Posts By PHYLLIS BRAUN - AJP Executive Editor

ALLIE LONDON has been appointed program officer for the JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SOUTHERN ARIZONA. She is responsible for overseeing the Foundation’s grants program. A native New Yorker who recently relocated to Tucson from Chicago, she has over two decades of experience in marketing, copywriting and client engagement, including… Read more »

Sunrise Drive Elementary School first grade teacher ALLYCYN NA­DELL JACOBS recently returned from a 10-day teacher development program in China, through the Catalina Foothills School District’s partnership with Yangtze International Study Abroad. Jacobs was one of 10 CFSD participants. She teaches the English component of Sunrise Drive’s Chinese immersion… Read more »

A son, NATHANIEL ISAAC MARGALIT, was born July 11, 2014, to Rachel and Omri Margalit of Ramat Gan, Israel. Grandparents are Janet and Matthew Fox of Tucson and Zippy and Igal Margalit of Kfar Saba, Israel. Great-grandparents are Sandy and Alice Lester of Tucson and Sara Francis Kalin of… Read more »

SOPHIA DEVON GREENHILL, daughter of Andrew and Valerie Greenhill, celebrated becoming a Bat Mitzvah on June 7 at the Tucson Museum of Art. Community Rabbi Miri Fleming and cantorial soloist Nichole Chorny officiated. Sophia is the granddaughter of Barbara and Alan Gilbert of Tucson and Floy and Lewis Parkhill… Read more »

Martha K. Rothman, editor of the Arizona Jewish Post from 1967 to 1979, died July 2, 2014 at the age of 89. Mrs. Rothman was also the founder of the Tucson Association for Child Care, later renamed Child and Family Resources, where she served as executive director from its… Read more »

Sandy Grossman, 81, died Aug. 2, 2014. Mrs. Grossman owned Sandy’s Antiques and Jewelry and was active in the Assistance League of Tucson and Campfire Girls. Mrs. Grossman was preceded in death by her husband, Melvin Grossman, and daughter, Beth Boling. Survivors include her in-laws, Norma and Bill Preston;… Read more »

Esther Sutland, 92, died July 25, 2014. Ms. Sutland was born in Hazelton, Pa. During World War II, she worked at Eastern Aircraft in Trenton, N.J., making Avenger torpedo bombers for the U.S. Navy. One such plane is at the Pima Air & Space Museum. Ms. Sutland came to… Read more »

Alan Howard Cole, 83, died July 23, 2014. Born in Chicago, Mr. Cole served in the U.S. Air Force Dental Division for four years. He graduated from Roosevelt University in Chicago, where he met his wife, Helen. He received a bachelor of science in biology and chemistry in 1959.… Read more »

Mary Katz, 92, died July 13, 2014. Born in Lansing, Mich., Mrs. Katz graduated from Lansing Eastern High School and moved to Flint, Mich., where she lived until 1985, when she moved to Tucson. She was a member of Hadassah and B’nai B’rith. Mrs. Katz volunteered in the Tucson… Read more »

Most synagogues in North America finance their operations by assessing dues from their members, with an annual notice outlining the required payment. This year, Tucson’s Congregation Bet Shalom is doing things differently. Instead of mandatory dues, Bet Shalom is adopting a free-will, pay-what-you-like policy. Administrators at the Conservative congregation… Read more »

Mindful of its rich 40-year history, Tucson Hebrew Academy has launched a new business strategy and branding project. “We want to talk with and hear input from the Jewish community,” says Jon Ben-Asher, interim head of school. Bromberg Consulting has developed a confidential questionnaire to elicit an “open dialogue… Read more »

Tucson’s Jewish schools are heading into the new school year with new programs and teachers on tap. As Tucson Hebrew High begins its 37th year, Rabbi Yudi Ceitlin joins the faculty, teaching a course on overlooked epic moments in history. Cantor Janece Cohen will direct the first Tucson Hebrew… Read more »

Deborah Kaye

Online Jewish education is thriving, and the University of Arizona’s Center for Judaic Studies is part of the trend. As with other online Jewish studies programs, most of the center’s courses will be “blended learning, part in-person and part online,” says Deborah Kaye, Ph.D., a full-time adjunct lecturer at… Read more »

Avi Szychter rallies campers during the Camp J Maccabiah games in July. (Julie Zorn/TJCC)

Sitting in the Tucson Jewish Community Center, surrounded by Jewish children and adolescents, French teenager Avi Szychter feels right at home. For the 18-year-old, spending the summer in the Camp J Bonim Leaders-in-Training program has been the perfect opportunity to escape the growing anti-Semitism in France and relax before… Read more »

AJP_Gallery Guide 8.15.14… Read more »

Rabbi Robert Eisen speaks at a “We Stand With Israel” rally at Congregation Anshei Israel on Aug. 7.

An air raid siren wailed through Congregation Anshei Israel. On the southern wall of the sanctuary, a video showed people scurrying for shelter and lying down in the middle of a plaza, covering their heads. “In Israel, you only have 15 seconds to save your life,” an announcer intoned… Read more »

Bonnie Golden at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem with Robert Indiana’s “Ahava” (Love) sculpture

Jews of a certain age might share similar early impressions of Israel. In Chicago, where I grew up, the young congregants at Lawn Manor Hebrew Congregation were inculcated with a firm commitment to the Jewish state. We saved our dime tokens to plant our trees, circle danced Israeli style… Read more »

Holocaust memorial stars on the railroad tracks at Salonika, Greece

We sang “Happy Birthday” in Hebrew to 9-year-old Miriam in the Athens Jewish Community School;  we talked with teenagers Gala and Tal at a summer camp near Salonika;  we listened in Tel Aviv as Yuval who lost both arms and Tzipi who was paralyzed told us how they used their abilities… Read more »

"Lights on Shadows" by Abigail Gumbiner

                                    The Jewish History Museum will present Temple of Shadows, a photography exhibit, from Aug. 20 through Nov. 1. A set of 15 prints shows the museum, formerly the Stone Avenue Temple… Read more »

The Women’s Academy for Jewish Studies at Congregation Chofetz Chayim will present “Out of the Depths,” a brunch and book presentation, on Sunday, Sept. 21 at 11 a.m. “Out of the Depths,” the autobiography of Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, tells the story of the youngest survivor of the Buchenwald… Read more »