South Korea is hosting the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. (Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Though the Jewish community in South Korea is small, Jews visiting the country to compete in or watch the Winter Olympic Games won’t have to skimp on kosher food or Shabbat programming. The country’s Chabad emissary is setting up a pop-up restaurant in Pyeongchang County, the site of… Read more »
Couples who married in Abidjan after having undergone conversions to Judaism, Dec. 10, 2017. (Bonita Sussman)
(JTA) — Avraham Yago, a married father of five who works as a linguistics professor at the University of Abidjan in the West African nation of Cote d’Ivoire, has visited Israel four times to learn about Judaism and practice his Hebrew. Yago, 64, grew up without any religious affiliation.… Read more »
The main gate of the former Auschwitz extermination camp in Oswiecim, Poland. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
(JTA) — The Polish parliament’s bill to criminalize the use of the term “Polish death camps” prompted an avalanche of criticism in Israel by officials and individuals who warned that it is excessive and risks stifling research on the Holocaust. Following the bill’s passing Friday in the Sejm, or the lower… Read more »
Rabbi David Saperstein Named America’s most influential rabbi by Newsweek in 2009, Ambassador Rabbi David Saperstein will be the scholar-in residence for Temple Emanu-El’s annual Rabbi Albert T. Bilgray Memorial Lecture Series, Feb. 8-10. Speaking on “Freedom and Justice in the World Today,” Saperstein will draw upon a career of service to… Read more »
Brandeis professor Eileen McNamara, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, left, talks with Susan Cole, Myrna Silver, Ellen Adelstein and Judy Norris at the Brandeis University on Wheels event at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on Jan. 8. (Debe Campbell)
The best defense against today’s era of “fake news” is to counter misinformation with accurate information. That’s the remedy offered by two speakers at the recent Brandeis University on Wheels lecture hosted by the Tucson Chapter of Brandeis National Committee and the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Brandeis University professors… Read more »
Tucsonan Joel Alpert, in white shirt, in the Israeli studio of sculptor, left, David Zundelovitch, with a model of the Yurburg memorial and, from far left, Alpert’s cousins Itzhak Zarnitsky and Benny Naividel, and architect Anna Zundelovitch.
Those entering Tucson’s Holocaust History Center or the Tucson Jewish Community Center will notice a black and white film portraying life in turn of the 20th century Eastern Europe. In fact, it depicts life in the small western Lithuanian town today known as Jurbarkas. The majority of the population… Read more »
'Lichtenstein: Otiyot as Words,’ printed vinyl on acrylic, 43” x 30”, by Lynn Rae Lowe
The art gallery at Beth Shalom Temple Center is presenting an exhibit by award-winning Tucson artist Lynn Rae Lowe, “Ancient and Contemporary Symbolism of the Hebrew Alphabet,” through March 4. Lowe uses a variety of materials, two- and three-dimensional methods and the techniques of 20th century master artists to… Read more »
"Tower House II," 2017, oil on canvas, 39" x 52", by Andy Burgess.
Works by Tucson artist Andy Burgess will be on display at the Tucson Museum of Art beginning next month. The exhibit, “Mid-Century Perspectives: Paintings by Andy Burgess and Objects of Modern Design,” will run through April 22. Burgess, who grew up in a Jewish family in North London’s Golders… Read more »
Henry Koffler at the Jan. 14 reception for his ‘95!’ exhibit at the J.
At the age of 90, Henry Koffler, Ph.D., former University of Arizona president, embarked on a new career. Becoming an artist represented something good coming out of emergency surgery followed by a long recovery. That was five years ago. His exhibit, “95!,” celebrating his age and artwork, is now… Read more »
The 'Paradisus Iudaeorum' gallery, part of the core exhibition at Warsaw's POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, examines a 'golden age' for Jews in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 16th and 17th centuries.
A passion for history that began with her father’s stories of his childhood in pre-war Poland has led Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett to play a large part in piecing together the scattered, thousand-year history of the Polish Jews. Now she is bringing this history to Tucson. Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, chief curator of the core… Read more »
LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 21: Actor Timothee Chalamet attends the 24th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on January 21, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
(JTA) — If one thing jumps out about the nominations for the 90th annual Academy Awards, it’s the lack of big Jewish headlines to be plucked from them. “The Shape of Water,” Guillermo del Toro’s latest fantasy-tinted film, about an amphibian creature housed in a government laboratory, led the… Read more »
From left to right: Ira Forman, Michael Whine, Heidi Beirich and Rabbi David Saperstein speaking on a panel in Washington, D.C., on the rise of the far right and anti-Semitism, Jan. 22 2018. (Ron Kampeas)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — It’s better here: That was the message of a panel of experts considering the rise of the extreme right and of anti-Semitism in the United States and Europe. That was the good news at the forum Monday sponsored by Georgetown University’s Center for Jewish Civilization. No… Read more »
Students and teachers from Seminar Ha'kibuzim protest against the deportation of African asylum seekers, in Tel Aviv, January 24, 2018. Photo by Tomer Neuberg/ FLASH90
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Holocaust survivors and rabbis, as well as doctors and some airline pilots, are among the Israelis who say they will try to thwart Israel’s plan to deport thousands of African migrants, even if it means taking them into their own homes. The latest group to come… Read more »
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — With the Academy Awards on the horizon, there is no shortage of high-quality films to see in theaters and on the small screen. Getting a jump on the festivities, here are five of the best Jewish-themed ones to watch this awards season, from Oscar contenders to… Read more »
Michael Shiner makes a call at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Super Sunday phone-a-thon on Jan. 29, 2017. Shiner is one of three Super Sunday co-chairs for 2018.
The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona will hold its annual Super Sunday phone-a-thon on Jan. 28, 2018 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Volunteers will call members of the Tucson Jewish community seeking donations to the Federation’s 2018 Community Campaign. This year’s campaign theme is “100 Days of Impact.” … Read more »
Tempest DuJour
The University of Arizona Hillel Foundation is going more local for this year’s fundraiser. On Saturday, Feb. 17, at 6:30 p.m., Hillel will hold “A Night at La Cage Hillel” at the Stevie Eller Dance Theater building on the university campus. The event is crucial to supporting Hillel’s work… Read more »
Edith Eger, Ph.D.
Forgiveness is the ultimate spiritual freedom, says Edith Eger, Ph.D.: “It takes forgiveness to heal.” One of the last remaining Holocaust survivors, Eger, a psychologist, will be the guest speaker at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Women’s Philanthropy Connections 25th Anniversary brunch, “The Power to Heal,” on Feb.… Read more »
Harriet and Jerry Belenker
Communication. Give and take. Love. These are some the themes that emerged when the AJP spoke recently with nine couples in the Jewish community who have been married more than 50 years – six, remarkably, in the 60-plus range — about the secrets to a long marriage. Here, without… Read more »
Chen Dinatzi and Tamir Shecory are Tucson's latest Israeli teen volunteers. (Courtesy Weintraub Israel Center)
Chen Dinatzi and Tamir Shecory, Tucson’s second cohort of shinshinim (Israeli teen emissaries), will present a series of Israel education events for adults, “Talking Tachles with Chen and Tamir” at community congregations and organizations. Tachles is a slang Hebrew word, derived from Yiddish, that means “to the point” or… Read more »
Izzy Kornman
Relocating from Atlanta in the midst of Tucson’s hottest summer on record wasn’t Izzy Kornman’s greatest challenge. She’d already met one big challenge, being chosen as one of 25 national recipients of the Hillel International Springboard Fellowship. She also had to adjust to the Southwest vibe. “That’s a really… Read more »
