(Above) Howard Levkowitz with, from left, Olivia, wife Elayne, Ella, Jack and Julia at Jack’s bar mitzvah in 2012. (Courtesy Bertie Levkowitz)
Howard Levkowitz, co-founder and CEO at Tennenbaum Capital Partners L.L.C., a venture capital and private equity firm in Los Angeles, Calif., says he is very happy to see his good friend and former classmate Jon Ben-Asher working as head of school at Tucson Hebrew Academy. The Levkowitz’s were among… Read more »
Gerri Pozez
With a career encompassing national and international security, defense and counter-terrorism, former Tucson Hebrew Academy student Gerri Pozez has taken the Jewish values she learned from THA, her family and the Tucson Jewish community to a global level. Practicing tikkun olam, making the world a better place, and l’dor… Read more »
From left: Lisa, Louisa, George and Emily Youngerman at their ranch with horses Majik and Surprize (the miniature) (Korene Charnofsky Cohen/AJP)
Lisa Himmelstein Youngerman, a 1978 graduate of Tucson Hebrew Academy, says her experiences there inspired her continuing involvement in the Jewish community. She passed on this tradition to her two daughters, also THA graduates. Youngerman’s parents, Paula and the late Stephen Himmelstein, were among several families that founded THA.… Read more »
Shoham Ozeri vsits 10th-12th century temple ruins in My Son, Vietnam, in 2016. (Courtesy Shoham Ozeri)
Shoham Ozeri, daughter of Nancy Ben-Asher Ozeri and Tidhar Ozeri, was born in Israel and spent her first eight years there. Attending Tucson Hebrew Academy helped her identify as Israeli even after her move to the United States with her family before third grade, she says. Continuing her Jewish education… Read more »
Rabbi Ruven Barkan
Rabbi Ruven Barkan says his first and second grade teacher at Tucson Hebrew Academy “introduced me to God.” Morah Brandwein (the title means “teacher” in Hebrew) spoke to her students in glowing terms of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people. “She planted a Jewish seed in my… Read more »
Isaac Greenberg with his wife, Felicia, and son, Noah (Courtesy Isaac Greenberg)
Isaac Greenberg, a solution engineer at Deloitte, a business consulting firm, says Tucson Hebrew Academy provides its students a strong sense of family and of the importance of community service. “And doing something without recognition is one the most honorable life experiences,” says Greenberg. Greenberg, 33, who grew up… Read more »
Brooke Sebold (Courtesy Julian Higgins)
Brooke Sebold does. See boldly, that is. The 1995 Tucson Hebrew Academy graduate is a movie director, producer, writer and editor in Los Angeles. Her films have won numerous awards across the United States and many can be seen on NBC, PBS, the Sundance Channel and other entertainment platforms.… Read more »
Abbie Kozolchyk on a recent research trip to Samoa (Courtesy Abbie Kozolchyk)
Professional writer and editor Abbie Kozolchyk credits her sixth- and seventh-grade attendance at Tucson Hebrew Academy as the most formative of her school years, fostering both her Jewish identity and her love of language. Growing up in a Jewish family provided a firm foundation in Jewish tradition, including membership… Read more »
Rabbi Helen T. Cohn Congregation M’kor Hayim will start the new year with a new High Holidays machzor, or prayer book, recently published by the Reform Movement’s Central Conference of American Rabbis. The two-volume machzor, Mishkan HaNefesh, should “add new energy and meaning to our High Holidays services,” says Rabbi Helen Cohn. Among… Read more »
Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon What is the most important institution in Jewish life? Judaism has existed for 3,800 years, and over the centuries we’ve had a variety of organizations that have effectively served God and the Jewish people. Each has played an important role in the continual evolution of our religion and… Read more »
Amy Hirshberg Lederman Recently, I heard a talk on stress management where the lecturer, holding a glass of water, asked: “How heavy is this glass of water?” The audience called out answers that ranged from eight to 24 ounces. The lecturer replied, “Actually, from my perspective, it doesn’t really matter. What matters… Read more »
Mexico City’s Benjamin Shwartz y Los Jreins will perform at the second annual Stone Avenue Block Party on Sept. 29.
As the sun goes down on Thursday, Sept. 29, live music by Mexico City’s Benjamin Shwartz y Los Jreins will heat up the night at the second annual Stone Avenue Block Party, presented by the Jewish History Museum and the Consulate of Mexico in Tucson. The party, which starts… Read more »
Kathleen Mueller, M.D., (left) and Gloria “Gigi” Dunn, M.D. (Courtesy Tucson Jewish Community Center)
The Tucson Jewish Community Center will host Simply Well for Women, a two-day seminar with Drs. Kathleen N. Mueller and Gloria “Gigi” Dunn, on Oct. 8 and 9, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Two of only 1,000 physicians in the world to have completed a two-year post-doctoral fellowship… Read more »
Pumpkin Banana Chocolate Chip Bread (Shannon Sarna)
(JTA) — For many families, the Yom Kippur break-fast is a bagels and schmear-filled inevitability — just add some lox, maybe some slices of tomato and orange juice, and everyone is happy. For other families, the break-fast is one of the most important meals of the year — almost… Read more »
The lobby of the new Jewish Federation/Foundation building will evoke the welcoming spirit of the tent of the biblical Abraham and Sarah. (Courtesy CDG Architects)
After decades of putting the needs of other Jewish community agencies first, the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is ready to break ground on a new home of its own. The new 18,000 square foot building, which will house the Federation and the Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona,… Read more »
Members of the New York City Police Department stand guard in Manhattan's Herald Square, near where a bomb was set off the previous evening, Sept. 18, 2016. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Donald Trump wants to profile likely terrorists the way Israel does it. The problem is, Israel and the United States already profile in similar ways – and neither in the way Trump prefers. The Republican presidential nominee’s proposal to blanket-profile entire communities would be unwieldy and… Read more »
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, July 28, 2016. (Paul Morigi/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, D.C. (JTA) — I support Hillary Clinton for president because I have seen her work up close – as first lady, senator from New York and secretary of state. She has the temperament, experience and judgment to be commander-in-chief and our country’s representative to the world. And I… Read more »
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump addresses the crowd at a campaign rally in Cincinnati, Ohio, July 6, 2016. (John Sommers II/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) — As my family and I prepare for Rosh Hashanah, we look back with grateful hearts for the brachot, blessings, in our lives. We take time to reflect on the joys and the challenges, the ups and downs, that we experienced during the previous year. To me, a… Read more »
(JTA) — Here we are in September/Elul, preparing to welcome a new Jewish year and a new fall season of Jewishy books, including the first novel since 5766 (by now almost 40-year-old) wunderkind Jonathan Safran Foer — perhaps you’ve heard the buzz. Presented below is JSF’s latest, plus nine… Read more »
Martha and Watistill Sharp departing New York Harbor for Prague in 1939. (Courtesy of Sharp Family Archives)
(JTA) — In 1940, as he was being transported to safety in the lower deck of a ship, the Jewish author Lion Feuchtwanger asked Waitstill Sharp why the American Unitarian minister had bothered to rescue him from the Nazis. Sharp and his wife, Martha, had spent much of the previous… Read more »
