Posts By PHYLLIS BRAUN - AJP Executive Editor

What I am about to say doesn’t apply to everyone. It doesn’t apply to the immigrant family just arrived from Darfur. It doesn’t apply to the disabled veteran living in a box on the corner. But it DOES apply to anyone with enough money and sustenance to afford a… Read more »

No one understands better than a marketing professional how much emotional triggers impact our decisions. Fear. Despair. Hope. A feeling that your choice matters. A hunger for power. A desire to belong. Competitiveness. Trust. A belief that you are smarter, more sophisticated, more right. Ego. Ego. Ego. I voted… Read more »

Sometimes… All it takes is one Shabbat… One morning to clean One afternoon to cook One evening to shower and dress in your handsome clothes…   Just one Shabbat. One morning to sleep in … until 7. One weekly meditation group. One quiet admission. One hour to sit with… Read more »

(L-R) Michelle Goodman, Ital Ironstone and Jessica Setton (of Phoenix) at the BBYO International Convention

Area BBYO teens at D.C. convention Michelle Goodman, 16, a junior at St. Gregory College Preparatory School, and Ital Ironstone, 18, a senior at City High School, attended BBYO’s International Convention in Washington, D.C., from Feb. 14-18. BBYO comprises AZA (Aleph Zadik Aleph) and BBG (B’nai B’rith Girls). Joining… Read more »

Pearl Denemark, 99, died April 9, 2013. Mrs. Denemark was born on a family farm homestead in North Dakota. Mrs. Denemark was preceded in death by her husband, Samuel Denemark; son, Dr. Stephen Himmelstein; and son-in-law, Dave Seltzer. Survivors include her daughter, Phyllis Seltzer of Tucson; eight grandchildren and… Read more »

From the creation of the world’s first hybrid cucumber in the 1950s to the building of particle collectors for Switzerland’s Large Hadron Collider, which led to the 2012 discovery of the Higgs Bosun or “God Particle”(a subatomic particle that accounts for the existence of matter and diversity in the… Read more »

In January, separated from my American Jewish Press Association group while touring Old Jaffa, I had little choice but to walk five miles back to our Tel Aviv hotel. For me, it was a happy opportunity to stroll along the Tel Aviv promenade by the Mediterranean Sea. I passed… Read more »

AARP Arizona is seeking nominations for its 2013 AARP State Andrus Award for Community Service. The annual award honors individuals whose community service makes a unique and valuable contribution to society. Last year, AARP recognized 52 outstanding individuals from around the country. Award nominees will be screened by the… Read more »

The University of Arizona’s Humanities Seminars program presents learning opportunities for seniors this summer ranging from ancient myth to modern global environmental law. All of the four- or five-week courses are taught by UA professors. Five perspectives on the core issues in environmental law will be taught by professors… Read more »

Michael Lavigne

Michael Lavigne, winner of the 2007 Sami Rohr Choice Award for emerging Jewish writers for his first novel, “Not Me,” will speak about his new novel, “The Wanting,” on Sunday, May 5, from 3:30 to 5 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. The free event is cosponsored by… Read more »

The Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona will hold a breakfast and panel discussion on “The Future of Higher Education in Arizona: Is the Current Model Sustainable?” on Friday, April 26, from 7:30 to 10 a.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. The program… Read more »

Handmaker Youth Leadership Team, the B’nai Tzedek teen philanthropy program, Tucson Hebrew High and Young Judaea are partnering in J-Serve Volunteer Day, part of an international day of Jewish youth service, on Sunday, April 28, from 2 to 5:30 p.m. at Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging. The event… Read more »

Women and children living at Tucson’s Emerge! Center Against Domestic Abuse will receive flowers and a basket of beauty products on Mother’s Day through Jewish Women International’s 15th annual Mother’s Day Flower Project. Two other shelters in Arizona, Chrysalis Shelter in Phoenix and Chrysalis Shelter in Scottsdale, also will… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The U.S. senators who defeated a bill that would toughen background checks for gun purchasers “brought shame on themselves,” former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords said. “The senators who voted against background checks for online and gun-show sales, and those who voted against checks to screen out would-be… Read more »

As a child of Holocaust survivors, I have always managed to avoid visiting Germany. Part of my parents’ legacy was never to visit the country, with its dark past — not even to own any products in our home that were made in Germany. Despite my reluctance to visit… Read more »

Wendy Wiener

Like any longstand­­ing havurah, or Jewish friendship group, my neighborhood has celebrated the cycle of Jewish holidays together for 20 years. We laugh, bake, eat and recount tales of past holiday celebrations. There’s no worrying about whether the house is clean or how many people are coming, when the… Read more »

Israelis on a motorcycle pique the interest of haredi Orthodox Jews in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Mea Shearim. (Photo: Serge Attai/Flash90/JTA)

Natan Sharansky’s proposal last week to expand the space for non-Orthodox prayer at the Western Wall could be historic (see related story, page 10). But for most Israelis, changes at the Western Wall are of only trivial interest. Far more pressing are state restrictions on marriage and conversion, Sabbath… Read more »

Josh Schachter: photographer, educator, environmentalist, storyteller

It’s a big deal when any organization wins a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation grant. In November, Pima County Public Library learned that it did just that, receiving $100,000 from the foundation and the Institute of Museum and Library Services to design a mobile media lab, youth… Read more »

Rabbi Thomas Louchheim

The central idea of the book of Le­viticus has to do with k’dushah — separating things from other things — creating a holy boundary. Inside the Mishkan (tabernacle) are the holy things — those vessels and sacrifices the priests are taking care of. Outside are those things, animals and… Read more »

Jane Kivel, JFSA Woman of the Year

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona will honor its 2013 award winners at its Annual Meeting and Awards Celebration on Thursday, May 2 at 7 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. “Feddys,” the custom metal and glass awards designed by Lynn Rae Lowe for the Federation, and other… Read more »