Local « AZ Jewish Post

See galleries for more images from the Israel 64 Festival.

Local

Tucsonan Paul Rubin with journals written by his mother, Roz Kaufmann, and a copy of his compilation, “In Her Own Words: A Life Well Lived” (Photo: Brenda Stosberg-Rubin)

From WWII to refuseniks, mom’s journals reveal active life

Posted under Local, Mother's Day on May 3rd, 2012. 3 Comments »

Imagine Paul Rubin’s surprise when he found a suitcase full of journals penned by his mother, Roz Kaufmann, dating back to 1944. Kaufmann was 79 and suffered from dementia when her son found the journals in 2004. She died two years later at age 81. “All of a sudden my mother came alive again with [...]

Micha Bar-Am

CAI to show works by Israeli photojournalist

Posted under Local on May 3rd, 2012. Leave a Comment »

Congregation Anshei Israel’s 10th annual observance of Yom Yerushalayim — celebrating the 45th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem — will feature an exhibition of 10 works by Micha Bar-Am, a renowned Israeli photojournalist. Bar-Am, who is best known for his coverage of the Six-Day War in 1967, has called Israel his “lifetime assignment.” Bar-Am [...]

Rabbi Miri Fleiming

Rabbi, Secular Humanists to explore Torah

Posted under Local on May 3rd, 2012. Leave a Comment »

The Secular Humanist Jewish Circle will sponsor a lecture, “Torah as Mythology,” by Rabbi Miri Fleming, Ph.D., on Saturday, May 19, from 2-4:30 p.m. at the Dusenberry-River Library, 5605 E. River Road (at Craycroft). Fleming will address the question of what the Torah, or five books of Moses, is to the Jewish people and why [...]

Abraham Verghese, M.D.

Listen to patients, doctor/novelist Abraham Verghese says at Cindy Wool seminar

Posted under Local, Mind, Body & Spirit on April 20th, 2012. Leave a Comment »

In this age of high-tech medicine compassion can often be neglected, but the annual Cindy Wool Memorial Seminar helps provide a remedy for healthcare professionals in Tucson. The third seminar and dinner on humanism in medicine, held March 28 at the Marriott University Park Hotel, sought to support physicians in practicing empathy while embracing cutting-edge [...]

Mental illness focus of faith leaders’ conference

Posted under Local, Mind, Body & Spirit on April 20th, 2012. Leave a Comment »

Interfaith Community Services will host a conference, “Faith Communities and Mental Illness: Tools for Response and Care,” on Friday, April 27, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at St. Philips in the Hills Episcopal Church. Created in response to the Jan. 8, 2011 shooting tragedy in Tucson, this “first time in Arizona” educational event will [...]

Alon Velan

Year in Tucson gives Israeli journalist new perspective

Posted under Israel Independence Day, Local on April 20th, 2012. Leave a Comment »

Alon Velan, an Israeli reporter and editor at the Israel Broadcasting Authority, wasn’t sure what to expect on his leave of absence in Tucson. Here for a year with his wife, Hadas, who has a postdoctoral fellowship in psychology at the University of Arizona, and their two young children, he’s discovered that “we’re on a [...]

University of Arizona freshman Molly Katz Simon, right, with University of Texas at Austin student Tracy Frydberg, in Jerusalem. (Jeni Willenzik)

Hasbara program boosts UA student’s passion for Israel

Posted under Israel Independence Day, Local on April 20th, 2012. Leave a Comment »

University of Arizona freshman Molly Katz Simon was the only Arizonan selected to participate in Hasbara Fellowships’ activism training program in Israel over winter break. One of 80 American students who spent more than two weeks traveling through Israel, meeting with leaders in business, politics, religion and social activism, she returned to Tucson eager to [...]

Israeli flags fly from the balcony of the Tucson Jewish Community Center at last year’s Israel Festival. (Marty Johnston, TJCC)

Israel 64 Festival invites Tucsonans to ‘Celebrate Jerusalem’

Posted under Local on April 19th, 2012. Leave a Comment »

The Weintraub Israel Center will be taking the Israel 64 Festival to the next level, literally and figuratively. Guy Gelbart, Israel Center director and community shaliach (emissary from Israel), explains that this year’s festival, which will be held May 6 from 1 to 6 p.m., will use both floors of the Tucson Jewish Community Center, [...]

Carol Karsch, who is retiring after 23 years as executive director of the Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona, with her husband, Dan, at the Foundation’s 20th Anniversary Celebration of the Endowment Book of Life on Feb. 7. (Martha Lochert)

After 40 years in Tucson, Israel beckons Karsches

Posted under Local on April 19th, 2012. Leave a Comment »

Carol Karsch has wanted to live in Israel since she was 10 years old, when she began learning about the Jewish state at a synagogue in the small town of Norristown, Pa. Now Karsch, who will step down next month after 23 years at the helm of the Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona, is [...]

A survivor’s son finds hope after Holocaust

Posted under Arts and Culture, Local on April 19th, 2012. Leave a Comment »

The cover of artist Stan Lebovic’s book reads “Black is a Color, by a survivor’s son.” But in his search for meaning in the aftermath of the Holocaust, “I don’t focus on the negativity,” Lebovic promises. Instead, he finds hope and inspiration in the resilience of the Jewish people. “To me, it’s not who built [...]