Ahuvah (Amanda) Gipson, left, and other members of the Bet Januka congregation located at Naval Station Rota in southern Spain, July 30, 2014. (Cnaan Liphshiz) ROTA, Spain (JTA) — While setting up a synagogue at the American naval base where she works, Ahuvah (Amanda) Gipson made something of a bitter-sweet discovery. Rifling through a storage area at the sprawling American-Spanish military complex Naval Station Rota in 2012, Gipson, a former naval outreach professional who… Read more »
Uri Dromi Recently, I hosted at the Jerusalem Press Club a group of students from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in Chicago. They came to learn firsthand about the complexities of covering Israel and the Middle East. With the growing hostility toward Israel on campuses all over North… Read more »
The Tucson Jewish Community Center will conduct a study about the service needs and challenges faced by families in the Jewish community who are caring for a young or adult child with special needs, including vision, movement, thinking, remembering, learning, communicating, hearing, mental health and social relationship disabilities. The… Read more »
Demonstrators walk together during a protest Dec. 3, 2014 in New York. Protests began after a Grand Jury decided to not indict officer Daniel Pantaleo. Eric Garner died after being put in a chokehold on July 17, 2014. (Yana Paskova/Getty Images) NEW YORK (JTA) — The words of Leviticus (19:16) admonish us not to “stand idly by while the blood of your neighbor is shed.” These words should sting our ears and shock our conscience in the wake of a Staten Island grand jury’s decision not to indict a New… Read more »
The Velocity Circus/ Circus School of Arizona will headline Chabad of Tucson’s Cirque du Chanukah celebration on Wednesday, Dec. 17, 5:30 p.m. at Castlehill Country Day School, 3225 N Craycroft Road (The Gregory School entrance). Circus leader Rachel Stegman will be joined by local artists in presenting the event’s… Read more »
Morena Baccarin, left, as Rachel and Rebecca Ferguson as Dinah in the Lifetime miniseries ‘The Red Tent’ (Joey L./Lifetime) Anita Diamant’s beloved international best-seller, “The Red Tent,” is coming to the screen as a Lifetime miniseries, premiering Dec. 7 and 8. “The Red Tent” is the tale of Dinah, the daughter of Leah and Jacob, whose story was almost a footnote in the Bible — a brief and… Read more »
Janna Gur sees Israeli cuisine as being in the second stage of a revolution. (Daniel Lailah) NEW YORK (JTA) — Janna Gur’s “The Book of New Israeli Food” has sat on my kitchen counter with my other favorite cookbooks for years, and I frequently pull it out for friends and family who are unfamiliar with Israeli cuisine, saying, “This is the book you need to… Read more »
Julie and Nathanael Weill with their sons Eytan and Lior in 2013. TORONTO (JTA)—When Dan Charbit and his wife, Gaelle Hazan, moved to Montreal from Paris two summers ago, it was meant to be a temporary fix — a yearlong attempt for Charbit to reboot his stalled career as a special-effects artist in Quebec’s thriving film and television industry. They agreed… Read more »
Revelers dancing at the Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow, one of many Jewish culture festivals in Poland. (Wojciech Karlinski) KRAKOW, Poland (JTA) — Crowds have been streaming to Warsaw’s POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews since its core exhibition opened Oct. 28 at a high-profile ceremony led by the presidents of Poland and Israel. Thousands of visitors have toured the museum’s eight interactive galleries that tell… Read more »
(JTA) — France’s parliament is calling for Palestinian statehood recognition. On Tuesday, the National Assembly voted 339 to 151 in favor of the largely symbolic motion that “invites the French government to use the recognition of the state of Palestine as an instrument to bring about a definitive resolution… Read more »
Ilana Kaufman: "My purpose in the world has always been to be a bridge." (Courtesy of Ilana Kaufman) (JTA) — When Ilana Kaufman, a program officer at the San Francisco Jewish Community Federation, arrived at San Quentin State Prison for a meeting with the Jewish chaplain at California’s oldest correctional facility, the chaplain couldn’t seem to find her — even though Kaufman was standing in plain sight.… Read more »
JERUSALEM (JTA) — When the Maccabees climbed the stairs of the Temple in Jerusalem, they lit the menorah with the knowledge that there was only enough oil to last for one day. Only a miracle could turn oil into a renewable resource. And the future of the planet urges… Read more »
Holding fistfuls of dollars for the family gelt line in the early 2000s are, from left, Lou Hasson, Gene Levey, Stanley Berko and the late Julius Karabel. (Randie Laine K) LOS ANGELES (JTA) — What can a buck get you on Hanukkah? Maybe a gold mesh bag of chocolate coins or a lighter for your menorah. But Jewish continuity? At Hanukkah time, when we get so wrapped up in gift giving, I propose that it’s a single dollar of… Read more »
Zili Grossman, a former PR professional for Eilat's hotel scene, now runs an aid organization for the city's poor with an annual budget of $650,000. (Ben Sales) EILAT, Israel (JTA) — Zili Grossman did public relations for “half the hotels” in Eilat, she says. She was the mayor’s press adviser. Her job took her to festivals, bowling alleys, theaters and miniature golf courses — the gamut of tourist attractions in Israel’s best-known resort town. After a… Read more »
Herzliya-Pituach, a tony suburb on the coast just north of Tel Aviv, has beaches, luxury real estate and affluent residents in common with the Hamptons on New York's Long Island. (Jorge Novominsky/Flash90) NEW YORK (JTA) – If they buy it, they will come. That’s the philosophy behind a new luxury apartment project in Israel called The Hamptons in Herzliya Pituach that’s attempting to link two very swanky locales in the service of strengthening Diaspora Jews’ connections to Israel — and selling… Read more »
Richard Glazier Award-winning pianist, storyteller and cultural historian Richard Glazier will bring his passion for the history, personalities and music of the Great American Songbook to Tucson Dec. 7 in Invisible Theatre’s “Broadway to Hollywood.” His one-man show includes personal stories, movie clips, interview footage and — of course — piano… Read more »
BOSTON (JTA) — Back in 1984, when Eric Kimmel was an up-and-coming children‘sbook author, he tried his hand at a Hanukkah story, one featuring goblins. Overly cautious Jewish editors rejected the manuscript, not knowing what to make of it, Kimmel recalled.“It was strange. It didn’t look like any other Hanukkah books and didn’t… Read more »
Asher Susser The University of Arizona Center for Judaic Studies will present “From the Arab Spring to ISIS: The Upheavals in the Middle East and What They Mean for Israel” on Monday, Dec. 8 at 7 p.m. as part of its free Shaol & Louis Pozez Memorial Lectureship Series. Asher Susser,… Read more »
Oshrat Barel Terror in Israel, again Since the recent escalation of terror in Israel, I have been asked about one of the latest incidents in which a young Israeli Arab from Kafr Kana ran toward an Israeli police car and stabbed at the car. Several policemen stepped out of the car… Read more »
Shalom Tucson will hold its annual Hanukkah Mall Madness event for children of all ages and their parents on Sunday, Dec. 7, from 1-3 p.m. at Park Place Mall. Local synagogues and Jewish agencies will present activities to celebrate the joyous holiday. The event will feature arts and crafts,… Read more »
