John Peck John Peck, a former senior vice president of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, will be among four honorees at the second annual Rainbow Keshet Awards reception later this month. The Rainbow Keshet Awards were created as a joint partnership between the Federation’s LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender)… Read more »
Uri Banai As Israeli actor and singer/songwriter Uri Banai takes the concert stage at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on Sunday, Oct. 30, he will take the audience on a journey through the history of his family — one of Israel’s leading entertainment dynasties. Told through songs, video clips, rare photos… Read more »
Dear Avi and Adele: A guy I really like took me out on a second date. He was a gentleman and offered to pay for the meal. However, I had leftovers and instead of letting me take them home, he insisted on eating them at the restaurant. His rationale?… Read more »
Dear Avi and Adele: I’m a 26 year-old female with an odd problem. I’m having a hard time juggling my very, very active dating life and have already begun to make blunders between the different dates I am having. For example, I was out with one guy for the… Read more »
The Arizona Jewish Post has relied on the support of the local business community since our first edition was printed in September 1946. Fashions may have changed — our ads no longer feature chenille bedspreads and silver cocktail shakers — but it still makes good sense to shop local.… Read more »
On a muggy monsoon morning early in July, I drove to my friend Susan Silverman’s house to test ride her electric bike. She had spoken so enthusiastically about it and I’d admired it when she rode it to events. I’d decided to spend part of my vacation researching… Read more »
While most people equate Sukkot with autumn vegetables, I picture the holiday as a tea party. Among Jews who build sukkot (huts), the evening meal is the most popular time to gather inside these modern-day harvest huts, but I much prefer spending afternoon hours inside a sukkah with a… Read more »
A performance by the Jerusalem String Quartet will open the season for Arizona Friends of Chamber Music on Wednesday, Oct. 5 at 7:30 p.m. at the Leo Rich Theater. The Jerusalem Quartet has garnered acclaim for its recordings of the quartets of Shostakovich. The concert will feature Shostakovich’s Sixth… Read more »
The Third Annual Multi-Faith Pride Worship Service, “Just Be —Emerging Out of the Wilderness,” cosponsored by the Wingspan Multi-Faith Working Group and the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s LGBT Jewish Inclusion Project, will be held Tuesday, Oct. 11, at 7 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, 915 E. 4th… Read more »
(L-R) Dakota Kordsiemon, Daniel Goldstein, Shawn Spitzer and Austen Berens paint a mural at a school in Kiryat Shmona during the “Day of Caring, Day of Sharing.” (Courtesy TJCC) Each year for the past 15 years, the Tucson Jewish Community Center has taken a delegation of young athletes to the JCC Maccabi Games in another U.S. city: Omaha, or Boca Raton, or Dallas. In 2000, Tucson hosted the games, which brought excitement and nachas (pride) to our city… Read more »
Nicole Siegel, a University of Arizona sophomore from Columbia, Md., wears a t-shirt displaying the names of 20 campuses taking part in Hillel’s “Talk Israel: Join the Conversation” initiative. (Sheila Wilensky) The University of Arizona Mall is often peppered with tents promoting various causes, but on Sept. 21 the discussion inside the UA Hillel Foundation’s “Talk Israel: Join the Conversation” tent was reminiscent of college teach-ins during the 1960s. Around 30 students and faculty were standing around or sitting on… Read more »
President Obama, meeting with his Brazilian counterpart, Dilma Roussef, at the United Nations, is canvassing world leaders to oppose a bid by the Palestinians for statehood recognition, Sept. 20, 2011. (Office of Brazilian president) WASHINGTON (JTA) — Was it a speech to help launch his campaign for re-election, or an address to bury hopes for immediate Palestinian statehood recognition? Both assessments marked the immediate reaction to President Obama’s speech Wednesday at the United Nations General Assembly, and there was ammunition for both arguments.… Read more »
Lt. Lipaz Ela, Shelly Silverman and 1st Sgt. Tomer Bucher at the Birthright Israel reception
In my 20 years of writing this monthly column from September through May, the Rosh Hashanah issue has traditionally highlighted Israel summer travel. This article is no exception. Enjoy! • • • • • Another year, another Tucson Hebrew Academy eighth-grade Israel Discovery trip before middle school graduation. This… Read more »
Audrey Brooks with a child at the Mevaseret Zion Absorption Center near Jerusalem. (Courtesy JFSA) The story is in the stories. That’s what I learned with 100 others from 37 other communities on the Jewish Federations of North America’s Campaign Chairs and Directors Mission to Moscow and Israel this summer. I heard stories of inspiration, intrigue, courage and hope. I learned that just as… Read more »
Rabbi Israel Becker “Shema Yisroel, Listen Israel!” are the first words uttered by the Kohane, or Jewish priest, in his inspirational speech to the soldiers of Israel before going into battle (Deuteronomy 20:2-3). The purpose of these words was to capture each soldier’s attention. The great medieval French Torah commentator, Rashi (Rabbi… Read more »
“Mr. Prime Minister, I know you are watching us now — I recommend you take a good look: What you see now, this enormous crowd, here and all across Israel, is not the public you know. This is no longer the public that agreed with any decision the governments… Read more »
For Lee Weissman, a Breslov Chasid in Irvine, Calif., the recent onset of Elul caps a spiritual journey he began a month earlier with the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.Weissman, a teacher at the Tarbut v’Torah Community Day School in Irvine and a scholar of Southeast… Read more »
Breaking the fast has its own set of traditions. Ashkenazim usually break the fast with something salty, like herring, because they believe the fish restores salt lost by the body while fasting. Herring also was the cheapest fish in Eastern Europe, where the custom originated. Egg and cheese dishes… Read more »
Don’t let Maimonides catch you napping on Rosh Hashanah. His famous quote, “Awake, awake, you slumberers from your sleep, inspect your actions and return” — usually found in the High Holidays prayer book before the sounding of the shofar — is meant as the ultimate shluf alarm, his righteous… Read more »
Last month I had the privilege of being invited to a Ramadan “break fast” at the Tucson chapter of the Foundation for Intercultural Dialogue, a moderate Muslim Turkish organization. Ramadan is the Muslim month of fasting between sunrise and sunset, during which Muslims focus on introspection and study. FID’s… Read more »
