Graham Hoffman The Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona will welcome Graham Hoffman as chief executive officer, beginning Sept. 17. Hoffman most recently was deputy director of development at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Washington, D.C., as well as deputy director of the American Israel Education Foundation for the… Read more »
David Alexander Johnston in a scene from Invisible Theatre’s production of ‘The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey.’ (Creatista Films, Video and Photography)
David Alexander Johnston plays nine characters in “The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey” by LGBT activist and Academy Award-winning author, James Lecesne, playing at the Invisible Theatre Sept. 4-16. “Absolute Brightness” tells the story of the effect a gay teen’s disappearance has on his community. These are the voices… Read more »
Most of Paraguay’s 1,000 Jews live in Asuncion, where B’nai Jacob’s Torah has found a new home. (Erin Jones-Avni)
One family after another hurried through Erin Jones-Avni’s front door, anxious to get their first glimpse of the new arrival — to admire its ornate silver breastplate and touch its satiny mantle. “People just kept coming, and they’d make a beeline for the Torah,” she told JTA from her… Read more »
Volunteers from Roche Tissue Diagnostics (Ventana Medical Systems, Inc), including Jennifer Miller Grant (foreground) and Ianna Brugal, pack food boxes for Homer Davis Elementary School on Dec. 15, 2017. The food boxes are part of ‘Making a Difference Every Day: The Homer Davis Project,’ coordinated by the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Jewish Community Relations Council. (JFSA)
In Tucson, 21 percent of children live below the poverty level. It makes a difference when children study on empty stomachs. It makes a difference when they have no food to eat when they get home. It makes a difference in their ability to grow, learn and succeed. “Making… Read more »
Alma Hernandez’s second-place finish in the Democratic primary for the Arizona House of Representatives paves her way to election in November. (Courtesy of Hernandez)
(JTA) — Alma Hernandez, a 25-year-old Mexican-American Jew, finished in the top two in her Democratic primary for the Arizona statehouse, paving her way to be elected in November. Hernandez was second in her district Tuesday — there are two open spots for state representative — allowing her to… Read more »
Peter Riegert and Amy Irving starred in "Crossing Delancey." Riegert played a pickle shop owner on the Lower East Side. (Warner Brothers/Getty Images)
The movies, at least in contemporary times, don’t have enough great stories of outwardly Jewish love. That’s one of the many reasons why “Crossing Delancey,” the classic 1988 romantic comedy that arrived in theaters 30 years ago this week, remains a cinematic treat worth revisiting.… Read more »
The six Ulma children, seen here with their mother during their last summer alive, were killed in 1944 after watching their parents' execution for harboring Jews. (Courtesy of the Ulma Museum)
MARKOWA, Poland — Memorial plaques bearing the names of Poles killed for rescuing Jews line the pathway leading to a small, austere structure built into a hillside in this rural village in southeastern Poland. In the center courtyard, a large slab is inscribed to the memory of Jewish victims… Read more »
Ben Kingsley stars as Adolf Eichmann in "Operation Finale." (Valeria Florini / Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures)
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — Ask Ben Kingsley about why he was keen to portray Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann in the new film “Operation Finale” and he describes the traumatic childhood incident in which he first learned about the Holocaust. The 74-year-old British actor was then in grammar school and… Read more »
Women mourn their relatives at the cemetery overlooking the Jewish town of Krasnaiya Sloboda in northern Azerbaijan, July 21, 2018. (Cnaan Liphshiz)
KRASNAIYA SLOBODA, Azerbaijan (JTA) — For one day each summer, the hills overlooking this centuries-old Jewish town echo with the sound of wailing women. The women ascend up a narrow path from this town of several hundred residents in northern Azerbaijan to its vast cemetery. It’s an annual procession on Tisha… Read more »
The view down an alley off the street where Nazi camp guard Jakiw Palij lived in Queens, N.Y., Dec. 4, 2017. (Celeste Sloman for the Washington Post)
(JTA) — A former guard at a Nazi concentration camp was deported to Germany overnight from the United States, where he had lived for decades. Jakiw Palij, 95, had lived in Queens, New York. He served as a guard at the Trawniki concentration camp near Lublin, Poland, during World… Read more »
