Tagged FRONT

‘Rebuilding’ efforts overshadow Jewish issues in DNC election

Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota at a town hall meeting at the Church of the New Covenant-Baptist in Detroit, Dec. 22, 2016. (Sarah Rice/Getty Images)
February 27, 2017 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The race to lead the Democratic National Committee is nothing if not granular. Among the leading candidates Tom Perez, the former labor secretary, says “every ZIP code counts.” Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, touts his “50 plus” states strategy. Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn.,… Read more »

Meet the Jewish couple leading the Trump resistance

Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg founded the anti-Trump group Indivisible with other former congressional staffers. (Courtesy of Greenberg)
February 24, 2017 / Josefin Dolsten, JTA

NEW YORK (JTA) — The group at the forefront of “resisting the Trump agenda” started in the middle of December with a single document circulated among friends. One that was “poorly formatted” and “full of typos,” in the words of one of its authors, Leah Greenberg. As of this week,… Read more »

This is why Purim is the original interfaith holiday

Jews dance in costumes and cowboy hats during Purim festivities in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn on March 25, 2005 in New York City. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
February 24, 2017 / Dana Marlowe, Kveller via JTA

(Kveller via JTA) — When I explain Purim to those less familiar with the holiday, I tell them it’s kind of like Jewish Halloween. Not so much because of the history and story behind each (Purim has no ghosts), but related to the joyful spirit, costumes, food and fun.… Read more »

ANALYSIS Trump, the Jews and the political weaponization of anti-Semitism

Stephen Bannon at a White House news conference, Feb. 16, 2017. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
February 24, 2017 / Andrew Silow-Carroll, JTA

(JTA) — Was that so hard? At some point in the past week, it looked like President Donald Trump was never going to use “anti-Semitism” in a sentence. It took a fourth series of hoax bomb threats at JCCs around the country and imprecations from Jewish groups across the ideological… Read more »

Jewish groups seek action from Trump to match his words on anti-Semitism

President Donald Trump delivers remarks after touring the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Feb. 21, 2017. (Kevin Dietsch/Pool/Getty Images)
February 21, 2017 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) – He hates it, he really hates it. Now what’s he going to do about it? President Donald Trump on Tuesday culminated three weeks of missed opportunities to condemn anti-Semitism and doubling down on missed opportunities to condemn anti-Semitism with a statement unequivocally condemning anti-Semitism. “The anti-Semitic… Read more »

‘Holocaust tourism’ is probed in a compelling documentary

A scene from "Austerlitz," a documentary that chronicles the tourist experience in two former concentration camps. (Courtesy of Austerlitz/Loznitsa)
February 20, 2017 / Gabe Friedman, JTA

NEW YORK (JTA) — How do people behave when they visit a concentration camp or a Holocaust memorial? Do they act as if there are in place of reverence or mourning? Or do they behave as crowds do at any tourist attraction — taking selfies, goofing around, snacking and drinking… Read more »

Outside the synagogue, intermarried are forming community with each other

Jason and Julianne Kanter started talking about religion more seriously when they started to think about having children. (Courtesy of Julianne Kanter)
February 17, 2017 / Ben Sales, JTA

NEW YORK (JTA) — Leading up to their wedding in 2012, Julianne and Jason Kanter hadn’t really discussed how they would incorporate their respective religions into their home. Julianne was raised by Catholic and Presbyterian parents, while Jason grew up culturally Jewish. At first, it was simple to mark… Read more »

Resettlement experts to give ‘Refugee 101’ talk at Or Chadash

Jeffrey Cornish with children from a remote village in The Gambia, where he was Peace Corps director before coming to Tucson in 2012. Cornish is director of the International Rescue Committee in Tucson. (Courtesy Jeffrey Cornish)
February 16, 2017 / Phyllis Braun, AJP Executive Editor

Jeffrey Cornish wants to dispel the myth that refugees in the United States are a threat and a burden to society. “We need … to change the conversation about refugees,” says Cornish, the director of the International Rescue Committee in Tucson. “These people have fled oppression and the terror… Read more »

Supreme Court ‘sisters’ among topics for Brandeis book soirees
February 16, 2017 / David J. Del Grande, AJP Staff Writer

As a young attorney, Linda Hirshman, realized that fighting for the disenfranchised was her calling. “I wanted to do something that was hard, so if you accomplished it, it would be an honor,” says Hirshman, now a political pundit and author. “And there was no honor in making powerful… Read more »

