After finishing her acclaimed first anthology, “The Sacred Table: Creating a Jewish Food Ethic” (CCAR Press, 2011), Rabbi Mary Zamore realized that over time, in much of her teaching about food, “I was speaking more about the intersection of food and money.” “I was talking about SNAP — food… Read more »
Stuart Mellan, Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona president and CEO, left, and Graham Hoffman, Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona president and CEO, look forward to a smooth transition when Mellan retires and Hoffman becomes CEO of both Federation and Foundation. (Photo: Keith Marcum/Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona)
Stuart Mellan, who has been president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona since December 1995, will retire at the end of May. At that time, Graham Hoffman, who joined the Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona in September 2018 as president and CEO, will take on… Read more »
(L-R): Bob Schwartz, Rick Unklesbay, Rabbi Batsheva Appel, Michael Gill, Dan Cooper, and Amy Krauss at the Forum on the Death Penalty and Judaism at Temple Emanu-El on Dec. 4. (Debe Campbell/AJP)
It was a “hung jury” at a free public forum Temple Emanu-El hosted Dec. 4. The forum explored the death penalty in what event organizer, moderator, and former attorney Bob Schwartz called “the start of a much bigger conversation” he hopes will continue. The “Forum on the Death Penalty… Read more »
Bar mitzvah celebrant Stuart Tobin, center, with Michael Mussman and Sara Golan-Mussman at Beth Shalom Temple Center in Green Valley, Nov. 16. (Courtesy Marylou Tobin)
Stuart Tobin, 85, was called to the Torah to celebrate his second bar mitzvah last month at Beth Shalom Temple Center in Green Valley, surrounded by family and friends. The custom of a second bar mitzvah ceremony, which has grown in popularity, is based on Psalm 90:10, which says… Read more »
The Jewish-Latino Teen Coalition cohort meets with Arizona Sen. Raul Grijalva in Washington, DC, at the culmination of their 2018-19 program year in April. (Courtesy Jewish-Latino Teen Coalition)
Over its 15-year history, the Jewish-Latino Teen Coalition has changed the lives of 176 teens from Southern Arizona’s Jewish and Latino communities. The nationally recognized youth leadership program fosters political advocacy and cultural awareness in both the Tucson community and the nation. The group will celebrate its 15th anniversary… Read more »
Sienna Miller and Paul Rudd in a scene from ‘The Catcher Was a Spy’ (Courtesy Tucson International Jewish Film Festival) The 2020 Tucson International Jewish Film Festival will live up to its global billing, with 20 films that will transport viewers from the United States to Austria, Canada, Cuba, Denmark, England, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Ghana, Israel, Mexico, and Poland. The Tucson Jewish Community Center is the venue for most… Read more »
Sandy Cardin, CEO of Our Common Destiny, talks with Michelle Blumenberg, executive director of the University of Arizona Hillel Foundation, and Abbii Cook, assistant director at UA Hillel, Dec. 3 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. [Phyllis Braun/AJP)
Sandy Cardin, who recently stepped down after 25 years as president of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, where he remains a senior advisor, visited Tucson Dec. 3 to speak at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s lead gifts dinner. Earlier that day, at a lunch meeting at… Read more »
William Flesch
Hollywood has been known as the “dream factory” since at least the 1930s, when, with the coming of sound, movie makers figured out how to create worlds as realistic and unrealistic as dreams. When we dream or when we watch a movie, we go into another world. What makes… Read more »
At her apartment at Strauss Manor on Pantano, Margaret Hensley shows off her genealogy dating back to the 700s. (Debe Campbell/AJP)
The Gerd & Inge Strauss Manor on Pantano is one of two B’nai Brith affordable housing communities for seniors in Arizona. Both are in Tucson, the other being the better-known Covenant House. Managed by Biltmore Properties, the communities come under B’nai B’rith’s advocacy umbrella as the largest national Jewish… Read more »
Maxwell Greenberg Maxwell Ezra Greenberg will be the inaugural scholar-in-residence at the Jewish History Museum, beginning in January. “Greenberg’s work, which focuses on Jewish encounters and intersections with what he calls Latinidad, has drawn him to Southern Arizona, the Jewish History Museum, and the Bloom Southwest Jewish Archives at the University… Read more »
Hila Plitmann The Tucson Desert Song Festival celebrates ‘The American Voice’ in its eighth annual fest, Jan. 15-Feb. 16. This year marks the first in TDSF’s series of composer commissions. Israeli soprano Hila Plitmann will premiere “Songs of Love and Loss,” commissioned for this festival and written by American composer Richard… Read more »
Jewish Family & Children’s Service is a program site for Pima Council on Aging’s Senior Companion Program. Senior companion volunteers age 55 and older help homebound and isolated older adults continue living independently in their homes by providing companionship, transportation, and caregiver respite. “The need for volunteers is outrageously… Read more »
A mojito toast from Young Women’s Cabinet members at the January 2019 Mahj, Mojitos & Mitzvahs event,
(L-R): Simone Krame, Jennifer Selco, Kathy Gerst, Jenny Rothschild, Katie Stellitano-Rosen, Rachel Jarrett.
