To meet the needs of the deaf and severely hearing-impaired, Temple Emanu-El is offering American Sign Language interpretation at all of its High Holy Day services this year. Rabbi Batsheva Appel organized a workshop for ASL interpretation in Jewish settings at the beginning of August. Thirteen interpreters attended the… Read more »
The article “Where does Bernie Sanders, Jewish candidate for president, stand on Israel?” (AJP, 8/28/15) posed a simple question. For the next 29 paragraphs the author struggles to explain Senator Sanders’ very nuanced view of Israel and the relationship with our closest ally. As an American and a supporter… Read more »
Asher Susser Asher Susser, Stein Professor of Modern Israel Studies at the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies, will lead a lunch and learn on “Iran, the Arabs and Israel” on Wednesday, Sept. 16, sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona and the Weintraub Israel… Read more »
The Elder Rehab program for memory-impaired older adults at the Tucson Jewish Community Center will begin its second semester the week of Sept. 21. The first semester matched 21 senior participants with a University of Arizona intern or volunteer who supervised physical exercise, memory and language activities and interactive… Read more »
Amy Hirshberg Lederman When my husband, Ray, was diagnosed with cancer almost four years ago, we became a team, determined to face the challenge of living with cancer head on. From the onset, we talked openly about risks and probabilities as we aggressively researched and pursued treatments and clinical trials. We sought… Read more »
As the population of Holocaust survivors ages and dwindles, there is a growing urgency to ensure that both their eye witness accounts of the atrocities and the tales of their resilience are preserved in perpetuity. Earlier this year, Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Southern Arizona compiled the stories… Read more »
B’nai B’rith Covenant House residents display care packages made by children during the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Super Extraordinary Sunday on Jan. 25 . (Back row, L-R): Solomon Steklov, Iosif Beskin, Gregoriy Tselnik; (front row): Sima Biznichuk, Tsilya Lipkina (Courtesy Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona)
Many Tucsonans are surprised to learn that the Jewish community sponsors not one but two nationally recognized independent housing communities for low and very low income seniors: B’nai B’rith Covenant House of Tucson and the Gerd & Inge Strauss Manor on Pantano. Both properties were the vision and work… Read more »
The Jewish History Museum’s “Reclaiming Discourses” series will feature (clockwise from top left): Laynie Browne (Sep. 17), Sam Ace (Oct. 14), Hannah Ensor (Nov. 11), Kate Bernheimer (Dec. 16) and Rachel Zucker (Jan. 27, 2016).
The Jewish History Museum and University of Arizona Poetry Center will present a monthly series, “Reclaiming Discourses: Jewish Writers Today,” beginning Thursday, Sept. 17. The five contemporary authors, who write both poetry and prose, explore what it means to be human by delving into such diverse subjects as fairy… Read more »
"Chard" by Mara Aspinall
“Naked Food: Photography by Mara Aspinall” will be on display at the Tucson Jewish Community Center Fine Art Gallery from Sept. 17 through Oct. 20. A reception for the artist will be held Sunday, Sept. 20 from 2-5 p.m. Aspinall, the former CEO of Ventana Medical Systems, has traveled… Read more »
The High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) are prime time for rabbis. On these Days of Awe, above all others, sanctuaries are filled to overflowing with Jews seeking spiritual connection or simply to embrace timeless traditions. With all… Read more »
Local filmmaker, actor and health coach JUDY BEN-ASHER is one of 25 authors featured in “Menopause Mavens: Master the Mystery of Menopause,” published last month by Flower of Life Press. Ben-Asher’s work on the book also ties in with her documentary in progress,“TruthSeeker, Shedding Layers and Shifting Forward,” which… Read more »
A son, CALEB RICHARD BROWN, was born July 30, 2015 to Kristina and Benjamin Brown of Phoenix. Grandparents are Patrice and Ronald Janoff-Brown of Tucson and Casey and Richard Ravenkamp of Los Angeles. Great-grandparents are Barbara Janoff-Kaplan of Tucson, Margie Brown-Simon of Florida, Kola Janoff of Tucson and Richard… Read more »
THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF SOUTHERN ARIZONA has hired DANIELLE LARCOM as director of Women’s Philanthropy. Larcom recently moved from Boston to Tucson with her husband and two sons. She was the marketing communications specialist at Temple Emanuel in Andover, Mass., where she also was active in the preschool and… Read more »
Sydney Ruskin, daughter of Amy and Seth Ruskin, will celebrate becoming a bat mitzvah on Sept. 12 at Temple Emanu-El. She is the granddaughter of Robert and the late Monica Schumann of Window Rock, Ariz., and Laurie and Harvey Ruskin of Albuquerque, N.M. Sydney attends Ida Flood Dodge Traditional… Read more »
Betty Desberg Friedlander, 96, died Aug. 30, 2015. Mrs. Friedlander and her first husband, Ira Desberg, vacationed in Arizona during the 1940s, and after his death, she remarried and retired to Tucson in the 1970s. Mrs. Friedlander was preceded in death by her first husband, Ira Desberg, and her… Read more »
Debra Sue Simon, 60, died Aug. 23, 2015. Born at Tucson Medical Center in 1954, she was featured in the Arizona Daily Star as Perky Little Debra Sue. Mrs. Simon lived her entire life in Tucson. She graduated from Catalina High School, where she was a varsity gymnast. After… Read more »
Rabbi David Ebstein, right, speaks to Congregation Bet Shalom members and friends at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem in July 2014. From left, Kathy McGuire Rubin, Paul Araiza, Helena Lamb, Elinor Engelhard, tour guide (name unknown) and Bernard Engelhard.
There were three rabbis who deeply influenced me as a young man: my director at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin, my Hillel director at Washington University and the rabbi of my hometown synagogue. All three were marvelous role models, learned men and righteous Jews. My hometown family rabbi, Rav Bill… Read more »
Rabbi Yossie Shemtov, regional director of Chabad Tucson, right, and Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild light the grand menorah at El Presidio Park in 2011.
My aspiration to become a rabbi and lead a Jewish community dates back to my childhood years in New York, having been raised in the Grand Central Station. I am not referring to the landmark train station in midtown Manhattan. “Grand Central” is what we called my parents’ home… Read more »
Rabbi Stephanie Aaron celebrates her birthday during a special oneg Shabbat with members of Congregation Chaverim on June 19.
A Reform rabbi and an Orthodox rabbi were my mentors, my guides and my inspirations to become a rabbi. Rabbi Joseph Weizenbaum, z’l, the Reform rabbi of my youth, my bat mitzvah, and my teenage understanding of Judaism, was certainly the rabbi who led the way, who motivated me… Read more »
Rabbi Billy Lewkowicz, right, with Rabbi Moshe Klein at the writing of a Sefer Torah for the Foothills Shul at Bais Yael, Oct. 19, 2014.
I grew up in South Africa in a vibrant Jewish community. As a child I was encouraged to join Jewish youth groups. I loved the activities and discussions. However, about Judaism I had many unanswered questions. Then it all unraveled. There was a youth Shabbaton in Johannesburg. It was… Read more »
