Yearly Archives 2015

In Focus 5.15.15

Left to right: Allie Kaufman, Leah Cresswell, Alma Hernandez, Rachel Mayer, Alana Newman, Jamie Nora Oko and Mariel Wilk

UA Hillel honors graduates The University of Arizona Hillel Foundation recognized graduating seniors at its final Shabbat of the semester on Friday, May 1.           Anshei Israel celebrates 85 years More than 300 people celebrated Congregation Anshei Israel’s 85th anniversary on Sunday, May 3. The… Read more »

Business briefs 5.15.15

ARIZONA JEWISH POST freelance writer CRAIG S. BAKER won an Arizona Press Club award in the community short-form writing category, for articles of 750 words or fewer. The second place award was for “TSO to host world-class Israeli violinist, rare instrument,” which appeared in the AJP’s Nov. 21, 2014… Read more »

Noah Benjamin Richter

Noah Benjamin Richter, son of Allison and Michael Richter, will celebrate becoming a bar mitzvah on Saturday, May 30, 2015, at the University of Arizona Hillel with Congregation Chaverim. He is the grandson of Leah and the late Fred Richter, and Sandra and Sid Lachter, all of Tucson. Noah… Read more »

Naomi Ozeri

Naomi Ozeri, 86, died May 1, 2015. Born in Brandenburg, Germany, Mrs. Ozeri immigrated to Israel with her family at the age of 8, on the eve of the Holocaust. She earned a degree in public nursing from Bikur Cholim Hospital in Jerusalem in 1947. She and her then-fiancé,… Read more »

Bertha Segal

Bertha Kaplan Segal, 89, died April 11, 2015. Born to Russian immigrant parents in Gouverneur, N.Y., Mrs. Segal was a language and speech pathologist for the Canton Public Schools and Skaneateles Public Schools in New York. Upon her retirement, Mrs. Segal and her late husband, Abner Segal, moved to… Read more »

Profiles in longevity

Marian Lupu

A new nonagenarian Guess who just turned 90? Her birthday invitation, using the numbers “9” and “90,” gave some clues: 1) She advised 9 U.S. presidents on how to improve aging services. 2) She has collected more than 90 giraffes. 3) 9 is associated with the Chinese dragon, a… Read more »

Pet briefs 5.15.15

In celebration of National Therapy Animal Day, Handi-Dogs will hold free information sessions, “Can My Dog Be a Therapy Dog?” on Monday, May 18, 11 a.m. to noon and 6 to 7 p.m. at the training center, 75 S. Montego Drive (one block east of Kolb and Broadway). The… Read more »

Two Jews among confirmed dead in Amtrak crash

NEW YORK (JTA) – A 39-year-old executive with an education startup and a 20-year-old naval academy student were among the seven people confirmed dead from an Amtrak train derailment in Philadelphia. Rachel Jacobs, the executive, who also is the daughter of former Michigan State Senator Gilda Jacobs, and Justin… Read more »

Ethiopian aliyah stories resonate amid protest

Oshrat Barel

Ethiopian protest in Israel It’s been more than 30 years since the first immigrants came from Ethiopia to Israel. As a young teenager I remember the new immigrants coming to the merkaz klita (absorption center) in Revaya next to my hometown. My mother volunteered as the chair of the… Read more »

Katz brings marathon runner’s energy to Federation as new senior vp

Fran Katz

For longtime community volunteer Fran Katz, working at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is “like coming home.” “This is where I want to be. I’ve been so passionate about Federation for almost 30 years — since Jeff and I got here, we have been volunteering,” says Katz, who… Read more »

Event to feature Holocaust History Center expansion plans

The new entrance of the Holocaust History Center, sharing a plaza with the Jewish History Museum, will allow for easy traffic flow from one museum to the other.

On Wednesday, May 20, designs for the expanded Holocaust History Center at the Jewish History Museum will be presented to the public. The event, “A Beacon and a Hope,” is an opportunity to learn about conceptual approaches that will be implemented in the expanded exhibition prior to the June… Read more »

Local Jewish camps offer varied opportunities for summer adventures

CAMP J Grades K-12 • 1 and 2 week options, May 26-July 31 At the Tucson Jewish Community Center; now open to nonmembers. ACA accredited. Around the world theme with field trips, friendship projects, swimming, games, arts and crafts, music, dance, drama, sports, community service, science and Friday parties. Information:… Read more »

JCRC forum on poverty in Tucson highlights needs, progress

Mayor Jonathan Rothschild

Judaism advises us to “clothe, feed and shelter ones in need as if our own bodies.” So said Rabbi Stephanie Aaron of Congregation Chaverim in her welcome to around 100 people at the “Poverty in Tucson: Local Leaders Forum,” sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation… Read more »

With White House set to approve Iran deal, options to shape outcome remote

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), left, shakes hands with ranking member Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) during a committee markup meeting on the proposed nuclear agreement with Iran on April 14, 2015. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (JTA) – The Iran deal may not be done, but bids by its opponents to shape it are all but buried. Skeptics of the nuclear negotiations have all but given up on a congressional role before the June 30 deadline for an agreement between Iran and the major… Read more »

New cohort of clergy tests Orthodox readiness for women rabbis

Melissa Scholten-Gutierrez is in Yeshivat Maharat's 2018 class. (Uriel Heilman)

NEW YORK (JTA) – When Yeshivat Maharat ordains six women next month, the New York institution will more than double the number of Orthodox clergywomen in the field. For the past couple of years, the clergywomen have been establishing themselves in Orthodox communities while serving as synagogue interns, delivering… Read more »

In Arab-Israeli city, a women’s party is challenging the status quo

TAIBEH, Israel (JTA) — To get to her assigned kindergarten, Biyan Azam, then 5, would have had to walk alone through a bustling commercial district and cross a busy intersection. This Arab-Israeli city does not provide school buses and would not transfer Biyan to a school nearer to her home here.… Read more »

Israeli Air Force, particularly its scrappy beginnings, inspires 3 films

Al Schwimmer, who guided the vast operation to build Israel's air force, with Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. (Courtesy of Boaz Dvir)

LOS ANGELES (JTA) — The Israeli Air Force is getting its moment in the spotlight, with two documentaries airing on television stations and at film festivals, while a feature movie waits in the, ahem, wings. The focus of the films is not on today’s highly professional IAF or its astonishing… Read more »