Todd Rockoff The Tucson J is growing! The expansion and renovation of the new health and wellness area in 2015 stimulated a wonderful growth in membership (more than 200 units) and an increase in program participation. This investment created a wonderful buzz in our community about our great fitness facility and… Read more »
Talya Simha Fanger-Vexler is learning to walk with her new prosthesis. (Courtesy Talya Simha Fanger-Vexler)
My whole body trembled as I tried to fight back the tears that were streaming down my face. “Wait!” I screamed. “One more, just one more photo … please?” I said meekly as I tried my best to swallow through a dry and swollen throat. The pre-op nurses nodded… Read more »
When local Jewish writer Joni Rubinstein’s children were babies, she began a birthday practice that became a cherished family tradition. “When my first daughter, who is 35 now, was born, I found this tiny little poem that was about birthdays,” says Rubinstein, an elementary school counselor in the Marana… Read more »
Coach Martin Reichgott, far left, with the U.S. swim team at the 13th Pan American Maccabi Games in Chile (Courtesy Martin Reichgott)
While the Tucson Jewish Community Center continues to build momentum and rosters for this summer’s Maccabi Games for Jewish teen athletes in Columbus, Ohio, another member of the community was able to experience Maccabi on an international scale. Martin Reichgott spent Dec. 26-Jan.5 in Santiago, Chile, as a coach… Read more »
(L-R): Congregation Chaverim cantorial soloist Diana Povolotskaya, Cynthia Busby, Ellie Maas, Bill Kugelman, Barbara Holtzman, Michael Lex and Rabbi Stephanie Aaron. The first and second time b’nai mitzvah celebrants, dubbed ‘Thirteeners,’ range in age from Maas, 26, to Kugelman, 91. (Michael Miklofsky)
When Mike Lex turned 13 he did not celebrate becoming a bar mitzvah. He grew up in a remote part of Wyoming, a place where he says as a Jew he was in a tiny minority and because his parents did not practice, his 13th birthday came and went.… Read more »
A Jewish section has been established at Marana Mortuary and Cemetery, with Rabbi Ephraim Zimmerman of Chabad of Oro Valley overseeing religious aspects of the section. “Until now Jewish burial was available in Tucson in two cemeteries, Evergreen and East Lawn. figured I was the obvious… Read more »
Jewish Family & Children’s Services will hold a three-hour, community-wide ethical will writing workshop from 9 a.m.-noon on Tuesday, March 22, at the TMC Senior Services/El Dorado Medical Center, 1400 N. Wilmot Road. Ethical wills began as a Jewish oral tradition centuries ago, a way to pass on values… Read more »
(L-R) Gabby and Avi Erbst and Jennifer Bell, Hava Tequila co-chairs along with Jeff Bell (not pictured) (Omer Kreso Photography)
About 125 people turned out on Saturday, Feb. 20, for Party Royale, the fifth annual Hava Tequila event hosted by Young Leadership of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona. The James Bond-themed event, held at Playground Bar and Lounge, raised $6,000 for the Ethiopian National Project in Tucson’s partnership… Read more »
Wayne Gould with his 1961 Messerschmitt KR200, made from airplane parts, at the Tucson Auto Museum (Karen Schaffner/AJP)
Some men go fishing when they retire. Some play golf. When Wayne Gould sold his steel bar manufacturing company and retired, he opened a car museum. “It started out as a man cave in a smaller building,” Gould says. “I retired and I wanted to pick up a couple… Read more »
Amelia Saltsman Amelia Saltsman, chef, teacher and author of “The Seasonal Jewish Kitchen: A Fresh Take on Tradition,” will offer a cooking demonstration and tasting at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on Friday, March 11, from 2-4 p.m. Saltsman, whose first book was the “The Santa Monica Farmer’s Market Cookbook,” is… Read more »
(JTA) — In her victory speech after the Nevada primaries, Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton said it’s time to invest in marginalized communities by “ensuring that people with disabilities have the same opportunities to work and fully participate in our society.” That may seem like the standard campaign rhetoric of… Read more »
Geza Rohrig, right, and other members of the “Son of Saul” cast in Berlin, Germany, Jan. 26, 2016. (Cnaan Liphshiz)
BERLIN (JTA) — When the Hungarian-Jewish poet Geza Rohrig agreed to play the lead role in the Oscar-nominated Holocaust drama “Son of Saul,” he knew he was taking on a daunting challenge. With very little acting experience, Rohrig, 48, agreed to portray the complex lead in a shoestring production by… Read more »
Emily Briskman (Jewish United Fund) CHICAGO (JTA) — The ideals of open dialogue, debate and civil discourse are pillars of university life. Today, these mainstays of higher education are beginning to crumble with fissures developing over issues of race, gender and, most recently, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which now threatens to topple the tower of… Read more »
Louis and Flora Barzelay photographed in Amsterdam, May 31, 1942. (Courtesy of Stans Barzelay)
AMSTERDAM (JTA) — Two months before they were deported from the Netherlands to Auschwitz, Louis Barzelay and Flora Snatager invited a few guests to their wedding in Amsterdam. Instead of the yellow star he was legally required to wear, Louis wore a white flower on his lapel as he… Read more »
President Barack Obama signing the Trade Facilitation and Enforcement Act of 2015 at an Oval Office ceremony, Feb. 24, 2016. (Shawn Thew-Pool/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The controversy over whether laws protecting Israel from boycotts should include West Bank settlements found its way into a presidential signing statement last week, but President Barack Obama’s decision to ignore a trade law’s requirement to oppose boycotts of Israeli settlements likely won’t settle the argument.… Read more »
Lenny Abrahamson at The Hollywood Reporter's Nominees Night in Beverly Hills, California, Feb. 8, 2016. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Hollywood Reporter)
NEW YORK (JTA) — It’s the biggest night of the year in Hollywood, so it’s not surprising that Jews are typically well-represented among the annual list of Oscar nominations. But this year, in the absence a major Jewish-themed film, the Jewiness of this year’s Oscars is of the quieter… Read more »
Super Extraordinary Sunday The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona held its Super Extraordinary Sunday fundraiser and Mitzvah Day on Jan. 31. With 150 phone and clerical volunteers logging more than 480 pledges and donations to the 2016 Community Campaign, the phone-a-thon raised $225,000. Thirty-four people donated blood through the… Read more »
FEIGIE CEITLIN, program director of Chabad Tucson, delivered the keynote address, “The Innate Power of Youth,” at the annual Kinus (convention) of young shluchos (emissaries) of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement in Brooklyn, N.Y. on Sunday, Jan. 31. Addressing 900 people in attendance from around the world, Ceitlin spoke of the… Read more »
ERMANOS CRAFT BEER & WINE BAR, 220 N. Fourth Ave., has launched a discount wine club. The TUCSON WINE CLUB is led by one of Ermanos’ owners, Mark Erman, and will be curated by sommelier Anya Linda. For information, visit tucwineclub.com or email anya@tucwineclub.com.… Read more »
Centenarian plus one Shabbat dinner on Jan. 15 was a little different at Madeline and Barry Friedman’s household. The couple hosted a 101st birthday celebration for Madeline’s dad, Murray Rosenbaum. Fifteen family and friends gathered from Tucson, Connecticut, New York, and New Mexico to join in this simcha. Local… Read more »
