Melissa Duchan NEW YORK (JTA) – For years, Melissa Duchan had found the dress code for girls at her Orthodox school in Brooklyn, the Yeshivah of Flatbush, onerous. But it wasn’t until recently that Duchan, 16, felt that scrutiny of female students had crossed the line from irritating to what she called “predatory.”… Read more »
Israel's Andy Ram sprawled on the court following his five-set doubles victory with partner Yoni Erlich, holding racket, against Argentina in a Davis Cup match in Sunrise, Fla., Sept. 13, 2014. (Andrea Eidman) SUNRISE, Fla. (JTA) – It wasn’t Tel Aviv, but thousands of people chanting his name at a Davis Cup match following a grueling victory was a pretty good way for Israel’s Andy Ram to leave the game oftennis to which he had devoted more than half his life. Ram, 34,… Read more »
Researchers searching for human remains in Wasosz, the site of a massacre of Jewish villagers in 1941. (Podlaska Archaeological Laboratory) (JTA) — In September 1941, a group of villagers wielding axes and other tools descended upon the homes of their Jewish neighbors and murdered every last one, according to testimonies gathered by Holocaust scholars. Not much else is known about the massacre in Wasosz, a village 100 miles east… Read more »
Who knows what Tucson’s energetic young Jewish leaders may accomplish in the next 30 years? Four of those leaders profiled here, Amy Beyer, Adam Goldstein, Ben Pozez and Sarah Heisler Singer, have already contributed a great deal to the future of Jewish Tucson, belying the stereotype of apathetic young… Read more »
The TUCSON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA has named Mark Blakeman president and CEO. He comes to the TSO from the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, where he was chief operating officer. His work to restore the Schermerhorn Symphony Center after a flood helped win a 2011 Award of Engineering Excellence from the American… Read more »
AMY HIRSHBERG LEDERMAN’s award-winning book, “To Life! Jewish Reflections on Everyday Living,” is now in its second printing. Lederman has written more than 300 columns and essays that have been published nationwide, debuting in the Arizona Jewish Post. Her second book, “One Life, Many Paths: Finding Meaning and Inspiration… Read more »
The Weintraub Israel Center arranged for 400 pencil cases filled with back to school supplies to be distributed to students in Tucson’s Partnership2Gether region in Israel. Tucsonan Asher Amar initatiated the project. The message on the cases reads, “(Wishing you) a successful school year, with love, Partnership2Gether family, the… Read more »
Emiliano Romero-Garma, son of Sharne Garma and Armando Romero-Davis, will celebrate becoming a Bar Mitzvah on Sept. 20 at Temple Emanu-El. He is the grandson of Elda and Alfonso Garma of Nogales, Ariz. Emiliano attends Wade Carpenter Middle School in Nogales, where he is on the cross-country team. He… Read more »
Simon Esbit at Yad Vashem Israel summer travel 2014 In addition to synagogue summer missions, which have been covered in AJP first-person accounts, Tucsonans traveled to Israel for diverse reasons. Here are highlights of some of their sojourns: From the end of January through the beginning of June, Simon Esbit, 17, participated in Tichon… Read more »
Rev. Nachman Berkowitz died Sept. 5, 2014. Born in Poland, he became a rabbinical student in his youth. In 1941, he was arrested by the Russian police and taken to a concentration camp in Siberia. After he was freed, he spent several years in Kazakhstan. In 1946, he returned… Read more »
As Jews are known as “the People of the Book, “ the Arizona Jewish Post asked Tucson’s congregational rabbis to recommend a book that would inspire their congregants for the new year. Here are some intriguing suggestions: I recommend “John Lennon and the Jews: A Philosophical Rampage” by Ze’ev… Read more »
Irene Lloyd Jewish Elder Access, a free information and referral service for Jewish adults over 60, has existed in Tucson since 2010. In just four years the program has become so well-known that Ilene Lloyd, program manager, receives calls from people in nearly every U.S. state and countries such as Spain,… Read more »
Congregation Chaverim will partner with the Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation and the Union for Reform Judaism to hold a bone marrow registration drive at Yom Kippur services. “This new year, 5775, our congregation will be performing pekuach nefesh, saving a life,” says Rabbi Stephanie Aaron. “With the… Read more »
Laurie Dietz, left, coordinator of the Special Needs Inclusion Project of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Coalition for Jewish Education, reviews a visual schedule designed for a student at Congregation Or Chadah with Tianna Liebeskind and Seth Brown. (Courtesy Laurie Dietz) On an afternoon in 2003, Brenda Landau witnessed an event that would change the way the Tucson Jewish community would provide religious education for students with special learning needs. Landau, currently a senior vice president at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, was serving as the director of education… Read more »
Tessa Haining of Boston, daughter of Hadine Joffe and Nick Haining, with her grandmother, Marcelle Joffe of Tucson Editor’s note: Tessa Haining, 13, granddaughter of Tucsonans Marcelle and Leonard Joffe, wrote this essay about their family’s Jewish holiday food traditions. The children in the room were getting antsy, scooching around on their chairs and toying with the silverware laid out on the table. They glanced at the… Read more »
Rabbi Robert Eisen What a summer this has been! It began with an unprecedented number of congregations sponsoring missions to Israel, and then spent most of its days holding us captive to the news, wondering just what might be. Thoughts of falafel, shawarma and coffee like no other in the world gave… Read more »
Hadassah Southern Arizona will hold its first charity golf tournament on Sunday, Oct. 26, to raise funds for medical research. “We invite you to have a great time golfing, while doing a mitzvah,” says Iris Sapovits, event chair. Noting this summer’s trendy ALS ice bucket challenge, she says, “Hadassah… Read more »
Janni Lee Simner Janni Lee Simner takes both her writing and her Judaism seriously. Being a full-time writer, with eight published young adult and children’s novels, has influenced her observance of Shabbat, she says. “On Friday night I take a deep breath, light candles in the window,” followed by a Shabbat dinner… Read more »
Rabbi Billy Lewkowicz (left) and David Cutler David Cutler wanted to do something special with his Catalina Foothills home after his wife, Felicia, passed away in 2009, so he approached Rabbi Billy Lewkowicz and his wife, Ada, about using the home as a synagogue. Lewkowicz, director of Judaic studies at the Tucson Hebrew Academy, jumped at… Read more »
Ori Parnaby This fall, Tucsonans will have two new ways to connect with the many programs and services offered by the Tucson Jewish community: a concierge service and a revamped, interactive jewishtucson.org community website. Ori Parnaby, the concierge, started in her new position Sept. 2. Her office is at the Tucson… Read more »
