The Third Annual Sukkot Water Drawing Celebration will be held Sunday, Sept. 26 at 4 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. It will focus on sustainability not only with respect to water, but also in community life. The PJ Library, a program administered by the Jewish Federation of… Read more »
Posts By April Bauer
Taste kosher wines, benefit Temple teachers
Six fine kosher wines will be featured at the Temple Emanu-El Women of Reform Judaism “Beyond Manischewitz” Kosher Wine Tasting on Sunday, Sept. 16, from 3 to 5 p.m. in the Temple Emanu-El sukkah. Five local chefs will pair samples of their favorite recipes with the wines. Chefs will… Read more »
Handmaker dinner will celebrate Lightman
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Philanthropist Steven Lightman will be honored at the Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging annual dinner on Sunday, Oct. 10 at 5 p.m. at Loews Ventana Canyon. The event will feature “Encore: A Salute to Musical Theatre” by performers from the University of Arizona School of Theatre, Film and… Read more »
Birmingham mission shows black-Jewish ties live on
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Some pundits have declared the historic black-Jewish alliance of the civil rights era over, dead, finished. Not so, say Tucsonans Jonathan Rothschild and Barbara Lewis, who in June took part in a Jewish Council on Public Affairs-sponsored African-American/Jewish Community Leaders Mission to Birmingham, Ala., to witness the still vibrant… Read more »
Engineer turned shaliach Guy Gelbart arrives in Tucson
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As a teen growing up in Haifa, Guy Gelbart was active in the Israeli Scout Movement, the Tzofim. “It was about the coolest thing you could do,” Gelbart told the AJP. Now, at age 36, the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s new Israel Center director and community shaliach, or… Read more »
‘Who by Fire, Who by Water’: Is our fate determined on Yom Kippur?
NEW YORK (JTA) — High on the list of Jewish martyr stories still retold, or at least alluded to, every Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is the terrible medieval tale of Rabbi Amnon of Mainz. For refusing to appear before the Bishop of Regensburg, who had requested that Amnon… Read more »
Sermon spurred Soviet Jewry movement
NEW YORK (JTA) — On a fall day in 1963, Abraham Joshua Heschel unburdened his soul. Speaking the truth without regard for whether it scandalized or hurt was something he would do fairly often in that decade of social upheaval. Already branded as an eccentric and an outsider, that… Read more »
Keeping kosher — but just on holidays
SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) — When I’m invited to a Shabbat or holiday meal in a Jewish home, I always bring kosher wine. Not just that, I try to make it Israeli. It’s not because I keep kosher. And it’s not because the people I’m visiting necessarily keep kosher either.… Read more »
Israel travel … and more
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Tucson PNAI (Parents of North American Israelis) members Carol and Dan Karsch spent a month at their home in Modi’in, the city in which their daughter Hannah Karsch Hochner, son-in-law Jacky, and grandchildren Tanya, Hillel and Ayelet reside. During this time, Carol, executive director of the Jewish Community Foundation… Read more »
Sarah Shemtov
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Sarah Shemtov, 74, died Aug. 17, 2010 in Brooklyn, N.Y., just days before her 75th birthday. A community activist in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, Mrs. Shemtov was known for supporting Jewish education and for philanthropy to help build local and international organizations. She and her late husband,… Read more »
Inspired by the GPS
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An 82-year-old Jewish man was recently marveling to me about the wonders of the Global Positioning System, otherwise known as the GPS satellite-based global navigation system. An observation of his got me thinking. “You see,” he said, “a person can go anywhere but if he doesn’t have a destination… Read more »
Rosh Hashanah reminds us that we have the power to change
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It’s that time of year again. Backpacks and school binders tumble off the shelves at local stores, crossing guards in bright orange vests patrol the roads and parents are bemoaning the frenzied schedules that “back to school” requires. But there’s a positive energy in the air as kids, tanned… Read more »
THA tidbits: Middle-schoolers bond on retreat
Many schools have eliminated informal programs, leaving only classes characterized by high student/teacher ratios, rote memorization and drill exercises. But in designing programs at Tucson Hebrew Academy, the social and high-energy needs of young teens have not been tossed out, says Arthur Yavelberg, THA interim head of school. Take… Read more »
Apples add sweet meaning to holiday fare
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The Northwest Rosh Chodesh group, a program of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Northwest Division Jewish Connections, met Aug. 9 at the Oro Valley home of Ester Leutenberg. Seventeen women, ranging in age from a middle school student to women in their 70s, came together to greet the… Read more »
Maccabi Games give Tucson teen athletes opportunity for medals, service
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The Tucson Maccabi Delegation of 14 teen athletes attended the Maccabi Games in Omaha, Neb., Aug. 1-6, making this the 15th year the Tucson Jewish Community Center has fielded a team. The games attract thousands of Jewish youth each year from across the United States, Mexico, Canada, Israel and… Read more »
Larry Harlow, ‘El Judío Maravilloso,’ headliner for Tucson Latin Jazz Festival
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Salsa star Larry Harlow, known affectionately in the Latin music world as El Judío Maravilloso (“the marvelous Jew”), will headline the Tucson Jazz Society’s Downtown Tucson Latin Jazz Festival on Saturday, Sept. 11 at 8 p.m. at the Tucson Convention Center’s Leo Rich Theatre. Born Lawrence Ira Kahn in… Read more »
Exhibit honors new fire foundation
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A photography exhibit by Tucsonan Sean Stuchen, “Firefighters on Film,” celebrates the creation of the Tucson Fire Foundation. The foundation, the result of yearlong discussions between community philanthropists and Tucson Fire Department senior staff, will provide funds to bridge the human services gap between the needs of the fire… Read more »
Nominate, vote for Jewish Community Heroes
The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is seeking nominees for the Second Annual Jewish Community Hero Awards, a Jewish Federations of North America initiative aimed at connecting people through social media to recognize those who are helping their communities through volunteer service. To nominate a Jewish Community Hero, go… Read more »
L’chaim to the JCC’s Marty Johnston and his bride
I was delighted to see the wedding announcement of Marty Johnston and Sarah Ann Pruitt (AJP 8/6/10). Marty is indeed a righteous gentile and has enriched our community mightily in his 10 years at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. May he and Sarah have a long and happy life… Read more »
‘Rebbetzmen’: Life as rabbi’s husband A-OK
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With four female rabbis heading Tucson congregations, it’s easy to forget that the advent of women on the bimah is a relatively recent occurrence. Since 1972, about 1,000 women have been ordained as rabbis in this country. So the norm for most congregations is a male rabbi where the… Read more »