Tagged HEADLINES

Declining youth engagement has been a problem facing synagogues across the country for a decade or more.  To help local synagogues reverse this trend, the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is providing them with new allocations for religious schools and family education programs. Each synagogue will decide how to… Read more »

Darkaynu Tucson Jewish Montessori is making changes for the new school year, adding a new covered playground, new staff members and a toddler program. The preschool now accepts children ages 1-6. Darkaynu will become the first preschool in the area with Imagination Playground Blue Blocks (as seen at the… Read more »

This year marks the 18th anniversary — the chai year — of Temple Emanu-El’s outreach and education program, Taste of Judaism. The free course offers an introduction to Jewish spirituality, values and community in three two-hour sessions. Rabbis Samuel M. Cohon and Batsheva Appel lead interactive explorations of Jewish… Read more »

(JTA) — Patti LuPone recently discovered that she has something in common with Helena Rubinstein, the makeup mogul and Polish Jewish immigrant she is currently portraying in the Broadway musical “War Paint.” Using the genealogy website 23andMe, she found out that she is 87 percent southern Italian and 12 percent Eastern European… Read more »

(JTA) — Sure, winter might seem like the ideal time of year for curling up with a good book — but summer is when you might actually have time to read. So before these warm months all too swiftly fade to fall, here are some Jewish-themed titles, from a wide range… Read more »

After 25 years of full diplomatic ties, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s three-day visit to Israel commencing Tuesday can be seen as the official coming out of the relationship between the two countries. While ties between Israel and India have grown exponentially since P.V Narasimha Rao and Yitzhak Shamir… Read more »

(JTA) — The Great Jewish Revolt of 2017. The Bar Kotel Rebellion. The Diaspora Strikes Back. Whatever you call it, last week’s clash between American Jewish leaders and the Netanyahu government felt louder, angrier and more significant than previous clashes over pluralism in Israel. That may be because it wasn’t… Read more »

(JTA) — Israeli politicians and Jewish leaders are fighting again over an age-old question: Who counts as a Jew? And who gets to decide? Last week, Israel’s government inflamed simmering tensions over Jewish conversion when a Cabinet committee advanced a bill that would further empower the country’s haredi Orthodox… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — When Megan Corbin was in school, she learned about the Holocaust as an optimistic story. Her grade school, she said, “highlighted Anne Frank as the voice of hope, and that really wasn’t the reality.” Now, as an eighth-grade language arts teacher outside of Seattle, she… Read more »

  (JTA) — In February 2015, Sen. Jim Inhofe carried a snowball on to the floor of the Senate to prove global warming did not exist. Everyone knows “it is very, very cold outside,” the Oklahoma Republican said. “Unseasonable.” That, said Al Franken, gave him an idea. “I thought… Read more »

(JTA) — They’ve tried strongly worded statements. They’ve tried private meetings with the prime minister. They’ve tried negotiations, protest and prayer. But for the past five years, despite broad internal consensus and consistent pressure, the American Jewish establishment has been unable to persuade Israel’s government to create an equitable… Read more »

Tucson joined 20 communities across the country on June 6 for a vigil honoring the struggles of refugees past and present. The date commemorates the anniversary of the day in 1939 the M.S. St. Louis began its voyage back to Europe with more than 900 mostly Jewish refugees aboard,… Read more »

  (JTA) — On Jan. 16, 1949, Toby Fassman married Max Cohen (Steven M. Cohen’s parents, now both of blessed memory). At 24, Toby was among the last of her circle of friends in Brooklyn to marry, and several jokingly remarked that Max had rescued her from lifelong singlehood.… Read more »

A  well-designed landscape can save you money in three major ways. Properly designed, installed and maintained, a landscape can help you reduce energy use, reduce water use, and increase the usable space you are paying the mortgage on. This last benefit also increases the resale value of your home… Read more »

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — A cache of 75 original Nazi objects discovered earlier this month by the Argentine Federal Police has been evaluated as “unprecedented” and “the biggest” discovery of its type. The objects, discovered earlier this month in a hidden room of a house in the northern… Read more »

(JTA) — If you’re a young Jewish woman — or if you just happen to love “Broad City” or wacky recollections of Jewish summer camp — there’s a new website for you. Alma, which was launched Tuesday by 70 Faces Media (JTA’s parent company), aims to be a resource for… Read more »

  (Kveller via JTA) — My baby is 14 months now, talking like a maniac and taking very halting first steps (his development pattern echoes his highly verbal and unathletic parents). And in many ways so far, the past few months have been more challenging than anything I encountered… Read more »

Michael Peel

Grab your Golden Coupon and gear up to save and celebrate Tucson businesses during Independents Week. Promoted by Local First Arizona, Tucson’s version of this national event will take place July 1-9. It runs through Independence Day to capture the spirit of freedom that local businesses bring to their… Read more »

(JTA) — Large parts of Florida are suffering from severe drought, and hurricane season threatens to make things worse. Enter Water-Gen, an Israeli company whose technology captures humidity to extract drinking water from the air. On Monday, the South Florida city of Miami Gardens announced it was launching a pilot program with the… Read more »

(The Nosher via JTA) — Stuffed peppers are a comfort food for both Americans and Israelis. But the two versions vary quite a bit in their spice profiles and methodology. American-style stuffed peppers are often topped with cheese, stuffed with corn, beans, rice and sometimes meat, and feature a… Read more »