Tagged FRONT

Celebrating Jewish life at UA Hillel

(L-R) Daniel Wolfe, Hila Lamdan, Wyatt Gross, Elyse Pincus (standing), Alexa Schnaid, Elena Bendroff, Julian Wolff, Leah Merrall, Jodie Friedman, Hattie Groskind and Brandon Hellman enjoy a “Chillel” session.
November 5, 2015 / Michelle Blumenberg, University of Arizona Hillel Foundation

The High Holidays are a meaningful time to reflect and celebrate. For University of Arizona students observing the holidays away from home, Hillel provides a warm and welcoming space. More than 150 Jewish Wildcats attended evening and morning Rosh Hashanah services plus an Erev Rosh Hashanah dinner featuring all… Read more »

Mideast expert Dennis Ross to speak at free JFSA event
November 5, 2015 /
Dennis Ross

Former Middle East peace envoy Dennis Ross, author of the new book “Doomed to Succeed: The U.S.-Israel Relationship from Truman to Obama,” will speak at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s free Together community event on Wednesday, Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. at Congregation Anshei Israel. The event will… Read more »

You down with RBG? Highlights from the new biography of Ruth Bader Ginsburg
November 5, 2015 / Erica Brody, JTA

  (JTA) — Ever wonder what the perfect pop-culture storm looks like? Hurricane Ruth — as in Bader Ginsburg — was brewing among millennials, feminists and across social media platforms before it made landfall in Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik’s new biography about the Meme Supreme: “Notorious RBG: The… Read more »

Is Abbas responsible for inciting terror wave?

An injured woman being transferred to a hospital after a Palestinian man attacked passengers on a bus in Jerusalem, Oct. 12, 2015. (Ilia Yefimovich/Getty Images)
November 4, 2015 / Ben Sales, JTA

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of tampering with the status quo on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. He railed against Jews defiling the holy site with their “filthy feet.” He claimed, falsely, that Israeli security forces had killed a 13-year old Palestinian boy. It’s that… Read more »

On Europe trip, Abbas gets red carpet — and some hard questions

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, left, and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte meeting in The Hague on Oct. 29, 2015 (SAFA.ps)
November 3, 2015 / Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (JTA) — On his way to several meetings with Dutch parliamentarians last week, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his entourage passed 300 demonstrators flying Israeli flags. Like the Israeli government, the protesters, who convened outside at the urging of Dutch Jewish and Christian pro-Israel groups, accuse… Read more »

Op-Ed: For kids with disabilities, time to move from inclusion to normalcy

Rachel Fishheimer is the director of education at the Jerusalem facility of ALEH, an Israeli network of treatment facilities for children with severe disabilities. (Courtesy: Rachel Fishheimer)
November 2, 2015 / Rachel Fishheimer, JTA

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Just the other day, I overheard someone saying that they had a wonderful interaction with the “Down syndrome employee” at their local cafe. Though it happened to have been a sweet story, I cringed. It also got me thinking about the limitations of our campaigns promoting… Read more »

Some fear refugee center planned for Amsterdam’s Jewish heart

Dutch rabbis in the Amsterdam suburb of Buitenveldert, the site of a planned center to house migrants from the Middle East. (David Serphos)
October 28, 2015 / Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA

AMSTERDAM (JTA) — In Buitenveldert, a quiet residential area of the Dutch capital, special forces soldiers are watching over a Jewish school from inside unmarked cars. About half of the Netherlands’ 40,000 Jews live here and in the adjacent suburb of Amstelveen, the only areas of the country with a… Read more »

BLOG My Jewish kids are the product of intermarriage, and other reasons for hope

A group of American Birthright Israel participants visiting the Dead Sea, July 10, 2015. (Matt Hechter/Flash90)
October 26, 2015 / Julie Wiener, JTA

  (JTA) — Jewish leaders have long warned of the bleak Jewish futures in store for children of intermarriage. But these prognostications were based largely on information from more than a decade ago, when intermarriage was far less common and far less accepted by American Jews than it is today.… Read more »

Huge crowd turns out for Sanders Tucson rally

Seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Bernie Sanders greets an estimated crowd of 11,000 at Reid Park in Tucson on Oct. 9. Supporters on stage behind him hold signs reading ‘Viva Bernie.’ (Michael Miklofsky)
October 22, 2015 / Michael Miklofsky, Special to the AJP

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont spoke Oct. 9 to an estimated crowd of 11,000 at the Demeester Outdoor Performance Center at Reid Park. The rally marked the first large-scale event in Tucson by a national Jewish candidate and brought Sanders his first congressional endorsement. Former Connecticut… Read more »