Book fest panel to highlight Jewish characters
February 16, 2017 /

The Tucson Festival of Books returns to the University of Arizona campus March 11 and 12. Now in its ninth year, the festival is the third largest in the country, with more than 300 authors and millions of visitors attending each year. While Jewish authors have always been among… Read more »

Bilgray scholar takes holistic approach to healthy aging
February 16, 2017 / Chloe Raisin, Special to the AJP
Rabbi Richard Address

How should we be thinking about and preparing for the likelihood that we will live longer lives than our ancestors? Rabbi Richard F. Address, D.Min., founder of the Jewish Sacred Aging project, will discuss new ways to approach life’s “third age” as this year’s Albert T. Bilgray scholar-in-residence. Address… Read more »

Chabad to celebrate 40 years of ever-expanding service in Arizona
February 16, 2017 / Barbara Russek, Special to the AJP
Rabbi Zalman Levertov

Break out the schnapps! This year, Chabad of Arizona celebrates 40 years of serving the state’s diverse Jewish population with a gala dinner at Embassy Suites by Hilton Scottsdale Resort on Feb. 26. Rabbi Zalman Levertov, regional director of Chabad of Arizona, says the celebration marks four decades of… Read more »

ANALYSIS Trump and Netanyahu: The mixed messages of a diplomatic lovefest

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House, Feb. 15, 2017. (Andrew Harrer/Pool/Getty Images)
February 16, 2017 / Ron Kampeas

  WASHINGTON (JTA) – One state. Flexibility. Two states. Hold back on settlements. Stop Iran. When President Donald Trump met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: What a press conference! But wait. In the Age of Trump, every post-event analysis requires a double take. Not so much “did he mean what… Read more »

Reform movement’s challenge: Protesting Trump and remaining inclusive

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the Union for Reform Judaism president, speaks at the movement's biennial conference in Orlando, Fla., Nov. 7, 2015. (URJ)
February 13, 2017 / Ben Sales, JTA

NEW YORK (JTA) — Reform Jewish leaders largely oppose President Donald Trump’s policies — and they haven’t been shy about saying so since his election. They’ve marched in the streets by the thousands. They’ve protested at airports. And last week, some were arrested in front of a Trump hotel… Read more »

Jews gather at rallies across U.S. urging support for refugees

About 700 people attended a New York City rally in support of refugees organized by HIAS, Feb. 12, 2017. (Josefin Dolsten)
February 13, 2017 / Josefin Dolsten, JTA

NEW YORK (JTA) — Over 100 years ago, Barnett Levine was greeted by the New York skyline and the Statue of Liberty as he arrived in the United States, having fled anti-Semitism and pogroms in his native Poland. On Sunday, his grandson saw those very same sights when he… Read more »

How Israel’s travel bans are — and aren’t — like Trump’s

Asylum seekers protesting at the Holot detention center in the southern Negev Desert of Israel, Feb. 17, 2014. (Ilia Yefimovich/Getty Images)
February 11, 2017 / Andrew Tobin, JTA

  TEL AVIV (JTA) – Defending his executive order directing the construction of a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico, President Donald Trump pointed to Israel as a model, saying “a wall protects.” With another swipe of his pen two days later, on Jan. 27, Trump enacted a… Read more »

In France’s elections, dramatic upsets turn surprise front-runner into top choice for many Jews

French independent presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron speaking to the media in Berlin, Jan. 10, 2017. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
February 9, 2017 / Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA

(JTA) — With old favorites knocked out of France’s presidential race and the far-right National Front party making worrisome gains, many Jews are joining fellow voters in supporting Emmanuel Macron, the 39-year-old independent politician and surprising front-runner. A banker who is 18 years younger than the average age of… Read more »

Holocaust History Center hosts program for Arizona law officers

Bryan Davis, executive director of the Jewish History Museum, leads cadets from the Southern Arizona Law Enforcement Training Center on a tour of the Holocaust History Center, Jan. 11, 2017. (Courtesy Jewish History Museum)
February 2, 2017 / David J. Del Grande, AJP Staff Writer

Tucson’s Holocaust History Center is raising the consciousness of new law enforcement officers. The “What You Do Matters: Lessons from the Holocaust” program marks a new educational partnership between the Jewish History Museum/Holocaust History Center and law enforcement in Arizona. The classes focus on teaching new cadets about the… Read more »