Posts By PHYLLIS BRAUN - AJP Executive Editor

Samuel George Arcus

Samuel George Arcus, 95, died Jan. 5, 2017. Mr. Arcus was born in New York. When he was 7 his mother died and he was placed in the Hebrew National Orphan Home. He stayed there for almost 12 years. He went on to obtain a Bachelor of Science degree… Read more »

Doris M. Rosenkrantz

Doris M. Rosenkrantz, 90, died Jan. 4, 2017. Mrs. Rosenkrantz was born in Brooklyn, N.Y.  She moved to Tucson in 1980 and was a longtime member of Temple Emanu-El and a life member of Hadassah. Mrs. Rosenkrantz was preceded in death by her husband, Sidney, known as El Cid;… Read more »

James S. Levy

James S. Levy, 84, died Dec. 26, 2016 in Kona, Hawaii. Born in Tucson, Mr. Levy was a descendent of the pioneer Levy family of Southern Arizona. He was a graduate of Tucson High School and the University of Arizona. He worked for Levy’s Department Store as a buyer… Read more »

JFSA ‘Purse and Paint Party’ will benefit homeless women

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Women’s Philanthropy social action committee will hold a Purse and Paint Party to benefit Sister Jose Women’s Center next month. The party will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 7 at 6:30 p.m. at Tucson Hebrew Academy. Women are asked to donate new or… Read more »

CJE accepting scholarship applications for Jewish camps

The Coalition for Jewish Education of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is accepting applications for scholarships to Jewish overnight camps for the summer of 2017. The need-based camp scholarship is funded by the Mo and Frances Beren Family Scholarship Fund at the Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona.… Read more »

True Concord to bring ‘Elijah’ to Desert Song Festival

True Concord performs at Lincoln Center in 2015. (Courtesy True Concord Voices & Orchestra)

True Concord Voices & Orchestra will perform Felix Mendelssohn’s “Elijah” at the 5th annual Tucson Desert Song Festival later this month. Mendelssohn’s oratorio retells events from the life of Prophet Elijah in the Books of Kings.  “‘Elijah’ is, like its composer, complex,” says True Concord Musical Director Eric Holtan.… Read more »

Local quilt artist coming to Tucson J

"Left Turn Lane #1" by Thelma Scudi

Thelma Scudi, a self-trained artist from Tucson, works in cloth and mixed media and credits her talent to her ability to see wonder and beauty in spite of reality. An exhibit of her art quilts, “The Left Turn Lane,” will be on display at the Tucson Jewish Community Center… Read more »

Arsenio Hall, UA Hillel benefit performer, believes in power of laughter

Arsenio Hall

Arsenio Hall, a comedian, actor and television star, believes in the healing power of laughter, and he surrounds himself with like-minded people. “The greatest thing in the world is laughter, from my son to my friends, laughter keeps you young and it keeps you alive,” says Hall. Nothing impedes… Read more »

UA Hillel director continues to grow Jewish community

Michelle Blumenberg

Michelle Blumenberg, executive director at the University of Arizona Hillel Foundation, has spent her career helping to secure and expand a vibrant Jewish community in Tucson and beyond. “I feel that it’s important to give what I can to help ensure that we have a Jewish community in the… Read more »

Pondering the Tesla dilemma

Rabbi Yehuda Ceitlin (Britta Van Vranken)

At a recent meal with friends, someone shared that Elon Musk plans for all Tesla electric vehicles to feature fully autonomous driving by the end of 2017. I was asked, “Would you ride in a driverless car?” Good question! Self-driving cars seem to be the way of the future.… Read more »

Two-state solution could have happened decades ago

In the most recent Post there was an opinion piece that noticed the lack of the words “two state solution” in some official pronouncement (“In Congress, a new battle emerges: two states or not two states” (AJP 1/6/17). In 1948, the United Nations declared a “two state solution.” The… Read more »

Exhibit on hunger informs, moves Tucsonans

René and Anya Schaap visited the ‘This Is Hunger’ exhibit in Tucson. (Courtesy Denise Uyehara)

The statistics are disturbing, but it is the faces and the stories of “This Is Hunger” that remain with viewers. The double trailer that houses “This Is Hunger,” a multimedia exhibit created by the national nonprofit MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, was parked at the Tucson Jewish Community… Read more »

Consul general on hand to thank firefighters

Nogales firefighter Marcela Donovan Hammond and Israeli Consul General Sam Grundwerg at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on Jan. 8. (Marty Johnston)

At a ceremony on Jan. 8 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center honoring local firefighters who helped battle fires in Israel in November, Sam Grundwerg, consul general of Israel to the Southwest United States, commended the volunteers on being their “brother’s keeper,” comparing them to Judah, who, according to… Read more »

Cohon awards honor leaders in rescue, unity

Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein

Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, founder and president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, says as his career began he realized creating a partnership between Jews and Evangelical Christian had huge potential. “I looked at it in terms of the Jewish people, and the need to have relationships between… Read more »

Tucson shlicha’s late father honored in Israeli ceremony

Mayor Rafael Ben-Sheetrit, left, and Rabbi Joseph Lasry unveil a sign that renames a Beit She’an street ‘Derech Hashisha’ or ‘Road of the Six.’ (Courtesy Oshrat Barel)

Oshrat Barel, who serves as director of the Weintraub Israel Center and Tucson’s community shlicha (Israeli emissary), visited her hometown of Beit She’an last month for a memorial ceremony marking 14 years since the murder of her father and five others in a terrorist attack on the Likud party… Read more »

‘Accidental actor’ to speak on award-winning film, Holocaust

Geza Rohrig in "Son of Saul" (Courtesy Jewish History Museum)

Despite receiving critical acclaim for masterfully portraying the lead role in the Academy Award-winning film “Son of Saul,” Hungarian-born Geza Rohrig does not identify as an actor. “I’m an accidental actor. I’m a writer, that’s what I do. It gives me much more freedom, because I can write whatever… Read more »

Children’s hospital benefactor and community volunteer Joan Diamond dies

Joan B. Diamond, 87, philanthropist and Jewish community volunteer, died Dec. 28, 2016. Diamond was an early supporter of the University of Arizona Steele Children’s Research Center, which opened in 1992, and joined her husband, real estate developer Donald Diamond, in providing the lead gift to establish the Diamond… Read more »