Yearly Archives 2015

(JTA) — To anyone who has read a rock-and-roll biography or caught an episode of VH1’s “Behind the Music,” it is a sadly familiar tale: An artist achieves great success only to self destruct. There’s something called the “27 Club,” made up of a surprisingly number of influential musicians… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — My father passed away nearly 13 years ago, and while I think about him daily, every so often there are moments when I especially miss him. Last week’s Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage was one of those moments. You see, my father, Rabbi Steven… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — You may have seen them scanning the terminal, eyes wide with disbelief, on their first visit to Israel.  In my family we call their condition, which afflicts mostly young Jews from small Jewish communities, the Ben Gurion Syndrome — a sense of shock induced by encountering… Read more »

BOSTON (JTA) — Four years ago, I stood under a chuppah with the woman I was about to marry overlooking a valley in Massachusetts. I have an emotional memory of sweetness and joy from my wedding day, but I can’t recall many specific moments. What I do remember vividly… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — In nuclear talks between Iran and the major powers, it’s deadline time, and skeptics on both sides are laying out red lines in a bid to shape a final deal. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader who had been wary of the talks, last week outlined his… Read more »

B’nai B’rith Sahauro Lodge, which has been putting gravestones on 21 previously unmarked graves in the B’nai B’rith section of Evergreen Cemetery, will hold a service there on Friday, July 10 at 9:30 a.m., to honor the dead. Cantor Avraham Alpert of Congregation Bet Shalom will lead the service… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) – How often do you get the opportunity to pack “109 years,” #LoveWins and the rainbow colors into 140 characters? That’s how the American Jewish Committee celebrated the Supreme Court ruling Friday extending marriage rights to gays throughout the United States. “For 109 years AJC has stood for liberty… Read more »

(L-R) Rabbi Jack Silver, Susan Rubin, Cathy Becskehazy, Peter Becskehazy

Secular Humanist Jewish Circle Affirmation Shabbat On May 30, the Secular Humanist Jewish Circle celebrated the long term identification of Cathy Becskehazy as a secular humanist Jew. Becskehazy chose her Jewish name and spoke about her journey as a Jew by choice. Rabbi Jack Silver of Tempe, member of… Read more »

KITTY WU has been promoted to fiscal and administrative coordinator at the JEWISH FEDERATION OF SOUTHERN ARIZONA. Wu has been the JFSA bookkeeping and data management assistant for 16 years. CARRIE ADLER-WHEELER has been hired as database manager at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona. Most recently she worked… Read more »

ADAM BUKANI, a junior at the University of Arizona, presented his findings from the 2015 Tucson Wellbeing Survey at a community forum on Friday, May 15 at Habitat for Humanity Tucson. The forum was hosted by the UA School of Sociology; the study was part of the 2015 Poverty… Read more »

It’s summer, that time of year when everyone drops everything they’re doing, finds a quiet stretch of sandy shore and spends all day delving into their new favorite books. Or maybe not. But whatever your plans, there’s no denying that the season brings a bumper crop of literary offerings,… Read more »

Rabbi Batsheva Appel

In this week’s Torah portion, Chukat, we find that after almost 40 years of journey in the wilderness, Israel has learned more about how to be a community and about how to be a community that has a covenant with God by doing what God wants. Things have changed… Read more »

Caitlin Jensen

As Local First Arizona gears up for its 10th annual Independents Week celebration June 26-July 5, the Downtown Tucson Partnership is pleased to say that more than 90 percent of downtown businesses are locally owned. “I think that’s one of the things that truly makes downtown unique, the concentration… Read more »

Atelier de LaFleur 410 N. Toole Ave. • 548-1338 lafleurevents.com Our team of wedding planners, event producers and florists work with you to realize your event decor dreams. Our plantscapes and floral arrangements are designed to go from party to garden and last for years with proper upkeep, reminding you of… Read more »

Re “Supporting worshippers at Phoenix mosque, local Jews met with gratitude” (AJP, 6/12/2015): A beautiful story. I have two reflections. 1. Sarah (and her husband Marty) are not “converted Jews.” Although they were not born Jewish they are “full fledged” Jews; a “ger” — a convert — has all… Read more »

(JTA) — It wasn’t so long ago that gay men were vilified by American society at large. Back in the 1980s, when the AIDS epidemic surfaced, priests railed against them, claiming the disease was God’s revenge for sinful lifestyle choices. That, of course, has changed — mostly. While there… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) – Israel’s former ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren, caused a stir last week by publicly accusing President Barack Obama of abandoning the two core principles that undergird the U.S.-Israel relationship: no public disagreements and no surprises. But should there be no public disagreements – “no daylight,” in diplomatic… Read more »

The Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona recently awarded 24 grants totaling $369,817 through its community grants program. These grants are made in three impact areas: Tucson Jewish community, Israel and global Jewry, and Tucson general community. The local Jewish and Israel grants are administered in alignment with the… Read more »

Carlos Hernandez

Upcoming changes in the way the state of Arizona will manage behavioral health services funded by Medicaid present an opportunity for Jewish Family & Children’s Services to expand its services, along with a challenge to “improve and enhance our infrastructure” to meet compliance requirements, says JFCS President and CEO… Read more »

As Camp J shlichot (Israeli emissaries), Shachaf Shahar and Dar Katz are here to share their love and knowledge of Israel and Jewish culture with the campers at the Tucson Jewish Community Center this summer. Shahar, 22, is from Yad Morde­chai, a kibbutz in Tucson’s Partner­ship2Gether region in southern… Read more »