Yearly Archives 2011

  On a muggy monsoon morning early in July, I drove to my friend Susan Silverman’s house to test ride her electric bike. She had spoken so enthusiastically about it and I’d admired it when she rode it to events. I’d decided to spend part of my vacation researching… Read more »

It’s so confusing … You’ve heard the arguments. All the spin, the ads, the furious blogs and heated discussions about a possible U.N. vote to acclaim an “Independent, Unified Palestinian State.” What lofty language. Independent. Unified. Words and concepts dear to our hearts. But would such a state, merely… Read more »

While most people equate Sukkot with autumn vegetables, I picture the holiday as a tea party. Among Jews who build sukkot (huts), the evening meal is the most popular time to gather inside these modern-day harvest huts, but I much prefer spending afternoon hours inside a sukkah with a… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — After the mutual accusations of ethnic cleansing and the sarcastic posturing, the ball is back in the Palestinians’ court. The upshot of last week’s Lollapalooza of speechmaking at the United Nations is that the Obama administration has succeeded in persuading the international community to back the… Read more »

A performance by the Jerusalem String Quartet will open the season for Arizona Friends of Chamber Music on Wednesday, Oct. 5 at 7:30 p.m. at the Leo Rich Theater. The Jerusalem Quartet has garnered acclaim for its recordings of the quartets of Shostakovich. The concert will feature Shostakovich’s Sixth… Read more »

The Third Annual Multi-Faith Pride Worship Service, “Just Be —Emerging Out of the Wilderness,” cosponsored by the Wingspan Multi-Faith Working Group and the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s LGBT Jewish Inclusion Project, will be held Tuesday, Oct. 11, at 7 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, 915 E. 4th… Read more »

(L-R) Dakota Kordsiemon, Daniel Goldstein, Shawn Spitzer and Austen Berens paint a mural at a school in Kiryat Shmona during the “Day of Caring, Day of Sharing.” (Courtesy TJCC)

Each year for the past 15 years, the Tucson Jewish Community Center has taken a delegation of young athletes to the JCC Maccabi Games in another U.S. city: Omaha, or Boca Raton, or Dallas. In 2000, Tucson hosted the games, which brought excitement and nachas (pride) to our city… Read more »

Nicole Siegel, a University of Arizona sophomore from Columbia, Md., wears a t-shirt displaying the names of 20 campuses taking part in Hillel’s “Talk Israel: Join the Conversation” initiative. (Sheila Wilensky)

The University of Arizona Mall is often peppered with tents promoting various causes, but on Sept. 21 the discussion inside the UA Hillel Foundation’s “Talk Israel: Join the Conversation” tent was reminiscent of college teach-ins during the 1960s. Around 30 students and faculty were standing around or sitting on… Read more »

JENNIFER FERRELL has been hired as the part-time assistant for the WEINTRAUB ISRAEL CENTER, a program of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona and the Tucson Jewish Community Center. A Tucson native, Ferrell previously worked with her husband, Chris, at Ferrell Insurance Agency.         U-SWIRL FROZEN… Read more »

JOYCE FINKELSTEIN of Green Valley has been selected by AARP to receive Arizona’s 2011 AARP State Andrus Award for Community Service. Finkelstein serves on the board of Green Valley Recreation as treasurer. She is secretary of the Greater Green Valley Community Foundation and a member of its allocations and… Read more »

A daughter, SARAH CEITLIN, was born Sept. 21, 2011 to Feigie and Rabbi Yehuda Ceitlin of Tucson. Grandparents are Chanie and Rabbi Yossie Shemtov of Tucson and Adina and Rabbi Aaron Eliezer Ceitlin of Montreal, Canada. Great-grandmother is Gita Ceitlin of Montreal. Sarah joins her sister, Goldie.… Read more »

A daughter, ELIANA FRANCES SAGERMAN, was born Aug. 4, 2011 to Laura and Paul Sagerman of Tucson. Grandparents are Jack and the late Ellen Pinnas of Tucson and Harriet and Ronald Sagerman of Great Neck, N.Y.… Read more »

LILY JEAN PETERS, daughter of Tom Peters and Annette Hillman, will celebrate becoming a Bat Mitzvah on Saturday, Oct. 15 at Congregation Or Chadash. She is the granddaughter of Charles Hillman and the late Donna Hillman of Palm Desert, Calif., and the late Robert  and Jean Peters of Chicago,… Read more »

SOPHIA ESTHER PLATTNER, daugh­ter of Sabrina and Danny Plattner, will celebrate becoming a Bat Mitzvah with her cousin Samuel Alberts on Saturday, Oct. 15 at Congregation Chaverim. She is the granddaughter of Heather and David Alberts of Tucson and Marvin and the late Joan Plattner of St. Louis, Mo.… Read more »

SAMUEL MAX ALBERTS, son of Angelle and Tim Alberts, will celebrate becoming a Bar Mitzvah with his cousin Sophia Plattner on Saturday, Oct. 15 at Congregation Chaverim. He is the grandson of Heather and David Alberts of Tucson and Nora Harquist of Stafford, Vir. Max attends Esperero Middle School.… Read more »

RACHEL SYDNEY FREEDBERG, daughter of Nanci and Eric Freedberg, will celebrate becoming a Bat Mitzvah on Saturday, Oct. 22 at Congregation Chaverim. She is the granddaughter of Arlene and Marv Freedberg of Phoenix, and Patti and Herm Neuberger of Maricopa, Ariz. Rachel attends Emily Gray Junior High School, where… Read more »

"The Pickering Potchkers" won the grand prize and the ribs competition at the 23rd annual Kosher BBQ Contest and Festival in Memphis, Tenn. (Stuart Lazarov)

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (JTA) — If there’s anything that can bring the Jews of Tennessee together, it would be barbecue. Earlier this month, the 23rd annual Kosher BBQ Contest and Festival drew thousands of Jews from Tennessee and around the country. It attracted a group of Muslims, too. Turns out… Read more »

The Klezmer fusion band Butterfly Effect entertaining Israelis on Herzl tour at Fogashaz, one of the "ruin pubs" of Budapest's Jewish quarter. (Alex Weisler)

BUDAPEST, Hungary (JTA) — Sometimes it takes a Zionist organization to show Israeli Jews that Israel isn’t the only place where Jews have a future. At least that’s what the World Zionist Organization and Habonim Dror, the labor Zionist youth organization, managed to do with a whirlwind trip this… Read more »

A member of the Muslim Student Union disrupts a February 2010 speech by Michael Oren at the University of California, Irvine. (StandWithUs)

(JTA) — The misdemeanor convictions of 10 California college students for disrupting a speech by Israel’s ambassador to the United States is already leading partisans of both sides on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to predict changes in the way the fight over the issue plays out on campus. “When you… Read more »

A CARLEBACH HOMECOMING: A new synagogue in Chabad’s Brooklyn stronghold is trying to channel some of the spirit of the late Jewish music path-breaker Shlomo Carlebach — himself a former Chabad emissary who wandered off in more New Age-y directions. The basement shul — which its rabbi says is… Read more »