Dr. Danielle Ofri, M.D.
The 10th Annual Cindy Wool Memorial Seminar on Humanism in Healthcare, honoring a decade of encouraging compassionate care, will be held next month. Dr. Danielle Ofri, an internist, acclaimed author and one of the foremost speakers about the doctor-patient relationship, will discuss the topic of her latest book, “What… Read more »
An IsraAid volunteer helps Syrian refugees come ashore on the island of Lesbos, Greece. IIsraAID)
Rachel Wallace will present “Humanitarian Heroes Around the World” as the Weintraub Israel Center’s Gertrude and Fred Rosen Memorial Lecture next month. The free lecture marks the launch of a month-long photo exhibit at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, “Stories of Courage and Resilience.” The Tucson J will host… Read more »
Ava Cohn
Ava Cohn, aka Sherlock Cohn, will present “Clued-In: The Stories are in the Details” at the March 10 meeting of the Southern Arizona Jewish Genealogy Society, 1 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Cohn specializes in the dating, identification, and interpretation of family photographs. She is the only… Read more »
Homer Davis Project volunteers from Roche Tissue Diagnostics wrapped gift boxes so that each child in the food program receives one on their birthday. (Homer Davis Elementary School)
Students, parents, volunteers, faculty and staff, sponsors, and friends will gather in March to celebrate 10 years of “Making a Difference Every Day: The Homer Davis Project.” The project is a collaboration of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Jewish Community Relations Council, the Jewish community, and Tucson corporate… Read more »
Josh Shenker, lower right, as young camp counselor
Playing “Ga-Ga ball” is a camp tradition that Josh Shenker, the Tucson Jewish Community Center’s director of child, youth and camping services, looked forward to every year he returned to summer camp at the JCC in Houston. The game starts with a ball thrown into the “pit,” a ringed… Read more »
Ed Asner (Tim Leyes)
The 11th Annual Tucson Festival of Books will be held March 2 and 3 on the University of Arizona campus. With hundreds of authors participating each year, the AJP traditionally highlights several Jewish writers who will be presenting authors. Brenda and Bill Viner, Jewish community members who helped co-found… Read more »
Josh Boloña, pictured sitting in his campus library, is the president of the Student Government Association at the University of Central Florida. (Ben Sales)
ORLANDO, Fla. (JTA) — Growing up, Josh Boloña was just like a lot of kids in South Florida: He was a Latino immigrant, from Ecuador, in an area with a lot of Latino immigrants. He was a Jewish kid in an area with many Jews. He was a soccer… Read more »
Observers say Bernie Sanders has helped make it kosher to criticize Israel within the Democratic Party. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) — This may be hard to remember, but three years ago it was a big deal when Bernie Sanders criticized Israel in public. During a debate in New York City with Hillary Clinton, Sanders generated headlines when he said the United States should care about Palestinian… Read more »
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, meets with President Andrzej Duda of Poland, at U.N. headquarters in New York, Sept. 26, 2018. Netanyahu has cultivated diplomatic relations with Israel's Eastern and Central European allies over objections that he has downplayed concerns over anti-Semitism and Holocaust memory. (GPO)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — It was meant to be a diplomatic triumph for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: a much-touted diplomatic summit here on Monday with four Central European states. Instead, harsh words from Israel’s acting foreign minister opened a diplomatic rift threatening to severely damage Israeli-Polish relations, and the… Read more »
Sen. Robert Menendez speaks at the AIPAC conference at the Washington Convention Center, March 6, 2018. (Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar started a firestorm by saying on Twitter that AIPAC pays lawmakers to support Israel. Both Democrats and Republicans have offered sharp rebukes, accusing the Minnesota Democrat of insinuating that Jews use money to get what they want. (On Monday afternoon, she said… Read more »
Elizabeth George
The Brandeis National Committee Tucson Chapter presents its 23rd Annual Book & Author events on Feb. 27 and 28 with four acclaimed authors: internationally bestselling mystery writer Elizabeth George, author of the Inspector Lynley series; Reed Farrel Coleman, called the “noir poet laureate” by the Huffington Post; Tucsonan Lauren… Read more »
Erika Spivack (Courtesy Erika Spivack)
Erika Spivack, a University High School senior, will receive the 12th annual Bryna Zehngut Mitzvot Award at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Women’s Philanthropy Connections brunch on Sunday, March 10. The Women’s Philanthropy advisory council, which includes past Women’s Philanthropy chairs and campaign chairs, created the award in… Read more »
Dan Lepow With one eye to retirement and the other to community involvement, Dan Lepow and his wife, Susie, arrived in Tucson last April from St. Paul, Minnesota. They had frequented Tucson over the years, as his sister Rebecca Crow relocated to the Old Pueblo in 1968 and his late mother… Read more »
Interfaith minister Grace Hartman blesses pets (Courtesy Grace Hartman)
Growing up in a Conservative Jewish home in Newton, Massachusetts, with her parents and brother, Lois Gail Esterman did all the right things. She attended Hebrew school through eighth grade, became a bat mitzvah, went to Hebrew high school and a Hebrew teacher’s college. She started her career as… Read more »
(L-R): Pawel Lichter, Walter Feiger, Sidney Finkel, and Wolfgang Hellpap pose with their ‘World War II Holocaust Survivor’ caps at the Holocaust History Center in Tucson.
(Courtesy Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Southern Arizona)
In an interview published Aug. 27, 2012, five years before his death in 2017 at the age of 87, Elie Wiesel spoke of devoting his life to the principle and the ideal of memory and remembrance. The article was titled “Elie Wiesel on His Fear of Being the Last… Read more »
Carol Leifer
Award-winning writer and producer, best-selling author, and stand-up comedian Carol Leifer will be the guest speaker at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Women’s Philanthropy 26th annual Connections brunch next month. Her topic will be “Judaism is in My DNA.” “I speak about how the Jewish values imparted to… Read more »
Elan Carr in his new post has met or planned meetings with predecessors from Republican and Democratic administrations. (Collage by Laura Adkins/JTA; Carr photo from Elan for Congress campaign: Capitol photo: Creative Commons)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Elan Carr’s career until now has been equal parts prosecutor, policy wonk, politico and performance artist. That makes him perfect for his new job as the State Department’s special envoy to monitor anti-Semitism, according to people most familiar with his appointment, which was made public on… Read more »
A memorial for the victims of the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh. (Hane Grace Yagel)
This article originally appeared on Alma. A typical Friday night for me used to consist of cooking myself a nicer than usual dinner and lighting the Shabbat candles alone before proceeding on as if it were any other night. Maybe I would relax by re-watching “Broad City” or going out… Read more »
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein arriving in Israel with the first group of immigrants brought by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, Dec. 22, 2014. (International Fellowship of Christians and Jews)
(JTA) — To the many colleagues and supporters of Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, who died Wednesday at the age of 67, he was a man of vision whose enormous drive to succeed both facilitated and complicated his relentless efforts on behalf of the Jewish people. As head of the International Fellowship… Read more »
The Shalva Band had a shot at becoming Israel's representative at the Eurovision contest. (Screenshot from YouTube)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Shalva Band, a group of musicians with various disabilities, didn’t expect to advance so far in the competition to represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest in May. But they made it all the way to the finals — and won’t find out if they… Read more »
