Posts By PHYLLIS BRAUN - AJP Executive Editor

Former Miss Israel visits Tucson The first Ethiopian-born contestant to win the title of Miss Israel visited Tucson last week. Yityish “Titi” Aynaw, Miss Israel 2013, spoke at Tucson Hebrew Academy to a group of fifth-eighth graders about her life story. She told her tale from life in a… Read more »

David Ira Goldstein spent a week in Amsterdam this October as he prepared to direct “The Diary of Anne Frank,” which opens at Arizona Theatre Company later this month. Along with the Anne Frank House, the former ATC artistic director visited the National Holocaust Museum, The Resistance Museum, synagogues… Read more »

Avram Mandell

Doing the right thing and making your life count is the focus of Tzedek America Director and Founder Avram Mandell’s message during his April 13-15 visit to Congregation Or Chadash as the second Mitch Dorson Scholar-in-Residence. “Mitch was director of education at Temple Emanu-El and a history teacher at… Read more »

Flags and museum pods lined a section of the University of Arizona Mall this week, as volunteers took turns reading the names of lives lost in the Holocaust. The University of Arizona Hillel Foundation hosts a 24-hour Holocaust vigil every year in memory of the six million Jews whose… Read more »

“Resistance and Resilience: Facing Hatred with Courage Yesterday and Today,” marking the 75th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, will be the theme of this year’s commemorative observance of Yom HaShoah at Congregation Anshei Israel on Sunday, April 15 at 2 p.m. The uprising lasted from April 19 to… Read more »

The Tucson Jewish Community Center’s Camp J — the only day camp in town accredited by the American Camping Association — is gearing up for summer with a new director, Josh Shenker; 11 specialty camps, including a new junior robotics camp; traditional camps that cater to four age groups;… Read more »

The annual local leaders’ forum breakfast will be held on Friday, April 20, addressing “How does our community respond to sexual violence?” The discussion with local leaders is grounded in the #MeToo movement in Tucson, says Jewish History Museum program coordinator Jamie Luria. Panelists will include April Ignacio, Indivisible… Read more »

On a warm summer day at a Jewish day camp east of Cleveland, an Israeli counselor instructs his charges in Hebrew to get their water bottles. The kids, none of them fluent Hebrew speakers, strain to comprehend. One of them, misunderstanding the instruction entirely, returns with a container of… Read more »

Last year, Trybal Gatherings (trybalgatherings.com) launched a series of four-day all-inclusive getaways at Jewish summer camps across the country for young Jewish adults in their 20s and 30s (see azjewishpost.com/2017/finally-jewish-camp-for-adults). For 2018, Trybal Gatherings plans three new camps for young adults, including one Sept. 21-24 in Malibu, California, at… Read more »

The Secular Humanist Jewish Circle will co-sponsor, with Freethought Arizona, two free talks by Herb Silverman, founder of The Secular Coalition for America.  Silverman will speak on Sunday, April 15, at 10 a.m. and at 1 p.m. at Banner Medical Center’s Duval Auditorium, 1501 N. Campbell Ave. The morning… Read more »

Joel Alpert with the English translation of a Yizkor book memorializing a lost Jewish community in Ukraine

Local publisher and genealogist Joel Alpert has expanded his credentials to include sleuth. On Friday, April 13, in a Jewish History Museum gallery chat at 11:30 a.m., he will reveal how he unraveled family mysteries, reconnecting people and events, through research. Focusing on a 70-year-old black and white film… Read more »

Temple Emanu-El continues its concert series with two notable performances later this month, “Music of the Shoah” and the “King David” oratorio. On Wednesday, April 11 at 7 p.m., the eve of Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), Temple Emanu-El will present a concert of Jewish music either composed during… Read more »

Author Paul Boorstin will discuss his novel, “David and the Philistine Woman,” at a brunch on Sunday, April 29 at 10 a.m. at Congregation Bet Shalom. Critics compare the novel, which reimagines the Biblical story of David and Goliath, to Anita Diamant’s “The Red Tent.” The program is co-sponsored… Read more »

On Sunday, April 22, Tucson will celebrate Yom Ha’atzmut, Israel’s 70th Independence Day, with the Israel@70: A Living Bridge festival, featuring live music, food, and activities for all ages. Admission is free for the festival, which will take place on a field between the Tucson Jewish Community Center and… Read more »

Tucson’s latest import from Tiberias, Israel, is Talya Zandberg, the University of Arizona’s new tennis star. Zandberg began playing tennis at age 5, inspired by watching her older brother play. After serving two years in the Israeli Defense Forces, she committed to continuing her tennis career and furthering her… Read more »

Tucson’s Partnership2Gether program, part of the Weintraub Israel Center, builds a bridge between Tucson and its partner communities in Israel, the city of Kiryat Malachi and the Hof Ashkelon region. “And there is no doubt, over the past few years, we have built the program to a point that… Read more »

REYKJAVIK, Iceland  (JTA) — At a windswept harbor of this Nordic capital, a bearded man wearing a black hat dips eating utensils into the icy water while hissing from pain induced by the bitter cold. Perplexed by the spectacle, a caretaker helpfully offers to let the man and his… Read more »

The World Economic Forum calls Israel a “tech titan.” Israeli tech companies raised $4.8 billion in venture capital last year. Things many of us use daily — the Intel PC processor, the USB flash drive and Google’s Suggestion function — all were invented in Israel. The Arizona Israel Technology… Read more »

The Israel Center has surpassed all our expectations, in terms of creating a connection between Tucsonans and Israel,” says Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona President and CEO Stuart Mellan. The Israel Center began as a way to bring the cultural richness of Israel to Arizona and engage the local… Read more »

On Wednesday, April 18, the State of Israel will honor its fallen sons and daughters. Those who have been in Israel on Yom Hazikaron know that it is a very special day. All stores, shops, and movie theaters are closed. There are no special sales, and no happy public… Read more »