JCC Love of Reading
Mayor Jonathan Rothschild read to students in the Tucson Jewish Community Center’s early childhood education program on Wednesday, Feb. 12 as part of Love of Reading Week. Rothschild read “Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons” by Eric Litwin and poems from “A Light in the Attic” by Shel Silverstein.
Triple chai signing event
Fifty-four people signed the Endowment Book of Life at the Jewish Community Foundation’s community signing event on Tuesday, Feb. 4. The new participants bring the total number of signers to nearly 700. The Endowment Book of Life, which began in 1991, has led to the establishment of hundreds of endowment funds at the Foundation, which help support the Jewish and broader communities. The project been replicated in 40 Jewish communities across North America.
THA Lions victorious
The Tucson Hebrew Academy Lions won the boys’ basketball championship in the Tucson Independent League, which includes local private and charter schools. Six teams were included in the playoffs, which ended Thursday, Feb. 13.
Israeli soldiers’ stories at Hillel
More than 50 people attended a talk at the University of Arizona Hillel Foundation on Wednesday, Feb. 19, by two soldiers with StandWithUs’ 6th annual “Israeli Soldiers Stories” tour. The soldiers, Matan and Tamir, now reserve duty college students, spoke of upholding the Israeli Defense Force’s moral code while facing an enemy that use civilian structures as shields — such as a building Tamir’s unit secured during Operation Cast Lead after a night of gun and rocket fire, which turned out to be a school filled with explosives, with a classroom decorated with photos of suicide bombers and a map of Israel painted red, above which was the word “Jihad” and a slogan about destroying the Jewish land and throwing the Israelis into the sea.
