Tagged HEADLINES

SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) — Unless you’re a reader of Islamist websites, you’d probably be surprised to learn that the WikiLeaks trove of U.S. diplomatic cables is an Israeli conspiracy. Wonder why there was so much material about Arab regimes petitioning the United States to contain Iran’s nuclear program? How… Read more »

Tucson Hebrew Academy has taken a more-than-proactive approach to bullying. “We deal with bullies all the time in life,” says Ronnie Sebold, THA director of admissions, noting that even adults often run into bullies, from the person who cuts you off while driving to a boss or co-worker who… Read more »

Five Tucson synagogues and six Jewish organizations have been selected to build endowment funding through the new Areivim Legacy Community Project, in partnership with the Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona. “Since we created the Endowment Book of Life almost 20 years ago, the Jewish Community Foundation and the… Read more »

Inspired by the Reshet network, Congregation Chaverim began a mentoring program in which established families invite new ones to family-friendly events, such as this Simchat Torah celebration.

Last year, Tucson was chosen as one of four pilot communities to participate in the National Reshet Network, a synagogue-strengthening program funded by the Covenant Foundation and coordinated locally by the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona. Reshet means “network” in Hebrew. In May, Rabbi Philip Warmflash, executive director of… Read more »

The 20th Annual Tucson International Jewish Film Festival, which will run Jan. 20-30, will open with “Who Do You Love,” a behind-the-scenes look at the brothers who started the legendary Chess Records, launching the careers of Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Etta James, Churck Berry and others. It will be… Read more »

Dan Terris

Professor Dan Terris, director of the International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life at Brandeis University, will speak at the Brandeis National Committee Tucson chapter’s annual University on Wheels program on Wednesday, Jan. 12 at 10 a.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, which is co-sponsoring the program.… Read more »

Susan Gaeta

The Shaol Pozez Memorial Lectureship Series will present a unique event on Monday, Jan. 10 at 7 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Susan Gaeta will meld a talk and performance in “A Sephardic Musical Journey.” Gaeta’s first solo CD, “From Her Nona’s Drawer” (2009), features traditional Sephardic… Read more »

The Carmel fire disaster has raised questions regarding the Israel-Diaspora relationship. While many American Jews choose to support Israel in this time of need through donations and e-mails of encouragement and caring, others have raised tough questions: “Israel is a rich and wealthy country, why should we support it?”… Read more »

At a program in suburban Boston titled "Raising up the light," 50 female rabbis in the audience were called up to the bimah in tribute, Dec. 6, 2010. (Larry Sandberg)

NEWTON, Mass. (JTA) — Lynne Kern knew at 13 that she wanted to be a rabbi, even though in 1970 there were no female rabbis to act as role models. So Kern became a writer, eventually winning a Pulitzer Prize for journalism. But she never forgot her passion, and… Read more »

BUDAPEST (JTA) — The rise of Hungary’s far-right Jobbik Party has ratcheted up debate about anti-Semitism in this country and focused attention on the seeming paradoxes of Jewish life here. On the one hand, a recent article in Germany’s Der Spiegel described Budapest as “Europe’s capital of anti-Semitism,” where… Read more »

Nancy Kaufman with Dean Jep Strait, left, Father Demetrios Tonias, Pastor Wesley Roberts and Bishop Gideon Thompson on a summer study tour in Israel in 2009. (Photo courtesy of Boston JCRC)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — With the prospect for the first American universal health care plan apparently dimming in Massachusetts because the three outsize personalities vital to its passage — the state’s governor, its House speaker and its Senate president — could not agree on the details, Nancy Kaufman came to… Read more »

Sylvia Barack Fishman (Courtesy of the Avi Chai Foundation)

WALTHAM, Mass. (JTA) — “Why are so many people in their 20s taking so long to grow up?” Robin Marantz Henig asked in The New York Times Magazine (“The Post-Adolescent, Pre-Adult, Not-Quite-Decided Life Stage,” Aug. 22). Lori Gottlieb urged reluctant single women to “Marry Him: The Case for Settling… Read more »

The remains of a Jewish cemetary dating back to the 16th century in the Ukrainian village of Solotyvn. Dina Kraft

SOLOTVYN, Ukraine (JTA) — On a sloping green hill tucked between small farmsteads, the mottled graves of Jews buried here since the 1600s rise up like a forgotten forest. Trudging through the mud between the tilted stones, their chiseled Hebrew lettering and renderings of menorahs sometimes barely visible, Vladimer… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — As far as the Nixon-Kissinger relationship goes, the March 1, 1973 tape is par for the course of their complicated relationship: hard-nosed considerations of policy leavened with Kissinger’s adoring appraisals of his boss’ genius punctuated by Nixon’s hearty encouragement of such obsequiousness. The conversation relates to… Read more »

Kevin Spacey as Jack Abramoff in "Casino Jack" (Photo courtesy of ATO Pictures)

Two-time Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey lifts his fork from his plate of lox and eggs and jabs it in the air. Tucked away in a back booth at Art’s Deli in Studio City, he recounts his monologue from the opening scene of the black comedy “Casino Jack,” which… Read more »

After the Reform movement broadcast online its first session devoted to reassessing itself, in mid-November, the comments poured in. One viewer suggested that the movement create a network of schools, camps, shuls and seminaries focused on tikkun olam, the Jewish injunction to repair the world. Another said the movement… Read more »

Reading and watching the news about the devastating forest fire in Israel, I found myself profoundly confused: There were so many reversals, so much was wrong with the picture. We are used to thinking of Israel as being so adept, so professional at looking after its citizens — but… Read more »

The campaign to curb Iran’s nuclear program just acquired a new deadline: the end of the 111th Congress. The Obama administration has made a priority of ratifying the START nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia before the Senate’s lame-duck session finishes at year’s end. A number of Republicans, citing… Read more »

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Young Leadership Cabinet will hold its inaugural party — the Hava Tequila Bash — on Saturday, Dec. 18, from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. The JCC will cosponsor the event. Hava Tequila will offer a nightclub atmosphere… Read more »

Rabbi Harold Kushner

Everyone knows people who are less happy than they might be. Rabbi Harold Kushner doesn’t have the all-purpose antidote, but “Conquering Fear: Living Boldly in an Uncertain World,” his new book, suggests ways to live more fully. Kushner, author of the international best-seller “When Bad Things Happen to Good… Read more »