THA will honor Lex Sears with Tikkun Olam award
October 22, 2015 /
Lex Sears

Tucson Hebrew Academy will honor Lex Sears, a former THA trustee, at its annual Tikkun Olam Award dinner on Sunday, Nov. 1. “It is with deep gratitude that we recognize Lex Sears this year with the Tikkun Olam Award for the incredible work he’s done for THA and the… Read more »

Local teens b’nai mitzvah projects reflect love of art, camp, pets and shul
October 22, 2015 / Renee Claire, Special to the AJP
Roxanne Frankenberg

Young teenagers at Tucson synagogues work hard to prepare for their b’nai mitzvah ceremonies. In addition to learning to chant Torah and Haftorah, and prepare and deliver a sermon, these motivated young people commit hours and energy to charitable causes in their community and beyond. In a spirit of… Read more »

As board members, tutors and chefs, Kronmans aid many Tucson charities

Len Kronman prepares soup at the Casa Maria Soup Kitchen. (Courtesy Len Kronman)
October 22, 2015 / Kate Mailliard, AJP Intern

Since moving to Tucson 10 years ago, Len and Harriet Kronman have supported a wide range of charitable organizations, offering ideas and aid to help them expand. They have served as board members, tutors, program developers and chefs. “Now that we’re retired, we have time to volunteer more,” says… Read more »

Playing hide and seek with God
October 22, 2015 / Amy Hirshberg Lederman, Special to the AJP
Amy Hirshberg Lederman

When my be­loved husband of 32 years died after battling cancer for three and a half years, family and friends did their best to comfort me. It didn’t take more than a few minutes to realize that, with the exception of a first kiss, there may not be a… Read more »

JFSA Campaign returns to pre-recession goal of $4 million
October 22, 2015 / Michael Miklofsky, Special to the AJP
Shelly Silverman

The 2016 Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Community Campaign is now underway. “Do More Than Before, Give With Your Heart” is the theme of this year’s effort, which seeks to connect personally with community members about the future of Jewish social and educational services in Tucson and beyond. The… Read more »

This Israeli ex-diplomat is Kenya’s biggest pop star

Gilad Millo, left, with DJ HYPNOTIQ and Kiptoo 'k4' Kirwa at a Nairobi recording studio, Oct. 14, 2015. (Courtesy of Gilad Millo)
October 20, 2015 / Cnaan Liphshiz

  (JTA) — Zipping between meetings at Nairobi’s five-star hotels wearing a suit and tie, Gilad Millo looks every bit the ex-diplomat he is. But looks can be deceiving: Though he may be balding and slightly pudgy, Millo is one of Kenya’s hottest pop stars. He’s so popular, in fact,… Read more »

Amid Israel’s terror wave, African migrants find danger where they sought safe haven

African asylum seekers protest outside the US embassy in Tel Aviv, 06 January 2014. Thousands of African migrants, including many from Eritrea and Sudan, held a protest outside European and North American embassies in Tel Aviv against Israel's refusal to grant them refugee status and the opening of 'Holot', the new detention facility in the country's south. Thousands demonstrated outside the US embassy at Tel Aviv's beach front on the second day of a three-day strike and protest campaign. Photo by Tomer Neuberg/FLASH90
October 20, 2015 / Ben Sales, JTA

TEL AVIV (JTA) — In the days since an Eritrean migrant was shot to death by an Israeli security guard and then beaten by a mob at Beersheba’s central bus station, a fellow migrant named Awat Ashever has insisted to other Eritreans that the killing was just a terrible mistake. It’s… Read more »

The Jewish Bernie Sanders only Vermonters know

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders speaking at a campaign fundraising reception at the Avalon Hollywood nightclub in Los Angeles, Oct. 14, 2015. (David McNew/Getty Images)
October 20, 2015 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

MANCHESTER CENTER, Vt. (JTA) – Bernie Sanders reads from the Passover Haggadah in Hebrew and jokes with his seder hosts about finding hametz, traces of leavening, after they have thoroughly cleaned the house in preparation for the holiday. The presidential candidate, a socialist competing for the Democratic nomination, also follows… Read more »

Meet the Islamic Movement, Netanyahu’s newest public enemy

Raed Salah, leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement, in Jerusalem, March 26, 2015. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
October 20, 2015 / Ben Sales, JTA

TEL AVIV (JTA) – In assigning blame for the recent wave of violence in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has turned to the usual suspects – Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. But he has also accused a lesser-known group that operates within Israel’s borders: the Islamic Movement, a religious political… Read more »

The concentration camp currency you never heard of

Money: Some of the Holocaust money in the collection at the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University. (Courtesy of Clark University)
October 20, 2015 / Penny Schwartz, JTA

WORCESTER, Mass. (JTA) – In the 70 years since the fall of the Third Reich, the trappings of Nazi power have become infamous icons of evil — think of the swastika flag, the yellow badge or the striped concentration camp uniform. But have you ever heard of “Holocaust money,” the currencies that the… Read more »