Tagged HEADLINES

OP-ED Bernie Sanders is simply better for America, for Israel and the world

Bernie Sanders at a campaign rally at Bronx Community College in New York City, April 9, 2016. (Eric Thayer/Getty Images)

  NEW YORK (JTA) — On Nov. 8, 2016, if Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee, I expect to be voting enthusiastically for Clinton for president. One reason is that she’s so competent. Another is that the Republicans are so awful. In fact, I can’t think of a modern-day… Read more »

Rabbi’s corner: Our partnership in the Lord’s ministry

Rabbi Thomas Louchheim

Back in March, I had two possible meetings to attend, occurring at the same time. One was a Jewish Federation meeting and the other was a zoning hearing at City Hall. I told representatives from both that I would be out of town visiting family. Both times I hung… Read more »

Sanders supporters say he is the candidate of their Jewish values

Brooklyn resident Charles Lenchner, left, and Rabbi Iris Richman, a founder of Rabbis for Bernie, were among those at a Jewish Sanders campaign event in Manhattan, April 10, 2016. (Uriel Heilman)

NEW YORK (JTA) – Phil Aroneanu is a second-generation American Jew whose parents came to America as immigrants seeking refuge from an oppressive Communist regime in Eastern Europe. Aroneanu himself was born in New York City and later moved to Vermont. It’s a biography that to some extent mirrors… Read more »

In Focus: Purim 2016

(L-R) Cantorial Soloist Nichole Chorny, Rabbi Robert Eisen and Education & Youth Director Rabbi Ruven Barkan read the Megillah at Congregation Anshei Israel’s Purim Palooza party on March 23.

Snapshots of some local Purim celebrations around Tucson.  … Read more »

Neil Simon play coming to Invisible Theatre

Hollywood scriptwriter Herb Tucker (David Alexander Johnston) explains to his girlfriend Steffy (Susan Kovitz) why he doesn’t want to get married again. (Tim Fuller)

Invisible Theatre will stage Neil Simon’s comedy, “I Ought to Be in Pictures,” April 19-May 1. Ticket information is available at 882-9721 or invisibletheatre.com.… Read more »

Tucson J youth experts to lead workshop at conference

Two members of the Tucson Jewish Community Center’s department of children, youth and family engagement will lead a workshop on “active listening” at “Adolescence to Independence,” a conference on empowering youth sponsored by Arizona’s Children Association, which will be held at the Tucson J on Friday, May 6. Scott… Read more »

JFSA names nominees for officers, board of directors

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s board development committee, chaired by Eric Schindler, has recommended the following slate of officers for the 2016-2017 program year: Tom Warne, chair of the board; Eric Schindler, vice chair/board development; Helaine Levy, vice chair; Jim Wezelman, treasurer/secretary; Kathryn Unger, immediate past chair.  Also… Read more »

Op-Ed: Can a united community still work miracles? Ask the Yemenite Jews.

A Jewish family from Yemen arriving in Israel at Ben Gurion International Airport, Aug. 14, 2013. (Moshik Brin/The Jewish Agency/Flash90)

(JTA) — Passover is a time for family, for tradition, and for festive celebration. It’s also a time to fix a paradox. As we read the Haggadah, we reflect on our past travails and miraculous redemption as a Jewish people. But if we look only at the past we… Read more »

Rabbis expand the Passover menu — but will Conservative Jews bite?

Corn (Pixabay Commons)

ROCKVILLE, Md. — On Passover, Lynne Sandler will be passing on the beans and rice. Sandler, a member of Conservative Agudas Achim Congregation in Alexandria, Virginia, said she won’t take advantage of her movement’s ruling in November that permits eating a category of food called kitniyot that includes rice, beans… Read more »

Passover books for one kid — or many

(JTA) — Afikomen hunts, a rambunctious pup and the catchy classic “Dayenu.” All are featured in a half-dozen new Passover books for children that will inform and entertain even the littlest kid — or a whole herd of ’em. The eight-day holiday kicks off this year on the evening of… Read more »

At Jews for Bernie event, anger boils over at Sanders campaign

Phil Aroneanu, New York state director of the Sanders campaign, speaks at a Jews for Bernie event in Manhattan, April 10, 2016. (Uriel Heilman)

NEW YORK (JTA) – It might have been the last place you’d expect anger to erupt against the Bernie Sanders campaign. But at a Jews for Bernie brunch in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood on Sunday, the frustration seemed to boil over when some silver-haired Jewish supporters of Sanders began deriding… Read more »

Baseball’s back: Here’s a look at 8 Jewish major leaguers and a manager

Joc Pederson taking a swing against the Washington Nationals, Aug. 12, 2015. (Hillel Kuttler)

(JTA) – Will Joc Pederson rebound from his second-half struggles of last season? Can Kevin Pillar build on his strong 2015 campaign? Will injuries derail one-time MVP Ryan Braun? These are some of the questions to be answered as these Jewish players and others get set for the Major… Read more »

Netanyahu dares Abbas to meet: “I’ve cleared my schedule for the week”

Jerusalem (TPS) ‒ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took advantage of his meeting with the Czech foreign minister to challenge Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday. “President Abbas said on Israeli television a few days ago that if I invite him, he’ll come,” Netanyahu told Czech Foreign Minister Lubomír Zaorálek,… Read more »

Op-Ed: It’s time to allow Conservative rabbis to officiate at interfaith weddings

Seymour Rosenbloom

ELKINS PARK, Pa. (JTA) — The Conservative movement’s leadership must drop its ban on Conservative rabbis officiating at interfaith weddings — before it’s too late. The Rabbinical Assembly’s unequivocal rule is that a Conservative rabbi may not officiate at an intermarriage. But after 42 years as an active rabbi, during which… Read more »

The 25 most influential people on ‘Jewish Twitter’

Clockwise, starting from top left, Benjamin Netanyahu, HAIM, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks and Lena Dunham. (Getty Images)

(JTA) — Ten years ago this week, Twitter was born. Never ones to miss a good conversation, Jews quickly adopted the social network, and they haven’t stopped kibitzing since. To celebrate the birth of this post-modern Talmud, we’ve updated JTA’s 2009 list of the “100 Most Influential Jewish Twitterers” (which helped a young woman… Read more »

Op-Ed: Muslim textbooks in North America teach tolerance — and demonize Israel

JERUSALEM (JTA) — It might appear churlish to criticize the teaching of Islamic studies in America. After all, “Between Sharia and Democracy: Islamic Education in North America,” a just-released study by Impact-SE, finds that the most widely used Islamic textbooks published in the United States are generally free of imagery and… Read more »