Tagged FRONTTOP

Free Loan is new JFSA partner

The Free Loan at the Federation Coordinator Yana Krone and Board President Phil Bregman review new brochures with Susannah Castro. /Debe Campbell, AJP
September 27, 2019 / Phyllis Braun, AJP Executive Editor

For more than 70 years, the Hebrew Free Loan Association of Tucson was “an autonomous mom and pop operation,” quietly going about its good work of providing interest-free financial assistance to thousands of Tucsonans, says board president Phil Bregman. In fact, Bregman has called it “the best-kept secret in… Read more »

Netanyahu didn’t win Israel’s election. So why is he getting the chance to form a government?

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin presents Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, with the mandate to form a new government, at the President's Residence in Jerusalem, Sept. 25, 2019. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
September 26, 2019 / Josefin Dolsten, JTA

(JTA) — As votes were counted following last week’s election in Israel, many saw the results as a loss for longtime Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. After all, Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud Party won fewer seats than the Blue and White party of his main competitor Benny Gantz. So it came… Read more »

The first exit polls for Israel’s Election Day are in. It’s close.

Blue and White party chairman Benny Gantz casts his ballot at a voting station in Rosh Haayin, Israel, on Election Day, Sept. 17, 2019. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)
September 17, 2019 / Marcy Oster, JTA

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party and the Blue and White were again locked in a virtual dead heat at the close of voting in Israel, exit polls on Tuesday showed. Both Blue and White, which is led by Benny Gantz, a former military chief of… Read more »

Growth at Chabad Oro Valley inspires new facility, more leaders

Adeli and Rabbi Boruch Zimmerman, with son Mendel, join the leadership team at Chabad Oro Valley. (Courtesy Rabbi Boruch Zimmerman)
September 13, 2019 / Debe Campbell, AJP Assistant Editor

Since opening in 2012, Chabad Oro Valley, led by Rabbi Ephraim and Mushkie Zimmerman, has grown its roster of participants to about 500 — and outgrown its current space. For the High Holidays, Chabad Oro Valley will celebrate in a new 3,388-square-foot home in Sun City’s Mountain View Plaza,… Read more »

Netanyahu says he will annex part of the West Bank if re-elected

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announces that if he is re-elected, he will make the Jordan Valley a sovereign part of Israel, Sept. 10, 2019. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
September 10, 2019 / Marcy Oster, JTA

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that if he is re-elected, he will immediately annex the Jordan Valley. Netanyahu also promised to annex West Bank Jewish settlements in what he termed a “dramatic announcement” exactly one week before Israelis go to the polls for national… Read more »

Jewish roots stir revival in world’s largest Muslim nation

Yaakov Baruch, a ‘born-again’ Indonesian Jew, visits the world’s largest permanent menorah in Manado, Indonesia. (Photo courtesy Yaakov Baruch)
August 30, 2019 / Debe Campbell, AJP Assistant Editor

Editor’s note: AJP Assistant Editor Debe Campbell lived and worked in Indonesia for more than 20 years. Returning in July on holiday with her husband, Gilbert Alvidrez, she visited Sulawesi island, where she conducted research and interviews for this story. The world’s largest permanent menorah looms over Manado, the… Read more »

As U.S.-Iran tensions escalate, Jews are warned they could be targeted

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani delivers a speech at a ceremony in Tabriz, Iran, Aug. 1, 2019. (Presidency of Iran/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
August 27, 2019 /

WASHINGTON (JTA) – In 1992, Israel killed Abbas al-Musawi, a founder of the Hezbollah terrorist group in Lebanon, in a dramatic helicopter attack. Iran, Hezbollah’s primary funder, threatened to retaliate – talk that was somewhat expected for a country that routinely calls for the destruction of Israel. But two… Read more »

AIPAC and other Jewish groups join prominent lawmakers in criticizing Israel’s decision to ban Tlaib and Omar

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, said Reps. Rashida Tlaib, center, and Ilhan Omar, right, provided an itinerary that "revealed that they planned a visit whose sole objective is to strengthen the boycott against us and deny Israel’s legitimacy.” (Laura E. Adkins for JTA/Getty Images)
August 15, 2019 / Josefin Dolsten, JTA

This is a developing story. (JTA) — Israel’s decision on Thursday to ban Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar from entering the country has quickly prompted a wave of impassioned responses from across the Jewish community. Pro-Israel groups, including AIPAC, and prominent Democratic lawmakers are already objecting to the… Read more »

North Miami Beach’s Jews cope after another synagogue shooting

The Young Israel of Greater Miami synagogue on the night of the shooting, July 28, 2019. (Screenshot from Local10.com)
July 30, 2019 / Ben Sales, JTA

(JTA) — When Rabbi Mark Rosenberg’s family played back the footage on their home’s security cameras in North Miami Beach, they could hear the rat-tat-tat of bullets being fired at the synagogue a few blocks away. On Sunday, a man had been shot repeatedly in front of the Young… Read more »

New shlicha will bring experience, charm, young family to town

Inbal Shtivi, her husband, Eran Falach, and their children look forward to a new experience sharing Israel with Tucson. (Courtesy Shtivi)
July 12, 2019 / Phyllis Braun, AJP Executive Editor

