Posts By PHYLLIS BRAUN - AJP Executive Editor

Goldstein-Durkin

Brandon Ralph Goldstein and Mary Rose Durkin announce their engagement. Brandon is the son of Dana Goldstein and Gene Goldstein, both of Tucson. Brandon graduated from Catalina Foothills High School in 2003 and attended the University of Arizona. He is currently the general manager at Desert Metals Recycling in… Read more »

Javier Luis Dittmar

Javier Luis Dittmar, son of Tami Dittmar and Amy-Susan Young, will celebrate becoming a Bar Mitzvah on Saturday, Nov. 8 at Temple Emanu-El. He is the grandson of Susan Jannetto of Tucson, Steve Young and Myrna Bower of Durham, N.C., and Betty Dittmar of Julesburg, Colo., and the great-grandson… Read more »

Harris David Brody

Harris David Brody, son of Jacqueline and Eric Brody, will celebrate becoming a Bar Mitzvah on Saturday, Nov. 8 at Congregation Or Chadash. He is the grandson of Bonnie Farinas of Las Vegas. Harris attends Orange Grove Middle School, where he plays tuba in the school band. For his… Read more »

In Focus 11.7.14

(L-R) Hirsch Handmaker (Kalmanovitz campaign co-chair), Jane Kivel (Handmaker Foundation past chair), Lowell Rothschild (Kalmanovitz campaign co-chair), Terry Perl (Handmaker board chair), Art Martin (Handmaker president and CEO), Alice Baker, Myles Beck (Handmaker past chair), Mayor Jonathan Rothschild and Paul Baker. The Bakers are among the top donors to the Kalmanovitz campaign, along with the Steven Ohren Foundation. (Frederick Clark Photography)

Kalmanovitz Center dedication Some 200 guests attended the dedication of the Paul and Lydia Kalmanovitz Elder Care Center on Monday, Oct. 27. Located on the campus of Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging, the center is a partnership between Handmaker and Tucson Medical Center. The Kalmanovitz Foundation pledged $3… Read more »

Philanthropy in brief

Since its opening almost 17 years ago, Pastiche Modern Eatery has donated almost $200,000 to local nonprofit organizations through programs such as “Philanthropy with Phlavor,” “Dine Out for Safety” and “Chicken Soup for Tucson’s Soul.”  Pastiche now holds monthly fundraisers in place of Philanthropy with Phlavor, in addition to monthly painting classes… Read more »

Community members bestow gift of music

Anna Gendler with a student at The Symphony Women’s Association

For Alexander Tent­ser, music was as much a right of passage as his Bar Mitzvah. His father was a klezmer musician and entertainer with a conservatory education in Kiev, Ukraine, and since Tentser had been playing piano since the age of four, it was only natural that he began… Read more »

A journey from pushke to philanthropy

Tracy Salkowitz

When we were little, my friends and I put our coins in a  pushke, a little metal box with a slit in the top, to raise funds for the Jewish National Fund. I remember thinking that I was personally helping to plant trees in Israel. It filled me with… Read more »

Jan Wiesel

Jan Wiesel, 85, died Oct. 29, 2014. Born in Jasina, Czechoslovakia, Mr. Wiesel was a Holocaust survivor. He arrived in New York in 1952 after graduating from school in Sweden, where he learned his trade as a machinist. He moved to Tucson in 1960 and worked in the family… Read more »

Sherwood Miller

Sherwood (Woody) D. Miller, 81, died Sept. 4, 2014. Born in Chicago, Mr. Miller graduated from Von Steuben High School and earned a degree in history from Grinnell College in Iowa. He served in the U.S. Navy and was stationed in Japan. He was a founding member of the… Read more »

Beat Cancer Boot Camp part of JCC wellness initiatives

Joyce A. Schroeder

“There isn’t anyone who isn’t touched by cancer,” says Anita Kellman, who founded the Kellman Beat Cancer Boot Camp more than 10 years ago. The boot camp, offering twice-weekly exercise classes and monthly dinners with educational speakers, is now available at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. The program is… Read more »

