Rabbi Batsheva Appel Marie Kondo has made her name by helping people tidy up. She has a system for removing clutter from our homes that includes the correct ways to sort things, to fold things, to store things. Kondo’s approach is very different from most de-cluttering experts. She suggests that we hold… Read more »
The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s board governance committee, chaired by Eric Schindler, has recommended the following slate of officers for the 2017-2018 program year: Shelly Silverman, chair of the board; Eric Schindler, vice chair/board development; Deborah Oseran, vice chair; Ben Silverman, treasurer/secretary; Tom Warne, immediate past chair. Also… Read more »
(L-R) Mike Finkelstein, Ken Barratt and Joey Lessa (Courtesy Mike Finkelstein)
Beth Shalom Temple Center will hold a musical open house for current and prospective members, “A Concert of Famous Jewish Songwriters & Composers,” on Sunday, April 30 at 2 p.m. BSTC is located at 1751 N. Rio Mayo in Green Valley. Along with their music, the concert will feature… Read more »
‘Mimbres Totem,’ stoneware clay by Julie Szerina Stein (Courtesy Julie Szerina Stein)
Artists from the Many Hands Courtyard and the Tucson Artist Cooperative are joining for a show, “Groovin’ Together,” at the Tucson Jewish Community Center Fine Arts Gallery from April 21-May 30, with a reception on April 23 from 3-5 p.m. Two local Jewish artists are among the 10 women… Read more »
Mel Brooks interviewed in The Last Laugh. (Ferne Pearlstein)
The Last Laugh is a documentary based on the premise that the Holocaust would seem to be an absolutely off-limits topic for comedy. But is it? History shows that even victims of Nazi concentration camps used humor as a means of survival and resistance. Still, any use of comedy… Read more »
Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen, walk in the presidential inauguration parade in Washington, D.C., Jan. 20, 2017. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
(JTA) — I am a huge fan of monogamy. My wife and I have been married for — well, let’s just say we met in high school (we didn’t get together until after college, but I was trying to avoid saying “a long time”). I took it personally when… Read more »
Maple Glazed Rack of Ribs (Miriam Pascal)
(The Nosher via JTA) — As a personal chef, I always like to up the ante of my presentation and creativity of my food. Why should Passover food be boring? The one easy way to take Passover food up a notch is by using fresh ingredients – fresh lemons,… Read more »
(Kveller via JTA) — My grandmother was a super shopper even before the advent of supermarkets and coupons. In those days, each food group had its own store, so that every neighborhood had a butcher shop, fish market, dairy, deli and grocery. Shopping with Grandma was an all-day experience.… Read more »
A scene from the “Transparent” episode “Elizah” (Screenshot from Amazon)
(JTA) — Everyone has their own way of celebrating Passover, from silly seder customs (Ten Plagues finger puppets, anyone?) to enjoying the same meal year after year, to, yes, commemorating the festival alongside beloved TV characters. The eight-day remembrance of Moses leading the Jews out of slavery in… Read more »
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner leaving after the presidential inauguration at the U.S. Capitol, Jan. 20, 2017. (Saul Loeb/Pool/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) — White supremacists have a problem, and his name is Jared Kushner. While many on the far right are hoping that President Donald Trump will help advance their separatist, racist agendas, figures like former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke and neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin are… Read more »
(JTA) — From the wizardry of Harry Potter that echoes with Passover’s themes to a cartoon frog who wisecracks his way through the seder, this year’s new crop of Passover books for kids offers something for all ages and interests. The selection of fresh reads, including two family-friendly… Read more »
Jewish Voice for Peace members at the Jewish United Fund of Chicago protest donor-advised funds from JUF going to groups that have been deemed Islamophobic, March 24, 2017. (Inbal Palombo)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Lisa Greer didn’t think twice when she used her cellphone to donate to IfNotNow, a Jewish organization that protests Israel’s West Bank occupation. Greer and her husband, Joshua, had given millions to progressive Jewish and Israel causes, and she sits on the board of the… Read more »
Amy Oestreicher performs ‘Gutless and Grateful’ at the Triad Theatre in New York in October 2012. (Courtesy Amy Oestreicher)
On the night of the second Passover seder 12 years ago, Amy Oestreicher’s parents had to ask their guests to leave their Connecticut home so they could take Oestreicher, then 18, to the hospital with a severe stomachache. She was rushed into surgery where her stomach exploded due to… Read more »
Jeremy Vega and Liz Cracchiolo (standing), Kelli Workman and Dennis Tamblyn in ‘Stars of David’
Arizona Onstage Productions will present “Stars of David: A New Musical,” based on Abigail Pogrebin’s 2005 bestseller, subtitled “Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish,” April 15 and 16 at the Berger Performing Arts Center. The musical revue presents little known stories about some of the most famous Jews of… Read more »
Fred Klein (right) with Lievin Niyongabo at the Tucson's International Rescue Committee office. An immigrant from Burundi, Niyongabo is an Americorps VISTA volunteer at the IRC and also works as a caregiver. He was a university student in Namibia when his family got permission to resettle in the United States and plans to resume his studies. (Courtesy Fred Klein)
Passover is the time of freedom. We eat matzah, the bread of affliction, we eat bitter herbs and dip karpas (vegetables) in salt water to recall our suffering and tears. We eat charoset, made with ground almonds, cinnamon and wine to recall the mortar used by Jewish slaves to… Read more »
Richard Gere stars as Norman Oppenheimer in "Norman." (Niko Tavernise/Sony Pictures Classics)
(JTA) — Richard Gere is sexy, suave, tough. He’s been the star of a constellation of films, from “American Gigolo” to “Pretty Woman,” “An Officer and a Gentleman” to “Primal Fear.” At 67, the onetime People magazine Sexiest Man of the Year (1999) still has the looks and charm… Read more »
French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen speaks in Henin-Beaumont, France, Dec. 6, 2015. (Sylvain Lefevre/Getty Images)
PARIS (JTA) — Like many Jews in France, Ludwig Fineltain is hoping against hope that Marine Le Pen will not be elected president of the country five weeks from now. At the moment, the head of the far-right National Front party is leading in the polls with 26 percent… Read more »
The American-Israeli teenager arrested on suspicion of making over 100 bomb threats to American JCCs leaves the court in Rishon Lezion, Israel, March 23, 2017. (Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Literally within seconds of the news of the arrest in Israel of an Israeli-American teenager for the bulk of the JCC bomb threats, Twitter lit up with Jewish anxiety. “ fear the inevitable backlash from haters who we whipped a frenzy for our own nefarious political… Read more »
ATLANTA (JTA) — When Janice Rothschild Blumberg first heard that a bomb threat had hit an Atlanta Jewish center, she had only one thought: “It’s happening all over again.” Blumberg, 93, remembers her shock in 1958 when white supremacists bombed her synagogue, then called the Hebrew Benevolent Congregation… Read more »
Easy Maamoul (Shlomo Schwartz)
(The Nosher via JTA) — Maamoul is a traditional small pastry from the Levant (the historical area between Syria in the north and Egypt in the south including Lebanon, Israel and Palestine). Muslims, Christians and Jews lived in the area alongside each other for over 1,500 years and shared… Read more »