Twenty-first century technology can go a long way toward bridging distances between people thousands of miles apart, but there is no replacement for personal and cross-community connections, says Inbal Shtivi. Shtivi, 43, who will be Tucson’s new shlicha (Israeli emissary) and director of the Weintraub Israel Center, will arrive… Read more »

Intermarried Jews are not a second Holocaust

A Jewish wedding ceremony. Israeli Education Minister Rafi Peretz caused a stir when he compared Jewish intermarriage to a "second Holocaust." (Frank Rosenstein / Getty Images)
July 11, 2019 / Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz, JTA

PHOENIX (JTA) – Israeli Education Minister Rafi Peretz’s recent tone-deaf declaration that intermarriage is akin to a “second Holocaust” was shocking and shameful, and desecrates the memories of those who perished in the Holocaust. While Peretz leads the Jewish Home party as well as the United Right coalition, and is… Read more »

In the Swiss Alps, locals and haredi Orthodox tourists find ways to get along

Cyclists near Arosa with the mountains in the background, June 4, 2014. (Tim De Waele/Getty Images)
July 3, 2019 / Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA

AROSA, Switzerland (JTA) — A calmer, safer and more beautiful place than this Alpine skiing town is difficult to imagine. In summer, cyclists abandon their unlocked mountain bicycles (there’s virtually no crime here) outside cafes surrounded by wild coniferous forests. They enjoy reasonably priced regional treats on terraces whose… Read more »

Israeli Softball is building a women’s ‘dream team’ for the 2020 Olympics

University of Arizona graduate Tamara Statman thinks the team has a good chance of making the Olympics. (Courtesy of the Israeli Softball Association)
June 27, 2019 / Marcy Oster, JTA

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Israeli Softball Association wants to take its women’s team to the 2020 Olympics, and it is counting on some Jewish American talent to get it there. Thirteen U.S. Jewish college students and recent graduates arrived in Israel at the beginning of the month to train… Read more »

White House unveils economic portion of Middle East peace plan

A picture shows the new West Bank Palestinian town of Rawabi, described as the largest privately-funded development project in Palestinian history, just north of Ramallah, on September 29, 2017. (ABBAS MOMANI/AFP/Getty Images)
June 24, 2019 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Days ahead of a workshop where Jared Kushner will seek tens of billions of dollars for his Middle East peace plan, the White House unveiled an outline of its economic portion, including proposals, like a Gaza-West Bank travel corridor, that are sure to rattle Israel’s government.… Read more »

Tucson interfaith rally draws scores to support activist Warren

Rabbi Stephanie Aaron of Congregation Chaverim, Tucson, Arizona, speaks at the Faith Floods the Courtroom Interfaith Prayer Service in front of the US Court in support of Dr. Scott Warren, on trial for rendering humanitarian aid to migrants. (Debe Campbell/AJP)
June 5, 2019 / Debe Campbell, Assistant Editor

Updated 6.13.19  Dozens of faith leaders from across Southwestern borderlands, including two local rabbis, rallied June 5 in front of the U.S. District Courthouse in downtown Tucson in solidarity with Arizona State University geography instructor and activist Scott Warren, Ph.D. A volunteer with the Tucson-based aid group No More… Read more »

Why Israel will hold a second national election in 2019

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at a conference of his Likud party in Ramat Gan, March 4, 2019. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
May 29, 2019 / Ben Sales, JTA

(JTA) — Israel held a national election seven weeks ago. It will hold another one in September. If that sounds weird to you, you’re right: Israel has a famously raucous political system, but it’s never held national elections twice in one year. Until now. Just to be clear, no… Read more »

Fire devastates Israeli community founded by Shlomo Carlebach

A fire rages in the Ben Shemen Forest in central Israel, May 23, 2019. Massive fires blazed throughout the country, which is blanketed in a heat wave. (Flash90)
May 23, 2019 / Marcy Oster, JTA

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel is on red alert over outbreaks of fires across the country, some on a massive scale, amid a massive heat wave. At least one community, founded by the late Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, has been burned to the ground. Fires on Thursday were out of control… Read more »

After Poway shooting, local Chabad event puts love before hate

Ariella Lee, a University of Arizona student who is member of Chabad of Poway, speaks at Chabad Tucson May 1. (Photo by Martha Lochert)
May 17, 2019 / Phyllis Braun, AJP Executive Editor

People forget what you said, people forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” With these famous words from poet Maya Angelou, University of Arizona student and Chabad of Poway member Ariella Lee summed up the philosophy of Lori Gilbert-Kaye, a close family… Read more »

Lori Gilbert-Kaye, 60, killed in Poway attack, shielded rabbi from bullets

Mourners leave mementos across the street from the Chabad Community Center in Poway, California a day after a shooter killed a congregant and wounded three others, on April 28, 2019. (Gabrielle Birkner)
April 28, 2019 / Gabrielle Birkner and Marcy Oster, JTA

POWAY, California (JTA) — Lori Gilbert-Kaye, who was killed in the attack at a Chabad synagogue near San Diego, is credited with jumping in front of the synagogue’s rabbi to shield him from the gunman’s bullets. Gilbert-Kaye, 60, of San Diego, is survived by her husband and 22-year-old daughter.… Read more »