Posts By April Bauer

On June 17, I attended a performance of Tzofim Israeli Scouts at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, an event celebrating the group’s 40th anniversary. The pleasure I had taken in previous performances of Tzofim, and which I might have taken in this event, was marred by the over-the-top volume… Read more »

Margot and Gunther Marx

Over the past 18 years in Tucson, Gunther Marx and his wife, Margot, have racked up more than 10,000 volunteer hours with organizations ranging from Tucson Medical Center to the Tucson Botanical Gardens to Project Linus. The Marxes began spending winters in Tucson in 1995 and moved here full-time… Read more »

Emberly Davis

Emberly Davis, 11, has been volunteering at the Forever Wild wildlife animal rehabilitation center for three years. “I’m mostly in charge of the night birds and creatures,” she says, explaining that she feeds the hawks, falcons and owls on her weekly visits to the center with her mother, Shanna… Read more »

Soralé Fortman

The Tucson chapter of Brandeis National Committee honored Soralé “Sorkey” Fortman as a Woman of Valor in 1997. Now, having celebrated her 80th birthday in April, she shows little sign of slowing down. Since she retired from teaching 20 years ago, Fortman has held every position available in the… Read more »

Tucsonan Joseph Schwartz at bat for the Maccabi USA team at a 2011 game in Brazil. (Courtesy Joseph Schwartz)

Laurence Kaye’s whole mishpocheh, from all over the United States and his native South Africa, will be heading to Israel for the Maccabiah Games this July — not necessarily to watch him compete in the Men’s Open Squash tournament, although that’s a bonus, but to be on hand as… Read more »

LEAH RICHTER, office manager of the ARIZONA JEWISH POST, is retiring after 36 years. She started with the newspaper, then known as the Arizona Post, under the editorship of Martha K. Rothman.       The Tucson Pima Arts Council presented its 2013 Lumies Arts & Business Awards June… Read more »

Nathan Shapiro in his apartment at Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging, with a promotional flyer and photograph from his days as a boy cantor in New York. (Sheila Wilensky/AJP)

Nathan Shapiro, 95, served in World War II, was married for 61 years and still drives his own car. “I’m a very lucky guy in many respects,” was the first thing he told the AJP in his apartment at Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging. “If I have years,… Read more »

In reference to a news brief published in the May 17 edition: To call Wagner’s anti-Semitism “alleged” is beyond ignorant. One of the reasons that Richard Wagner was Hitler’s favorite composer was their agreement that Jews comprised a single race. For your edification you should read the virulent anti-Semitic… Read more »

In your May 31 issue, Max Lazar criticized Rabbi Schneier for urging the Israeli prime minister to make some concessions for the sake of a lasting and just peace with the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza (“Rabbi Schneier misguided on Arab proposal”). Mr. Lazar considers any proposed… Read more »

We appreciate the Post’s coverage of how Jewish Family & Children’s Services has expanded its capacity to serve the community (“Partnerships help JFCS expand behavioral health care services,” AJP 5/17/13). Your article also pointed out how important our expert counseling and social services are to vulnerable people of all… Read more »

In a new initiative for 2013-14, Congregation Anshei Israel will offer free tuition and waive the registration fee for its religious school kindergarten. The offer is available to synagogue members and nonmembers alike. Classes will be taught by Renee Hulsey, who was recently named “Outstanding Judaic Educator” by the… Read more »

The Idan Raichel Project, known for its fusion of diverse musical styles and ethnicities, will perform at the Fox Tucson Theater on Wednesday, Oct. 9 at 7:30 p.m., in a concert cosponsored by the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona. The group, which rocketed to fame in Israel with its… Read more »

The Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona recently announced $179,517 in 21 grants to nonprofit organizations in Tucson and Israel. JCF manages 460 individual donor-advised funds, endowments, supporting foundations and agency custodial funds that enable donors to fulfill their own philanthropic visions, but the 2013 competitive grants are the… Read more »

The Steven A. Lightman Family Foundation has opened its 2013 call for grants. The Lightman Family Foundation distributes funds to further the Jewish Community Foundation’s charitable activities that promote health and wellness, on a local and national level, and foster creative and artistic endeavors. The areas of interest include,… Read more »

More than a dozen Americans and Israelis met recently in Israel to strategize plans for the TIPS (Tucson, Israel, Phoenix, Seattle) Partnership2Gether project for the coming year. Tucson volunteer Gail Ben-Jamin (known to her Israeli friends as Gila) and Oshrat Barel, the future shlicha or Israeli emissary to Tucson,… Read more »

Miriam “Mimi” Furst, age 4, with her father, Irving Boruchow

Crack! Boom! The sound of big fat pebbles pounding the roof and rattling windows. Maybe it’s the Nazis coming to get us! That afternoon my brother Stan and I saw a war movie at a theatre near our home in the Bronx, N.Y. We watched as mighty John Wayne,… Read more »

Israeli couple hopes for change in U.S. immigration policy (Courtesy Immigration Equality Action Fund)

A same-sex Israeli couple struggling against U.S. immigration laws are set to become the faces of the fight to extend one of the foundations of immigration policy to gays and lesbians. Adi Lavy and Tzila Levy have been caught in the bureaucratic red tape of the American immigration system… Read more »

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Benny Gantz (with binoculars) tours the Israeli border with Syria on May 21. (Tal Manor/IDF Spokesperson/Flash 90/JTA)

For much of the past two years, Israel has taken a singular approach to the Syrian civil war: Stay as far away as possible. But with a recent string of victories by forces loyal to President Bashar Assad and the crumbling of the U.N. peacekeeping force that has kept… Read more »

Renee Gutman, Ph.D., has a thriving practice as a pediatric and adolescent neuropsychologist in Tucson, but her family’s relocation from Mamaroneck, N.Y., wasn’t for professional reasons. Their 2004 move depended on finding the right Orthodox shul for her grieving father. When Gutman’s mother lay dying in her arms, her… Read more »

It’s that time of year, when Jewish institutions pull out their 2013-14 calendars and fill them with events. Many of the programs are very good, with clever names and slick marketing: Jews and Brews, for young federation leadership; L’mazeltov, for expectant parents; Torah and Tacos, for synagogue members who… Read more »