Posts By PHYLLIS BRAUN - AJP Executive Editor

Claire Salonic Kolins, 89, died Oct. 9, 2012. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Mrs. Kolins attended Penn State in the early 1940s and finished college at the University of Arizona in the 1980s. She was a longtime member of Temple Emanu-El. Mrs. Kolins was preceded in death by her… Read more »

Eric Buss

Eric Buss will perform a family friendly comedy show on Saturday, Nov. 3 at 6:30 p.m. at Temple Emanu-El. A Tucson native, Buss combines crazy inventions and high energy into an award-winning act, which he has performed on the David Letterman show, on five continents and on television in… Read more »

Phyllis Broad

Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging will present its fourth annual “Celebration of Tucson’s Oldest Jewish Residents”on Thursday, Oct. 25 at 11 a.m. The lunch will honor Jewish Tucsonans who are 88 or older. Phyllis Broad will be recognized for her commitment to Handmaker and the greater Tucson Jewish… Read more »

Itamar Rabinovich

Itamar Rabinovich, Israel’s ambassador to the United States from 1993 to 1996, will present “The U.S., Israel and the Challenge of Iran: Options and Constraints,” on Monday, Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. A Weintraub Israel Center Heartbeat of Israel program, the free lecture… Read more »

Rabbi Ephraim Zimmerman of Chabad of Tucson affixes the mezuzah at the grand opening of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona's Northwest office in October 2012. (Phyllis Braun)

The Jewish Federation-Northwest celebrated its grand opening at 190 W. Magee Road on Sunday, Oct. 7. Although the new office of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Northwest Division has been open since July, offering classes, Torah study, women’s Rosh Chodesh gatherings, mah jongg, arts and crafts for all… Read more »

A projection of what Rambam Hospital’s underground hospital will look like once it is completed. (Rambam Hospital, Haifa)

When missiles rained down on northern Israel from Lebanon six years ago, surgeons at Rambam Hospital in Haifa worked, terrified, on the building’s eighth floor. That summer, missiles had struck fewer than 20 yards away, endangering the staff and patients of northern Israel’s largest hospital and the central facility… Read more »

Tucsonan Bill Kugelman, a Holocaust survivor from Poland, talks with Polish students Michal Kochanowski, Maciej Baranowski and Milena Adelt at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on Oct. 9. (Sharon Glassberg/JFSA)

Polish high school teacher Barbara (Basia) Matusiak wears a Star of David around her neck, although she isn’t Jewish. Matusiak was part of a non-Jewish Polish group that included 10 teens, two teachers and the principal of High School 15 in Lodz, Poland, who visited Tucson from Oct. 4… Read more »

ESHED OZERI, daughter of Nancy Ben-Asher Ozeri and Tidhar Ozeri, will celebrate becoming a Bat Mitzvah on Saturday, Oct. 6 at Congregation Anshei Israel. She is the granddaughter of Bryna and M. David Ben-Asher of Tucson, and Naomi and Yehiel Ozeri of Jerusalem. Eshed attends Tucson Hebrew Academy, where… Read more »

MAXWELL KINNEY BARUCH, son of Dana Narter and Edward Baruch, will celebrate becoming a Bar Mitzvah on Saturday, Oct. 13 at Congregation Or Chadash. He is the grandson of Marcia and Irwin Narter of Palm Desert, Calif, and MaryEllen and Hurd Baruch of Tucson. Max attends BASIS Tucson North.… Read more »

A son, GRAY OLIVER BLANEY-KOEN, was born Sept. 13, 2012 to Lisa and Daniel Blaney-Koen of Chicago. Grandparents are Mike and Gerri Koen of Oracle and Howard and Marie Blaney of Boulder, Colo. Gray joins his brother, Brach William Blaney-Koen.  … Read more »

ESTHER STERNBERG, MD, has joined the University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine as director of research. She also joins the faculty of the UA College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (CALA), where she will establish and direct the Institute on Place and Well-Being. Sternberg is internationally recognized for… Read more »

Stephanie Neidermyer, LMFT, in the lobby of the new northwest office of Jewish Family & Children’s Services

Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Southern Arizona, a nonprofit agency that offers social and behavioral health services to the Jewish and greater Tucson community, recently opened an office on the Northwest side, at the corner of Oracle and Magee Roads. Shoshana Elkins, vice president of programs and services… Read more »

Wearing a tattered house robe and with a cigarette dangling from her hand, the pregnant woman in a low-income neighborhood opened the door. Would she cut down on smoking now that her first child was on the way, the expectant mother was asked by the visiting nurse? The response:… Read more »

The LGBT Jewish Inclusion Project of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, Wingspan Multi-faith Working Group and Grace St. Paul’s Episcopal Church will hold the 4th Annual Multi-faith Pride Service, “Love Wins,” on Thursday, Oct. 11, from 7 to 9 p.m. at Grace St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 2331 E.… Read more »

Faina Luterman, 73, died June 22, 2012. Born in Belaya Tserkov, Ukraine, Mrs. Luterman was a Holocaust survivor. She received a master’s degree in physics/astronomy from Orenburg State University, in the former Soviet Union. Mrs. Luterman taught physics and astronomy at high school and college levels for over 30… Read more »

According to history as I was taught, during World War II, when the leaders of the Japanese armed forces presented their plan to attack Pearl Harbor to the emperor for approval, after all the parties involved had stated their case and guaranteed the success of the mission, the emperor… Read more »

Unfortunately, Lily Brull (responding to my 9/7/12 letter in the AJP, “No $1.5B to Muslim Brotherhood”) is off the mark (“Miller got it right on $1.5B for Muslim Brotherhood,” 9/21/12). It’s not the amount of money that’s at issue. What I object to is her characterizations of the identity… Read more »

Guy Gelbart’s explanation of the facts leading to the death of Rachel Corrie is much appreciated, as is his discussion of the aftermath of disinformation that was intended to trash Israel and especially the IDF (“Anti-Israel cynics led Corrie to tragic death,” AJP, 9/21/12). He also states that Rachel… Read more »

I was pleased to see cantorial music, and Jewish sacred music in general, highlighted in your last issue in Sheila Wilensky’s article on cantorial soloists in Tucson. It was gratifying in particular to see that at Temple Emanu-El we have employed all but one of the individuals you profiled… Read more »

Politicians sometimes save the most important truths for a foreign audience. Sometimes those truths really need to be said at home. On “Meet the Press” last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a particular point about the liberal values shared by the United States and his country. In… Read more »