Tagged HEADLINES

Batel Marsha, an 18-year-old Ethiopian-Israeli, says the Ethiopian National Project’s SPACE (School Performance and Community Empowerment) program “saved me ­— maybe not literally saved my life, but totally helped me get to where I am today.” Batel will join the Israeli Air Force next month, where she will train… Read more »

Yael Aronoff, Ph.D.

Yael Aronoff, Ph.D., director of Jewish studies at Michigan State University, will present “The Political Psychology of Israeli Prime Ministers” on Monday, Dec. 4, at 7 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, continuing the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies’ 20th anniversary Shaol & Louis Pozez Memorial Lectureship Series… Read more »

SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) —  Lyla Maymon and Jane Shvartzman went to interview officials last year at the Larkin Street Youth, a local organization fighting homelessness among young people, to see if their programs were worthy of a philanthropic grant. Maymon and Shvartzman asked all the right questions, like what… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — Stephen Bannon, the former chief strategist for President Donald Trump, called himself a “Christian Zionist” at the Zionist Organization of America’s annual dinner. He also praised Republican Jewish megadonor Sheldon Adelson for his help in guiding Trump through a sexual assault scandal. Bannon, at what… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — It’s lunch break during a one-day conference on “Israeli Cuisine as a Reflection of Israeli Society” — so naturally I’m eating lunch. Everything on my white plastic plate can be considered Israeli food. There is a burek (which originally heralds from Spain, by way of Turkey),… Read more »

(JTA) — The British rocker and former Smiths frontman Morrissey has not one but two Jewish-themed songs on his forthcoming album, “Low in High School.” Perhaps the more notable one is simply called “Israel” and offers a blunt rebuke of critics of the Jewish state. “In other climes they… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The big post-Election Day headline is the stunning Democratic sweep in Virginia’s gubernatorial and House elections, coupled with the predicted Democratic win of the governor’s mansion in New Jersey. Republicans are wondering what this says about the train that was Trumpism. In Virginia, Ed Gillespie was… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — A group of leading Orthodox rabbis met with the Israeli army’s chief of staff to complain. According to Israel’s Arutz Sheva news website, the rabbis told Gadi Eisenkot on Tuesday that the growing ranks of female combat soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces are creating an… Read more »

The social action committee of Congregation Or Chadash has arranged a morning of community service on Thursday, Nov. 30, 8 a.m.-noon with Habitat for Humanity Tucson, in collaboration with invited Tucson synagogues and Jewish organizations including Congregations Bet Shalom, M’kor Hayim, Chaverim, Anshei Israel, and Temple Emanu-El plus the… Read more »

Invisible Theatre will present the Arizona premiere of “The Value of Names” by Jeffrey Sweet from Nov. 7-19. The play introduces Benny Silverman, a celebrated comic who has revived his career via television after many years of forced inactivity that resulted from being named on the Hollywood blacklist of… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Jewish month that began this week, Cheshvan, has traditionally been dubbed “mar,” or bitter, because it alone among the months is devoid of any holidays. It is time for the Jewish people, and the Jewish calendar, to drop mar from Cheshvan, since it is blessed… Read more »

(JTA) — Contemporary Jewish life is graced by extraordinary blessing: We are the heirs of a Torah of compassion and justice that has grown ever more supple and vibrant because of the dynamic nature of halachah (Jewish law) and the opportunity to observe mitzvot (commandments). At the same time,… Read more »

Irena Sendler

More than 80 participants attended the “Life in a Jar” community gathering sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Northwest Division on Tuesday, Oct. 24, hosted by Splendido. “Life in a Jar” is the story of Irena Sendler, a Polish Catholic social worker who rescued over 2,500 children… Read more »

(JTA) — After simmering for decades, national aspirations in the region of Catalonia in northeast Spain plunged that country into a major crisis with far-reaching international implications. The current crisis began earlier this month when federal police clashed with voters over an illegal referendum on independence. But it came… Read more »

PHILADELPHIA (JTA) — Opening a Jewish bakery with a Yiddish name in an Italian neighborhood sounds crazy, but it didn’t take long before Essen had a line of regular customers lining up for its fresh-baked challah on Fridays. Tova du Plessis opened Essen, which means “to eat,” in South… Read more »

  NEW YORK (JTA) — When I read the headline of Jenny Listman’s Medium piece — “When I was nineteen years old, Elie Wiesel grabbed my ass” — I decided not to click on it. It wasn’t because of any judgment I passed on her or the veracity of her… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — “It doesn’t help.” “I don’t know how it happened or why it happened.” “The most common response I’m seeing is confusion.” That’s what some Conservative rabbis are saying about their movement’s recent major statement on intermarriage, which reasserts the ban on rabbis performing interfaith weddings… Read more »

(The Nosher via JTA) — For generations, Jewish grandmothers have spent hours and hours chained to their stoves perfecting their family chicken soup recipes. The prevailing thought was that the longer the soup simmered, the more flavorful the result. Fortunately for the current generation, technology has created new ways… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — The Orthodox Union is founding its own division to advance women as congregational leaders, as well as to promote Jewish study and communal participation for women in Modern Orthodoxy. The announcement comes nearly nine months after the group, an umbrella association of centrist Orthodox synagogues,… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — If a woman called the JTA office and said she wanted to tell her story of sexual harassment by a prominent community figure, we’d have questions. Would she put her name to the accusations? Can she corroborate them? Can she provide specific dates and descriptions… Read more »