Tagged HEADLINES

SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) — When I’m invited to a Shabbat or holiday meal in a Jewish home, I always bring kosher wine. Not just that, I try to make it Israeli. It’s not because I keep kosher. And it’s not because the people I’m visiting necessarily keep kosher either.… Read more »

Many schools have eliminated informal programs, leaving only classes characterized by high student/teacher ratios, rote memorization and drill exercises. But in designing programs at Tucson Hebrew Academy, the social and high-energy needs of young teens have not been tossed out, says Arthur Yavelberg, THA interim head of school. Take… Read more »

Joan Elder (left) serves ‘Gorgeous Beet and Apple Salad’ to Ester Leutenberg at the Northwest Rosh Chodesh group’s apples and honey potluck last month.

The Northwest Rosh Chodesh group, a program of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Northwest Division Jewish Connections, met Aug. 9 at the Oro Valley home of Ester Leu­tenberg. Seventeen wom­en, ranging in age from a middle school student to women in their 70s, came together to greet the… Read more »

Kendall Karon cleans the headstone of a war veteran as part of the Maccabi Games Day of Caring and Sharing.

The Tucson Maccabi Delegation of 14 teen athletes attended the Maccabi Games in Omaha, Neb., Aug. 1-6, making this the 15th year the Tucson Jewish Community Center has fielded a team. The games attract thousands of Jewish youth each year from across the United States, Mexico, Canada, Israel and… Read more »

Larry Harlow (Courtesy Tucson Jazz Society)

Salsa star Larry Harlow, known affectionately in the Latin music world as El Judío Maravilloso (“the marvelous Jew”), will headline the Tucson Jazz Society’s Downtown Tucson Latin Jazz Festival on Saturday, Sept. 11 at 8 p.m. at the Tucson Convention Center’s Leo Rich Theatre. Born Lawrence Ira Kahn in… Read more »

(L-R) Tommy Donahue, Tyler McKendrick, Tucson Fire Department Assistant Chief Mike McKendrick (Sean Stuchen)

A photography exhibit by Tucsonan Sean Stuchen, “Firefighters on Film,” celebrates the creation of the Tucson Fire Foundation. The foundation, the result of yearlong discussions between community philanthropists and Tucson Fire Department senior staff, will provide funds to bridge the human services gap between the needs of the fire… Read more »

Gilad Shalit (Israeli Foreign Ministry)

Captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit marked his 24th birthday — his fifth in captivity — on Aug. 28. The Tucson Jewish Community Center is collecting birthday and new year’s cards for Shalit, in partnership with the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Magen David Adom (Israel’s “Red… Read more »

WASHINGTON (Forward) — When the waiting list for High Holidays tickets reached 700, leaders of the downtown Sixth and I Historic Synagogue decided to look outside the box — in their case, to the Chinese Community Church across the street. The church was a perfect match for the needs… Read more »

American Jewish World Servce President Ruth Messinger, shown here on a visit to Chad, says it's time to step up what we're doing in Haiti (Mia Farrow)

NEW YORK (JTA) — On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, many of us are haunted by the ubiquitous liturgical refrain asking “Who shall live and who shall die?” As I sit in synagogue and hear these words chanted over and over again, I can’t help but question whether the… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — It’s a peace conference where nothing is off the table — or on it, for that matter. The Obama administration’s invitation to Palestinian and Israeli leaders to launch direct talks on Sept. 2 attempts to reconcile Israeli demands for no preconditions with Palestinian demands that the… Read more »

I grew up in Israel, where everyone sings and dances,” says Rina Paz, who created the Israel Center’s “Learn to Sing in Hebrew” class/choir in 2008 with the help of Moshe Babel-Pour, who recently left Tucson after serving for four years as the center’s director. The group, which meets… Read more »

Koby Shochat wears the tallit his father wore at his Bar Mitzvah. Koby’s mitzvah project involved donations of used tallitot.

One of the explicit and implicit tenets of Judaism is that we are supposed to live our lives doing mitzvot, literally translated as “commandments” but informally known as “good deeds.” In addition to the usual whirlwind of activity associated with B’nai Mitzvah preparation, such as learning Torah, attending services,… Read more »

B’nai Tzedek Tucson, a teen philanthropy program, will hold its annual kickoff event on Sunday, Aug. 29, at 1 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. The program allows teens to create endowment funds in their own names by contributing $180 (subsidized participation available), to which $320 will be… Read more »

Local Jewish residents over the age of 80 are once again invited to the Handmaker “Celebrating Tucson’s Oldest Jewish Residents” luncheon on Tuesday, Sept. 7 at 11:30 a.m. “The event is an opportunity for this select group of seniors to see old friends, meet new ones, enjoy an interesting… Read more »

A Secular Humanist Jewish Circle has formed in Tucson. The group will hold its first event, an observance of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, on Saturday, Sept. 11. Secular Humanist Judaism “places emphasis on human beings having the innate ability to make moral and ethical decisions based on evidence… Read more »

Hebrew High, a program of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Coalition for Jewish Education, will hold its orientation on Tuesday, Aug. 24 at Congregation Anshei Israel. Orientation for incoming students and parents will begin at 6 p.m., with an opportunity to meet teachers, enjoy pizza and ice cream,… Read more »

As the Jewish community comes together to celebrate the holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is coordinating Project Isaiah, an annual effort to address hunger in our community. JCRC is working with local synagogues and Jewish… Read more »

This dress, worn at the Arizona Statehood celebration on Feb. 4, 1912, is part of the Jewish History Museum’s Centennial Exhibit.

The Jewish History Museum’s Centennial Exhibit is on display now through Dec. 23, celebrating 100 years since the building — originally the Stone Avenue Temple, the first home of Temple Emanu-El — was built. Saved from the wrecking ball in 1998, the building has been restored and is now… Read more »

ST. LOUIS (JTA) — Amanda Boris is nervous about what she’ll face when classes resume at the University of Wisconsin later this month. “There’s an uncomfortable amount of anti-Semitism on my campus,” said the incoming senior. Last year, her campus newspaper ran an ad from a notorious Holocaust denier… Read more »

(If you know Jewish Tucsonans who interned in Washington this summer, contact us at 319-1112.) WASHINGTON (Forward) — They flocked to Washington during the summer months, driven by their desire to get a taste of politics and maybe gain some points in the networking game after they graduate from… Read more »