Terri L. Freed, 73, of Green Valley, died Aug. 1, 2020 from complications of pancreatic cancer. Terri was born in Chester, Pennsylvania, lived much of her adult life in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, and relocated to Green Valley in 2007 along with several members of her family for her… Read more »
Abraham Lackow, 93, died July 11, 2020. He was born in Brooklyn, New York on Oct. 14, 1926. He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II and graduated from Brooklyn College as a biology major after his service. He served as a docent at the… Read more »
Marc Peter Cohen, 66, died Aug. 14, 2020 after a brave fight with cancer. Born in the Bronx, New York, he was preceded in death by his mother, Ray; his father, Saul; and his sister, Paula. Marc worked for many years in the transportation department of Tucson Unified School… Read more »
Arthur M. Goldberg, M.D., died July 27, 2020, just prior to his 86th birthday. Arthur was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but he had been a resident of Tucson for over 50 years. Arthur was a caring and compassionate doctor to thousands of his patients in Southern Arizona.… Read more »
Morton “Mort” Alan Sadowsky, 86, died Aug. 10, 2020. Mort was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Irving and Marcine Sadowsky and moved to Tucson when he was 7. A successful businessman, Mort was known for his quick wit and his love of family and friends Survivors include his… Read more »
Gertrude A. Shankman, 105, died July 24, 2020. Gertrude was born Oct. 26, 1914 in Brooklyn, New York. She was a longtime resident at Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging, where students from Tucson Hebrew Academy had visited to celebrate her birthday ever year since she turned 100. “As… Read more »
Chabad of Oro Valley will hold three socially-distanced Shofar blowing events outside its premises at 1171 E. Rancho Vistoso Blvd. #131 on Sunday, Sept. 20. The times are 9:15 a.m., 12:15 p.m. and 6 p.m. Each will include a 10-minute service in the parking lot. No registration is required.… Read more »
Hazon volunteers celebrate a recent food rescue delivery in the Detroit suburb of Redford, Mich. (Hazon Detroit)
When the coronavirus pandemic hit, causing millions to lose their jobs and hunger levels to skyrocket, the Jewish environmental organization Hazon knew it had to dramatically reconfigure its priorities. Normally focused on running immersive Jewish environmental educational programs and promoting sustainable food and farming, the group suddenly shifted from… Read more »
Claire Amigo, 86, died Aug. 17, 2020. Claire was born Feb. 14, 1934, to Meyer and Dora Bergman. She had two sisters, Cecile and Helen. She spent her childhood in the Bronx and moved to Queens when Lois, her daughter, was born. Claire and her husband, Al, later moved… Read more »
Congregation Anshei Israel will give Tucsonans an opportunity to hear the Rabbi Sara Metz sound the Shofar live on Friday, Aug. 21 at 8:30 a.m., in the northwest parking lot (facing the sanctuary doors). Members also can pick up thei High Holy Days packages. Other LIVE Shofar blast opportunities… Read more »
The Tucson Festival of Books Authors In Conversation series will present Tucson native Alexander Boxer, now a data scientist in Washington, D.C., and author of “A Scheme of Heaven: The History of Astrology and the Search for our Destiny in Data” (W.W. Norton & Company, 2020), in an exclusive… Read more »
In this screenshot from the DNCC’s livestream of the 2020 Democratic National Convention, former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords addresses the virtual convention on August 19, 2020. (DNCC via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Gabby Giffords, the Jewish former congresswoman who became a leader in the gun control movement after being shot by an assailant in the head in 2011, opened the third night of the Democratic convention with an appeal to elect Joe Biden president. “We can let the… Read more »
Meg Keene and David Mishook said their son, left, was rejected from Oakland Hebrew Day School for being gender-fluid. (Kenzie Kate)
(JTA) — A Jewish day school in Oakland, California, is committing to making changes this week after a local family said the school had declined to accept their gender-fluid child. Meg Keene, an Oakland mother who runs a prominent wedding planning website, encouraged her thousands of Instagram followers to… Read more »
Sen. Kamala Harris and her husband Douglas Emhoff pose on stage after the first Biden-Harris press conference in Wilmington, Delaware, Aug. 12, 2020. (Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty Images)
(JTA) — In the middle of her first speech as Joe Biden’s running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris disclosed her favorite nickname. “My family means everything to me. And I’ve had a lot of titles over my career, and certainly, vice president will be great, but ‘momala’ will always be… Read more »
(JTA) — The Reform movement has received a $600,000 multi-year grant to support racial equity, inclusion and diversity work. The Union for Reform Judaism said Wednesday that it had received funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to fight racism and back inclusion across its institutions. Reform is the largest… Read more »
(JTA) — The treaty between Israel and the United Arab Emirates is a big deal. The agreement, announced Thursday in a joint statement from the White House and called the Abraham Accord, means that Israel will now have diplomatic and economic relations with a country that had not recognized… Read more »
(JTA) – The fact that New York state Assemblywoman Rebecca Seawright isn’t Jewish didn’t stop a vandal from leaving behind an anti-Semitic note after defacing her office. Seawright, a Democrat whose district includes part of Manhattan’s Upper East Side, called for a police investigation into the incident at a… Read more »
(iriselmo/ Getty Images)
This story originally appeared on Kveller. On March 8, in a bustling and noisy bagel shop in Lawrence, New York, I stood alongside nearly 30 women to recite a prayer called the Hadran. This is a prayer said upon completion of a Talmud tractate, a feat most women never achieve.… Read more »
(Design by Emily Burack/book via CSA Images/Getty Images)
This story originally appeared on Alma. I received what I believe to be an average Jewish American Conservative synagogue education. I attended Jewish preschool, the full run of weekly, then biweekly Hebrew school, and completed “Hebrew high school” all the way through the rabbi’s confirmation class. This was all… Read more »
Sen. Kamala Harris in Washington, D.C., June 24, 2020. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
(JTA) — It’s official: Kamala Harris is Joe Biden’s choice for vice president. The California senator, who made history Tuesday as the first Black woman to join a major party presidential ticket, is still in her first term. But during several years in public office, the 55-year-old lawmaker’s outspoken… Read more »
