Brendan, left, and Neal Shusterman (Courtesy of Neal Shusterman)
NEW YORK (JTA) — When Neal Shusterman helped his son Brendan with a second-grade report on the Pacific Ocean’s Marianas Trench, he thought the name of its deepest location, Challenger Deep, would make a great title for a book. In fact, for a number of years, whenever Shusterman — the author… Read more »
Hamilton Jordan, left, then the White House chief of staff, speaking with President Jimmy Carter at the White House, July 19, 1979. (Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Hamilton Jordan, President Jimmy Carter’s wunderkind adviser and chief of staff, discovered at age 20 that his family’s story wasn’t a straightforward Christian Southern experience. At the cemetery service for his maternal grandmother, Helen, Jordan was puzzled to discover her plot was nestled alongside that of… Read more »
Quiet contemplation of the menorah can be rewarding. (Flickr Commons)
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — There’s a popular Chanukah song recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary, “Light One Candle.” Its chorus insists we “don’t let the light go out” — but I’ve been thinking that maybe we should. Not that I want to leave all those Maccabee children stumbling in the… Read more »
Falash Mura arriving in Israel from Ethiopia, Aug. 28, 2013. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
TEL AVIV (JTA) – The Israeli government has approved entry of the “last” group of Ethiopian Jews awaiting immigration to Israel. The move comes two years after the arrival of 450 Ethiopian Jews then deemed to be the “last” such group. Indeed, there have been several groups said to… Read more »
Friends of Ezra Schwartz grieve over the coffin of the American terror victim at a service at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel before the body was repatriated to Boston for his funeral the following day, Nov. 21, 2015. (Ben Sales/JTA)
TEL AVIV (JTA) — His best friend remembered him starting up a children’s game on their senior school trip. His teacher retold the time he made Hebrew jokes on a whiteboard during class. His rabbi recalled him committing to study the entire Bible this year. His parents wrote… Read more »
Roberta Elliott, a Tucson winter resident volunteering to help refugees in Vienna, Austria, last month, sorts through piles of donated shoes. (Courtesy Roberta Elliott)
The U.S. Passport Control agent greeted me with uncustomary warmth as I returned to Newark Liberty Airport on Nov. 2. “Was your trip business or vacation?” he asked. For a split second I hesitated, but answered firmly “vacation.” How could I tell him that the time I had just… Read more »
Oren Riback, wearing his silver and bronze medals for breaststroke and backstroke from the 2000 Maccabi Games held in Tucson, still uses the gym bag he received as a teen athlete. (Chase Cohen, Tucson Jewish Community Center)
The Tucson Jewish Community Center will return from a three-year hiatus at the JCC Maccabi Games, sending a delegation of teen athletes to the games that will be held July 24-29 in Columbus, Ohio. Over the past few years, the games conflicted with Tucson school schedules, although a few… Read more »
Students, faculty and staff in the forecourt of Tucson Hebrew Academy on Nov. 3 after THA’s new sign was revealed. (Courtesy Tucson Hebrew Academy)
Tucson Hebrew Academy introduced its new brand identity to the community on Tuesday, Nov. 3, celebrating with morning coffee, cocoa and refreshments. THA is the only school in Tucson providing K-8 education that combines a strong secular program, integrated Jewish education, and a warm sense of community celebrating Jewish… Read more »
Beverly King Pollock The Invisible Theatre will hold a reading of “Looking for Magic,” a semi-autobiographical play by Tucsonan Beverly King Pollock, on Tuesday, Dec. 1 at 8 p.m. in observance of World AIDS Day. Pollock and her husband, Mel, lost both of their sons to AIDS in the 1990s. In 1990,… Read more »
Sara Lieberman is a New York native who moved to Paris a year ago. (Krystal Kenney)
PARIS (JTA) — They say not to take the bikes with the seat turned around. But I take the bike with the seat turned around. Before I know it, I am riding fiercely across town on Rue Saint-Lazare with a loose pedal. This can’t be good, I think… Read more »
A young wedding guest at the Synagogue des Tournelles in Paris, Nov. 15, 2015. (Alain Azria)
PARIS (JTA) — Watching the Belgian countryside fly by, I reflected on the previous time that I was aboard a high-speed train bound for Paris to cover a horrendous terrorist attack. It had been less than a year since France-born Islamists killed 17 people in Paris: 12 at… Read more »
A police officer patrolling the Times Square subway stop in New York City the day after a series of terrorist attacks in Paris, Nov. 14, 2015. (Andrew Renneisen/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The series of terrorist attacks that killed at least 129 in Paris pose a couple of major challenges for the United States, Jewish officials and security experts said. The challenges: security threats from the the 200 or so Islamic State fighters who have returned to the United States, and… Read more »
People place flowers and candles on the pavement near the scene of the Bataclan theater terrorist attack in Paris, Nov. 14, 2015, a day after the attack. (Jeff Mitchell/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Before Friday’s bloodbath at the Le Bataclan concert venue in Paris, this centrally located hall from the 19th century had received numerous threats over pro-Israel events hosted there. From at least 2006-2009, Le Bataclan was the venue for the annual fundraising gala of Migdal, the French Jewish nonprofit… Read more »
Parisians outside the Bataclan concert hall after the terrorist attacks, Nov. 13, 2015. (Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
PARIS (JTA) — My son and I met in Paris on Friday morning, walked the charming streets of the City of Light, visited the Picasso and Pompidou museums, then went to synagogue at the MJLF (Mouvement Juif Libéral de France), one of the most vibrant Reform synagogues in Paris.… Read more »
Israeli Labor Party leader Isaac Herzog speaking at the party's convention In Tel Aviv, Nov. 8, 2015. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
NEW YORK (JTA) – In the mind of Israel’s opposition leader, Labor Party chief Isaac Herzog, the array of threats in the Middle East these days present Israel with a historic opportunity. Yes, Palestinians are stabbing Israelis daily. Yes, Israel arguably has its most right-wing government since Benjamin Netanyahu’s… Read more »
Left to right, Beth Schafer, Julie Silver, Peri Smilow and Michelle Citrin sing "If I Had a Hammer" at the Union for Reform Judaism biennial conference in Orlando, Fla., Nov. 6, 2015. (URJ)
ORLANDO, Fla. (JTA) – Growing up in a traditional Jewish household, Joan Cubell didn’t really know much about Reform Judaism. But after obtaining ordination a few years ago from a little-known rabbinical institute in suburban New York, Cubell decided to make her home in the Reform movement. First she got a… Read more »
Cyrel Bandy The Beth Shalom Temple Center, serving Green Valley and Sahuarita, will celebrate its 20th anniversary with a full weekend of activities beginning on Nov. 20. Located at 1751 N. Rio Mayo in Green Valley, the Temple Center is the successor to a grassroots organization that began in the early… Read more »
Amy Hirshberg Lederman My husband Ray died on June 15, 2015, exactly three years, seven months and six days after he was diagnosed with lung cancer. From the beginning, we were a team and it became “our” cancer. We discussed everything, from chemo and hair loss to how to share difficult news… Read more »
Beth Greenberg Beth Greenberg is the new director of opera at the University of Arizona. She joined the faculty of the UA’s Fred Fox School of Music this fall after serving as a resident stage director at the New York City Opera for more than 20 years. Under Greenberg’s direction, the… Read more »
Lauren Grossman Tucson author Lauren B. Grossman found the inspiration for her second novel, “The Golden Peacock,” in a souvenir from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. When visiting the museum about a decade ago, Grossman was handed the identity card of a Holocaust survivor, randomly selected from a bin. She… Read more »
