Tagged HEADLINES

Soon it will be 2020. For some, the thrill of a New Year starting is tempered by concerns for what may be: an increase in hate incidents and/or crimes and an increase in hate speech both online and on the streets.  Since the start of 2019, ADL Arizona has… Read more »

Hanukkah’s proximity to Christmas can complicate the holiday. For those who try to make Hanukkah more like Christmas, it inevitably seems to fall short. Yet while Hanukkah traditionally was not one of the most central holidays of the Jewish calendar, it can offer many opportunities for fun and joyous… Read more »

Sacha Baron Cohen has made a career out of playing absurd comedic characters, from the dopey Brit Ali G to the Kazakh journalist Borat to the Israeli veteran Erran Morad. He rarely gives interviews and stays relatively far from the movie star limelight. But on Nov. 21, Cohen tossed… Read more »

Those who care about Jewish college students should be celebrating a landmark legal victory in the fight against campus anti-Semitism. The victory stems from a civil rights complaint filed against the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill by our organization, the Zionist Organization of America. Triggered by the… Read more »

Sula Miller

Tucson resident Sula Miller will discuss her recent book “Welcome to … The Widows Club” (CreateSpace Independent Publishing, 2017) at two local venues next week. Tucson is the last stop on Miller’s seven-state book tour that began in Florida. The novel was inspired by her mother-in-law, Bernyce, who became… Read more »

If you’re part of a Jewish family in the U.S., there’s a decent chance you grew up in the vicinity of a Joan Nathan cookbook. Her many books, like “Jewish Cooking in America,” have been staples of the American Jewish experience for decades. Nathan, 76, was honored Dec. 2… Read more »

The Hallmark Channel will premiere its first two Hanukkah-themed movies this month in honor of the holiday, which starts this year on Dec. 22. “Our audience is very vocal, and they tell us when they’d like to see more of something,” says Michelle Vicary, Crown Media’s executive vice president… Read more »

Congregation M’kor Hayim has joined the Union for Reform Judaism, the association of nearly 900 Reform congregations in North America.  “Our congregation began in 2008. Now that we are fully established locally, we felt it was time to connect with the wider Jewish community,” Rabbi Helen Cohn said. She… Read more »

MORRO DE SAO PAULO, Brazil (JTA) – Summer is just around the corner here and the breathtaking beaches of Brazil’s northeastern coast will be packed soon with tourists from around the world. Many of them will be sababas. A derivative of an Israeli slang word that roughly means “cool,”… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Israel played a role in President Donald Trump’s reported plans to send an additional 14,000 troops to the Middle East, The Wall Street Journal reported. Multiple reports citing unnamed officials say Trump is planning to deploy the troops to counter increased Iranian adventurism in the region.… Read more »

(JTA) — Iran is stockpiling short-range ballistic missiles in Iraq that can reach Israel, according to a New York Times report that cited American intelligence and military officials. The hidden rockets are part of a larger effort by Iran to intimidate countries in the region and assert its power,… Read more »

(JTA) — The undergraduate student government of Arizona State University passed a resolution in support of the Tempe school’s Jewish students. The resolution, which passed Tuesday by acclamation, comes amid public discussion among campus student organizations about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and in the wake of fliers bearing swastikas and… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — Here we go again: Just this week, two more cases of the abuse of Holocaust imagery have surfaced and created an international stir. In November, Russian figure skater Anton Shulepov wore an Auschwitz-themed costume during his free skating performance at the Grand Prix of Figure… Read more »

(JTA) — The United Nations General Assembly passed five resolutions against Israel, but for the first time, 13 countries switched their positions and voted against a pro-Palestine measure. The five resolutions passed Tuesday are among 20 against Israel that the international body will vote on during the 74th session… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — Seth Rogen and his father were honored by the secular Jewish group The Workers Circle — formerly known as The Workmen’s Circle until Monday night — for their contributions to Jewish culture, activism and promotion of the Yiddish language. Rogen, 37, who usually plays Jewish… Read more »

(JTA) — Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour took to Twitter to clarify recent controversial comments she had made about Israel. Speaking Friday at the annual conference of American Muslims for Palestine in Chicago, Sarsour had criticized progressive Zionists. “Ask them this, how can you be against white supremacy in America… Read more »

(JTA) — Kamala Harris, the junior senator from California, is dropping her presidential bid. “My campaign for president simply doesn’t have the financial resources we need to continue,” Harris, 54, told supporters in a message on Tuesday. The former California attorney general had failed to gain steam among the… Read more »

(JTA) — Moshe Holtzberg, whose parents were killed in the 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai when he was 2, was called to the Torah as a bar mitzvah. Holtzberg celebrated on Saturday in his hometown of Afula, in northern Israel, Chabad.org reported. A party was held on Sunday night in… Read more »

(JTA) — In case you missed it: Black and Jewish comedian Tiffany Haddish is having a bat mitzvah ceremony soon. She has released a Netflix stand-up special inspired by the occasion as well. So, naturally, on a special Sunday night edition of Jimmy Fallon’s “The Tonight Show,” Haddish broke… Read more »

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — The Holocaust Museum of Buenos Aires was rededicated after a two-year, $4.5 million renovation and expansion. The project updates, modernizes and adds new spaces to the institution in the city center of Buenos Aires. The addition of nearly 1,000 square meters, or nearly 11,000… Read more »