Posts By PHYLLIS BRAUN - AJP Executive Editor

Batel Marsha, an 18-year-old Ethiopian-Israeli, says the Ethiopian National Project’s SPACE (School Performance and Community Empowerment) program “saved me ­— maybe not literally saved my life, but totally helped me get to where I am today.” Batel will join the Israeli Air Force next month, where she will train… Read more »

The Sculpture Garden at the Tucson Jewish Community Center will take on a “Big Top” atmosphere for the Tucson J early childhood education program’s new winter fundraiser, Cirque D’Arte. The event, which will be held Saturday, Dec. 2 at 6:30 p.m., will begin in the Sculpture Garden with characters… Read more »

Tucson will be marking the 100th birthday of Leonard Bernstein in a very big way. “Bernstein at 100 — A Celebration of the Life and Music of Leonard Bernstein” will take place from Jan. 16 through Feb. 4, 2018. The Tucson Desert Song Festival, under the direction of George… Read more »

Yael Aronoff, Ph.D.

Yael Aronoff, Ph.D., director of Jewish studies at Michigan State University, will present “The Political Psychology of Israeli Prime Ministers” on Monday, Dec. 4, at 7 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, continuing the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies’ 20th anniversary Shaol & Louis Pozez Memorial Lectureship Series… Read more »

The art gallery at Beth Shalom Temple Center in Green Valley will present “A Visual Exploration of Jewish Values: The Art of Jewish Youth,” featuring art by students at Tucson Hebrew Academy, through Dec. 21. “Values are the mainstay of our belief. Thoughts often swim in my head about… Read more »

The Tucson Jewish Community Center will present “Spiritual Voices,” a juried art show, Nov. 30-Jan. 10. The exhibit will include 20 Jewish artists from Southern Arizona. Local artists Aimee Smythe and Lisa Mishler are the curators of “Spiritual Voices.” Both women have participated in numerous art shows throughout the… Read more »

  WASHINGTON (JTA) — Jewish and pro-Israel leaders exchanged heated remarks at a congressional hearing on how to define anti-Semitism. Tuesday’s hearing of the House Judiciary Committee took up a bill that would, among other things, define as anti-Semitism language that “demonizes” Israel. Of the nine witnesses who addressed the… Read more »

  SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (JTA) — “Feeling lucky today?” reads a flier for a casino tucked into the seat pocket of Adolfo Vasquez’s car. The car actually belongs to his wife, Vasquez explains. He borrowed hers, which is bigger, to drive a group from the San Juan Airport… Read more »

Rhea and Arnie Merin in their sukkah

Festival of booths Eight years ago, Arnie Merin bought a sukkah kit through the Sukkah Project at Sukkot.com. It is a cube (8 feet x 8 feet), big enough for a small table and 4-5 chairs. With assistance from his wife, Rhea, the small hut takes an hour to… Read more »

(L-R): Jim Whitehill, JCF board chair; Tom Warne, JFSA immediate past chair; Deanna Evenchik; Jonathan Rothschild, mayor of Tucson; Stuart Mellan, JFSA president and CEO; and Shelly Silverman, JFSA chair (Martha Lochert)

JFSA and JCF hold grand opening celebration The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona and the Jewish Community Foundation held a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house at their new home, the Harvey and Deanna Evenchik Center for Jewish Philanthropy, on Sunday, Oct. 15. More than 150 people attended the event.… Read more »

JEWISH FAMILY & CHILDREN’S SERVICES has been selected as a semi-finalist in Social Venture Partner’s “Fast Pitch” competition. LIZ HERNANDEZ, JFCS director of marketing and development, will talk about the Project Safe Place program. Five attorneys from the law firm FARHANG & MEDCOFF, Robert Bernheim, Robert Garcia, Meredith Marder,… Read more »

ESTHER STERNBERG, M.D., director of research at the University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, has been appointed chair of the National Library of Medicine’s Board of Regents. Sternberg also is founding director of the UA Institute on Place and Wellbeing, a professor with the UA College of Medicine–Tucson… Read more »

Ronald Sheldon Sandler, 87, died Oct. 17, 2017. Survivors include his wife, Marlene; and children, Jon and Amy of Tucson and Adam of Australia. Services were held at Congregation Anshei Israel with Rabbi Robert Eisen officiating, followed by interment at Evergreen Cemetery.… Read more »

Alfred Paul “Fred” Havas, 71, died Oct. 15, 2017. Mr. Havas was born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. His family immigrated to the United States and settled in Ogden, Utah. Mr. Havas, who spoke seven languages, spent time studying and working in Israel, but returned to Ogden and took over… Read more »

When medieval Christians claimed that Jewish history and religious practice was in decline, the Kabbalah, a mystical school of thought in Judaism, provided a powerful reimagining of Judaism, says Hartley Lachter, Ph.D., associate professor of religion studies at Lehigh University. “Kabbalah argues that there is this secret way in… Read more »

After the death of his youngest sister in Stuttgart, Germany, my father thought deeply about the meaning of life and death, and the idea of becoming a rabbi became a calling. The 17-year-old Karl Richter, with youthful enthusiasm, decided to do his university as well as rabbinical studies at… Read more »

Richard Carmona

Richard Carmona, M.D., M.P.H., FACS, the 17th surgeon general of the United States, will speak on “The Challenge of Brain Health in War and Peace” as part of the 2017 Mel Sherman Institute on Mental Health lecture series presented by Jewish Family & Children’s Services. Carmona will discuss the… Read more »

Dan Ben-David

The Arizona Center for Judaic Studies will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Shaol & Louis Pozez Memorial Lectureship Series with six lectures on “Israel: 20th Century Ideal to 21st Century Reality.” “Since 1997 the Pozez families’ generosity has made this series one of the intellectual and social staples… Read more »

The social action committee of Congregation Or Chadash has arranged a morning of community service on Thursday, Nov. 30, 8 a.m.-noon with Habitat for Humanity Tucson, in collaboration with invited Tucson synagogues and Jewish organizations including Congregations Bet Shalom, M’kor Hayim, Chaverim, Anshei Israel, and Temple Emanu-El plus the… Read more »

An interfaith talk and book signing with Pir Zia Inayat-Khan, Ph.D., on his new book “Mingled Waters: Sufism and the Mystical Unity of Religions,”  will be held Thursday, Nov. 16, 7-8 p.m. at Temple Emanu-El. “Mingled Waters examines the inner teachings of Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam… Read more »