A look inside the Project Ten Volunteer center of The Jewish Agency for Israel. (Courtesy of Shimon Mercer-Wood)
(JTA) — Late last month, on the eve of Black History Month, a delegation of African-American journalists landed in Ghana to cover international development projects and the impact those projects are making in that West African country. This in itself is nothing out of the ordinary. Africa in… Read more »
Randall Balmer The Arizona Center for Judaic Studies will present a free President’s Day lecture, “Religion and the 2016 Election: Historical Context and Unusual Alliances,” with professor and author Randall Balmer on Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Religion played an unusual and unexpected role in… Read more »
Elliot Glicksman The Steven M. Gootter Foundation will present its annual Philanthropic Award to Elliot Glicksman at the 12th annual Gootter Gala on Friday, March 3 at the Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa. Glicksman, a lawyer in Tucson, “has supported the Gootter Foundation since its inception 12 years ago. As… Read more »
Hadassah Southern Arizona women and men will once again perform the mitzvah of tikkun olam, repairing the world, by cleaning the roadways around the Tucson Jewish Community Center, on Sunday, March 5, from 8-10 am. This event will mark the 20th year that chapter members have participated in the… Read more »
The Fox Tucson Theatre will present a concert by Michael Feinstein, the two-time Emmy and five-time Grammy Award-nominated entertainer dubbed “The Ambassador of the Great American Songbook,” on Thursday, Feb. 23 at 7:30 p.m. Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, where he started playing piano by ear as a… Read more »
The Tucson Jewish Community Center will present a book signing by local artist and author Lisa Kotz Mishler of her new book, “Zalman Ber’s Story: The True Story of the Man the Nazis Could Not Kill,” as told to her by her father, Sol Kotz, on Sunday, Feb. 26… Read more »
U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan once scheduled an hour-long meeting with the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Towards the end of the consultation, the Rebbe asked if he could request a favor from the senator. “Here it comes,” the senator thought to himself. “Now the Rebbe is looking… Read more »
WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Donald Trump shouted down two reporters who asked him about rising anti-Semitism in America and said he “hates” being called an anti-Semite, although neither reporter called him one. Trump, fielding questions at a contentious news conference Thursday about the multiple scandals and mishaps afflicting his… Read more »
Mismanagement of common prescriptions and over the counter medications can lead to dangerous complications, including dizziness, falls and loss of appetite. Accidental poisoning deaths from medications are on the rise and older adults are more vulnerable to addiction and death from pain medications. The Tucson Jewish Community Center, the… Read more »
President Donald Trump, left, and Stephen Bannon at the swearing-in of senior staff at the White House, Jan. 22, 2017. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Reports that White House Svengali Steve Bannon once referred to the American Jewish community as enablers of Islamist jihad revived accusations that the former Breitbart News publisher is an anti-Semite. On its face the accusation, like the oft-repeated charge that Breitbart itself is an anti-Semitic news site,… Read more »
The main cast of "Girls" at a New York Times Times Talks event. From left to right: Allison Williams, Lena Dunham, Zosia Mamet and Jemima Kirke. (Roy Rochlin/FilmMagic via Getty Images)
(JTA) — The HBO series “Girls” may no longer be the definitive show of the millennial generation — but as it enters its sixth and final season this week, it remains relevant in myriad ways. “Girls” debuted in 2012 — when the Jewish creator and star Lena Dunham was… Read more »
Lightened-up kasha varnishkes (Shannon Sarna)
(The Nosher via JTA) — Kasha varnishkes is a much beloved Ashkenazi comfort food dish. Traditionally made with bow tie pasta, onions, schmaltz and kasha (buckwheat), it is filling, comforting peasant food at its best. I wanted to add a little bit of healthfulness into the traditional recipe, so we decided to swap… Read more »
At Camp Ramah of the Rockies, campers live in tent cabins with no electricity or running water. (Camp Ramah of the Rockies)
(JTA) — In the summer of 2010, with just hours to go before campers arrived for the first day of the first season of Eden Village Camp, director Yoni Stadlin got some bad news from the health department: A procedural issue had delayed the issuance of a permit and… Read more »
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a news conference at Google's Tel Aviv office, Dec. 10, 2012. (Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images)
(JTA) — When President Donald Trump meets Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel next week, the two are expected to discuss the Iran nuclear deal, the peace process and other issues, including the Trump’s campaign promise to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv and what the White… Read more »
(JTA) — The Israeli parliament passed a bill that would retroactively legalize some West Bank settlements built on private Palestinian land. Knesset lawmakers voted 60-52 in favor of the measure late Monday to legalize some 4,000 settler homes. The law, which prevents the government from demolishing the homes, comes less than a… Read more »
President Donald Trump before boarding Marine One and departing the White House, Feb. 3, 2017. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Israeli settlements are no big problem. Wait — maybe they are, after all. The Iran deal is trash. No, the deal is here to stay, despite being “weak.” On Feb. 2, the White House pronounced on Israel’s announced settlement expansion that it “may not help”… Read more »
Amy Hirshberg Lederman I have always loved books. As a child, I treasured my hardcover editions of “Heidi,” “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm” and “Black Beauty” and loved the nights when my mom and I would snuggle on the couch as she read me chapter after chapter of “Little Women.” And in 1965, at… Read more »
The Tucson Jewish Community Center will hold a series of four “Celebration of Heritage” concerts beginning Feb. 15. Roza Simkhovich, a longtime community volunteer and former Tucson J board member, will host the series. All performances will be held at 6:30 p.m. and include: Wednesday, Feb. 15 — The… Read more »
On the afternoon of Jan. 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Jewish History Museum received a letter from the Consul of Mexico in Tucson, Ricardo Pineda. The letter arrived at the end of an emotionally charged 24 hours, moments prior to closing for Shabbat. To mark this commemorative date,… Read more »
At least 17 Jewish community centers across the United States were targeted with bomb threats in the third wave of such mass disruption this month. Paul Goldenberg, the director of Secure Community Network — an affiliate of the Jewish federations of North America, which advises Jewish groups and institutions… Read more »
