ANNIKA MIRIAM ANDERSON, daughter of Mila Vasser Anderson and Wayne Anderson, will celebrate becoming a Bat Mitzvah on Saturday, May 7 at Temple Emanu-El. She is the granddaughter of Rimma and Richard Felty of Monterey, Calif., and Jane Anderson of Twining, Mich. Annika attends Basis Tucson School where she… Read more »
Amy Hirshberg Lederman It wasn’t easy to get there but the effort was well worth it. A bus trip winding our way out of Queenstown took us to our first destination where we boarded a catamaran and crossed Lake Manapouri, its surface shimmering in the late morning sun. A second bus ride… Read more »
The Museum of Jewish History in Girona is housed in what is believed to be the Spanish city’s last known synagogue. (Ben Harris/JTA Photo Service) Hidden among the maze of alleyways east of the Onyar River, the Museum of Jewish History stands as testament — if an inadvertent one — to the completeness of Spain’s destruction of its once-thriving Jewish population. Inside the museum, set in what is said to be Girona’s last known… Read more »
The Southwest Jewish Education Center, directed by Rabbi Shafir Lobb, is sponsoring a weekend with Cantor Richard Kaplan May 5-7, including a memorial and service of healing concert honoring the victims of the Jan. 8 shooting on May 7. Kaplan, who is also a teacher and ethnomusicologist, has performed… Read more »
The Temple Emanu-El Kurn Religious School will hold a Simcha Fair on Sunday, May 1 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Temple Emanu-El. Simcha, which means happy event or celebration, can include weddings, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, baby showers and engagement parties. The fair is free and open… Read more »
The Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona and Hadassah Southern Arizona will hold a breakfast event, “Views on Recovery and Progress: A Conversation with Tucson City Council Members and Pima County Board of Supervisors” on Friday, April 29, 7:30-9 a.m. at the Tucson Jewish… Read more »
The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s nominating committee, chaired by Jennifer Miller Grant, has recommended the following slate of officers for the 2011-2012 program year: Jeff Katz, chair of the board; Kathryn L. Unger, senior vice chair; Madeline Friedman, vice chair; Larry Gellman, vice chair; Joyce Stuehringer, vice chair;… Read more »
The Weintraub Israel Center will hold its annual Yom Hazikaron memorial service in honor of fallen Israeli soldiers and victims of terror on Thursday, May 5 at 6:30 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. The program will include an honor guard from the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and… Read more »
The Federation’s TIPS Partnership incorporates the Regional Council of Hof Ashkelon, a consortium of kibbutzim and moshavim that border Gaza. This update from our partners, written Sunday, April 10, reveals how life is being impacted on a day-to-day basis by the uptick in missiles coming into the region from… Read more »
Guy Gelbart Why do I expect American Jews to commemorate Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day?” This question has been keeping sleep from my eyes for the last several weeks. As a shaliach, getting people to come and celebrate the Israel 63 Festival on May 15 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center… Read more »
Whether it’s Northern Italian, spicy Southwestern dishes, or gluten-free pizza, Tucson restaurants are concocting adventurous, affordable cuisine this spring. “We’re introducing Northern Italian dishes that are light and fresh, like pappardelle pasta with green beans and basil-dominated pesto,” says Larissa Capizzano, Tavolino Ristorante Italiano event coordinator. “Our pasta is… Read more »
On, Monday, May 2, more than 10,000 high school students and Holocaust survivors from around the world will take part in the 2011 March of the Living, walking three kilometers from Auschwitz to Birkenau. The event will air live at 9 a.m. on Jewish Life Television on cable and… Read more »
In conjunction with this year’s Tucson community Yom HaShoah memorials, the Temple Emanu-El Readers Theater, members of the Adult Education Academy’s “So You Think You Can Act” class, will present a staged reading of “Ani Maamin” (“I Believe”) on Saturday, April 30 at 8 p.m. One of Maimonides’ Thirteen… Read more »
History is not static. As years pass new information becomes available, new archives are opened and new interpretive lenses reshape our understanding of what once was. In 2008, Mariette Job’s decades-long drive to share her aunt Hélène Berr’s journal reached the English speaking world, and we were given a… Read more »
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu grandiloquently proclaimed recently that, “If the world is on fire, Turkey is the firefighter. Turkey is assuming the leading role for stability in the Middle East.” Such ambition is new for Ankara. In the 1990s, it contentedly fulfilled its NATO obligations and followed Washington’s… Read more »
Unless Israel acts fast, when the Arab Spring comes to full bloom, the Jewish state will be left out in the cold. That was the essence of the dire warnings issued earlier this month by the high-profile backers of a new Israeli peace push who say they seek to… Read more »
Earlier this week, we joined 10 or so other families in the Chader Ochel* on the kibbutz for a potluck communal dinner. I got really excited when the invitation arrived in my inbox; for one, I understood the Hebrew flyer almost in its entirety without the assistance of my part-time translator (who also… Read more »
When you live in the States, unless you work for an American Jewish communal organization, an American Jewish newspaper (like I did at one point), or a synagogue, you are less than aware of the back-and-forth between terrorists in Israel and the IDF. Unless there is a bus bombing.… Read more »
I find myself in an odd predicament now that I live in Israel. To touch or not to touch. I like to think I’m a fairly affectionate person; though some would argue I’m a cold, aloof, you-know-what that starts with a B and ends in an itch. Nevertheless, I… Read more »
Spring is often used as a metaphor for rebirth. Combine this with the Jewish tradition of cleaning house before Passover and you’ve got yourself a good season for change here in Israel. And so it is for our family. Changes abound that are already impacting our immigrant experience…and more… Read more »
