Tagged FRONT

Belgian parade that mocked Jews gives up its UNESCO endorsement

A parade float at the Aalst Carnaval in Belgium features caricatures of Orthodox Jews atop money bags, March 3, 2019. (Courtesy of FJO)

(JTA) — The U.N.’s leading cultural body was scheduled to vote this month on whether to remove a Belgian carnival that had hosted a float seen as mocking Jews from its list of important human cultural expressions. But the carnival’s organizers decided they wouldn’t wait for a possible censure… Read more »

This Holocaust-themed figure skating costume is just the sport’s latest to cause scandal

From left to right: Sonja Henie, championship skater and actress; Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin of Russia perform during Festa on Ice 2010; Russia’s Anton Shulepov performs in the men's free skate at the Grand Prix of Figure Skating 2019 (Getty Images)

CALDWELL, N.J. (JTA) — Figure skating costumes have a long and sometimes ridiculous history. Until about the 1930s, women were expected to compete in ponderous and weighty skirts, making it hard to move freely, let alone tackle a triple lutz. That all started to change largely for two reasons. The… Read more »

Tiffany Haddish’s celebrity-filled bat mitzvah, in photos

Rabbi Susan Silverman, left, with Tiffany Haddish at Haddish's bat mitzvah at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., Dec. 3, 2019. (Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Netflix)

(JTA) — Tiffany Haddish celebrated her bat mitzvah Tuesday night surrounded by an array of Jewish celebrity friends, including Billy Crystal, Chelsea Handler and Sarah Silverman. The comedian, who celebrated in Beverly Hills on the occasion of her 40th birthday, released her Netflix standup special, “Black Mitzvah,” on the same… Read more »

I’m a proud British Jew troubled by Corbyn’s anti-Semitism problem — but I’m still voting for Labour

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn does arts and crafts during a visit to Winwood Heights Retirement Village in Nottingham, while on the 2019 election campaign trail. (Joe Giddens/PA Images via Getty Images)

LONDON, England (JTA) — I am a secular Jew and a lifelong British Labour Party voter — two allegiances that once intersected very comfortably. As so many of us do, I inherited my politics. Every time Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher was reelected, my mother and her friends held a… Read more »

Tony Shalhoub grew up in a Lebanese family in Wisconsin. He draws on that to play his Jewish ‘Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ character.

Tony Shalhoub with Rachel Brosnahan in season 3 of "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel." (Amazon Studios)

NEW YORK (JTA) — On a recent snowy afternoon, Tony Shalhoub is drinking tea in a room at the Whitby Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. He’s in the midst of a long press day promoting season 3 of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” and he just wants to get comfortable. So… Read more »

Bloomberg or Bernie: Which Jewish candidate do American Jews want?

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Sen. Bernie Sanders. Behind Bloomberg: Wall Street in the 1960s. Behind Sanders: Jewish salespeople on the Lower East Side of New York City in the 1890s. (Getty Images/JTA montage)

NEW YORK (JTA) — First Bernie Sanders. Now Michael Bloomberg. This cycle’s Democratic primary is shaping up to be the all-time greatest troll of white nationalist Twitter — a battle royale featuring both a Jewish socialist from Brooklyn and a Jewish billionaire who made his fortune catering to Wall… Read more »

Netanyahu’s indictment is painful to watch. But Americans shouldn’t lose hope in Israeli democracy.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his residence in Jerusalem. Netanyahu called the indictment allegations a "witch hunt." (Gali Tibbon/AFP via Getty Images)

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (JTA) — The indictment of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is an understandably confusing and emotional moment for American Jews. Thursday was a “difficult and sad day” for Israelis, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit said when announcing the indictment. Netanyahu is the first sitting prime minister in Israel’s… Read more »

