Tagged HEADLINES

Tucson Hebrew Academy will hold its second annual family-friendly STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Festival on Sunday, April 3, with expanded hours from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the THA campus, 3888 E. River Road. Presented by THA’s STEM program, led by science teacher Jennifer Lehrfeld, the… Read more »

Tucson Jewish Singles Over 40, for ages 40-65, will hold its inaugural meeting on Sunday, March 27 at 4 p.m. at Five Palms Restaurant, 3500 E. Sunrise Drive, with a free dinner (no-host beverages available). The group will meet on the fourth Sunday of every month for dinner, happy… Read more »

Rabbi Yossie Shemtov

Two consequential decisions were made by Ahasuerus, King of Persia in the 4th century BCE. Both elicited the same crisis management, as told in the Book of Esther, which we will read on the upcoming holiday of Purim (Wednesday night, March 23 and Thursday, March 24). The first was… Read more »

Right now, in March, we can enjoy our gardens in the daytime, but by June — not so much! The problem with this is that you need to water and care for your garden all year long, so it’s a real shame you can’t enjoy it all year long.… Read more »

Shay Yossef and his wife, Efrat, with their children at their West Bank home in Har Bracha. (Beit Hatfutsot)

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Orli Malassa doesn’t remember ever feeling anything but Israeli. To her parents, who came to Israel from Ethiopia in 1983 when she was 5 years old, Malassa’s accent-free Hebrew, fluent use of Israeli slang and effortless assimilation into the Jewish state has felt nothing short… Read more »

WINGDALE, N.Y. (JTA) – The sky is clearing after a damp morning at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires, and kids are emerging from their cluttered bunks. An impromptu Frisbee game breaks out on the lawn, while down by the lake a counselor prepares the water trampoline and surf kayaks. On… Read more »

SZARVAS, Hungary (JTA) — Escaping a sudden downpour in the summer of 2012, Andras Paszternak and Barbi Szendy ran to find cover inside an empty cabin at their Jewish summer camp, Szarvas, 100 miles east of Budapest. The two senior counselors, then 31 and 36, respectively, chatted as rain drenched the sprawling compound, where… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — The Pew Research Center poll released last week surveying attitudes among Israeli citizens confirms what many of us who work on Israeli issues already knew: Israel is a deeply divided society, first and foremost between its Jewish and Arab citizens, but also among its Jewish sectors. Ethnicity,… Read more »

  PHILADELPHIA (JTA) — The recent Pew Research Center study finding that about half of Israeli Jews favor transferring Arabs from Israel reveals the fear, frustration and misery that Israeli Jews feel after being subjected to decades of Arab terrorist attacks that have killed and maimed thousands of innocents.… Read more »

(The Nosher via JTA) — My love of Italian cuisine was honed at a very early age — there was no lack of Italian restaurants, pizzerias and bakeries. If I had to pick my favorite Italian pastry, it would be no contest – I am #teamcannoli all the way.… Read more »

TEL AVIV (JTA) — In a survey that spanned politics, religion and interfaith relations, one statistic stood out: nearly half of Israel’s Jews support expelling the country’s Arabs. The Pew Research Center’s study of Israelis’ attitudes, which had its findings released Tuesday, had asked respondents whether they agreed that… Read more »

ANALYSIS WASHINGTON (JTA) – Can Bernie Sanders actually win it? With his surprising victory in the Michigan primary by 2 percentage points on Tuesday — after trailing Hillary Clinton by double digits in the polls — the possibility has inched a little closer to reality. To be sure, Sanders still trails… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) – America’s political system is broken, and the last thing the country needs is another career politician at the helm. With money more than ever a corrupting influence in politics, the White House should be occupied by someone who isn’t beholden to well-funded lobbyists or super… Read more »

(JTA) — A 29-year-old American business school student was killed in a stabbing attack in the Jaffa area of Tel Aviv. Taylor Force, a student at the Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management, was on a school trip to Israel when he was killed Tuesday evening, the university said. As… Read more »

RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) – Despite recent summer temperatures here topping out at 42 degrees Celsius (109 Fahrenheit), Milena Rozenbrah has become accustomed recently to dressing in pants and long sleeves when she leaves home. A Jewish mother in Brazil’s second-largest city, Rozenbrah is concerned not for the religious… Read more »

PERSONAL ESSAY (JTA) — Two weeks ago, I heard a podcast in which two Jewish women named Ronna and Beverly misgendered me repeatedly and made fun of my story. This was not the first time I thought to myself, “Why did I choose this?” To be clear, I was… Read more »

(The Nosher via JTA) — It’s that time of year, when bloggers and crazy Jewish women everywhere scramble to come up with unique variations of hamantaschen. And I am nothing if not a crazy Jewish woman. As I mulled over what kind of Purim treats to whip up this year, I wanted to… Read more »

Todd Rockoff

The Tucson J is growing! The expansion and renovation of the new health and wellness area in 2015 stimulated a wonderful growth in membership (more than 200 units) and an increase in program participation. This investment created a wonderful buzz in our community about our great fitness facility and… Read more »

When local Jewish writer Joni Rubinstein’s children were babies, she began a birthday practice that became a cherished family tradition. “When my first daughter, who is 35 now, was born, I found this tiny little poem that was about birthdays,” says Rubinstein, an elementary school counselor in the Marana… Read more »

A Jewish section has been established at Marana Mortuary and Cemetery, with Rabbi Ephraim Zimmerman of Chabad of Oro Valley overseeing religious aspects of the section. “Until now Jewish burial was available in Tucson in two cemeteries, Evergreen and East Lawn. figured I was the obvious… Read more »