Posts By April Bauer

Beloved: A Multifaith Pride Service to celebrate the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and two-spirit communities, will be held Thursday, Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. at Temple Emanu-El. Co-sponsored by the Wingspan Multifaith Working Group and the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s LGBT Jewish Inclusion Project, the service will… Read more »

Tucson’s Jewish History Museum, housed in Arizona’s first synagogue building at 564 S. Stone Ave., will open a century-old time capsule at its centennial celebration on Sunday, Oct. 24. The celebration will begin at noon with a street festival. The capsule will be opened at 2 p.m. Placed in… Read more »

Tedd Goldfinger

The Tucson Maimonides Society will present “Wine and Your Heart: Wine Tasting & Dinner” with guest speaker Dr. Tedd Goldfinger on Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010, at Skyline Country Club. Goldfinger is the founder of Desert Cardiology of Tucson Heart Center and chaired a Tucson Cardiology Update Colloquium for 13… Read more »

Eighteen years ago, Stuart Mellan and Nancy Etter, both widowed, single parents, met, fell in love and united their combined five children to create their new family.

Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona President and CEO Stuart Mellan and his wife, Nancy, will celebrate 18 years of marriage by hosting an open house anniversary party to benefit the Homer Davis Elementary School’s Friday food pack program on Sunday, Oct. 10, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at the… Read more »

‘Fractured Bubble’ by Henry Grosman and Babak Bryan won the Sukkah City architectural competition in Manhattan. (Courtesy of Reboot)

It was a surprise hit on the cultural roster of a city that may be the most culturally busy city in the nation. And even though the Sukkah City architectural competition in New York was being dismantled this week, look for Sukkah City next year in a town near… Read more »

Jerry Silverman, right, president and CEO of Jewish Federations of North America, with Stuart Mellan, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, and Carol Karsch, executive director of the Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona. “Jerry brings the future into every conversation about the present,” says Mellan.

“Change is the new normal and we need to embrace that concept,” Jewish Federations of North America president and CEO Jerry Silverman told a Tucson audience on Sept. 15. Making one of the dozens of community visits he’s become known for since taking the JFNA helm in September 2009,… Read more »

Shira Ledman

Until recently, government grants accounted for around 75 percent of the budget at Jewish Family & Children’s Services. But after losing big chunks of federal, state and local funding over the past 18 months — bringing the government share of the agency’s budget down to about 50 percent —… Read more »

(L-R) Brenda Landau of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, Vern Kozlen of the Jewish Federation of Palm Springs and Desert Area, former Canadian Olympic swimmer Karen James and Israeli President Shimon Peres recite the Shehecheyanu blessing at Peres’ residence in Jerusalem on July 13.

In Hungary, as in other eastern European countries, many young adults are now discovering their Jewish histories and identities. Recently, four Jewish women from Tucson experienced their own journeys of Jewish discovery as participants in a Jewish Federations of North America mission to Hungary and Israel, joining 120 U.S.… Read more »

A recent survey of British Jewry showed a decline in every Jewish denomination since 1990 except for two groups: the strictly Orthodox haredi and the Masorti, or Conservative movement. Over those 20 years, both have nearly doubled. Researchers behind the report, published in May by the Board of Deputies… Read more »

Rabbi Steven Wernick

We are saddened by the contempt that Rabbi Shlomo Amar, the Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel, expresses for Reform and Conservative Judaism at this High Holidays season. The Reform and Conservative movements in Israel are small but vibrant, and growing rapidly. This growth comes despite longstanding Israeli government policy… Read more »

Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel Shlomo Amar (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

The media has reported the vehement opposition of the American Conservative and Reform movements and Jewish Federations of North America to the conversion bill proposed by Knesset member David Rotem. I find their opposition puzzling. Within the framework of halachah, or Jewish law, the Rotem bill expands the scope… Read more »

Morris “Pep” Berman, 93, died Aug. 29, 2010. Born and raised in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Mr. Berman graduated from GAR High School. During World War II, he was a flight surgeon’s assistant in the U.S. Army Air Corps in the European and African theatres. After the war, he returned to… Read more »

Amy Hirshberg Lederman

“I’m ashamed of myself,” she whispered into the phone. “Oh hi Mom, good to hear your voice,” I responded. My mother often begins our phone calls in the middle of a conversation she started before dialing my number. “I played bridge today,” she continued, “and was stuck with a… Read more »

Eve Pell

I am a WASP, the five-times-great-grand­daughter of John Jay, first chief justice of the United States and one of our founding fathers. When Jewish Elena Kagan takes her seat at the Oct. 4 opening of the Supreme Court, no Protestant will be left on that exalted bench. As a… Read more »

I read the opinion of Rabbi Pesach Lerner in the September 3 issue of the AJP with incredulity. When I started reading this article, I was encouraged by the implication that reflection and self-examination are necessary to the work for peace in the Middle East. But for me, the… Read more »

A daughter, JUDITH AVIVA NEUMAN, was born March 4, 2010 to Rabbi Gil and Rachel Leah Neuman of Baltimore, Md. Grandparents are Rabbi Moshe and Chaya Zwick of New York and Drs. Shlomo and Yael Neuman of Tucson. Great-grandmother is Lotte Boritzer of Tucson. Siblings are Reuven, Tsivia, Yaakov… Read more »

The COMMUNITY FOOD BANK, the beneficiary of the Jewish community’s annual “Project Isaiah” drive to collect food and monetary donations around the High Holidays, was named one of the nation’s “Top 10 Slam Dunk Charities” by Charity Navigator, the national independent charity evaluator. The top 10 charities were honored… Read more »

ELI MICHAEL SOYFER, son of Dora Soyfer and Stan Soyfer, will celebrate becoming a Bar Mitzvah on Saturday, Sept. 25 at Congregation Bet Shalom. He is the grandson of Faina and Anatoliy Luterman of Tucson. Eli attends Tucson Hebrew Academy where he is an honor student. He plays tennis… Read more »

ASHLEE RENEE HALL, daughter of Melissa and Garrett Hall, will celebrate becoming a Bat Mitzvah on Saturday, Sept. 25 at Congregation Or Chadash. She is the granddaughter of Martha and Herb Oberman of Dallas, Texas, and Judith and Philip Hall of Scottsdale. Ashlee attends Orange Grove Middle School where… Read more »

Mark and Michael Levkowitz of the Chicago Music Store

There’s an optimistic spirit in downtown Tucson. Whether it’s about food, the music scene or the arrival of artisanal coffee, many Tucsonans say it’s about time, while business people rejoice. Returning to downtown after 12 years, Janos Wilder will open Downtown Kitchen & Cocktails next month in the former… Read more »