4 things to know about Bret Stephens, the latest Jewish New York Times columnist
NEW YORK (JTA) — At first glance, The New York Times’ hiring of another white, Jewish male opinion-page columnist is anything but news. But the arrival of Bret Stephens, formerly the foreign affairs columnist for The Wall Street Journal, may be especially resonant for American Jews. Stephens, 42,… Read more »
Lilian Farahani and Benjamin de Wilde portraying Anne Frank and Zef Bunga at the National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam, March 5, 2017. (Cnaan Liphshiz)
AMSTERDAM (JTA) — Decades after her death at a Nazi concentration camp, Anne Frank’s restless spirit in heaven finally finds a soulmate in Zef Bunga, an Albanian teenager who was murdered in a revenge killing. Anne, whose world-famous diary recounts her two years in hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam with… Read more »
Jon Ossoff is one of three Jewish candidates in a field of 18 vying for a congressional seat in Georgia. (Courtesy of the Ossoff campaign)
Editor’s note: Democrat Jon Ossoff will face Republican Karen Handel in the June 20 runoff election. Ossoff won 48.1% of the vote April 18; Handel won 19.78% WASHINGTON (JTA) – One candidate has the endorsement of a civil rights giant. Another boasts that he changes his oil in… Read more »
A parade led by the University of Arizona marching band kicks off Tucson’s 2013 Israel Festival.
In recent years, Tucson’s community-wide celebration of Israel’s Independence Day had grown from a one-day festival to a week of Tucson Celebrates Israel events. This year, in partnership with local congregations, the Weintraub Israel Center has orchestrated a month of events, beginning April 21, celebrating Israel’s 69 years of… Read more »
Opening of 'Degenerate Art' exhibition, Munich 1937 (Courtesy Jewish History Museum)
The Jewish community’s 2017 Yom HaShoah commemoration, which will include a survivor processional and candle lighting ceremony, will take place Sunday, April 23 at 2 p.m. at Temple Emanu-El. This year’s theme is “Art and Totalitarianism: 80 Years After the ‘Degenerate Art’ Exhibition.” The “Degenerate Art” (Entartete Kunst) exhibition… Read more »
Michael J. Rosenkrantz (center) coaches Tucson Lobos players Karl Yares (left) and Arthur Parson at the National Wheelchair Basketball tournament in Louisville, Ky., on March 31, 2017. (Courtesy Rosenkrantz)
Why shouldn’t we care about other people, Michael J. Rosenkrantz asks rhetorically, adding that he refuses to live a selfish lifestyle. “I feel like it’s really important to think about the larger community, and it’s not just the Jewish community — it’s bigger,” says Rosenkrantz. “But in the Jewish… Read more »
Rina Paz, left, with Hazel Rappeport at Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging (Nanci Levy)
Rina Paz has been visiting Hazel Rappeport, a resident at Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging, for three months. Once in a while Paz says something in English and Rappeport is quick to remind her that they are supposed to be speaking only Hebrew. Nanci Levy, community outreach coordinator… Read more »
Members of Tucson’s Jewish-Latino Teen Coalition with Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) in her office on April 13, 2016. (L-R): Samantha Ybarra, Sayanna Molino (chaperone), Emma Galligan, Slaughter, Zoe Holtzman, Michael Artzi, Sophie Gootter, Joshua Cohen, Aaron Gomez, Shari Gootter (program coordinator), Alexander Senti, Daniel Vogel, David Bracamonte (Courtesy Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona)
Tucsonan Shari Gootter spends her time changing the lives of others in a wide variety of ways. Self-employed as a therapist and yoga instructor, she works daily to help people as they improve themselves emotionally and physically; however, her work as a volunteer for several organizations in Tucson is… Read more »
Cantor Avraham Alpert Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Southern Arizona and the LEAH program will present two free talks in the Shalom in Every Home Healthy Family Lecture Series, April 23 and 30, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. On Sunday, April 23, Avraham Alpert, spiritual leader of… Read more »
1913 Ford Model T Roadster (Courtesy Wayne's Toys)
Congregation Or Chadash will hold a fundraiser, “Revvin’ It Up,” an evening at Wayne’s Toys — Tucson’s Auto Museum on Saturday, April 29 at 6 p.m. Set amid the classic cars, the evening will feature a DJ playing car tunes and music for dancing, a beer tasting and hosted… Read more »
