Elaina Espinosa (center) hikes in the Judean desert with her host, Inbal Fortus (left), and Inbal’s younger sister, Noga, in November 2011. A tree was planted in Israel recently to honor Elaina Espinosa’s great-grandmother. Espinosa isn’t Jewish — neither was her great-grandmother — but she is one of six Tucson high school students who went to Israel in November as youth ambassadors for the Tucson chapter of the America-Israel Friendship… Read more »
Brownie Ebner at a party for her 100th birthday on Nov. 11, 2011 at Atria Campana del Rio. (Sheila Wilensky) Brownie Ebner turned 100 on Nov. 11. “Why is everybody making such a big deal? If I could take credit for curing cancer or something like that I’d brag about it. What do I have to brag about?” she asked the AJP last month, sitting in her tidy… Read more »
(L-R) Gerda Weissman Klein, Diane Eckstein and John Eckstein, with the Eckstein's dog, Kipp, at a ‘Citizenship Counts’ assembly at Mansfeld Middle School in Tucson on Feb. 14. (Sheila Wilensky) U.S. citizenship matters, especially for Holocaust survivor Gerda Weissmann Klein. On Feb. 14, the 87-year-old humanitarian told hundreds of eighth graders at Tucson’s Mansfeld Middle School why she founded Citizenship Counts, a national non-partisan, nonprofit organization based in Phoenix. Phoenix attorney Paul Eckstein offered tidbits of Arizona history to… Read more »
ARIZONA THEATRE COMPANY has launched BackstageCoach, a transportation program to bring patrons from communities such as Vail and Saddlebrooke to select Saturday 4 p.m. performances. For more information, call the box office at 622-2823.… Read more »
Pima County Attorney BARBARA LAWALL will receive the Public Service Award at the American Jewish Committee’s Judge Learned Hand Awards luncheon on March 14 in Phoenix. She is being honored for her contributions to the advancement of equality and democratic principles through her work in the nonprofit and public… Read more »
Jenna Kloosterman with project apparatus during testing in Antarctica A Super Sunday Years ago, the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Super Sunday consisted of a phone-a-thon only. On Jan. 29, not only did volunteers exceed the day’s projected fundraising goal but they performed acts of loving kindness. Activities on this expanded Mitzvah Day included an American Red Cross… Read more »
Bills or bug juice? With the economic recovery still struggling to take hold, many American Jewish families are finding they face a difficult question as deadlines for summer camp enrollment approach: Can they both pay their bills and send their kids to Jewish overnight camp? “It’s a difficult decision,”… Read more »
Jerami Shecter Brig. Gen. Yitzhak “Jerry” Gershon’s first reaction when approached about a job opportunity as the national director of Friends of the Israel Defense Forces was to turn down the interview. Although he was retiring from the IDF and needed to find work, he felt the nonprofit world wasn’t for… Read more »
Sol Sylvan will present “The Nine Most Important Words You Need To Know Before Making an Ancestral Visit To Eastern Europe” at the Tucson Genealogy and Oral History Group’s meeting on Sunday, March 11 at 12:30 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Have you ever wanted to breathe… Read more »
I have been watching for reactions from the Arizona Jewish Post about Noam Chomsky’s well-attended appearances at the University of Arizona. I attended both of his lectures and was impressed with the large crowds … completely filled halls for his lectures on language and education. Dr. Chomsky was introduced… Read more »
Syrians demonstrate in the coastal city of Banias against the regime of hard-line leader Bashar Assad in the spring of 2011. (Syrian Freedom via Creative Commons) As the Syrian government intensifies its assault on opposition strongholds, the debate is heating up in Washington over how to end the bloody crackdown and bring about regime change. The Obama administration has tried to ratchet up pressure on the Syrian regime through international diplomacy and strong economic sanctions.… Read more »
2011 Tucson Festival of Books (James S. Wood Photography) Top-notch authors from Tucson and around the United States will descend on the University of Arizona campus March 10-11 for what’s been called the “Best Book Festival Under the Sun.” The Tucson Festival of Books has grown exponentially since it debuted in 2009, attracting 100,000 book lovers in 2011,… Read more »
Temple Emanu-El will hold a “funraiser” dance on March 3 from 7 to 10 p.m., with a DJ spinning rock and roll music from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s. The event is open to ages 21 and up and will include a silent auction. Admission is $9 per single,… Read more »
Tucson diners will now be able to go out on the town while still paying attention to calories. Twenty-seven restaurant owners joined nutritional experts earlier this month to launch the “Smart Choices for Healthy Dining” program. The program is one of the crowning achievements of the $16 million grant… Read more »
Melissa Hamilton, a violist with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, is organizing 16 TSO members to perform at this year’s community-wide Yom HaShoah commemoration on Sunday, April 22. Hamilton and TSO pianist Marie Sierra will hold a fundraising recital for the Yom HaShoah event on Saturday, March 3 at 7:30… Read more »
Congregation Bet Shalom will hold its 9th annual Wine Tasting Event on Saturday, March 10, from 7:30 to 11 p.m. This year’s theme is “Wines from Around the World,” with wines from Israel, Australia, Italy and the United States provided by event sponsor Total Wine & More. The evening… Read more »
Israel’s best kept secret is not of the “maybe yes, maybe no” variety. In fact it is a “yes” so definitive that it has 162 million Google entries. Honest. That’s Google’s response when you type in “Israel’s nuclear policy” — books, articles, essays, arguments, all blithely recognizing that Israel… Read more »
Rabbi Jason Holtz These are the things that are limitless, of which a person enjoys the fruit of the world, while the principal remains in the world to come … visiting the sick. — Rabbi Yochanan as cited in Shabbat 127 Back in September, I was a very healthy guy, never having… Read more »
Paulina Goldberg (left) and Raisa Moroz, Holocaust case manager at Jewish Family & Children’s Services, review paperwork at Goldberg’s Council House apartment. Raisa Moroz, Holocaust case manager/program manager at Jewish Family & Children’s Services, has more than 80 clients on her caseload. But she wants more. “I want people to know this program is available,” says Moroz, who estimates that there are 120 or more Holocaust survivors in Southern Arizona. Every… Read more »
The Claims Conference recently negotiated changes with the German government that should make more Holocaust survivors eligible to collect ghetto pension and one-time ghetto fund payments. Raisa Moroz, Holocaust case manager at Jewish Family & Children’s Services, explains that under previous ghetto pension rules, people had to have lived… Read more »
