Ruth Kolker, 78, died July 13, 2020 of complications of ovarian cancer. Mrs. Kolker was born in Newark, New Jersey, and moved to Tucson in 1968 with her family. She was involved with many charitable organizations, including serving on the board of Jewish Family & Children’s Services for three… Read more »
Destiny Marie Bickart, daughter of Erin Bickart, will celebrate becoming a bat mitzvah on Aug. 29, 2020 at Temple Emanu-El. She is the granddaughter of Jeff and Fran Bickart of Tucson. Destiny attends Twin Peaks K-8 School. She enjoys reading and swimming. For her mitzvah project, Destiny is helping… Read more »
(JTA) — Days after a small corner of the internet erupted with criticism of how the Metropolitan Museum of Art labeled a Jewish ritual object in its collection, the New York museum has quietly revised the description. Where its website had previously called tefillin, the leather boxes and straps… Read more »
(JTA) — The Minnesota Republican Party acknowledged that a Wabasha County board member posted a meme on Facebook comparing the requirement to wear masks during the coronavirus to the yellow stars that Jews were forced to wear during the Holocaust. The Republican Party of Wabasha County originally said that… Read more »
BERLIN (JTA) – Joining a growing chorus of critical voices, Holocaust survivors have launched an international online campaign criticizing Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg that is aimed at countering Holocaust denial on his social media platform. Starting Wednesday, a campaign sponsored by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany… Read more »
A son, Ezra Abraham Boxer, was born June 16, 2020 to Alex and Dara Boxer of St. Louis, Missouri. Grandparents are Michael and Betsy Boxer of Tucson, and Lynn and Barry Goldberg of Delray Beach, Florida. … Read more »
The Twitter logo is superimposed on anti-Semitic tweets. (Screenshots/JTA Montage)
NEW YORK (JTA) — On Friday afternoon, a few hours before Shabbat, I found myself scrolling through Twitter when I stumbled upon an anti-Semitic rant. This by itself is hardly unusual — the amount of anti-Semitic vitriol on Twitter is horrifying. But when I checked the account, I found that… Read more »
(JTA) — After their vocal calls for Twitter to take down rapper Wiley’s spree of anti-Semitic tweets went unanswered, Jews in the United Kingdom are taking another approach: silence. British Jewish activists and their allies — including high-profile celebrities, both Jewish and non-Jewish — are staging a 48-hour boycott… Read more »
Israeli poet Rachel Korazim has been surprised by the popularity of her online classes during the pandemic. (Screenshot)
(JTA) — Israeli poetry scholar Rachel Korazim had been thinking about cutting back on travel when the coronavirus pandemic made the decision for her. “I said I really want to shift my teaching to distance learning because, you know, I’m not getting any younger. Travel is tiring,” she said… Read more »
John Lewis, D-Ga., and Norbert Bikales, who was part of the Kindertransport from Berlin to France in July 1939 following the deportation of his parents and brother to Poland, light one of six candles representing the more than six million Jews who were killed during the Holocaust, in a ceremony in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., April 9, 2002. (Scott J. Ferrell/Congressional Quarterly/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — When John Lewis, the civil rights icon and congressman from Georgia, died at 80 over the weekend, Jews in America and abroad lost an ally of nearly six decades. Lewis never tired of telling folks to “get into good trouble,” to defy the authorities and the… Read more »
All of us look forward to learning what’s happening in our Jewish community. For generations, the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona has proudly produced the Arizona Jewish Post. Over that time, some of us have preferred to read our news in print, while others of us read online. Nonetheless,… Read more »
James Wezelman, left, and Liz Kanter Groskind are the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona's Man and Woman of the Year
The second annual combined Jewish Community Awards Celebration and Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Annual Meeting will be held via Zoom on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 5-6:30 p.m. A Zoom invitation will be issued closer to the date. The event will include special recognition awards honoring lay or professional leaders from… Read more »
Rabbi Dr. Scott Saulson
Rabbi Scott Saulson, Ph.D., joined Temple Emanu-El this month as interim rabbi. With an extensive background in pastoral counseling and mediation, Saulson specializes in helping congregations in transition. This is his eighth interim rabbi position. Along with fulfilling typical rabbinic duties for a year, such as officiating at services… Read more »
Shari Gootter, left, and Tejpal are coauthors of ‘Way to Be: 40 Insights and Transformative Practices in the Heart of Being.’ (Courtesy Shari Gootter)
With all the chaos and uncertainty in the outside world in recent months, many people are looking for ways to stabilize their inner lives. Tucson-based authors Shari Gootter, MA, LPC, CRC, and Tejpal, MA, MBA, have written a book, “Way to Be: 40 Insights and Transformative Practices in the… Read more »
Rabbi Dr. Howard Schwartz
Judaism has always been a large part of Howard Schwartz’s life, but only after moving to Tucson did he truly fall into his role as a teacher of Jewish beliefs. The doctor turned rabbi uses his time post-retirement volunteering at different synagogues to give lectures on Judaism, and has… Read more »
Esther Jungreis speaks during the 2012 National Prayer Breakfast at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, Feb. 14, 2012. (Photo: U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Tristin English via Wikimedia Commons)
For the past 16 years, hundreds of women have spent summer hours reading books selected by Esther Becker of the Women’s Academy of Jewish Studies in advance of her annual book brunch. Her selections have included novels, mysteries, biographies, essays, autobiographies, and prayer. Although the format will be different,… Read more »
Chelsea Gutierrez An anti-Semitic sticker was posted downtown on Tucson’s Fourth Avenue recently, and more appeared on the University of Arizona campus. “The stickers appear to be the same type that surfaced here in Tucson approximately one year ago,” says Paul Patterson, Jewish community security director (see www.azjewishpost.com/2019/tucson-is-not-immune-to-hate-messaging-fliers-show). There also is the… Read more »
Amy Hirshberg Lederman Since March of this year, we have been forced to reassess and restructure how we think about and interact with the world. From empty calendars and stockpiled closets to work, family, and social lives that resemble nothing we have ever known, we bear witness to living in a COVID-19… Read more »
synagogues and Jewish agencies offer an assortment of virtual engagement programs for long summer days spent sheltering from the heat and the coronavirus. The list below includes some items that have crossed our desks recently but it is by no means exhaustive; check with other local organizations for additional… Read more »
Pamela Heiman, M.D.,
Select Care: Care Manager
During the coronavirus pandemic, Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Southern Arizona’s Older Adult and Adult with Disability Services programs have continued to provide robust services for the community. These programs include the Trusted Advisors Project, Jewish Elder Access, and Select Care. Through the Trusted Advisors Project, JFCS provides short-term care management… Read more »