The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Young Women’s Cabinet will host its eighth annual mah jongg fest this year on Wednesday, Jan. 8. “Mahj, Margaritas & Mitzvahs” welcomes players of all levels, from first-timers to experts. The evening will include a margarita bar and heavy hors d’oeuvres. The event… Read more »
BFFs Susan Weinstein (left) and Hedy Feuer Childhood friends re-connect In August, AJP Executive Editor Phyllis Braun received an email from a “Susan Weinstein” who had searched online to locate her childhood friend Hedy Feuer. Susan saw an AJP article about Hedy, a breast cancer survivor, and realizing this was indeed her long-lost friend, asked Phyllis… Read more »
Rabbi Norman T. Roman Beth Shalom Temple Center of Green Valley has hired Rabbi Norman T. Roman as its first part-time rabbi, beginning Jan. 1. Roman was rabbi emeritus at Temple Kol Ami in West Bloomfield, Michigan, after serving as senior rabbi there for 30 years. Roman, born in New York City and… Read more »
A son, Benjamin Meyer Ritzo, was born Nov. 20, 2019 to Joe Ritzo and Emily (Schwartz) Ritzo of San Carlos, California. Grandparents are Shelley and Bob Schwartz of Tucson, Patti Livingstone and Todd Finkle of Spokane, Washington, Dale and Christine Ritzo of San Carlos, California, and John Hight of… Read more »
Security cameras hang across the street from the Park East Synagogue in New York City. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — When I was about 19 years old, I took my first trip to Europe. I marveled at its beauty, its culture, its history and its architecture. On this trip and many others that followed, I shed many tears as I visited the numerous synagogues, Jewish museums… Read more »
A Hasidic man crosses the street near the JC Kosher Supermarket in Jersey City, N.J., Dec. 11, 2019. Six people, including a police officer and three civilians, were killed in gunfire between two armed suspects and law enforcement. (Rick Loomis/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — Another Jewish community has sustained a bloody attack that left Jews everywhere reeling. On Tuesday, a small enclave of Hasidic Jews in Jersey City, New Jersey had their worlds shaken and disrupted during a frightening siege. Schools were on lockdown, four people were murdered and people… Read more »
(JTA) — Are you stressing out about burning your latkes? Now there’s a quick way to assuage your fears. On Tuesday, The Nosher Jewish food site launched a hotline where readers can get all their latkes-related questions answered by Jewish food expert Shannon Sarna. Readers use their cellphone number… Read more »
The Iron Dome missile-defense system intercepts rockets that were fired from Gaza, Nov. 13, 2019. Congress is approving funds to continue financing this and other anti-missile systems. (Ilia Yefimovich/picture alliance via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — If where you spend your money is the clearest sign of your priorities, Congress seems to be saying that it remains invested in Israeli-Palestinian peace and in robustly supporting Israel’s defense systems. The House of Representatives threw its support this week behind a spending package that… Read more »
