Posts By PHYLLIS BRAUN - AJP Executive Editor

Rabbi’s corner: Confronting information overload

Rabbi Thomas A. Louchheim

There is no age and no situation where values do not play a part. Modernity has created a fire hose of information that often — without reflection — drives us to analyze the information from our own accustomed viewpoint. We are so rushed to decide that we leave our… Read more »

Letting go is all we have to hold on to

Amy Hirshberg Lederman

If you had told me a year ago that I would change my life by selling my Tucson home to be closer to my Mom in New Jersey or that I would spend the winter bundled up in Boston rather than hiking in the sunshine, I would have responded:… Read more »

Retired shoe store owner Sid Hirsh, 90, dies

Sidney Hirsh, 90, died Dec. 9, 2020. Sid was born Aug. 22, 1930 in Shamokin, Pennsylvania, to Rose and David Hirsh. David owned a successful shoe store, The Bootery. For health reasons, the family moved to Tucson in 1944. After graduating from Tucson High, Sid attended the University of… Read more »

Beth Shalom Temple Center heads outdoors for Hanukkah celebration

Rabbi Norman T. Roman leads a physically distanced Hanukkah celebration outside the Beth Shalom Temple Center in Green Valley. (Photo courtesy Mike Finkelstein)

Beth Shalom Temple Center of Green Valley celebrated Hanukkah at an outdoor gathering on Sunday, Dec. 13, led by Rabbi Norman T. Roman. Participants wore facemasks and practiced physical distancing to help slow the spread of coronavirus.… Read more »

‘Taste of Tucson’ cookbook includes recipes from renowned local chefs

Local food columnist and photographer Jackie Alpers’ cookbook, “Taste of Tucson: Sonoran-Style Recipes Inspired by the Rich Culture of Southern Arizona,” is replete with recipes from well-known local chefs such as Suzana Davila of Café Poca Cosa and The Little One, and Carlotta Flores of El Charro Café. Published… Read more »

Local Jewish community planners aim for ‘bigger tent’ with ‘Pathways’ document, working groups

Insights that have emerged from the ongoing community planning process will help enrich Jewish life in Southern Arizona, with a focus on collaboration and inclusion.

How can the Southern Arizona Jewish community shape a future that engages, fulfills, and sustains more people than ever before, in this generation and the generations to come? A newly released 21-page document called “Southern Arizona Jewish Community: Pathways to Enriching Jewish Life” aims to answer this question. Developed… Read more »

Handmaker and Chabad team up for kosher Meals on Wheels

From left, Rabbi Yossie Shemtov of Chabad Tucson with Handmaker Director of Food and Facility Services Mike Felde, Pastry Chef Julie Ogroski, and Executive Chef Claire Wilmouth (Photo: Faye Gandolfi)

Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging has announced a partnership with the ongoing Chabad of Tucson Kosher Meals on Wheels program. By providing affordable kosher meals to those in need, this collaboration helps tackle the issue of food insecurity in the local community. The program will provide glatt kosher… Read more »

Business briefs Dec. 11, 2020

Adara Wealth Management financial advisors (from left) Maria Peralta, Adam Goldstein, and George Chardukian with Amy Montiel, client service concierge.

Financial advisors Adam Goldstein, George Chardukian, and Maria Peralta have launched a new independent practice, Adara Wealth Management, supported by LPL Strategic Wealth Services. Goldstein volunteers with the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona and has received its “Young Man of the Year” award. He also is a member of… Read more »

Dr. Lee Robinson Chutkow, 93, dies

Dr. Lee Robinson Chutkow, 93, died Nov. 30, 2020. In no specific order, Lee loved classical music, Shakespeare’s writings, Shabbat morning services, and chocolate ice cream. He was a lifelong learner and his desire for knowledge did not lessen with age. Barnes & Noble bookstore was his “Disneyland” and… Read more »

Teen’s book celebrates multicultural friendships

High school seniors Bella Wexler of Tucson and Amber Juang of Taiwan have been friends since they were fifth-grade students together at Ventana Vista Elementary School in Tucson’s Catalina Foothills School District. They’ve maintained that friendship across 7,000 miles since Amber’s family returned to Taiwan during the girls’ first… Read more »

JDC Hanukkah candle-lightings on Facebook to connect Jews worldwide

As a way to connect Jews during the pandemic’s second wave, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee will unite on Facebook with different Jewish communities worldwide through a Hanukkah candle-lighting video each night of the holiday at 5 p.m. EST. The holiday begins on the night of Dec. 10.… Read more »

Amplifying Voices will continue with virtual civil rights tour

T. Marie King

Amplifying Voices, a six-part virtual series, provides an opportunity to explore the intersectional relationship between the Black and Jewish communities. Launched in October by the Tucson Jewish Community Center and a group of community partners, it will continue on Sunday, Jan. 31 at 4 p.m. with session five, “Learning the Land,… Read more »

Nominate a teen for a $36K leadership award

The Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards are now accepting applications. Up to 15 Jewish teens will be awarded $36,000 each. The Diller Family Foundation, which presents the awards, seeks teens who show “significant initiative and leadership in creating and leading a new initiative – or have considerably deepened or… Read more »

Rabbi Helen Cohn: Our own special corner

I find it increasingly difficult to understand how any religion or spiritual tradition can put itself at the center of the world and claim it has the only truth about creation and the Divine. The internet offers windows into all corners of the world.  Interfaith dialogue among open-hearted people… Read more »

Tucson J to hold Red Cross blood drives

The Red Cross is in critical need of blood donations. The Tucson Jewish Community Center will hold a blood drive in it is north parking lot (next to Tucson Hebrew Academy) on Wednesday, Dec. 30, from 8-2 p.m. Blood donations help patients of all ages: accident and burn victims,… Read more »

Drive-in Hanukkah events are planned around the Tucson metro area

Updated 12.7: The Dec. 13 concert planned by Congregation Or Chadash, Temple Emanu-El and the Tucson Jewish Community Center has been canceled. An email from Temple Emanu-el read, in part, “Due to the rise in Covid cases in Pima County, and new county restrictions for gatherings, we have made… Read more »