This is not a travel slogan. Israel needs you. NOW! We American Jews have done a lot to help Israel over these past months of war. Israel is grateful for our prayers, our financial bolstering, our energy and outspoken support. But what Israel needs now is you. Your presence is required. I’ve just returned from 3 weeks in Israel. I admit, I was fearful. I wondered if we’d make it back safely. I worried about everything, the plane, the busses, the driving up and down the coast, the Old City in Jerusalem during Ramadan, the M16s strewn over the shoulders of boys younger than my own two kids. When ..read more

“You let your son go skydiving in South Africa? You were not worried” I asked Rebbetzen Esther Allouche. She responded, “Was I supposed to be nervous? That is what they do at the skydiving center. The planes go up, the people jump out and come down. That is their profession, they do this on a daily basis and know what they are doing. What exactly was I supposed to be stressed about?” I burst out laughing, but not entirely surprised, Esther Allouche is a mom to ten kids, the ultimate optimist and the perfect person to turn to for life advice. “Happiness is a choice. I wake up every morning and ..read more

236 days have passed since October 7.  600 terrorists infiltrated Kfar Aza, 252 hostages were taken, and 1,500 lives were lost that day. As I walk through Kfar Aza, a 7-minute drive from Gaza, my heart shatters into a million pieces. How can they still deny the truth? How can they twist our pain into a narrative where we are the villains? I am exhausted. Misinformation goes around suffocating the truth. As an Israeli Jewish woman, my soul aches at how easily people believe lies. No one seems to care when our people are held captive, their cries unheard. No one believes us when we plead f ..read more

Everything changed on October 7th, 2023.The world felt different; more frightening, more chaotic, more imbalanced. Collectively, Jews all over the globe felt the horrific pain that Hamas had inflicted.   At first, we felt the world had our backs. We believed any civilized culture supported us after the worst genocidal attack against Jews since the holocaust.  After all our devotion to social justice, our loyalty to those in pain, our commitment to support those without a voice, it was time for the world to stand with us, to make sure every hostage would be released.   But as tim ..read more

  In celebration of Jewish Disability Advocacy Day 2024, the Union for Reform Judaism, Jewish Federations of North America, Network of Jewish Human Services Agencies, and 107 additional national, state, and local Jewish organizations sent the following letter to the 118th Congress: Dear Members of the 118th Congress, Representing the collective voice of 110 undersigned Jewish national, state, and local organizations, we thank you for the bipartisan strides achieved so far in the 118th Congress for people with disabilities. As the second session of the 118th Congress begins, we urge you to ..read more

TUCSONANSBy Phyllis Braun Sadness, anger, hope, and resilience. Todd Rockoff, president and CEO of the Tucson Jewish Community Center (JCC), felt all these emotions and more on a JCC Association Board Solidarity Mission (JCCA) to Israel in January. “I felt a great pull to be there,” he says, to bear witness and “to support our brothers and sisters in Israel” in the wake of Oct. 7, when Hamas terrorists murdered 1,200 people and took 240 hostages. Rockoff, who helped organize the trip for 40 JCCA participants, says it hurt to be in Tucson, far from our ancestral Jewish homeland, and it hurt to ..read more

Please join StandWithUs by taking action on any of  FIVE active campaigns seeking to hold institutions accountable for rising antisemitism under their leadership! Join StandWithUs in Urging UC Berkeley to hold fully accountable all those who broke campus policies and attacked Jewish and Israeli students on February 26, 2024.   Jewish and Israeli students at UC Berkeley have endured antisemitic discrimination and harassment on campus for years. Tensions came to a head on February 26th, when anti-Israel students held a “p ..read more

Tucson J President and CEO, Todd Rockoff will serve on the inaugural advisory board for a new organization called Global Jewry, joining a coalition of 225 prominent Jewish thought leaders from all over the world. Global Jewry is a grassroots effort to broaden and strengthen the ties that bind the Jewish people to one another by highlighting shared values, celebrating shared history and working together to chart a shared future. Its mission is to provide a platform that fosters unity, support, and celebration of Jewish heritage. Among the advisory board members are JCC Association of North ..read more

New Program Provides Educators With Skills and Approaches to Engage with ‘Complexities Around Conflicts’  Amid new challenges and realities facing Israel and Jewish communities around the world, educators are seeking new skills and approaches to engage with the complexities around conflicts. To meet this demand, The iCenter’s Conflict of Interest (COI) Certificate Program gathers educators from around North America to provide them with the necessary competencies to educate about conflicts in their unique educational setting. “We need to approach the conflict and not avoid it. In ..read more

A hybrid event (in-person and virtual) by Rabbi Sharon Brous Arizona Jews for Justice presents and Temple Solel present Ancient Wisdom to Mend Our Broken Hearts and World   ABOUT THE EVENT: The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Mend Our Broken Hearts and World (on-sale: 1/9/24), makes the case that in an era of loneliness, social alienation and ideological extremism, our deepest spiritual work is finding our way to one other—in celebration, sorrow, and solidarity. Relationships of care and curiosity, Brous argues, are essential to both personal healing and social change. This is how ..read more