A view of the Suruc refugee camp in Turkey, which houses some 35,000 Syrian refugees. (Carl Court/Getty Images)
TEL AVIV (JTA) – At a Shabbat service in Tel Aviv on Friday evening, congregants recited the mourner’s prayer for those killed in Syria’s civil war. Standing before a mural of the Tree of Life, the rabbi of Beit Daniel, the largest Reform synagogue in Israel, delivered a sermon… Read more »
The USS Porter fires a Tomahawk missile at a Syrian military airfield in the Mediterranean Sea, April 7, 2017. (Ford Williams/U.S. Navy via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Israel’s government and pundits are unabashedly pleased by the missile strike ordered by President Donald Trump early Friday on the Syrian airfield from where Tuesday’s deadly chemical attack is believed to have been launched. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put out a statement out at 6 a.m.… Read more »
Hassan Dallal, a survivor of the chemical attack in Syria, receives medical treatment at a hospital in Idlib, April 5, 2017. (Mohammed Karkas/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
TEL AVIV (JTA) – In response to the alleged chemical attack in Syria on Tuesday, Israelis have donated hundreds of thousands of shekels to help children and others caught in the conflict raging on their northern border. With Israel maintaining a policy of noninterference, giving money has been a way for people here to… Read more »
Politics and seders don’t always mix well. (Lior Zaltzman)
NEW YORK (JTA) — After Donald Trump won the presidential election, Sheila Katz wasn’t sure she wanted to come home for Thanksgiving. As the politically liberal member of a conservative family, she had been comfortable sparring with her relatives during the Obama administration. But as Thanksgiving approached, she found… Read more »
Peter Hayes speaks at the Holocaust History Center at the Jewish History Museum on March 13. (David J. Del Grande)
From the Catholic Church, to occupied Europe and the United States, the world failed to prevent the Holocaust because they were too vested in their own interests, Peter Hayes, a former professor at Northwestern University, told about 40 people who packed the Holocaust History Center at the Jewish History… Read more »
Shai Feldman
Shai Feldman, a professor of politics at Brandeis University, believes President Donald J. Trump could broker a deal that ends the Arab/Israeli conflict, because the most contentious issues contradict a golden rule of negotiation. “In the Arab/Israeli conflict the devil is not in the details, in the Arab/Israeli conflict… Read more »
Seated (L-R): Leah Avuno, Yoni Weiner, Bar Alkaher; standing: Téa, Tamir, Erin, Elana, Joshua, Jackie and Naomi Weiner
(Courtesy Naomi Weiner)
If your heart longs to visit Israel, but time doesn’t allow, consider the opportunity to bring a vibrant piece of Israel to your home. The Shinshinim Young Ambassadors Program sends Israeli high school graduates to communities all over the world to work in Jewish educational and cultural institutions (see… Read more »
Tucsonan Goggy Davidowitz takes part in a Partnership2Gether team- building exercise at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on Feb. 27. (David J. Del Grande)
Hosting the annual Partnership2Gether leadership mission in Tucson this year was ambitious and quite successful, says Oshrat Barel, director of the Weintraub Israel Center. Six partnership delegates from Israel, Tucson delegates and local community stakeholders spent a week, from Feb. 26-March 5, discussing the program, its strengths and ways… Read more »
(Lior Zaltzman)
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — What kind of leadership style works best for a seder? During a period when we are experiencing a shake-up in national leadership, you may want to re-examine the relationship that exists between leader and participants at the Passover meal. Though seder leaders and participants are… Read more »
Jewish mental health professionals say there has been an unprecedented rise in anxiety, stress and sadness since Donald Trump was elected president. (Lior Zaltzman)
(JTA) — The text messages started pouring in at 6:30 a.m. as Tracey Rubenstein was getting her kids ready for school. By the end of the day the Boca Raton, Florida-based social worker had spoken to most of her clients, either in person or via text. They were shocked, disappointment, sad and scared.… Read more »
