Leah Avuno The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Women’s Philanthropy will hold its annual welcome, “Making Our Mark in Tucson, Israel and around the World” on Wednesday, Sept. 28 at 7 p.m. at Hacienda del Sol Guest Ranch Resort. The guest speakers will be Leah Avuno, one of two Israeli teens… Read more »
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton celebrating their respective victories in the New York primaries in New York City, April 19, 2016. (Spencer Platt and John Moore/Getty Images)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Most Israeli Jews would prefer Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump as the next president of the United States — even though more of them think Trump would be better for the “Israeli government’s policy.” According to a poll released Wednesday, 43 percent of Israeli Jews prefer Clinton as president, compared to 34 percent who… Read more »
Fish heads are commonly included in the Sephardic custom of "yehi ratzones." (Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — For Rosh Hashanah, many of us eat an apple dipped in honey as an auspicious sign for a sweet new year. The symbolism is clear, and the ritual as easy to pull off as squeezing a bear-shaped plastic bottle of honey. But what kind of a… Read more »
Rabbis in swing states say their High Holidays sermons won't address the election head on, but will touch on more general civic themes. (Lior Zaltzman)
NEW YORK (JTA) — When Rosh Hashanah came around last year, Rabbi Aaron Gaber wanted to grapple with an issue roiling the country. So he decided to focus his sermon on racism. But several members of Brothers of Israel, a 120-family Conservative synagogue in suburban Philadelphia, weren’t pleased. “Some of the… Read more »
A flier posted in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn lists why haredi Orthodox Jews should vote for Donald Trump in November. (Courtesy of Jewish Democrats for Trump)
NEW YORK (JTA) — American Jews are likely to vote for Hillary Clinton in November, but American Jewry’s fastest-growing community is likely to go the other way. A solid majority of haredi Orthodox Jews will vote for Donald Trump, say experts and Republican operatives in the haredi enclave of Borough… Read more »
Hundreds of demonstrators in Los Angeles protesting the Iran nuclear deal, July 26, 2015. (Peter Duke)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Trump and Clinton campaigns issued tough-on-Iran statements in the wake of a report alleging that negotiators allowed Iran secret loopholes in the nuclear agreement. The Institute for Science and International Affairs, a think tank founded by a former United Nations nuclear weapons inspector, David Albright,… Read more »
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., waving on the day of the New Hampshire primary in Concord, New Hampshire, Feb. 9, 2016. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — A Florida state senator caught up in a boycott-Israel controversy. A Wisconsin state representative who combated anti-Israel bias on his campus. The diversity of Israel-related outlooks among the 63 candidates endorsed by Our Revolution underscores the eclecticism of the left-leaning movement launched last week by Bernie… Read more »
Natalie Portman stars as Amos Oz's mother in her adaptation of "A Tale of Love and Darkness." (Ran Mendelson/Courtesy of Focus World)
NEW YORK (JTA) — While making the film “A Tale of Love and Darkness,” Natalie Portman had to put her palm in front of her mouth, repeat Hebrew words and feel how the air hit her skin. If Portman felt her breath, it meant she was saying the… Read more »
Dieudonne M'bala M'bala leaving a Paris courthouse, Feb. 4, 2015. (Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images)
(JTA) — It kills me to say this, but I may owe a Yom Kippur apology to Dieudonne M’bala M’bala. My extensive reporting about this French comedian of Cameroonian descent consistently portrayed him as a fanatical, vulgar and racist provocateur whose acts serve as a thinly veiled pretext for venting a… Read more »
Geoff, left, and Mitch Schwartz are the first pair of Jewish brothers to play in the NFL since 1923.(Olivia Goodkin and Lee Schwartz)
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (JTA) – At 6-foot-6 and 340 pounds, veteran NFL offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz isn’t just a force of nature, but a product of good ol’ Jewish nurture. “My size comes from a childhood that included an excess of matzo ball soup, latkes, and tons of… Read more »
Mira Marcus, the city of Tel Aviv's director of international press, with her dog Shani at the Kelaviv dog festival in Tel Aviv, Aug. 26, 2016. (Andrew Tobin)
It’s not every day you see a dog getting a massage. But in this Israeli city, somehow it seems expected. At Tel Aviv’s first official dog festival, hundreds of dogs took over Yehoshua Park and its dog park on Friday afternoon. As canine customers wandered among vendors selling dog-related products… Read more »
Donald Trump at a rally at the Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla., Aug. 3, 2016. (Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Rebecca Raab was shopping recently in a South Florida Costco, wearing the trademark Orthodox outfit of a long skirt and baseball cap, when an employee waved to her and said “Shalom! We’re voting for Trump because we can’t have Hillary in the White House. She’s… Read more »
Pepe the Frog, an internet meme, has become a symbol of the alt-right. (Twitter/Lior Zaltzman)
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Can you go alt–right without going anti-Semitic? The movement that has emerged from conservatism — and in some ways has turned against it — appears to be nudging its way into the American mainstream as it attaches itself to the success of Donald Trump, the… Read more »
Relatives of Holocaust victims walk the memorial march in the Lithuanian town of Molėtai (Malat) , Aug, 29, 2016. (Malat Memorial Foundation)
When Israeli soccer agent Tzvi Kritzer decided to build a monument in the Lithuanian town of Molėtai (Malat in Yiddish), where most of his family was murdered during the Holocaust, and to bring the relatives of the victims to the town for a memorial march, he was told to… Read more »
The Turkish government ship Lady Leyla in Mersin before being sent to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza following the completion of the reconciliation deal between Turkey and Israel, July 1, 2016. (Sezgin Pancar/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel and Turkey ought to be friends, geopolitically speaking. As Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan put it in January: “Israel needs a country like Turkey in this region. We, too, should admit that we need a country like Israel.” But the regional powers often can’t seem to make… Read more »
Carlos Galindo-Elvira
Carlos Galindo-Elvira, the Anti- Defamation League’s new Arizona regional director, wants Tucson Jewish community leaders to know the ADL is there for them, “whether it’s a 411 call, to get information or resources, or a 911 call” in a situation where the ADL can play a role. Galindo-Elvira is… Read more »
Rachel Levy, left, and her mother, Nanci Levy (Korene Charnofsky Cohen)
Rachel Levy spent her childhood struggling with ulcerative colitis, but she didn’t give in to self-pity. While learning how to manage the symptoms of the disease, she reached out to help others, earning the title of “Hero” from the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America. “My dream is to… Read more »
Alexander Sandweiss Understanding how to provide narcotics for pain management, while avoiding potential addiction to opiates, can be difficult for physicians and patients alike. Chronic pain affects more than 100 million Americans and opioids such as morphine have been the mainstay therapy for many years. Yet growing evidence suggests that prescription… Read more »
(L-R): Tucsonans Bobby Present, Fran Katz and Deborah Oseran in Paris on the Jewish Federations of North America Campaign and Directors Mission in July.
This July, as incoming 2017 Campaign chair for the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, I had the opportunity, with my husband, Bobby Present, and Fran Katz, JFSA senior vice president, to participate in a Jewish Federations of North America Campaign and Directors Mission to France and Israel. The emotional… Read more »
Paige Hector “What would happen to me if I had a severe stroke and couldn’t communicate?” “What would happen if my spouse gets dementia and stops eating?” People sometimes choose to ignore these kind of tough issues rather than talk about them. To help change that, Jewish Family & Children’s Services… Read more »