Australian mystic to discuss ‘Emotional Survival’ tools

Rabbi Laibl Wolf (Cinemachines)

Rabbi Laibl Wolf aims “to reroute your life back on the original track” with his lecture, “Be Strong In the Face of Crisis: Five Powerful Tools to Spiritual, Mental and Emotional Survival,” which he’ll present for Chabad Tucson on Wednesday, Nov. 12, at 7 p.m. at Congregation Young Israel.… Read more »

Series to tackle government policies, sans partisanship

Bob Harris

Bob Harris, a former policy and management expert with the federal government, will lead a four-part, non-partisan government discussion series cosponsored by Hadassah Southern Arizona and the Tucson Jewish Community Center, beginning Thursday, Nov. 13. The topics will be “The State of the U.S. Economy Today” (Nov. 13); “Social… Read more »

Annuals in pots, baskets or beds provide easy winter color for the patio

Brighten your days with the smiling faces of pretty pansies. They love our winter weather and will provide months of color. (Courtesy of All-American Selections)

                                      Southern Arizona is a wonderful place to live for many reasons. Along with not shoveling snow, bright colorful flowers filling the yard all year long are tops on my list.… Read more »

Hebrew calligraphy adorns Tucsonan’s art

Garden of Eden bowl - cut paper collage by Carolee Asia

Tucsonan Carolee Asia will be the featured artist at the Tohono Chul Park Welcome Gallery Nov. 14 through Feb. 15. In her colorful cut paper collages, “I enjoy the play of images on all kinds of structures such as cubes and vases, platters and gourds,” Asia says in her… Read more »

Taking a cue from the midterm elections

Rabbi Yossie Shemtov

By the time you read this column, results of the 2014 midterm elections in the United States will already be announced, reported, chewed over and, depending on your political affiliation, celebrated or bemoaned. “Every single thing that a person sees or hears, is an instruction to him in his… Read more »

For mom, now is always the perfect time

Amy Hirshberg Lederman

My mother called last night when I was out. Her voice on the answering machine sounded somewhat depressed but the message belied her tone. “Hello darling, this is mom.  I’m calling with some good news.  We’ve turned the clocks back an hour, so there’s only a two-hour time difference… Read more »

Domestic violence topic for Hadassah event

Shoshana Elkins

Hadassah Southern Arizona will hold a luncheon meeting on Sunday, Nov. 16 at noon at Skyline Country Club, 5200 E. Saint Andrews Drive. Shoshana Elkins, MSW, LCSW, vice president of clinical services at Jewish Family & Children’s Services, will speak on “Understanding the True Impact of Domestic Violence and… Read more »

JFSA council explores ‘new paradigm’

Rabbi Hayim Herring sparked discussion at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona council on Oct. 22 with this illustration of social networks. (2014 Copyright. HayimHerring.com. All rights reserved.)

An organization is “a container for meaning,” Rabbi Hayim Herring told more than 80 people gathered for the first Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona council meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 22. Herring, an organizational consultant specializing in synagogues and Jewish agencies, presented “Jewish Organization 3.0: New Generations, New Paradigm” to… Read more »

For CAI guest scholar, music touches the soul

Joey Weisenberg

Joey Weisenberg grew up in Milwaukee, performing in blues clubs at the same time he was preparing for his Bar Mitzvah. Now 33, Weisenberg has transferred his musical and spiritual passion to nigunim (wordless Jewish melodies), and will be musician-in-residence at Congregation Anshei Israel during the weekend of Nov.… Read more »

Young Israeli at heart of ‘Handle With Care,’ comedy hit coming to Invisible Theatre

Lois Lederman and Noga Panai rehearse ‘Handle With Care’ at Invisible Theatre. (Tim Fuller)

Tucson’s Invisible Theater will celebrate its 44th anniversary season with the Southwestern premiere of Jason Odell Williams’ comedy, “Handle With Care.” Described as the “Jewish ‘Christmas Carol’ play for all audiences” by the playwright, “Handle With Care” is the story of a young Israeli woman, with little command of… Read more »