Mitzvah Magic circle captains and co-chairs celebrate the program’s 10th anniversary, Aug. 5. Standing (L-R): Fran Katz (Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona senior vice president), Andra Karnofsky (co-chair), Linda Tumarkin, Wendy Weiss, Claudia Oreck-Teplitsky, Donna Moser, Iris Posin (co-chair); seated, Elena Boskoff, Trudy Haggard, Anne Lowe (JFSA)
Mitzvah Magic, a program that provides baskets of Jewish holiday goods and everyday basics three times a year for local Jewish families in need, is a win-win, says longtime volunteer Iris Posin, who is co-chairing the program this year with Andra Karnofsky. Not only do families receive items that… Read more »
Katie Spector and Jeremy Thompson, the Tucson Jewish Community Center’s new arts and culture managers, in the J’s Sculpture Garden (Debe Ca
Look for some new directions in arts and culture programming at the Tucson Jewish Community Center with the addition of a dynamic duo of new managers, Katie Spector and Jeremy Thompson. Together they will focus on enriching community development, using innovative and creative ways to bring more people and… Read more »
(L-R) Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Board Chair Shelly Silverman, JFSA 2019 Campaign Chair Melissa Goldfinger, JFSA Senior Vice President Fran Katz, and JFSA Women’s Philanthropy Campaign Chair Leslie Glaze visit the Berlin Wall, July 15. (Melissa Goldfinger)
Each year, the Jewish Federations of North America invites professionals and lay leaders to participate in a mission that highlights the unique challenges, programs and impact of federations’ overseas funding. In mid-July, Melissa Goldfinger, Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona 2019 Campaign chair; Leslie Glaze, JFSA Women’s Philanthropy Campaign chair;… Read more »
The Jewish History Museum, open by appointment only during the summer, will reopen Friday, Aug. 31, with a new core exhibition, “Meanings Not Yet Imagined.” “Meanings Not Yet Imagined” is the final stage of a curatorial project that began with the installation of the Holocaust History Center’s “Intimate Histories”… Read more »
Some of Anarchestra’s unique instruments
Three concerts at Temple Emanu-El this fall offer a mix of jazz, classical and what can only be described as “an instrument petting zoo.” “First, we’re bringing in two really genre-bending jazz bands on Aug. 25,” says Robert Lopez-Hanshaw, choir director at Temple Emanu-El. The headliner is Resurrecting Id,… Read more »
Members of Tucson Hebrew High’s 40th graduating class: front row, from left, Nathan Rix, Emily Jones, Julia Braun, Michael Artzi, Emily Youngerman, Hannah Weisman, Sarah Artzi (teacher); back row, Yonatan Weiner, Benjamin Manninen, Andrew Gross, Rafe Centuori
“I just need to know, just what makes you glow.” —Jacob Spike Kraus, What Makes You Glow Tucson High School for Jewish Studies (Hebrew High) graduated 10 students at its 40th commencement in May. The seniors planned their own Glow-themed celebration, facilitated by Hebrew High Co-chair Sarah Artzi. “Throughout… Read more »
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez appears on "Meet the Press," July 1, 2018. (William B. Plowman/NBC/NBC NewsWire via Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic congressional candidate and rising progressive star, was cheered at an event at a Jewish museum that did not touch on Israel or the Jewish community. Ocasio-Cortez appeared at a conference here hosted by the Immigrant Arts Coalition at the Museum of… Read more »
Kate Bornstein after the opening night of "Straight White Men" in New York City, July 23, 2018. (Walter McBride/WireImage)
(JTA) — The Hayes Theater in New York, currently home to the Broadway show “Straight White Men,” has just opened its doors, and Kate Bornstein is already patrolling the orchestra seating area. There’s an unusual cacophony of rap music and flashing lights in the theater during the preshow. As… Read more »
Dafna Michaelson Jenet says her experiences in BBYO and Hadassah gave her “the underpinnings I needed to be a legislator.” (Sophia Laster)
(JTA) — Dafna Michaelson Jenet traces her political career back to conversations around the Shabbat table as a 14-year-old. She remembers hearing her parents and their friends discuss the challenges facing Cincinnati, where they were living. But the conversations would quickly be forgotten once the day of rest came… Read more »
Evelien Gans was one of the Netherlands’ foremost scholars on anti-Semitism and the Holocaust. (Courtesy of Daniel Staal)
AMSTERDAM (JTA) – On July 19, Evelien Gans, one of the Netherlands’ foremost scholars on anti-Semitism and the Holocaust, jumped to her death from her fourth-story Amsterdam apartment, where she lived alone. Gans, 67, a retired professor at the University of Amsterdam who had struggled with clinical depression for… Read more »
