First Person

First Person: I Discovered a Former Tucson Radio Host with a Nazi Past

I found it, like many discoveries, accidentally. I was busy pursuing a pre-Internet interest of mine – poring through old newspapers – but now online. Having spent the first 76% of my life in Oklahoma City, I was interested in looking at The Southwest Jewish Chronicle, a regional Jewish… Read more »

Shlicha’s View: Shavuot in the Moshav

Many know that I was born and raised in a moshav in the Golan Heights, northern Israel. But what does a moshav actually mean? According to Wikipedia, a moshav is “a type of Israeli village or town or Jewish settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of… Read more »

Shlicha’s View: My Week in Israel

After October 7, we were all overwhelmed, in pain. It was a moment in time that changed everything that we knew, reminding us of the fragility of life and the importance of standing together in times of crisis. I was so moved by the solidarity, love and concern I… Read more »

First Person: I Won Gold in Argentina at an Inspiring Maccabi Pan-American Games

David Tannenbaum, with gold medal

The Maccabi Pan-American Games recently concluded in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Some 4000 Jewish athletes from 24 countries competed for medals in 20 sports in an expression of Jewish pride through athletics. I was fortunate to be among the 650-member Team USA and competed as a cyclist in the 60-69… Read more »

Op-Ed: Awareness and Diligence Save Lives

This article was first published in the October 2023 issue of DesertLeaf magazine. My Aunt Jan saved my life. The overall risk of a woman developing breast cancer during her lifetime is approximately 13%. My risk was much higher—55%-72%—due to a genetic predisposition known as a BRCA1 mutation. I… Read more »

A Letter to the Community from Yuval Malka, Shaliach

Dear Community Member,    As a new member of the Weintraub Israel Center team, it is with great sadness that this has to be my first letter to the community.   Friday evening, October 6, we returned from Shabbat dinner and arrived home. Suddenly, I received a message from one of my friends:… Read more »

Pride in leadership: Pursuing a world inclusive and just for all

Graham Hoffman

As I have recently assumed the mantle of the president and CEO of both the Jewish Federation and the Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona, I am humbled by the responsibility that I now bear as the leader of these agencies and this remarkable community. Authenticity is central to… Read more »

I’m a pediatrician who sees kids with coronavirus every day. It’s changed my whole way of life.

Health care providers wear protective equipment, like gloves, but some still get the coronavirus. (Getty Images)

NEW YORK (JTA) — I am a pediatrician who for 15 years has practiced in a medical office in the heart of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. We serve the local Hasidic community and see a variety of other patients from Brooklyn, the Lower East Side and Queens. When the coronavirus emerged… Read more »

I’m done passing as a matrilineal Jew

(We Are via Getty Images)

This story originally appeared on Alma. “Your Hebrew name?” the head of the yeshiva asked, pencil and paper poised to take it down for my aliyah, the honor of reciting Torah blessings. It was my third week at his school, a place where I’d reluctantly agreed to study for… Read more »

‘Greetings’ and mazel tov — why a nice Jewish boy enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1969

Bob Kovitz during his U.S. Army basic training at Fort Ord in Monterey, California, in 1969. Courtesy Bob Kovitz

Fifty years ago, I reported to the U.S. Army induction center in Los Angeles. My father, who was a World War II veteran, later described the experience of driving me to the center as the worst day of his life. Why was a Jewish graduate student from the University… Read more »

In 1944, she performed an opera at a concentration camp. 70 years later, I got to meet her.

Annie Cohen, right, met Holocaust survivor Ela Weissberger when the teen appeared in a New Orleans production of "Brundibar" in 2016. The children's opera by Jewish Czech composer Hans Krása was performed by the children of the Theresienstadt concentration camp, including Weissberger. (Courtesy of Cohen)

NEW ORLEANS (JTA) — Ela Weissberger, though tiny and elderly when I met her, was the strongest woman I have ever known. Her energy was indefatigable, her personality vibrant and sunny, her wit sharp and charming. Her magical rapport with children was undeniable. Ela was a Holocaust survivor, sent… Read more »

Fifth annual Ride for the Living affirms Jewish vitality today — in Poland

Tucsonans Boaz Cohon (front left) and Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon at the Ride for the Living in Krakow, Poland, June 29 (Rabbi Samuel Cohon)

This summer my son Boaz and I traveled to Poland for the great pleasure and privilege of participating in the Ride for the Living, a 55-mile bicycle ride from Auschwitz-Birkenau to the Jewish Community Center of Krakow, Poland, from the scene of the greatest destruction of our people to… Read more »

From darkness to light: Berlin-Budapest trip reveals a new Jewish generation

(L-R) Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Board Chair Shelly Silverman, JFSA 2019 Campaign Chair Melissa Goldfinger, JFSA Senior Vice President Fran Katz, and JFSA Women’s Philanthropy Campaign Chair Leslie Glaze visit the Berlin Wall, July 15. (Melissa Goldfinger)

Each year, the Jewish Federations of North America invites professionals and lay leaders to participate in a mission that highlights the unique challenges, programs and impact of federations’ overseas funding. In mid-July, Melissa Goldfinger, Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona 2019 Campaign chair; Leslie Glaze, JFSA Women’s Philanthropy Campaign chair;… Read more »

Volunteering on IDF base, Tucsonan fulfills lifelong dream of living like a sabra

Tucsonan Charlotte Low with "the Boss" who oversaw her volunteer job on an Israel Defense Forces base.

This is not your worried bubbe’s idea of a tourist tour of the Holy Land. For that you get one picture on a camel (careful!) and stay in four-star hotels. If you crave an insider’s view, being a Volunteer For Israel is adventurous and transformational. Serious fun. My own… Read more »

Memories of childhood Passovers inspire classes at Tucson J

Jennifer Selco

On the day of the first seder, the smell of onions from my childhood home was noticeable from halfway down the block. Inside, you could hear the songs of Cindy Paley’s “Singing Seder” cassette, the pounding of walnuts, and laughter from a funny story just shared. My parents, grandparents,… Read more »

The Night I Learned No One Is Immune to School Violence

(Pixabay)

(Kveller via JTA) — The phone rang at midnight, jolting me awake. I smacked my husband in his sleep, annoyed that it was probably his office again, calling with some major network outage. Only it wasn’t his company; it was the local township’s police department, informing me, as a parent,… Read more »