials arrived in Poland for a large commemoration event at Auschwitz. The delegation from the Brussels-based European Jewish Association visited the former Nazi death camp, located about 20 miles from Krakow, on Tuesday. Few of the officials,… Read more »
Graham Chapman, left, and Terry Jones in a scene from Monty Python's "Life Of Brian," which debuted in 1979. (Warner Brothers/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Terry Jones, one of the core members of the Monty Python comedy troupe, died Tuesday night at 77. He had been suffering from dementia. In addition to starring in numerous Python productions, the beloved comedian directed some of the group’s biggest films, including “Monty Python and the… Read more »
At left, Joint Arab List members present their party list to the election committee at the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, Jan. 15, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90); at right, Labor Party leader Amir Peretz and Meretz leader Nitzan Horowitz are seen at a meeting of the Labor-Gesher and Meretz parties list in Tel Aviv, Jan. 20, 2020. (Flash 90)
(JTA) — Two center-left parties in Israel merged their electoral lists last week ahead of a submission deadline for the March 2 election. Labor, the “founding party” of Israel, will run with Meretz, a left-wing party long committed to ending the occupation and establishing a Palestinian state. This reluctant… Read more »
Jews wearing Star of David badges in the Lodz Ghetto in Poland. (Jewish Chronicle/Heritage Images/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Half of American adults are unaware of basic facts regarding Nazism and the Holocaust, including the number of Jews who were killed and how Nazis came to power. Those are some of the findings of a new study by the Pew Research Center released on Tuesday, about… Read more »
Thousands of pro-gun rights protesters assembled outside the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, Jan. 20, 2020. (Ron Kampeas)
RICHMOND, Va. (JTA) — Hedy Lapkin’s boyfriend wanted to attend the pro-gun rally in this capital city, but she had reservations. “My boyfriend has a lot of guns,” Lapkin, 79, said of her 83-year-old boyfriend. “He said, ‘You want to go to the rally?’ I said, ‘Are you out… Read more »
