Paul Golin The Secular Humanist Jewish Circle of Tucson will present a panel discussion, “Who’s a Jew? Intermarriage and the Future of Judaism,” with a keynote lecture by Paul Golin, executive director of the Society for Humanistic Judaism, on Saturday, Oct. 28, 1:30-3 p.m. at the Murphy-Wilmot Library, 530 N. Wilmot… Read more »
“The doctor went into the examining room and, leaning over my father, who was still lying on a gurney, he asked in a condescending way, ‘What do you want me to do, Mr. Wyner, make you younger?’ And my father responded with words that will always… Read more »
Sharon Megdal, center, with fellow Central Arizona Project board members Jennifer Brown and Mark Taylor at the ‘Cutting-Edge Solutions to Wicked Water Problems’ conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, September 2017. (Courtesy Jennifer Brown)
I recently had the great honor and pleasure of co-chairing the international water conference “Cutting-Edge Solutions to Wicked Water Problems.” Held Sept. 10-11 at Tel Aviv University’s beautiful Porter School of Environmental Studies building, the conference was jointly convened by the American Water Resources Association and the Water Research Center… Read more »
The Ballet Tucson company for the 2017-18 season (Ed Flores)
The Tucson Jewish Community Center and Ballet Tucson will present “Sole Impressions: New Works Performance” at the J on Sunday, Nov. 12 at 2 p.m. The performance will feature original choreography by Ballet Tucson’s professional dancers. Along with background and insights from each choreographer, a question and answer session… Read more »
The 15th-century Abravanel Hebrew Bible at Portugal's Coimbra University (Cnaan Liphshiz)
COIMBRA, Portugal (JTA) — From its mountaintop perch, the University of Coimbra towers majestically over the downtown square that used to be the regional headquarters of the Portuguese Inquisition. It’s a fitting location for the 737-year-old university, the seventh oldest in the world, which outsmarted and outlived the campaign… Read more »
The American Jewish Historical Society is housed at a Manhattan address that includes several other Jewish organizations. (Wikimedia Commons, JTA montage)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Last month, New York’s Center for Jewish History was the target of a right-wing campaign seeking to oust its new president, David Myers, over his dovish views on Israel. The campaign drew an appropriately outraged response from leading Jewish scholars, who rallied around Myers, a… Read more »
Harvey Weinstein speaking at National Geographic's Further Front Event at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City, April 19, 2017. (Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for National Geographic)
(JTA) — In an interview with The Daily Beast, George Clooney described Harvey Weinstein as a very powerful man with a tendency to hit on young beautiful women over whom he had power. Despite the “rumors” he had heard about Weinstein’s openly predatory behavior, Clooney expressed sincere shock and outrage at… Read more »
(Kveller via JTA) — In the past two weeks, I’ve read two incredibly relatable pieces of writing that take to task the never-ending extra labor mothers inevitably carry on behalf of our families. The first is a beautiful Facebook post that went viral (again) called “I Am The Keeper,” which… Read more »
Visitors wait in line to enter the Supreme Court building in Washington as the high court begins its new term, Oct. 2, 2017. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Supreme Court is back in session with a full bench of nine justices, so expect more momentous decisions after nearly a year of caution. Now that the high court is back to its previous equilibrium — four solid liberals, four solid conservatives and one… Read more »
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif at the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Sept. 20, 2017. (Kevin Hagen/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Donald Trump will present a major foreign policy speech this week on the Iran nuclear deal, reportedly decertifying its compliance with the 2015 agreement. His words, ostensibly, will have consequences. Or perhaps not because of the type of decertification Trump reportedly is choosing. Or everything… Read more »
Adena Bank Lees (Jacquelynn Buck)
Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Southern Arizona kicks off its annual “Shalom in Every Home” lecture series featuring guest speaker Adena Bank Lees, LCSW, on Sunday Oct. 22. The two-day event, which continues Oct. 29, will be held at the Tucson Jewish Community Center from 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.… Read more »
Music takes center stage this month at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, ranging from Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn to the Jewish-jazz connection. The fall Celebration of Heritage concert series begins Tuesday, Oct. 10 at 7 p.m. with “Celebrating Felix Mendelssohn and Fanny Mendelssohn,” German Jewish composers of the Romantic… Read more »
The Orthodox Union's youth organization sold more than 4,000 tickets to Six Flags Great Adventure on the first day of chol hamoed, Passover's intermediate days, April 25, 2016. (Uriel Heilman)
(JTA) — The 2013 Pew survey “A Portrait of Jewish Americans” shows that Orthodox Judaism, while currently attracting the allegiance of only about 10 percent of all American Jews, is the fastest growing sector of the community. The high birthrate and retention rate confirmed by the survey have led some observers to predict that within a generation, American Jewry will… Read more »
LAS VEGAS, NV - OCTOBER 2: Mourners attend a candlelight vigil at the corner of Sahara Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard for the victims of Sunday night's mass shooting, October 2, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Late Sunday night, a lone gunman killed more than 50 people and injured more than 500 people after he opened fire on a large crowd at the Route 91 Harvest Festival, a three-day country music festival. The massacre is one of the deadliest mass shooting events in U.S. history. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS (JTA) — We just got into our car and drove. Going to Las Vegas after the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history felt like the right thing to do. As Americans and as Jews, we wanted to be a source of support and love in the face… Read more »
Rabbi Stephanie Aaron Congressman John Lewis shared this story about his childhood. He called it a little story that has nothing to do with a national stage or historic figures or monumental events. It’s just a simple true story, about a group of young children, a wood frame house and a windstorm.… Read more »
Rabbi Avraham Alpert of Tucson speaks at his ordination at the Stephen Wise Temple in Los Angeles on May 29. (Photo: Aly Blue Photography)
Congregation Bet Shalom will celebrate the recent ordination of Rabbi Hazzan Avraham “Avi” Alpert next month at a gala event. Alpert says he’s both humbled by the attention and excited because the event supports his mission of reaching out to the entire Jewish community. Alpert’s personal journey began when… Read more »
Irena Sendler The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Northwest Division will host a community gathering and screening of the documentary “Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project” on Tuesday, Oct. 24, at 4 p.m. at Splendido at Rancho Vistoso, 13500 N. Rancho Vistoso Blvd. The event also will feature Tucson… Read more »
Menashe Lustig as Menashe and Ruben Niborski as Rieven in ‘Menashe’ (Courtesy The Loft Cinema)
On a sidewalk crowded with people moving at the pace of a typical New York day, nobody stands out. Eventually a man appears in the back of the frame who gradually attracts our attention. There’s nothing extraordinary about him except he’s a bulky man, and he’s laboring more than… Read more »
Klezmerson to play Stone Ave. block party (Courtesy Jewish History Museum)
The Stone Avenue Block Party, a joint project of the Jewish History Museum and the Consul of Mexico in Tucson, will take place on Saturday, Oct. 7 beginning at 7 p.m. on Stone Avenue between 16th and 17th Streets. Now in its third year, the event remains “a critical… Read more »
Rabbi Robert Eisen This past August, while sitting shiva for our son, Ricky, the liturgy at our daily minyan took on new and important meaning for me. Passages that were once a source of comfort and strength became burdensome, and caused me to ask more questions than I knew I could. Other… Read more »