CAI scholar-in-residence to animate Shabbat with song, story

Rabbi Cantor Hillary Chorny, left, and Cantorial Soloist Nichole Chorny

Update 11.22.19: This scholar-in-residence weekend is supported by The Rabbi Marcus Breger Fund at Congregation Anshei Israel. Rabbi Cantor Hillary Chorny of Temple Beth Am in Los Angeles will bring new music and innovative, interactive Shabbat services to Tucson as Congregation Anshei Israel’s scholar-in-residence, Dec. 13 and 14. Her… Read more »

Through JFCS, national fund boosts safety net for local Holocaust survivors

Tucson Holocaust survivors (L-R) Sidney Finkel, Wolfgang Hellpap, Walter Feiger, and Pawel Lichter (Photo: John Pregulman)

Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Southern Arizona recently partnered with a national initiative that provides emergency funding to local Holocaust survivors. Assistance from the Seed the Dream Foundation and KAVOD-Ensuring Dignity for Holocaust Survivors now is available for any Holocaust survivor through the new KAVOD Survivors of the… Read more »

BSTC star party to feature comet-finder Levy

Astronomer David Levy with Cupid, a Questar telescope that was a wedding gift from his wife, Wendee. Photo Wendee Levy)

Beth Shalom Temple Center in Green Valley will host a star-gazing evening with acclaimed astronomer and author David H. Levy, Ph.D., on Wednesday, Dec. 4. Levy is among the most successful comet discoverers in history, having discovered or co-discovered 23 comets, nine of them using his own backyard telescopes.… Read more »

Pozez lecture will tackle ‘Aliyah of the Mind’

David Hazony

David Hazony, Ph.D., will present “Aliyah of the Mind: Zionism as Jewish Emancipation” on Monday, Dec. 16 at 7 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, as part of the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies’ Shaol & Louis Pozez Memorial Lectureship Series. Most people think Zionism is about supporting… Read more »

Local psychologist takes ‘Leap of Power’ in new addiction treatment book

Robert Schwebel, Ph.D., a Tucsonan since 1981, is the author of ‘Leap of Power.’

Imagine telling adolescents, “You don’t have to say you’re going to quit using drugs” and then dealing with their parents and community. Imagine encouraging young clients to talk about what they like about drugs instead of focusing on the harm drugs can cause. Counter-intuitive and certainly non-traditional, these approaches… Read more »

Life was good for the Jews of this New York suburb. Then a schoolteacher was stabbed.

Toshnad Heichel Torah Utfila, the synagogue near where a teacher was stabbed, was active the day after the attack, Nov. 21, 2019. (Ben Sales/JTA)

RAMAPO, N.Y. (JTA) — On the street where a man was stabbed to within an inch of his life on Wednesday, yellow buses waited to ferry young children to elementary school. Steps away from where his blood had splattered on the asphalt, young men shuffled in and out of… Read more »

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicted for corruption

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a statement to the press after a security cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv, Nov. 12, 2019. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Benjamin Netanyahu has been charged in three corruption cases, marking the first time a sitting Israeli prime minister has been indicted. The charges, announced on Thursday evening by the Justice Ministry and Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, include bribery and breach of public trust. Netanyahu has denied… Read more »

An Orthodox Jew is running for Jeremy Corbyn’s Parliament seat. He’ll need a miracle.

Yosef David says his Brexit Party is a "safe and friendly place" for Jews despite racism allegations. (Courtesy of David)

(JTA) — As an observant Jew, Yosef David was taught to believe in miracles. That’s a good thing since David, a social worker from London, is going to need one to succeed in his new mission: unseating Jeremy Corbyn from Parliament in the general election on Dec. 12. David… Read more »

5 Jewish things to know about Deval Patrick

Deval Patrick speaking at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual conference in Washington, D.C., March 5, 2018. (Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

(JTA) — The crowded field of Democratic 2020 hopefuls has welcomed another latecomer to the fray: Deval Patrick, the former Massachusetts governor. On Thursday, Patrick released an announcement video that recalled the struggles he faced growing up on Chicago’s South Side and said he wanted to make the American… Read more »