BUDAPEST (JTA) — Three years ago, Fanni moved to Vienna from her native Hungary with her husband. Now she is pregnant. Though the couple would prefer to raise their child near their Jewish families in Budapest, rising nationalism and an economic recession are leading them to stay in Austria.… Read more »
Tagged HEADLINES
Meet Brian Bendis, the man who killed Spiderman
NEW YORK (JTA) — Spiderman heroically dispatched countless foes since he arrived on the scene in 1962. Nearly a half-century later, Brian Michael Bendis managed to kill him. In 2000, Bendis was hired to write Ultimate Spiderman, a modern-day retelling of the classic Spiderman story. More than 10 years, 160… Read more »
On the Golan Heights, Israel braces for consequences from Syria civil war
ALONEI HABASHAN, Israel (JTA) — A fence made of chain links and rusted barbed wire once was enough to separate the Golan Heights from Syria. That’s no longer the case. A few feet away from what one area resident called a “cattle fence” — one easy to jump if not… Read more »
Roni Keidar, Israeli peace activist, to be Weintraub Israel Center guest
Despite living in an area under constant rocket fire from Gaza, Israeli Roni Keidar helps Palestinians from Gaza get emergency health care in Israel. Keidar will present “Nurturing Peace on the Gaza Border” on Thursday, March 7 at 6:30 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. The free Heartbeat… Read more »
Brandeis Book & Author event spans locales, genres
An acclaimed first-time novelist, an award-winning mystery writer, an internationally best-selling author and the reporter who wrote “A Safeway in Arizona: What the Gabrielle Giffords Shooting Tells Us About the Grand Canyon State” will highlight the Brandeis National Committee’s 17th Annual Book & Author Events. The committee’s Tucson chapter… Read more »
Where did Esther find courage? Where do we?
The Book of Esther may be a completely invented melodrama, yet under the buffoonery we find a deeply human challenge. The heart of the story — both physically and emotionally — comes at the moment that Mordecai asks Esther to approach the king and plead on behalf of the… Read more »
Prisoner X affair raises charges of dual loyalty for Australian Jews
SYDNEY (JTA) – As more details have seeped out about the mysterious life and death of Israel’s Prisoner X — identified last week by an Australian TV program as Ben Zygier — the wall of silence surrounding those who knew him has begun to show some cracks. On Tuesday,… Read more »
PURIM FEATURE: From N.Y. to S.F., foodies across the country are altering the native hamantaschen
NEW YORK (JTA) — Just because they’re the same shape doesn’t mean they have the same soul. Hamantaschen, the Purim season’s traditional triangle-shaped cookie, are conventionally filled with jam, but the pastry has come a long way since its namesake ruled in ancient Persia. From New Orleans, where hamantaschen… Read more »
Canadian-born Orthodox Jew Nick Muzin helps boost black GOP Sen. Tim Scott to prominence
WASHINGTON (JTA) – On a Saturday night following Shabbat, Nick Muzin arrayed on his dining room table what would turn out to be the winning strategy to elect the first black Republican to Congress from South Carolina in more than a century. The next night at the same table… Read more »
Religious conflict in Beit Shemesh yields to fragile peace amid coexistence efforts
BEIT SHEMESH, Israel (JTA) — Next to the Modern Orthodox Orot Banot girls school in Beit Shemesh, fresh mounds of dirt and a huge hole in the ground indicate the spot where a community center is being built. Orot Banot was at the center of conflict between local haredi… Read more »
In 2 Oscar-nominated documentaries, Israel takes a hit on occupation — and helps pay for it
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — It’s hard to imagine two more divergent perspectives on Israeli-Palestinian relations: that of a Palestinian farmer whose village is resisting the encroachment of a nearby Jewish settlement and of the security service chiefs responsible for maintaining order in the Palestinian territories. Surprisingly, however, these protagonists… Read more »
Israel abuzz: Guess who’s coming to visit?
The announcement that President Obama will visit Israel in the spring came as a total surprise. Not that a visit of the leader of the greatest nation on earth (still) and the closest ally of Israel should be unwelcomed, but the circumstances seem a bit odd. First of all,… Read more »
Local experts share tools for coping with bullying
Bullying is an issue of concern nationally; in a 2011 study, 44 percent of 10- to 17-year-olds reported being bullied. Awareness of this problem is on the rise in response to recent violent incidents, including school shootings and highly publicized cyberbullying. To address parents’ concerns, two local Jewish organizations,… Read more »
Why America has no chief rabbi: the blessings of free-market religion
The public face of world Jewry will change this summer. Come September, both England and Israel will install new chief rabbis. Jonathan Sacks, the brilliant and widely published chief rabbi of the United Kingdom, is retiring to be succeeded by the affable Ephraim Mirvis, currently rabbi of the… Read more »
Gelbart: What kind of Palestinian state can we expect?
Is creating a Palestinian state truly in the best interest of human rights? This fundamental question is often ignored. Many, including myself, refer to a two states for two peoples solution as the best possible option. I personally tend to support this approach, yet I have some significant concerns.… Read more »
Support group to aid mothers of disabled
A support group for Jewish mothers of children of any age with disabilities will hold its inaugural meeting later this month. In a letter to prospective participants, organizer Joyce Stuehringer, who has an adult son born with a disability, wrote of her hope that in discussing common experiences, “we… Read more »
JFSA Maimonides to tour ‘Deadly Medicine,’ hear survivor
Tucsonan Klara Swimmer was a 14-year-old schoolgirl in Hungary when she read a book about Madame Curie that set the course of her life. “I decided that I wanted to do something similar she did and that was medicine.” Swimmer, 88, didn’t allow the Holocaust to knock… Read more »
‘Holocaust Survivor Cookbook’ author to speak
Chabad of Tucson will host an evening with cookbook author Joanne Caras on Sunday, Feb. 17 at 7 p.m. at Congregation Young Israel. Caras’ cookbooks, “The Holocaust Survivor Cookbook” and its sequel, “Miracles & Meals,” memorialize lives lost in the Holocaust. The Port St Lucie, Fla., resident collected more… Read more »
Jews vocal on both sides of France’s gay marriage debate
(JTA) — Wide-eyed and smiley, Elay-Gabriel seems utterly unaffected by the French media’s sudden interest in him. A dozen French journalists have visited the 18-month-old in recent months because he is trapped in a sort of legal limbo: He cannot obtain citizenship because the state does not recognize children… Read more »
Rabbis tweak inaugural readings to make them ‘Jewier’
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Preaching to a preacher man — or woman — doesn’t always play out as planned. That’s the lesson learned this week by officials at the National Cathedral after several clergy, including three rabbis, made impromptu changes to the readings they were given to deliver at a… Read more »