Marvin G. Taub, 87, died Jan. 24, 2017. Born in New York City, Mr. Taub was a Tucson resident for more than 60 years. He was an optometrist for many years and enjoyed providing services to St. Elizabeth of Hungary Clinic and Job Corps. He was president of the… Read more »
Merrill Broad, 89, died Jan. 23, 2017. A longtime Tucson resident, Mr. Broad was born in Uniontown, Pa., the youngest of three siblings. He joined the Navy at the end of World War II, serving on the USS Thompson as secretary to the ship’s commander. When his service ended,… Read more »
Alvin Schechter, 92, died Jan. 23, 2017. Prior to his retirement, Mr. Schechter worked at Royal Buick. He volunteered at Jewish Family & Children’s Services, where he received numerous awards. Mr. Schechter was preceded in death by his wife, Ileane Schechter. Survivors include his children, Sheryl (Richard) Marcus and… Read more »
Elaine K. Stoller, 71, died Saturday, Jan. 14, 2017. Mrs. Stoller was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., and graduated from Duquesne University. After her marriage to Arthur they moved to Los Angeles, where she taught second grade for three years before becoming a real estate agent and later a social… Read more »
Warren Bodow, 77, of Tucson and New York, died in New York City on Dec. 23, 2016. Born in Syracuse, N.Y. in 1939, Mr. Bodow graduated with a combined journalism and liberal arts degree from Syracuse University. His 40-year career in radio took him from campus station newsreader to… Read more »
On Shabbat morning, Jan. 21, I joined 15,000 of my neighbors at the Women’s March in Tucson. Why did I participate in the march? Because the teachings of our Jewish tradition made it clear that I must. Torah teaches that all of us are created in God’s image (Genesis… Read more »
In the Letters to the Editor (1/20/2017), Joel S. Heller channels Kellyanne Conway by presenting alternative facts about the original partition of Israel/Palestine by the United Nations (“Two-state solution could have happened decades ago”). He states, “In 1948 the United Nations declared a ‘two state solution.’ The two states… Read more »
Amy Hirshberg Lederman I have always loved books. As a child, I treasured my hardcover editions of “Heidi,” “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm” and “Black Beauty” and loved the nights when my mom and I would snuggle on the couch as she read me chapter after chapter of “Little Women.” And in 1965, at… Read more »
Bryan Davis, executive director of the Jewish History Museum, leads cadets from the Southern Arizona Law Enforcement Training Center on a tour of the Holocaust History Center, Jan. 11, 2017. (Courtesy Jewish History Museum)
Tucson’s Holocaust History Center is raising the consciousness of new law enforcement officers. The “What You Do Matters: Lessons from the Holocaust” program marks a new educational partnership between the Jewish History Museum/Holocaust History Center and law enforcement in Arizona. The classes focus on teaching new cadets about the… Read more »
Local poet Brandon Shimoda speaks at the Holocaust History Center on Jan. 20. (Samuel Ace)
More than 100 people packed the Holocaust History Center at the Jewish History Museum on Friday, Jan. 20 for a gallery chat, “States of Exile: Arizona’s place, and the place of Arizona, in the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans,” with Tucson poet Brandon Shimoda. After acknowledging the ancestors of… Read more »
Tucson Hebrew High students Rachel Davenport
(left) and Ann Tumarkin
As part of a campaign in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day, members of the Tucson Holocaust Survivors group at Jewish Family & Children’s Services, teens from Tucson Hebrew High and staff at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona joined over 200,000 people worldwide posting photos holding “We Remember” signs… Read more »
The Tucson Jewish Community Center will hold a series of four “Celebration of Heritage” concerts beginning Feb. 15. Roza Simkhovich, a longtime community volunteer and former Tucson J board member, will host the series. All performances will be held at 6:30 p.m. and include: Wednesday, Feb. 15 — The… Read more »
David Alexander Johnston, who plays two Holocaust survivors, takes Germany up on its offer of return, as citizens (Lucille Petty and Steve Wood) bear witness in ‘Lebensraum.’ (Tim Fuller)
Invisible Theatre will stage “Lebensraum” by award-winning playwright Israel Horovitz Feb. 7-19. The play is set at the dawn of the 21st century. The new German chancellor invites 6 million Jews from around the world to make Germany their home as a gesture of reconciliation. Three actors play more… Read more »
The Prunus amygdalus, or almond, is native to the Middle East and will grow well in Southern Arizona. (Jacqueline A. Soule)
Jews around the world have been celebrating Tu B’Shvat at this time of year every year, for about 3000 years. Since the Jewish calendar is lunar, the date varies in Western eyes, but on the 15 of the month of Shevat, this Jewish Arbor Day, also called “New Year… Read more »
On the afternoon of Jan. 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Jewish History Museum received a letter from the Consul of Mexico in Tucson, Ricardo Pineda. The letter arrived at the end of an emotionally charged 24 hours, moments prior to closing for Shabbat. To mark this commemorative date,… Read more »
At least 17 Jewish community centers across the United States were targeted with bomb threats in the third wave of such mass disruption this month. Paul Goldenberg, the director of Secure Community Network — an affiliate of the Jewish federations of North America, which advises Jewish groups and institutions… Read more »
Rabbi Thomas Louchheim We live in a world where we are hard-wired to fit people and actions into neat, perfect little boxes. Even our scripture seems to do this. We draw from our holy writings that an action is good or bad, a blessing or a curse, and will lead to life… Read more »
Rabbi Susan Silverman Activism and family values are in Rabbi Susan Silverman’s DNA. Raised in a secular Jewish home in New Hampshire by parents committed to liberal politics, she is active on behalf of asylum seekers in Israel, advocates for liberal Judaism and is founding director of Second Nurture, which promotes adoption… Read more »
Rabbi Steven Wernick, CEO of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, said the current standards don't make sense in today's world of intermarried couples actively participating in synagogue life. (Mike Diamond Photography)
(JTA) — Responding to a rising number of interfaith families, Conservative synagogues will be voting on a measure from their umbrella body that would allow congregations to admit non-Jews as members. Currently, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism’s Standards for Congregational Practice restrict synagogue membership to Jews. But the new language, which congregations… Read more »
WASHINGTON (JTA) — “Five million non-Jews died in the Holocaust.” It’s a statement that shows up regularly in declarations about the Nazi era. It was implied in a Facebook post by the Israel Defense Forces’ spokesperson’s unit last week marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day. And it was asserted… Read more »
