Posts By Debe Campbell

Museum to honor Eilat-Kahn, second generation Holocaust survivor

Rosie Eilat-Kahn, left, with brother Phillip and parents, Holocaust survivors Meyer and Susan Neuman, upon the family’s arrival in Tucson in 1956. (Courtesy Rosie Eilat Kahn)
November 8, 2019 / Phyllis Braun, AJP Executive Editor

The Jewish History Museum/Holocaust History Center will honor Rosie Eilat-Kahn on Sunday at its 2019 Fall Benefit, “A Call to Courage.” “Rosie has been a leader among the second generation of Holocaust survivors in this community for decades,” says Bryan Davis, executive director of the museum. “She has coordinated… Read more »

Happy with legacy, Tucson mayor looks forward to practicing, teaching law

From his office on the top floor of city hall, Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild pauses to take stock. (Debe Campbell/AJP)
November 8, 2019 / Debe Campbell, AJP Assistant Editor

When Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild walks out of City Hall on Dec. 2, turning his gavel over to Regina Romero, he will walk a few short blocks to his new desk at Mesch Clark and Rothschild, attorneys at law. He told the AJP he looks forward to returning to… Read more »

Stone Avenue Block Party to host four Arizona bands

Sonido Tambó is among the bands entertaining at the fifth annual Stone Avenue Block Party on Nov. 16. (Courtesy photo)
November 8, 2019 / Debe Campbell, AJP Assistant Editor

This year’s free Stone Avenue Block Party will be the best yet, says Bryan Davis, Jewish History Museum executive director and host of the fifth annual event. The event is set for Saturday, Nov. 16, in front of the Jewish History Museum/Holocaust History Center, 564 S. Stone Ave. The… Read more »

When he’s not repairing books, local retiree turns them into works of art

Tucsonan Marty Getraer has entered these examples of folded book art in a local Judaica contest.
November 8, 2019 / Phyllis Braun, AJP Executive Editor

Tucsonan Marty Getraer taught himself bookbinding years ago when he lived in Baldwin, New York, repairing more than 600 prayer books for his synagogue in gratitude to the daily minyan where he said Kaddish for his father. He revived the hobby a decade ago after moving to Tucson, where… Read more »

Garden of Hope expands J outdoor exhibits

(L-R) Garden of Hope founder Randy Emerson, London Emerson, Bonnie-Sedlmayr Emerson, Jordan Emerson, Sasha Emerson, Miriam Emerson, and Jane Sedlmayr with artwork by Lynn Rae Lowe at the dedication of the Garden of Hope at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, Nov. 3. (Damion Alexander)
November 8, 2019 / Debe Campbell, AJP Assistant Editor

Gan Tikvah, the Garden of Hope, was officially dedicated Nov. 3 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Cancer survivor Bonnie Sedlmayr-Emerson was the inspiration for the garden. Her husband, Randy Emerson, oversaw the project. “The garden celebrates the arts, which is important to the JCC spiritually, emotionally, and cognitively,”… Read more »

Tucson collector goes nuts for nutcrackers

Tucsonan Bertí Brodsky began collecting nutcrackers 34 years ago in Germany. (Debe Campbell/AJP)
November 8, 2019 / Debe Campbell, AJP Assistant Editor

With a collector’s heart, Arizona Jewish Post advertising manager Bertí Brodsky surrounds herself with things that have meaning. A collection of crystal balls that began when her mother gave her an antique glass paperweight; charming David Winter cottages; teddy bears from the early ’80s; shoes in every color, to… Read more »

‘Greetings’ and mazel tov — why a nice Jewish boy enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1969

Bob Kovitz during his U.S. Army basic training at Fort Ord in Monterey, California, in 1969. Courtesy Bob Kovitz
November 8, 2019 / Bob Kovitz, Special to the AJP

Fifty years ago, I reported to the U.S. Army induction center in Los Angeles. My father, who was a World War II veteran, later described the experience of driving me to the center as the worst day of his life. Why was a Jewish graduate student from the University… Read more »

Tucson J seeks applications for pilot Women InPower leadership program

(L-R) Deb Krivoy, Springfield JCC (Massachusetts); Sarah Siegel, Harry & Rose Samson Family JCC (Milwaukee); Kendall Sisisky Valliere, Jewish Community Alliance of Jacksonville; Allison Wexler, Tucson Jewish Community Center; Leslie Sholl Jaffee, Leslie Jaffe Consulting; and Jessica Schneider, Belfer Center for Innovation & Social Impact at 92nd Street Y, at a Women InPower training session at the JCC Association in New York, Oct. 30. (Amy Wexler)
November 8, 2019 / Khylie Gardner and Allison Wexler, Tucson Jewish Community Center

