Yearly Archives 2012

Temple Emanu-El will host a Jewish Camp Fair on Sunday, Jan. 22 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Representatives from at least 16 Jewish overnight camps from across the country will be available to meet with children and parents. Overnight camps from as close as Prescott, Ariz., and California,… Read more »

The rise of the forces of jihadist Islam in Egypt places the United States and other Western powers in an uncomfortable position. The United States is the guarantor of Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel. That treaty is based on the proposition of land for peace. Israel gave Egypt Sinai… Read more »

I am hoping you have heard about the plight of my friend Alan Gross. Alan is from the Washington, D.C. area and his situation has received a lot of coverage in the news. Alan went to Cuba to bring laptop computers and cell phones to the Jewish community on… Read more »

Aodhan Lyons volunteers at a food bank on the Navajo Nation

I went to the Navajo Nation on Young Judaea’s alternative winter break program with few expectations except that it would be a fun time. It ended up being that and more. We did a lot of local volunteer work for the Navajo Nation, in Tuba City mostly, but also… Read more »

Guy Gelbart

What does it mean to be a Jewish and democratic state? This question came to light with the story of Na’ama Margolis. Na’ama, an 8-year-old modern Orthodox girl, was the victim of an offense by a small radical haredi (ultra-Orthodox) group called the Sicricim (Latin: Sicarii, the dagger man).… Read more »

Shaol and Evie Pozez

The Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona announced last week that the Shaol & Evelyn Pozez Endowment Fund has received a multi-million dollar bequest from the Pozez estate. Thirty-six nonprofit organizations have been named as beneficiaries and will receive an initial distribution in early 2013. These beneficiaries, which provide… Read more »

Elliott Abrams, former deputy national security adviser under President George W. Bush, will be the keynote speaker at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s 2012 Tucson Annual Dinner, which will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 24 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Abrams is senior fellow for Middle Eastern… Read more »

Wood-burning fireplaces can be a pleasant source of comfort in winter months but for some people, burning wood in a fireplace can literally take their breath away. Wood smoke contains hundreds of chemical compounds and some of them can harm people with heart or respiratory disease, babies, young children… Read more »

(L-R) Dr. Scott Sherman, Dr. Elihu Boroson and his wife, Sarah, with Boroson’s ‘Excalibur’ sculpture, which he donated to the University of Arizona College of Medicine in honor of Sherman, a Parkinson’s researcher. (Photo courtesy AHSC Biomedical Communications)

For some people it takes a lifetime to find their passion. Dr. Elihu Boroson, a veterinarian for 23 years, found his when he became a full-time artist in 1980. He and his wife, Sarah, a librarian, lived in Stamford, Conn. She became the breadwinner. “When I stopped working I… Read more »

Tucsonan Bryan Jaret-Schachter relaxes during his second donation of stem cells for a recipient identified by the Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation. Blood from his right arm is fed through a machine to separate out the blood-forming cells, then returned to him via his left arm.

 “Whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.” — Babylonian Talmud Tractate Sanhedrin 37a Bryan Jaret-Schachter, a 27-year-old financial analyst in Tucson, picked up the phone at work early one morning in September 2010 and was stunned by what he heard. The caller,… Read more »

Chief Justice John G. Roberts. Jr. and Justice Elena Kagan stand at the top of the steps following her formal Investiture Ceremony pn Oct. 1, 2010. (Steve Petteway, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Two groups each known for their internal divisions on religion-state issues found themselves in a degree of accord this week: the justices of the United State Supreme Court and the organized Jewish community. In a decision issued Wednesday, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the right of… Read more »

Carol Karsch

The Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona will honor Executive Director Carol Karsch at its 20th anniversary celebration of the Endowment Book of Life signing event, which will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 7 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Karsch is retiring after 23 years at the Foundation,… Read more »

Meryl Press represented the University of Arizona Hillel Foundation at Super Sunday in 2011.

Make a few phone calls in the annual Jewish Federation phone-a-thon to support the 2012 Community Campaign. Donate blood. Swab your cheek for the Gift of Life bone marrow registry. Make a card for a military service member. These are a few of the ways volunteers will help change… Read more »

David Sattinger

What are the origins of our seven-day week? Why do the Jewish holidays move around from year to year? Why are there 12 tribes of Israel, as well as 12 apostles and 12 stations of the cross? David Sattinger will offer answers to these questions in a presentation on… Read more »

Rabbi Shais Taub

Chabad of Tucson is launching its 2012 lecture series with Rabbi Shais Taub, a scholar, author and blogger on Jewish mysticism, on Sunday, Jan. 15, 7 p.m. at the Hacienda del Sol Guest Ranch Resort. Dubbed “an expert in Jewish mysticism and the 12 steps” by National Public Radio… Read more »

The Weintraub Israel Center will screen “Faces of Israel: A Discussion about Marriage, State & Religion in the Jewish Homeland,” a documentary film by director Amy Beth Oppenheimer, on Wednesday, Jan. 25 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Oppenheimer will facilitate the interactive program, which includes presentations and dynamic… Read more »

Mayim Bialik

Mayim Bialik may be known as the brainy Amy Farrah Fowler on the popular TV sitcom “The Big Bang Theory,” but she’s also an observant Jewish mother, writer and neuroscientist. Bialik will be the speaker at this year’s Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Women’s Philanthropy Connections brunch on Feb.… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — As the Republican primary fight moves from New Hampshire to South Carolina, Newt Gingrich is stepping up his attacks on Mitt Romney and some prominent Jewish Republicans — who have a rich, mutually admiring history with both men — are wondering what happens next. Gingrich and… Read more »

Dr. Robert Levin and his wife, Faye, are all smiles following Alabama's victory in the BCS championship game, Jan. 9, 2012. (Courtesy Dr. Robert Levin)

NEW YORK (JTA) — After the University of Alabama won the Bowl Championship Series football crown by dominating top-ranked Louisiana State University, much of the attention and credit has gone to Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban. But what about Robert Levin? Pediatrician by day, Levin has been Alabama’s band announcer —… Read more »

(Jewish Ideas Daily) — The mighty River Jordan cuts a tiny ribbon through the geological depression stretching from Syria to Ethiopia. The river’s output is paltry. But for millennia the Jordan has been a thread in Western consciousness; and it has now returned to the forefront of attention, courtesy… Read more »