Tagged HEADLINES

The Arizona Jewish Post and Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona will be relocating to our new home at the Harvey and Deanna Evenchik Center for Jewish Philanthropy. We will share this new site with the Jewish Community Foundation. The move is scheduled  for Sept.  & and 8. We will resume… Read more »

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona has joined with the Jewish Federations of North America to help the victims of Hurricane Harvey, now a tropical storm. In an email to the community today, Stuart Mellan, JFSA president and CEO, and Shelly Silverman, JFSA chair, wrote: “Over the past few… Read more »

Rabbi Hazzan Avraham Alpert

Every segment of the Jewish community in America is busy working to better engage people. Synagogues and agencies want to do whatever they can to connect with us and serve our needs. We’re all in this together. I believe that most of our organizations have their hearts in the… Read more »

Project Isaiah, the Jewish community’s annual High Holidays food drive benefiting the Community Food Bank, begins Sept. 1 and runs through Oct. 2. The project is named for the Prophet Isaiah, who when asked why we fast on Yom Kippur, responded, “Is it not to share your bread with… Read more »

(The Nosher via JTA) —  Like Italians with their tomato sauce, home cooks across North Africa and the Middle East are serious about their harissa. Each cook has his or her own special method for grinding the chiles and blending in oil, garlic and spices. That’s why our harissa… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Palestinian Authority expects the Trump administration to commit to a peace deal endgame before the close of this month and prefers it would be the two-state solution. “We need them to tell us where the hell they are going,” Husam Zomlot, the Palestine Liberation Organization… Read more »

(JTA) — A chuckle tickled my throat as Ruth Thomann, a Swiss hotelier who posted signs urging her “Jewish guests” to shower before entering the pool, assured me that she has “nothing against Jews.” To be clear, I don’t find racism particularly amusing, especially not these days. But there… Read more »

BARCELONA, Spain (JTA) — In the wake of the horrendous recent terrorist attack in my city, our chief rabbi declared that the Jewish community here is “doomed” and encouraged us to buy property in Israel. With all due respect to the rabbi, he is wrong. I am 34 years old and… Read more »

(JTA) — As Jewish liaisons to four different presidents, we had the responsibility inside the White House to give voice to the perspectives and priorities of the American Jewish community. While our community may not be unified in matters of policy and politics, our spiritual practice, cultural traditions and… Read more »

(JTA) — Commenting on deadly attacks in Catalonia, the chief rabbi of that region in Spain said his community is doomed, partly because of radical Islam and the alleged reluctance of authorities to confront it. Rabbi Meir Bar-Hen has been encouraging his congregants to leave Spain, which he called… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — The mayors of America’s largest cities are launching a partnership with the Anti-Defamation League to combat hate and bigotry. Nearly 200 mayors have joined the agreement, which was announced Friday, since it was first circulated Tuesday night among the U.S. Conference of Mayors. The mayors… Read more »

This is a developing story. (JTA) — Stephen Bannon is leaving his position as White House chief strategist. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that Friday was Bannon’s last day in the role. “White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Steve Bannon have mutually agreed today… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — Two chefs — one from Afghanistan, the other from Mexico — are learning how to make shakshuka sauce. The tomato base, cooked with onion rings and spiced with cayenne pepper and garlic confit, comes out of the oven with eggs and onto a curated brunch… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — There was a moment in his “neo-Nazi, neo-Shmazi” news conference where you might have found yourself thinking, maybe President Trump is right. On the narrow question of who was responsible for the violence in Charlottesville, a prosecutor might note that punches were thrown by white… Read more »

(The Nosher via JTA) — I must have been about 6 or 7 years old and remember being eye level to my grandmother’s stove. I saw these white, round things frying in oil. What I vividly recall was the distinct hole on the edge of these patties and wondering… Read more »

(JTA) — The president of Poland’s largest Jewish group accused other Jewish leaders of exaggerating the country’s anti-Semitism problem as part of a “political war” on the right-wing ruling party. Artur Hofman, who heads the TSKZ cultural organization of Polish Jews, defended the government Wednesday during an interview with… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Amid a furor over his delay in denouncing a white supremacists’ rally in specific terms, President Donald Trump condemned the “racist violence” at the Charlottesville event and declared that “racism is evil.” “Racism is evil and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and… Read more »

(JTA) The Israeli-American teenager accused of making hundreds of threats against Jewish community centers in the United States sold his bomb threat services. (The Tucson Jewish Community Center was among the facilities threatened, with one incident in February and another in March.) Michael Kadar, 19, from Ashkelon in southern… Read more »

The Tucson Jewish community’s new shinshinim arrived July 31, and the two teen emissaries from Israel couldn’t be more excited. Chen Dinatzi and Tamir Shecory, both 18, were among 115 Israeli high school graduates, out of more than 2,000 applicants, selected for the Jewish Agency for Israel’s Shinshinim Young… Read more »

A few months ago, I accepted the daunting responsibility to chair the 2018 campaign for the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona. I have been a staunch supporter of the Federation since I moved to Tucson 37 years ago, and having recently retired from Tucson Hebrew Academy as their director of… Read more »