Tagged FRONT

Reform rabbis are finding it tough to love Israel

Members of the Reform movement and Hebrew Union College reading from the Torah at the public square in front of the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Nov. 16, 2017. (Noam Rivkin Fenton/Flash90)
November 29, 2017 / Ben Sales, JTA

(JTA) — When Israeli security guards roughed up the head rabbi of the Reform movement at the Western Wall, ripping his suit jacket and shoving a can of mace in his face, Rabbi Jen Lader had a dilemma: How could she talk about the violence without being boring? Lader,… Read more »

Why kosher butchers in Western Europe are preparing to close shop

Nissim Guedj unpacks merchandise at a kosher meat shop in Amsterdam, Oct. 26, 2017. (Cnaan Liphshiz)
November 29, 2017 / Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA

PARIS (JTA) – When Jerry Levy’s family opened one of the first gourmet kosher meat shops in France, they had some of the country’s best-laid business plans. Hailing from a long line of Jewish butchers in their native Algeria, they had the expertise and diligence in 1977 to cater… Read more »

‘The Mooch’ gets surprisingly Jewish to stump for Trump in Israel

Anthony Scaramucci, center, speaks alongside officials of the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce at a news conference at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, Nov. 21, 2017. (Courtesy of Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce)
November 24, 2017 / Andrew Tobin, JTA

  JERUSALEM (JTA) – Anthony Scaramucci, the short-lived White House communications director, is not a member of the tribe. But he came close to declaring himself one during a visit to Israel this week. “A few more days here and I’d probably convert to Judaism,” Scaramucci joked to JTA… Read more »

The Trump administration says it wants to shut down the PLO mission. Now what?

The flag of the Palestine Liberation Organization seen above its offices in Washington, D.C., Nov. 18, 2017. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)
November 21, 2017 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — In 1987, Congress passed legislation that declared there would never be an office of the Palestine Liberation Organization on U.S. soil. President Ronald Reagan agreed and signed the law. Seven years later the law was still on the books. But that year the PLO opened an… Read more »

Judaism is the star at a Bible museum built by Hobby Lobby

Kids can be Samson bringing down the walls at Courageous Pages, the play area at the new Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. (Ron Kampeas)
November 21, 2017 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — As the Burning Bush crackles, God is heard. “Mow-zes,” God says in the mysterious mid-Atlantic accent that Hollywood once trained its actors to use — the one Anne Baxter as Nefertiti used to summon Charlton Heston’s Moses in the 1956 blockbuster “The Ten Commandments.” “Mow-zes, Mow-zes.”… Read more »

Why an Israeli soldier insists he beat a Palestinian, but the army doesn’t buy it

Dean Issacharoff is the spokesman for Breaking the Silence, a much-maligned nonprofit that opposes Israel's military occupation in the West Bank. (Screenshot from Facebook)
November 20, 2017 / Andrew Tobin, JTA

TEL AVIV (JTA) – Imagine for a moment that a soldier is suspected of misconduct in the field. Typically, someone might be expected to report the soldier, prompting the army to investigate. The soldier might deny any wrongdoing. Well, in Israel, a recent case unfolded in almost exactly the opposite way.… Read more »

Austria accepted its Holocaust guilt. So why is its far right on the rise?

Heinz-Christian Strache, the leader of Austria's right-wing Freedom Party, at the party's election event following Austrian parliamentary elections in Vienna, Oct. 15, 2017. (Alex Domanski/Getty Images)
November 20, 2017 / Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA

VIENNA (JTA) — When it comes to the Holocaust, Austria has made a lot of progress assuming responsibility. In recent years, Austrian officials have consistently acknowledged their country’s support of Adolf Hitler, an Austria native, and his war of annihilation against Jews. In the early 2000s, the government dropped… Read more »

I tried to speak to Bernie Bernstein — any Bernie Bernstein — and this is what happened

Carl Bernstein speaking at the SVA Theatre in New York City, Oct. 6, 2017. (Brad Barket/Getty Images for The New Yorker)
November 20, 2017 / Ben Sales, JTA

NEW YORK (JTA) — Just who is Bernie Bernstein, exactly? Well, first things first: He — or, more accurately, it — is a disembodied voice that has become a supporting character in the brouhaha surrounding Roy Moore, the U.S. Senate candidate in Alabama who has been accused of sexual… Read more »

Tovah Feldshuh to bring Broadway sparkle to free JFSA event

Tovah Feldshuh
November 16, 2017 / Kaye Patchett, Special to the AJP

Broadway comes to Tucson on Thursday, Nov. 30 at 7 p.m., when six-time Tony and Emmy-nominated actor Tovah Feldshuh takes the stage at Congregation Anshei Israel for the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s free event, Together: A Night of Song, presenting her acclaimed show, “Tovah: Out of Her Mind!”… Read more »

Beckers lead intimate, spiritual Israel journey

(L-R) Mark Zimmerman, Rabbi Israel Becker, Esther Becker, Lyn Lewis and Sue Ross at the Western Wall on Oct. 22
November 16, 2017 / Korene Charnofsky Cohen, Special to the AJP

