Tagged HEADLINES

(JTA) — A federal grand jury has added hate crimes charges to the indictment against the alleged gunman in the shooting attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue that left 11 worshippers dead. The new indictment announced Tuesday adds a total of 19 charges, including 13 for hate crimes, to the… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Prominent Democrats are launching a pro-Israel group to counter a drift away from Israel on the party’s left. The Democratic Majority for Israel will be led by Mark Mellman, a longtime Democratic Party pollster who has been active in the pro-Israel community. “Our mission at Democratic… Read more »

This is a developing story. JERUSALEM (JTA) — Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah submitted his resignation to President Mahmoud Abbas. The rest of the government also resigned on Tuesday, according to reports. Abbas will have to decide whether to accept any or all of the resignations. The resignations… Read more »

(JTA) — Black Jewish actor Jussie Smollett, best known for his work on the show “Empire,” was hospitalized in Chicago on Tuesday following an assault that is being described by police as a possible hate crime. Smollett was exiting a restaurant when two men approached him. The Chicago Police… Read more »

(New York, NY) As extreme weather is sweeping across the United States and Europe, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee is urging the public to support local and global winter aid efforts aiding poor populations. JDC has provided winter aid this year to more than 9,500 poor Jews, including… Read more »

The Hava Tequila speakeasy opens Saturday, Feb. 2 for the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s annual Young Leadership gala. “This year we are having live music, which I think people will be really excited about,” says co-chair Samantha Minkus. The 1920s-theme and the Jewish History Museum venue bring sophistication… Read more »

The Rabbi Samuel S. and A. Irma Cohon Memorial Foundation will present three awards at its 2018 award ceremony, which will take place at Congregation Beit Simcha’s Shabbat service on Friday, Feb. 8 at 6:30 p.m. The award recipients, who will describe their work at the ceremony, are Phyllis… Read more »

Susan Miller

Invisible Theatre will bring Jewish playwright Susan Miller’s latest off-Broadway play, “20th Century Blues,” to Tucson to round out its 48th anniversary season, April 23-May 5. Miller has won two Obies, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and countless other awards. The play, which debuted off-Broadway in November 2017, centers on four… Read more »

In concert with the University of Arizona strategic plan, Andrew Schulz, dean of the College of Fine Arts, last week was named the inaugural vice president for the arts to carry out a re-imagined vision of the UA and Tucson as an international destination for fine arts. “Arts, culture… Read more »

The Jewish History Museum will co-sponsor a poetry reading on Wednesday, Feb. 27 in Spanish, English and Ladino with acclaimed Mexican poet Myriam Moscona. Joining her on stage will be the translators of her book, “Tela de Sevoya” (“Onioncloth”), Jen Hofer and John Pluecker. They are co-founders of Antena,… Read more »

George Hanson

The Tucson Jewish Community Center, in partnership with Tucson Desert Song Festival, will present a panel discussion, “What Is Latin Style?” on Monday, Jan. 28, 7-8:30 p.m. Desert Song Festival Director George Hanson will lead a discussion with guests including Tucson Symphony Orchestra  Music Director Jose Luis Gomez, local… Read more »

Lori Ann Burd

In honor of Tu B’Shevat, the Secular Humanist Jewish Circle will host Lori Ann Burd, environmental health program director and staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, a Tucson-based national conservation group focused on endangered species protection. Her talk will take place Saturday, Jan. 26, at 1:30 p.m.… Read more »

Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon

It was the greatest moment in our people’s entire history. But what the heck actually happened? This week we read the Torah portion of Yitro, including the revelation at Mount Sinai. This climactic section includes the enormous experience of receiving the Ten Commandments through the theophany at Sinai, the… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — Every year, extremism takes a deadly toll around the world. No region is immune — not the Middle East, not Europe, and not the United States. In 2018, there were at least 50 Americans killed by extremists from different movements. Many of the victims were Jews. Eleven… Read more »

(JTA) — The Jewish Federations of North America will distribute some $4.6 million in federal funds for Holocaust survivors. The funds will be distributed from the organization’s Center for Advancing Holocaust Survivor Care to 43 direct service agencies and six Jewish federations. Combined with matching grants, the funding will… Read more »

(JTA) — A German Jewish leader has been receiving verbal threats since she criticized Germany’s strongest right-populist party in a Holocaust Remembrance Day address. “Since then, almost every minute, I have received wild insults, threats and insults by email and telephone,” Charlotte Knobloch, 86, head of the Jewish community… Read more »

(JTA) – The daughter of a Nazi who was given a 20-year sentence in Nuremberg is one of several recipients of the 19th annual Obermayer German Jewish History Awards. Hilde Schramm, 82, the youngest daughter of Hitler’s war production minister, the architect Albert Speer, received the honor for her… Read more »

Jewish federal employees who are struggling with expenses due to the government shutdown can now find some relief. The Hebrew Free Loan Association of Greater Washington approved an emergency program in early January to provide loans of up to $2,000 per household to affected Jews living in the Washington,… Read more »

WARSAW, Poland (JTA) — The main Jewish umbrella group in Poland has elected its first woman leader. Monika Krawczyk was chosen as the board chairman of the Union of Jewish Religious Communities in Poland, which deals with restitution matters, among other issues. “I think it is a great honor… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Pete Buttigieg, the gay veteran who has earned national attention for leading the revitalization of South Bend, Indiana, where he is mayor, joined a crowded pack of Democrats seeking the party’s presidential nomination. Buttigieg, 37, emphasized in his announcement Wednesday the three attributes that make him… Read more »