Tagged HEADLINES

Michael Steinhardt sexually harassed me. I spent the next 4 years trying to hold him accountable.

Sheila Katz, vice president of Hillel International, and Michael Steinhardt (Katz photo: Courtesy of Katz; Steinhardt photo: Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (JTA) – It wasn’t funny the first time prominent philanthropist Michael Steinhardt asked me to have sex with him. It wasn’t funny the second time, either. It wasn’t funny the third time, or the fourth time in that meeting. It wasn’t funny when he attempted to auction me off… Read more »

Gaza escalation holds both promise and perils for Netanyahu

A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip leveled a house near Tel Aviv and injured seven, March 25, 2019. (Faiz Abu Rmeleh/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Benjamin Netanyahu’s week had been carefully scripted: Less than one month away from Israeli elections, the prime minister was traveling to Washington, D.C., to meet with President Donald Trump. A friendly photo op would become even friendlier when Trump announced that he wanted to recognize Israeli… Read more »

Dozens of rockets launched at southern Israel from Gaza overnight

JERUSALEM (JTA) — More than 60 rockets were launched overnight into southern Israel from the Gaza Strip even as Hamas said it had accepted a cease-fire agreement. Egypt brokered the cease-fire, which was to take effect at 10 p.m. Monday, but rockets targeting civilian areas continued to fall until after… Read more »

Billionaire German family to make amends for company’s Nazi past

BERLIN (JTA) — One of Germany’s wealthiest families said it will make amends for its company’s Nazi past. In a spectacular announcement, the Reimann family, worth about $37 billion and the second richest in Germany, announced that new research had shown that the company’s Nazi-era directors, Albert Reimann and… Read more »

SculptureTucson promoting art with annual festival

SculptureTucson founders from left, Jeff Timan, Steve Kimble, and Barbara Grygutis (Courtesy SculptureTucson)

The SculptureTucson Festival Show and Sale, the largest outdoor juried show in Arizona, will be held Saturday, April 6, 9:30-6 p.m., and Sunday, April 7, 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., at Brandi Fenton Memorial Park, 3482 E. River Road. Now in its second year, the free festival will showcase more than… Read more »

Talk to focus on domestic violence survivors

Deena Gayle Hitzke, Ed.D.

LEAH (Let’s End Abusive Households), a program of Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Southern Arizona, with community partner Hadassah Nurses Council, will present, “Freeing Survivors of Domestic Violence from Stigma and Self-Blame” with Deena Gayle Hitzke, Ed.D., on Sunday, April 7, 10 a.m. to noon at Congregation Bet… Read more »

Tucson Hebrew Academy’s fifth STEM Festival in the works

At a past Tucson Hebrew Academy STEM festival, a visitor plays an electrical fruit piano. ( www.thastem.com )

“How Things Work” is the theme for Tucson Hebrew Academy’s fifth annual free community STEM Festival on Sunday, April 7. Many exhibitors from previous years will be returning, along with some exciting new organizations, says Jennifer Lehrfeld, THA’s upper school science/STEM teacher. Vector Launch will invite students to send… Read more »

Winter resident active in Tucson, East Coast communities

Nancy Lefkowitz

Nancy Lefkowitz is a “winter resident.” But the six months of the year she lives in Tucson, “we really live here,” she says, and her community engagement certainly proves it. “Having worked with Nancy over the last several years, I know she is always ready to take on responsibilities… Read more »

Beit Simcha to host rabbi/comedian Bob Alper

Rabbi Bob Alper

Congregation Beit Simcha will present a Jewish Comedy Night starring Rabbi Bob Alper on Sunday, March 31 at 7 p.m. Alper, “the world’s only practicing clergyman doing stand-upcomedy…intentionally,” holds a doctorate from Princeton Theological Seminary and served congregations for 14 years prior to his more than 30-year comedy career.… Read more »

Peace Corps veterans keep giving service where needed

Peace Corps Coverdell Fellows Katy Cremer and David Thalenberg at the University of Arizona Campus Women’s Plaza of Honor. (Debe Campbell/AJP)

The Peace Corps takes a unique approach to making a difference. The altruistic, hands-on, volunteer program, founded in 1961, provides social and economic development abroad. Through technical assistance, it promotes mutual understanding between Americans and foreign populations. Many U.S. college undergrads complete two-year assignments in developing nations, often working… Read more »

Tucson talk to explore health risks of Wi-Fi technology

Magda Havas, Ph.D., is an expert on environmental toxicology. (Courtesy Electromagnetic Safety Alliance Inc.)

Fourteen years ago, Jenny Baldwin, wife of Tucson neurosurgeon Hillel Baldwin, was having sleep problems and was diagnosed with restless leg syndrome and periodic limb movement disorder, making it almost impossible for her to get deep, restorative sleep. But over the past three years, she says, her symptoms “became… Read more »

CHAI Circle brings power, connection to local women living with cancer

Irene Gefter, Jewish Family & Children's Services executive office Aaministrator; Helene Rothstein, CHAI Circle volunteer; Alice Steinfeld, CHAI Circle volunteer; Susan Kasle, JFCS vice president of community services.(Courtesy Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Southern Arizona)

One Sunday each month, two dedicated psychotherapists come together to provide a salutary space for female cancer patients and survivors in the Tucson Jewish community. Alice Steinfeld and Helene Rothstein are therapists and friends who facilitate the cancer support group, CHAI Circle. CHAI (Cancer, Healing and Inspiration) Circle has… Read more »

Rabbis’ talk to probe why ‘bad people’ prosper

(L-R) Rabbis Yossie Shemtov, Robert Eisen and Thomas Louchheim

Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging will present a three-rabbi panel lecture next month, “Why good things happen to bad people,” presenting the Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform Jewish perspectives with Rabbi Yossie Shemtov of Congregation Young Israel, Rabbi Robert Eisen of Congregation Anshei Israel, and Rabbi Thomas Louchheim of… Read more »

Talk will trace family link to ‘Freud’s Butcher’

Siegmund Kornmehl’s butcher shop was at 19 Berggasse in Vienna. Note the swastika on the awning to the right. (Courtesy Edie Jarolim)

You’ve heard of Sigmund Freud, but what about Siegmund Kornmehl? Kornmehl’s butcher shop shared Freud’s famous Vienna address of 19 Berggasse for 44 years. The butcher was forced to sign over his business to the Nazis in 1938, the same year the Freud family escaped from Austria. Kornmehl’s great-niece,… Read more »

Expert to lead pre-Pesach kosher grocery tour

Rabbi Eliezer Eidlitz (right) leads a tour of kosher products at an Albertson’s supermarket in Tucson on March 19, 2017. [AJP Archive)

Renowned kosher authority Rabbi Eliezer Eidlitz is returning to Tucson to lead his acclaimed “Yes, It’s Kosher!” supermarket walking tour on Sunday, March 31, in advance of Passover.  Eidlitz last led the tour in Tucson in 2017. This year’s event will be held from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at… Read more »