Posts By PHYLLIS BRAUN - AJP Executive Editor

In focus 4.6.18

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 »

‘Diary of Anne Frank,’ coming to ATC, never more relevant

Naama Potok as Edith Frank and Anna Lentz as Anne Frank in Arizona Theatre Company’s upcoming production of ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ (Goat Factory Media Entertainment)

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 »

Passion for social justice inspires COC scholar

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 »

Art created at UA Hillel Holocaust vigil will be reminder for public schools

Attendees at the University of Arizona Hillel Foundation Holocaust vigil decorated frames bearing lines from a poem by Pavel Friedman, who died in Auschwitz. (Sara Harelson)

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 »

Yom HaShoah rites to mark ghetto resistance

‘Freedom Fighter’ by Robert Russin, in the Tucson Jewish Community Center Sculpture Garden (Courtesy Jewish History Museum)

“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 »

Camp builds character, resilience says new Camp J director

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 »

Annual forum will address sexual violence

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 »

At summer day camps, ‘fun’ Hebrew immersion program catches on

The organizers of Kayitz Kef, a Hebrew language immersion program running at 10 Jewish day camps across America, want to expand it to 48 camps over the next decade. (Next Exit Photography)

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 »

Camp weekend for adults coming to Southern California

Trybal Gatherings include classic camp activities.

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 »

SHJC speaker to cover atheism, Judaism, Israel

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 »

Local genealogist to reveal how shtetl film helped him discover family history

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 to present ‘Music of the Shoah,’ Arizona Repertory Singers’ ‘King David’ oratorio

Arizona Repertory Singer member Betty Sproul rehearses her ‘King David’ role, the off-stage voice of the Witch of Endor, with music director Elliot Jones. (Eleonore Rowe)

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 will discuss historical novel at brunch

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 »

Tucson plans big festival to celebrate Israel@70

Children march in the parade opening the Israel Festival in 2013. (Guy Gelbart)

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 »

Israeli tennis star making her mark at UA

Talya Zandberg (Courtesy Zandberg)

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 »

Partnership2Gether strengthens Tucson-Israel bonds

Concluding the Partnership2Gether annual budget meeting in Israel in February, from left: Revital Lavy, Hila Keren-Yogev, Goggy Davidowitz, Adi Shacham, Edit Asor, Oshrat Barel, Dvorah Attal, Isaac Amar, Robyn Schwager, Vered Hangali-Mashiach, Ella Mosinzon, Shneor Katash and Yedidya Green. (Courtesy Weintraub Israel Center)

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 »

Iceland welcomes its first rabbi while considering a ban on circumcision

Rabbi Avi and Mushky Feldman with their daughters in Reykjavik, March 26, 2018. (Courtesy of Avi Feldman)

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 »

New technology alliance aims to spur business between Arizona and Israel

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 »