More than 100 colleagues and friends turned out Sept. 12 to say thank you and l’hitraot (until we meet again) to Oshrat Barel at a party in her honor at the Harvey and Deanna Evenchik Center for Jewish Philanthropy. Barel returned to Israel after six years in Tucson, four as community shlicha (Israeli emissary) and director of the Weintraub Israel Center, and two as vice president of planning and community engagement for the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona.
“Wherever I will lay my eyes in this room, I will see a smile that will remind me of great memories from my six years here. These will stay in my heart for the rest of my life,” Barel told the crowd. She expressed her gratitude to the Jewish community; Federation; Tucson Jewish Community Center; Weintraub Israel Center and its founders, Diane and Ron Weintraub; and Federation President Stuart Mellan for “the many opportunities you have provided my family and me to grow Jewishly, personally, professionally and socially.”