Traveling to Israel is like entering a time machine, where you connect to the past amidst advanced technology. Rabbi Israel Becker and his wife Esther of Congregation Chofetz Chayim led five people on a spiritual journey to Israel Oct. 15-26 with the theme of “Where the Past Shapes Your… Read more »

Arizona Repertory Singers to perform Hanukkah premiere, ‘King David’ oratorio

The Arizona Repertory Singers will perform the world premiere of ‘Festival of Lights’ next month. (David Sanders)
November 16, 2017 / Phyllis Braun, AJP Executive Editor

The Arizona Repertory Singers will feature several pieces of Jewish music during its 2017-2018 season. In its winter concert series, the 47-member ensemble directed by Elliot Jones, Ph.D., will perform the world premiere of “Festival of Lights” by New York composer Karen Siegel, as well as the Ladino Hanukkah… Read more »

Tucson J plans circus-themed ECE fundraiser

Flam Chen’s performances merge daredevil acrobatics and pyrotechnics. (Courtesy Tucson Jewish Community Center)
November 16, 2017 /

The Sculpture Garden at the Tucson Jewish Community Center will take on a “Big Top” atmosphere for the Tucson J early childhood education program’s new winter fundraiser, Cirque D’Arte. The event, which will be held Saturday, Dec. 2 at 6:30 p.m., will begin in the Sculpture Garden with characters… Read more »

Leonard Bernstein centennial will get major play in Tucson

Leonard Bernstein was renowned worldwide for his flamboyant conducting style as well as his talent as a composer, pianist and educator. (Paul de Hueck, courtesy of the Leonard Bernstein Office, Inc.)
November 16, 2017 / Renee Claire, Special to the AJP

Tucson will be marking the 100th birthday of Leonard Bernstein in a very big way. “Bernstein at 100 — A Celebration of the Life and Music of Leonard Bernstein” will take place from Jan. 16 through Feb. 4, 2018. The Tucson Desert Song Festival, under the direction of George… Read more »

THA students’ art, values topic for Green Valley talk

Art by students of Tucson Hebrew Academy is on display at Beth Shalom Temple Center in Green Valley. (Courtesy Amy Pozez)
November 16, 2017 /

The art gallery at Beth Shalom Temple Center in Green Valley will present “A Visual Exploration of Jewish Values: The Art of Jewish Youth,” featuring art by students at Tucson Hebrew Academy, through Dec. 21. “Values are the mainstay of our belief. Thoughts often swim in my head about… Read more »

Tucson J exhibit reveals many ‘Spiritual Voices’

‘Picasso Revisited,’ stained glass by Bob Samson
November 16, 2017 / Brenda Goldstein, Special to the AJP

The Tucson Jewish Community Center will present “Spiritual Voices,” a juried art show, Nov. 30-Jan. 10. The exhibit will include 20 Jewish artists from Southern Arizona. Local artists Aimee Smythe and Lisa Mishler are the curators of “Spiritual Voices.” Both women have participated in numerous art shows throughout the… Read more »

60,000 joined a Polish nationalist march. Should Jews be worried?

Some of the tens of thousands of nationalists marching through Warsaw, Nov. 11, 2017. (Jakob Ratz/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
November 14, 2017 / Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA

(JTA) — The sight of far-right activists waving racist banners and shouting anti-Semitic slogans during a nationalist march in the capital of Poland over the weekend shocked many around the world. It was an understandable reaction to witnessing tens of thousands in Warsaw marching near what used to be… Read more »

On Broadway, an Israeli-American plays an Egyptian romantic in ‘The Band’s Visit’

Ari'el Stachel, right, plays matchmaker to two shy Israelis, played by Rachel Prather and Etai Benson, in "The Band's Visit." (Matt Murphy)
November 13, 2017 / Steve North, JTA

(JTA) — There’s a long and poignant story behind the T-shirt that Ari’el Stachel often wears these days. It says, in Hebrew letters, “Totzeret Teman” —  “Product of Yemen.” The unexpected juxtaposition of two cultures, Israeli and Arab, is as fascinating and complex as Stachel himself. Stachel, 26, is an… Read more »

It’s Jew vs. Jew as Congress weighs a new definition for anti-Semitism

Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center testifies before the House Judiciary Committee, Nov. 7, 2017. (Screenshot from YouTube)
November 10, 2017 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

  WASHINGTON (JTA) — Jewish and pro-Israel leaders exchanged heated remarks at a congressional hearing on how to define anti-Semitism. Tuesday’s hearing of the House Judiciary Committee took up a bill that would, among other things, define as anti-Semitism language that “demonizes” Israel. Of the nine witnesses who addressed the… Read more »

This is what Puerto Rico looks like 50 days after Hurricane Maria

This man in Puerto Rico lives in a nursing home that has not had power since Hurricane Irma. (Josefin Dolsten)
November 10, 2017 / Josefin Dolsten, JTA

  SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (JTA) — “Feeling lucky today?” reads a flier for a casino tucked into the seat pocket of Adolfo Vasquez’s car. The car actually belongs to his wife, Vasquez explains. He borrowed hers, which is bigger, to drive a group from the San Juan Airport… Read more »