Len Kronman prepares soup at the Casa Maria Soup Kitchen. (Courtesy Len Kronman)
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 »
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 »
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 »
Gilad Millo, left, with DJ HYPNOTIQ and Kiptoo 'k4' Kirwa at a Nairobi recording studio, Oct. 14, 2015. (Courtesy of Gilad Millo)
(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 »
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
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 »
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)
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 »
Raed Salah, leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement, in Jerusalem, March 26, 2015. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
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 »
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)
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 »
Israeli Border Police guard a checkpoint in the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber, Oct. 15, 2015. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — “No pepper spray, no tear gas, no nightsticks,” sighed Itzhak Mizrahi to three disappointed men, as if it were a mantra he’d recited dozens of times. The glass-topped display case in Magnum, the central Jerusalem gun shop that Mizrahi has owned for three decades, featured a… Read more »
The North Portico of the White House is illuminated pink in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Oct. 15, 2014. (Official White House photo/Chuck Kennedy)
(JTA) — It’s been a busy couple of weeks for breast cancer. Of course, breast cancer is always busy, exerting its sneaky destruction through abnormal cell growth. But now it’s October and Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and the scary fact is everywhere again: One in eight women will… Read more »
Simon Plosker, top left, managing editor of HonestReporting.com, directing his monitoring team at his organization's Jerusalem headquarters, Oct. 13, 2015. (Joe Hyams/HonestReporting)
(JTA) — At an Israeli bus station, several uniformed officers surround an Arab woman before opening fire on her, dropping her to the ground. Standing over her motionless body, a Border Police officer toting an automatic rifle speaks into a radio while another officer chases away a bystander documenting… Read more »
A Palestinian protester during clashes with Israeli security forces in the West Bank, Oct. 8, 2015. (Ilia Yefimovich/Getty Images)
JERUSALEM (JTA) – Israelis have become accustomed to dismal news in the past few weeks – mornings and evenings punctuated by stabbings, car attacks and rock throwing. The cycle of random violence has left dozens of Israelis and Palestinians dead, and many fearing the worst: The start of a third… Read more »
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, greeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Moscow, Sept. 21, 2015. (Israeli Embassy in Russia/Flash90)
(JTA) — As a defiant Russia again flexes military muscles in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, Cold War analogies are, perhaps, unavoidable. The deployment last month of Russian warplanes in Syria laid bare Moscow’s readiness to use force to punish leaders who would challenge its authority — as in… Read more »
At the farm at Echoing Hope Ranch, Jonathan Townsend writes down his schedule for the week. (Courtesy Harlie Garcia) At first glance, Echoing Hope Ranch looks like the other farms and ranches that mark the landscape in Hereford, Ariz.; however, the programs and residents make EHR truly unique. Created six years ago, EHR was built with the goal of providing residential and in-home care for adults with autism… Read more »
J. Edward Wright J. Edward Wright, director of the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Arizona, will give the first of five lectures in a Downtown Lecture Series on immortality offered by the UA College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Wright will speak Oct. 14 on “The Histories and… Read more »
Israeli cellist Amit Peled with perform on Jan. 12 at the University of Arizona. Israeli-born classical cellist Amit Peled got started playing cello late, at the age of 10, because a 14-year-old girl he loved was a cello player. He never spoke to the girl, he told the AJP, but kept on with the instrument and, at the age of 22, after a… Read more »
Honey Manson, 1949 Hadassah Southern Arizona will honor local volunteer Honey Manson, the founder of its Nurses’ Council, with a fundraising event called “Tea with Honey” on Tuesday, Nov. 3 at 4 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. “The word ‘no’ is not in Honey’s vocabulary,” says Debra Jacobs, event chair… Read more »
(L-R): Jessica Shulem, Rachel Rush, Hilary Kelpel, Jodie Friedman and Alyssa Silva at the 2014 Mega Challah Bake at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. (Roland Bosma)
The Tucson Jewish Community Center and Chabad Tucson will present the 2nd Annual Mega Challah Bake on Thursday, Oct. 22, at 7 p.m. in the Tucson J ballroom. The event is part of the global Shabbos Project. Other local partners include numerous synagogues, the Jewish Community Foundation of Southern… Read more »
Leah Goldstein, author of "No Limits" The Tucson Jewish Community Center and Tucson Medical Center will present the second annual Family Wellness Festival on Sunday, Oct. 18 from noon-4 p.m. at the Tucson J. Pavilions throughout the J will be organized around themes such as safety, physical activity, health and wellness, food and literacy. Exhibitors… Read more »
Moishe House Without Walls held a pre-Rosh Hashanah event at Brush N Bottle on Sunday, Sept. 13. Back row: Oren Riback, Alexa Ravit, Eric Natter, Taylor Pfeifer, Allie Healy, Eric Vornholt; front row: Jamie Oko, Emily McDonell, Alyssa Silva, Aimee Katz, Jami O’Rourke, Brandon Hellman (Photo courtesy Alyssa Silva)
A painting and wine class served as more than just a fun night out with friends in the Jewish community this past week. An organization called “Moishe House Without Walls” has been established in Tucson and post-grads from the University of Arizona and beyond are relishing its opportunities. “Every… Read more »
