"Safekeeping" book cover (Courtesy of Fig Tree Books)
It’s summer, that time of year when everyone drops everything they’re doing, finds a quiet stretch of sandy shore and spends all day delving into their new favorite books. Or maybe not. But whatever your plans, there’s no denying that the season brings a bumper crop of literary offerings,… Read more »
Caitlin Jensen As Local First Arizona gears up for its 10th annual Independents Week celebration June 26-July 5, the Downtown Tucson Partnership is pleased to say that more than 90 percent of downtown businesses are locally owned. “I think that’s one of the things that truly makes downtown unique, the concentration… Read more »
Activists from ACT UP, a group co-founded in 1987 by Larry Kramer, shown in an archival photo from a demonstration. (Courtesy of HBO)
(JTA) — It wasn’t so long ago that gay men were vilified by American society at large. Back in the 1980s, when the AIDS epidemic surfaced, priests railed against them, claiming the disease was God’s revenge for sinful lifestyle choices. That, of course, has changed — mostly. While there… Read more »
Michael Oren, shown speaking at the Holocaust Day of Remembrance ceremony at the U.S. Capitol in 2010, caused a stir with accusations against President Obama in an Op-Ed. (Astrid Riecken/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Israel’s former ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren, caused a stir last week by publicly accusing President Barack Obama of abandoning the two core principles that undergird the U.S.-Israel relationship: no public disagreements and no surprises. But should there be no public disagreements – “no daylight,” in diplomatic… Read more »
Josh Levs
(Kveller via JTA) — I was home, caring for my 4-pound preemie daughter, sick wife and two sons when I got the crushing message from work. Time Warner, parent company of CNN, was refusing me the 10 paid weeks of caregiving leave that others got. I knew immediately how… Read more »
Collectives of European immigrants, soon known as kibbutzim, were an early building block of the Zionist movement. (Courtesy of Yad Yitzhak Ben Zvi)
LOS ANGELES (JTA) – Conflict between Arabs and Jews in the Middle East now appears a permanent condition, but it didn’t have to be that way, according to a one-hour PBS special premiering on June 30. “1913: The Seeds of Conflict” traces the relationship between the two Semitic tribes… Read more »
Robert N. Rosen CHARLESTON, S.C. (JTA) — The unspeakable murder of nine accomplished, beloved and respected African-American Charlestonians of faith in their own church on Wednesday has hit our city like an earthquake. These murders occurred in my neighborhood, across the street from Buist Academy, the public magnet school my daughter and… Read more »
UMM EL-KHEIR, West Bank (JTA) — They dig their fingers into the dirt, their knees bearing into the ground as they embed sprigs of thyme in identical rows. The sun beats down on the small plot, and the work can be tedious, but these volunteers — most of them… Read more »
Last week, a team of the Santa Monica-based RAND Corporation came to Israel and to the Palestinian Authority to present a new study, calculating the costs of different Israeli-Palestinian scenarios. According to the study, in the case of a two-state solution, the Israeli economy would gain more than $120… Read more »
Though he's CEO of a major travel company, Stephen Kaufer says he doesn't really have wanderlust -- but he would like to revisit his favorite destination: Jerusalem. (Courtesy TripAdvisor) NEW YORK (JTA) – When Stephen Kaufer, the CEO of TripAdvisor, an $11 billion company that runs America’s leading user-generated hotel review website, thinks back to all the places he has visited, one stands out as his favorite. Jerusalem. “Oh my gosh, looking at all of these amazing structures, the… Read more »
Cindy (Adrienne C. Moore), left, and Flaca (Jackie Cruz) in "Orange Is the New Black."
(JTA) — “Orange Is the New Black” protagonist Piper Chapman’s may no longer have a Jewish husband, but that doesn’t mean that Judaism isn’t a huge part of the new season of the Netflix hit. In fact, religious identity is one of the biggest themes of Season 3, as many… Read more »
Steven B.Nasati CHICAGO (JTA) — There are many important endeavors already underway to combat the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, or BDS, as the Anti-Defamation League’s Abraham Foxman argues in his recent JTA Op-Ed. From educating and mobilizing our own community to engaging non-Jewish leaders and institutions, much work is being done. But… Read more »
Deborah Rosenbloom WASHINGTON (JTA) — When I read the article in The New York Times detailing the accusations against Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt of the Riverdale Jewish Center, I was deeply saddened. This is the synagogue and community where I grew up. My parents moved to Riverdale in the 1950s and are among the RJC’s… Read more »
Oshrat Barel Israeli culture in Tucson Bringing Israeli culture to Tucson is one of the central goals of the Tucson Jewish Community Center, and this summer it is my pleasure to spend part of the summer here and see the great work of the two Israeli camp counselors, Dar Katz and… Read more »
Rabbi Ephraim Zimmerman of Chabad of Tucson affixes the mezuzah at the grand opening of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona's Northwest office in October 2012. (Phyllis Braun)
The Town of Oro Valley is running two campaigns to bolster local spending and keep dollars in the community. The first, Shop Oro Valley Summer Campaign, which runs through July 3, is open to anyone who shops at an Oro Valley business and spends at least $25. Participants are… Read more »
Ed Stolmaker Ed Stolmaker grew up in Hawthorne, N.J., but almost 16 years ago, he made an impetuous move to unincorporated Pima County. The current president and CEO of the Marana Chamber of Commerce was visiting Tucson with his wife, Marianne, on New Year’s Eve 1998. “We weren’t planning on moving… Read more »
Rabbi Manis Friedman speaks at the Tucson Jewish Community Center May 26. Good health and happiness can be achieved, says Rabbi Manis Friedman. During his talk, “A Healthy, Joyous and Fulfilling Life, A Holistic and Kabalistic Perspective,” attended by about 50 people on May 26 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, Friedman highlighted ways for people to look at life and… Read more »
Phil Zuckerman Phil Zuckerman, author of “Living the Secular Life,” will give two free lectures on Sunday, June 21 at the DuVal Auditorium at Banner-University Medical Center, 1501 N. Campbell Ave. He will present “The Rise of the Nones: Causes and Consequences of Rising Irreligion in the USA,” sponsored by Free… Read more »
For the second year in a row, the Arizona Jewish Post has won a first place Simon Rockower Award for Excellence in Jewish Journalism from the American Jewish Press Association. The award is also a repeat for AJP freelance writer Nancy Ben-Asher Ozeri, who took home last year’s first… Read more »
NEW YORK (JTA) — In the last 48 hours, rockets from Gaza were again fired at innocent civilians. This cannot be tolerated. The Israel Defense Forces must respond swiftly and without hesitation. We, as the opposition, will support strong government action. Yet such action cannot stand alone. We need… Read more »