In August, a coalition of women leaders in the Jewish community, including Sheila Katz, CEO of the National Council of Jewish Women; Idit Klein, CEO of Keshet; and Shifra Broznick, founder of Advancing Women Professionals and the Jewish Community, authored a piece for eJewishphilanthropy about their experiences as highly… Read more »

PJ book inspires a baking party
November 8, 2019 /

Jenny Davenport, a PJ Library mother, reports that her daughter, Charlotte, age 9, received PJ’s “Once Upon an Apple Cake: A Rosh Hashanah Story,” and read it in one sitting. She then chose it as her book club selection for the next month. Seven girls in the book club… Read more »

JFSA women launch year with Sukkot party

Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Women’s Philanthropy Fall Kickoff Co-Chair Judy Berman introduces Youth On Their Own Ambassador Hope Sherise (JFSA)
November 8, 2019 /

Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Women’s Philanthropy held its fall kickoff event, “Salsa in the Sukkah,” on Wednesday, Oct. 16. Youth On Their Own Development Director Bethany Neumann and Youth Ambassador Hope Sherise spoke about YOTO, Women’s Philanthropy social action beneficiary, which helps homeless or unaccompanied students graduate high… Read more »

Business Briefs: 11.8.19
November 8, 2019 /

Andrew Pawlicki-Sinclair has joined the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona as the assistant director for leadership development and engagement. He has worked for Arizona Serve and the Arizona Conservation Corps managing AmeriCorps national service grants. Before that, Pawlicki-Sinclair served as an AmeriCorps VISTA member at Santa Rita High School… Read more »

Ryan Aaron Rudner
November 8, 2019 /

Ryan Aaron Rudner, son of Eric and Monica Rudner, will celebrate becoming a bar mitzvah on Nov. 9 at Congregation Anshei Israel. He is the grandson of Calman and Gail Rudner and Alberto and Sara Mirta Bien-Willner, all of Tucson, and the great-grandson of Lidia Esses of Buenos Aires,… Read more »

Obituary: Susan Broder
November 6, 2019 /

Susan Marcia Broder, 72, died Oct. 24, 2019. Mrs. Broder was born in the Bronx, New York, to Minnie and Murray Cohen. At age 13, she was stricken with Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes. In 1967, after receiving her bachelor’s degree in romance languages from Queens College in New York… Read more »

Israeli political analyst parses Sept. 17 elections for Tucsonans

Political analyst Hani Zubida speaks at the Harvey and Deanna Evenchik Center for Jewish Philanthropy Oct. 10. Courtest Weintraub Israel Center)
October 25, 2019 / Phyllis Braun, AJP Executive Editor

Israel’s Sept. 17 elections, its second national elections in less than six months, produced no clear victory for either Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the Likud Party or his top rival, Benny Gantz, retired commander–in-chief of the Israel Defense Forces who now serves as the head of the Blue… Read more »

Tucson migrants benefit from generous donations by Wisconsin congregations

(L-R) Shelter coordinators Diego Piña Lopez and Francis Wheeler, Jim Rich, Jill Rich, and volunteer driver Seth Ruskin unload coats and goods donated by Milwaukee’s Congregation Shalom at the Casa Alitas migrant shelter in Tucson. (Photo: Debe Campbell/AJP)
October 25, 2019 / Debe Campbell, AJP Assistant Editor

A sermon at Congregation Shalom in Milwaukee translated into generosity from that community to Tucson. It all began when Rabbi Ronald Shapiro joined a group of rabbis visiting a migrant detention center in San Diego in the spring. Returning to Milwaukee to share what he witnessed, he relayed how… Read more »

Federation’s Olson Center to commemorate Kristallnacht

Shops damaged in Magdeburg, Germany, on Kristallnacht. (Photo: Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1970-083-42 / CC-BY-SA 3.0)
October 25, 2019 /

The Ruth & Irving Olson Center for Jewish Life (Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Northwest Division) will commemorate Kristallnacht, the “night of broken glass” that took place in Nazi Germany Nov. 8-9, 1938, with a program on Sunday, Nov. 10, from 10 a.m.-noon. Many historians view Kristallnacht, in which… Read more »

CHAI Circle retreat to focus on mindfulness
October 25, 2019 /
Dawn Messer

Dawn Messer, founder of Mindful Meanderings, will be the keynote speaker for the 15th annual CHAI Circle retreat on Sunday, Nov. 10, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Hacienda del Sol Guest Ranch Resort, 5501 N. Hacienda del Sol Road. CHAI Circle, a program of Jewish Family… Read more »

Acclaimed Israeli author to address innovation
October 25, 2019 / Debe Campbell, AJP Assistant Editor
Israeli author Avi Jorisch

Israeli author Avi Jorisch will discuss his best-selling book, “Thou Shalt Innovate: How Israeli Ingenuity Repairs the World,” on Thursday, Nov. 7 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. The book was published by Gefen Publishing House in 2018. It is being translated into more than 30 languages. Jorisch, an… Read more »