If you were asked to name the “top 5” Jewish values, what would you say? Tikkun olam? Education? Tzedakah? Community? What if you were Christian? What would your “top 5” be? Are Jewish and Christian values essentially the same, or are they different? Rabbi Helen Cohn of Congregation M’kor… Read more »
Posts By Debe Campbell
THA’s Kutler finds his personal grit in Ultraman Israel endurance challenge
As if completing a 320-mile race in three days isn’t enough, doing it in 36 hours is an enormous challenge. Included in that are a 6.2-mile swim through chilly mountain waters and cycling 171 miles across a desert at the lowest point on earth, not to mention running a… Read more »
Teens, seniors will launch life stories book at reception
Tracing Roots 2.0 paired Tucson’s Jewish teens with residents of Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging to build meaningful relationships. The program encourages participants to learn together, share their stories, trace their ancestry and bring memories to life through technology and personal interaction. Tucson Hebrew High students met regularly… Read more »
Repertory choir to bring its rich sound back to Emanu-El
Arizona Repertory Singers will present a concert at Temple Emanu-El on Sunday, April 28, “Psalms of David and Songs of Solomon.” “The Arizona Repertory Singers are one of this city’s choral treasures,” says Robert Lopez-Hanshaw, music director at Temple Emanu-El. “They always bring a beautiful, rich sound to the… Read more »
‘Nearing Ninety,’ Viorst still writing with the same sass
As a mother of three active boys, bestselling author Judith Viorst never had the luxury of waiting for the muse to strike. “I just put my tushy on the chair and wrote” when the kids were napping or at preschool, she told the AJP recently. “If every once in… Read more »
Millennial’s only Passover tradition is to have no Passover tradition
My family doesn’t have a seder. I have zero memories of shoving my brother out of the way for the afikomen. I asked a lot of questions as a kid, but none of them were “Why is this night different than all the other nights?” My Jewish upbringing was… Read more »
Federation transportation service takes seniors from isolation into action
For some local Jewish seniors and the disabled, transportation can’t be taken for granted. Without a vehicle, a driver’s license, friends or family to take them places, or the ability to afford a ride service, life can be confining. Isolation can lead to depression and affect general well-being. When… Read more »
Montoya to moderate local leaders forum on immigration
Immigration 2019 is the focus for the annual local leaders forum, presented by the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, and the Jewish History Museum. The event will be held Friday, April 12, at the Harvey and Deanna Evenchik Center for Jewish Philanthropy, 3718… Read more »
New wave: The changing face of Jewish philanthropy
We live at a turning point in the history of Jewish philanthropy. Over the next few decades, more than $30 trillion will be passed down from the baby boomer generation to their children. As these considerable assets change hands, so too will the power to shape the philanthropic sector.… Read more »
‘Sesame Street’ seder leads new kids’ books
Four questions. Four cups of wine. Four types of children. At Passover, the number four figures prominently in the rituals of the seder, the ceremonial holiday meal that can be mesmerizing and mystifying. Four new delightful and brightly illustrated books for young kids will enliven — and help explain… Read more »
Creative hacks can make seder more memorable and fun for young, old
No joke: I love hosting the Passover seder. I love feeding people — I’m both Jewish and Southern, so this is deeply ingrained in me. I love educating people, and I love being Jewish, so the seder is a perfect opportunity to gather the ones I love for a… Read more »
Workshop aims to take ‘awkward’ out of gender conversations
More than 60 people gathered at the Jewish History Museum on Sunday, March 17 for “Gender Speak: Understanding the Trans and Gender-Evolving World.” Amy Hirshberg Lederman, a Tucson educator, writer and attorney, and Ariel Vegosen, a California-based gender inclusivity trainer, led the workshop, which looked at gender from a… Read more »
Photographer captures experience of Palestinians at Israeli checkpoints
I believe in the Jewish people’s right to live in our homeland. That profound belief has no bearing on the rights of others to live here as well. There are Palestinians who live and work in the land of Israel, and while I may seldom agree with the positions… Read more »
Tucson philanthropist and developer Don Diamond dies at 91
The Tucson Jewish community mourns the loss of local philanthropist, businessman, and real estate developer Donald R. Diamond, who died March 25 at the age of 91. His daughter Rabbi Jennifer Diamond and Cantor Janece E. Cohen conducted funeral services March 27 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Rabbi… Read more »
Chabad of Flagstaff building site vandalized
A Chabad center being built in Flagstaff was broken into and vandalized sometime between late afternoon on Friday, March 22 and 7 a.m. on Monday, March 25. Crude swastikas were drawn in black paint on the windows and carved into the walls of the Molly Blank Jewish Community Center, which… Read more »
After 37 years, remains of missing Israeli soldier Zachary Baumel returned home
The body of Israeli soldier Zachary Baumel, an immigrant from the United States who went missing in Lebanon some 37 years ago, recently was returned to Israel. Baumel disappeared on June 10, 1982, in a battle at the beginning of the Lebanon War along with two other Israeli soldiers,… Read more »
Eugene Drew
Eugene (Gene) Anthony Drew, 74, died March 21, 2019. Mr. Drew was born in Niagara Falls, New York. He served in the Navy during the Vietnam War, moving to Tucson in 1974 to attend the University of Arizona. He served Pima County as a juvenile probation officer for troubled… Read more »
Myrna Lyons
Mrs. Lyons grew up in Kansas City, Missouri. She was a Women’s Philanthropy director at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona in the 1990s. Mrs. Lyons was predeceased by her husband, David. Survivors include her sons, Jonathan (Jamie) Lyons of Marietta, Georgia, and Brett (Marlo) Lyons of Los Gatos,… Read more »
Business briefs 4.5.19
Tucson Symphony Orchestra has appointed Kathryn R. Martin as interim president and CEO, replacing Tom McKinney. A transition expert and veteran arts leader, Martin has led nine arts and culture organizations through transition. Most recently she served as interim executive director of the Santa Barbara Symphony, interim president and… Read more »
Tucson pilot stars at annual local air show over weekend
This year’s “Thunder and Lightning Over Arizona,” at Davis-Monthan U.S. Air Force Base, March 23-24, brought a hometown pilot soaring into town for the performance. Maj. Jason Markzon, flying the #8 slot, is the only Jewish pilot in the Thunderbirds Air Combat Command unit. The advance squadron’s advance pilot,… Read more »