Yearly Archives 2014

Israeli Arab children at a school in Baqa al-Gharblyye reading books from the Lantern Library, a spinoff of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation's PJ Library. (Akmal Nagnagy/Harold Grinspoon Foundation)

NEW YORK (JTA) — A Religion News Service article about the PJ Library is headlined “Free books — 10 million of them — help keep Jewish kids Jewish.” Now the foundation behind the widely lauded nine-year-old program — which distributes free books to more than 130,000 Jewish children in… Read more »

MARLENE BURNS will be showing her work, including many Judaic paintings, at ASU Gammage through May 4. The auditorium, a Frank Lloyd Wright building on the Arizona State University campus, is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The show will be open to the public on Mondays, 1-4 p.m., during performances… Read more »

JUDY ROSE SENSIBAR took over as executive director at the JEWISH HISTORY MUSEUM last month, succeeding Eileen Warshaw, who held the post for 10 years. Sensibar has been a middle and high school English and social studies teacher in Tucson; Pittsburgh; and Jakarta, Indonesia. She taught writing at Pima… Read more »

A son, LEVI LEONARD SINGER, was born Jan. 12, 2014 to Sarah and Keith Singer of Tucson. Levi joins his sister, Celia Bea. Grandparents are Barbara and Michael Heisler and Paula and Daniel Singer, all of Tucson.… Read more »

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… Read more »

In this Nov. 24, 2013 loss to the College of Elizabeth, Yeshiva University Maccabees forward Rebecca Yoshor, No. 34, grabbed 22 rebounds, a category in which she leads the nation. (Courtesy of Yeshiva University Sports Information Office)

NEW YORK (JTA) — Watching Rebecca Yoshor in action for the Yeshiva University women’s basketball team, the skills are evident: the shotmaking, quickness, leadership and court smarts. They are skills honed in what her father describes as “fierce games” with her brothers and the neighborhood kids in the driveway… Read more »

The deli counter at Winn-Dixie's Boca Raton store is larger than that of many kosher-only supermarkets. (Uriel Heilman)

BOCA RATON, Fla. (JTA) – Stroll past the kosher section of most large supermarkets in America and you could be forgiven for thinking that Jewish diets consist mainly of jarred gefilte fish, unsalted matzahs and Tam-Tam crackers. Not so at the Winn-Dixie supermarket in this affluent South Florida suburb.… Read more »

Delta, the nom de guerre of the Jewish commander of a Ukrainian street-fighting unit, is pictured in Kiev in February. (Courtesy of 'Delta')

(JTA) — He calls his troops “the Blue Helmets of Maidan,” but brown is the color of the headgear worn by Delta — the nom de guerre of the commander of a Jewish-led militia force that participated in the Ukrainian revolution. Under his helmet, he also wears a kippah.… Read more »

Charles B. Jenefsky, 84, of Green Valley, Ariz., and Dayton, Ohio, died Dec. 30, 2013. Born in Dayton, Ohio, Mr. Jenefsky moved to Tucson at age 9. He graduated from Tucson High School and earned a degree in architecture at Arizona State University. Mr. Jenefsky served in the U.S.… Read more »

Milton Herman, 86, died Jan. 12, 2014, in Phoenix. Born in Scranton, Pa., Mr. Herman attended Cornell University and enlisted in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Upon his return from the service, he completed his Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Southern California in Los… Read more »

Laura Munday, 87, died Feb. 17, 2014, in Phoenix. Mrs. Munday was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. She retired as assistant to the director for interscholastics at Tucson Unified School District. She was a member of Sabra-Aviv Pioneer Women. Mrs. Munday was preceded in death by her husband of 62… Read more »

Howard Katz, 92, died Feb. 18, 2014, in Scottsdale. Born in Newark, N.J., Mr. Katz graduated from Montclair State Teachers College. He was a captain in the U.S. Army Air Corp, serving in World War II as a B-24 navigator. He received the Air Medal with three oak leaf… Read more »

Ken Sandock on the F-series diesel Copper Spike. The Arizona & Eastern Railway ran excursions from Globe, Ariz., to a local casino from 2008-2011.

Ken Sandock’s fascination with trains started when he was a boy — and it’s only gotten stronger over the years. His family lived in South Bend, Ind., and he would take the Chicago South Shore and Southbend Railroad to visit relatives in Chicago. “When I lived in Chicago there… Read more »

(L-R) Susan Wortman, Lupe Zembrano, Marjorie Cunningham and Paula Riback at Hebrew High

Teaching cooking at Tucson’s Hebrew High gives Marjorie Cunningham hope for the future. “I have confidence in our young people,” says Cunningham, who has found, over the past 15 or so years that she’s volunteered to teach the class, that her students are “pleasant, polite, appreciative and enthusiastic.” She… Read more »

Patty Vallance

Patty Vallance started volunteering when she had young children and lived in the small town of Placerville, Calif., from 1986 to 2000. “I have an obligation to my children, my family, to my community,” she told the AJP. “I wanted to raise my kids Jewish and connect them to… Read more »

From top: Lily, Bella, Michael, Allison (with Woody) and Sage Wexler (with Jessie)

Allison Wexler is not your average Jewish matchmaker. Not only is half of every pair she connects non-human, but they generally come from a pet shelter. “I can’t go anywhere in town without being called the Dog Matchmaker,” says Wexler, laughing. “For the last five or six years, people… Read more »

It was the summer of 1963 and I was 10 going on 11. I had never attended camp before. My Auntie E worked for the Jewish Federation in New York and had discussed with my parents sending me to the Hebrew Education Society’s two-week camp with her daughter (and… Read more »

Ryley Katz at camp in 1994

I always thought it was cliché when someone said “one decision changed the course of my entire life.” That is, until I said it myself. When I was 11 years old, my mom decided to give me respite from hot Arizona summers by sending me to summer camp. She… Read more »

(L-R) Maya, Shelby, Randie and Joel Collier (Shaun Roby)

Probably not many people have attended Jewish summer camp for as many years as Randie Collier. She spent 13 summers at Steve and Shari Sadek Family Camp Interlaken JCC. Camp Interlaken is in Eagle River, Wis., a five-hour bus ride north of Collier’s hometown of Milwaukee. When Collier aged… Read more »

Nostalgia about summer traditions notwithstanding, Jewish camps have changed dramatically from a generation ago. Camp’s value for Jewish education and identity-building is now a major focus of communal attention. Major Jewish foundations, federations and organizations are investing heavily in the sector. Many camps have become more intentional about incorporating… Read more »