Amy Hirshberg Lederman It began as a typical Jewish Christmas Eve. To borrow a quote from Elana Kagan: “Like most Jews, I was at a Chinese restaurant.” As I walked through the restaurant, I passed table after table of Jewish friends and acquaintances happily sharing fried rice and eggrolls with family and… Read more »
Rabbi Sam Cohon The emergence of violent anti-Semitism as a widespread American scourge can leave no Jews with warm thoughts about the year that just passed. Until October 2018, just 15 months ago, there had never been a fatal attack on a synagogue in the United States. Now there have been two… 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 »
Graham Hoffman Philanthropy is increasingly a hands-on endeavor. Donors, particularly in making sizeable philanthropic investments, want to understand the impact of their donations on the causes they support. This approach has influenced the philanthropic landscape, resulting in many nonprofits soliciting program-designated or restricted donations rather than unrestricted support in an attempt… Read more »
As these words are being written, an Israel-Gaza truce has been already achieved, after 48 hours of intensive fighting. The attack from Gaza — retaliation for an Israeli action against an Islamic Jihad leader — included over 300 rockets fired at Israeli communities near and far. Eighty Israelis were… Read more »
Amy Hirshberg Lederman I recently returned from a fantastic trip to Israel — an interfaith delegation sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona. Our group consisted of 28 dynamic and open-minded people — a vibrant and deeply engaged mix of faiths, ethnicities, and professional backgrounds. Together we walked, climbed, and explored… Read more »
Danielle Levy and Shay Friedwald (Courtesy Weintraub Israel Center)
Shalom shalom to all of our readers. Let’s catch up: We celebrated the High Holidays away from home. Although we kept thinking of our family in Israel, we still had the honor of celebrating here, with our new Tucson family. To be honest, seeing cars driving on the streets… Read more »
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 »
Rabbi Robert Eisen Finish the sentence: “If not now, _____” I would venture to guess that most of us would immediately call to mind the famous passage attributed to Hillel the Elder (Pirkei Avot 1:14): If I am not for myself, who is for me? When I am for myself, what am… Read more »
(Zoran Kokanovic/Unsplash and Presley Ann/FilmMagic)/JTA Photo Service
Abba, are you there? You died 4 1/2 years ago, but I still forget sometimes. I was driving in sixth gear the other day. I went to exit the freeway and, on the off-ramp, I downshifted enough that I was able to shift directly into fourth. You taught me… Read more »
Joy Often repeated during the High Holiday season: “What are you celebrating now?” “Who cares? We Jews always pray, eat, and are merry!” During prayers on every Jewish holiday, we mention “Mo’adim L’Simcha,” a holiday to rejoice. Yet, on Sukkot there is an extra emphasis on being happy and… Read more »
Graham Hoffman Traditionally, Rosh Hashanah is viewed as the birthday of the world. We find ourselves now, in the days beforehand, at the culmination of the month of Elul, a time when we, both individually and collectively, take account of the year that has passed and look ahead, celebrating the opportunity… Read more »
Harold Hirshberg’s great-grandsons painted rocks for friends and family to leave on his headstone. (Photo courtesy AMY HIRSHBERG Lederman)
We gathered together in the warm September sun at my father’s gravesite, just 10 days shy of a year since he died. It was the coming together of the family clan, the manifestation of four generations of the legacy that this almost 100-year-old man had inspired. But the unveiling… Read more »
Inbal Shtivi, Tucson’s shlicha, votes in the Israeli election at the Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles, Sept. 5. (Courtesy Inbal Shtivi)
The dark I-10 road of the Arizona desert was never-ending. Hours and hours of driving, passing dozens of trailer trucks, with both kids sleeping in their seats. Me and my husband, Eran, perfectly awake, fully aware to the dangers of this night ride. We were listening to music downloaded… Read more »
Rabbi Israel Becker As Rosh Hashanah approaches and we take stock of our own spiritual lives, it certainly behooves us to dedicate ourselves to expend every effort in reaching out to our fellow Jews, and especially to our own children and grandchildren. In fact, extending ourselves to help inspire our fellow Jews… Read more »
(L-R): Jane Ash, Gary Kippur, Tandy Kippur, and Bruce Ash at the American cemetery in Normandy on the anniversary of D-Day. D-Day commemoration cruise Bruce and Jane Ash and Gary and Tandy Kippur traveled together on the National WWII Museum 75th anniversary of D-Day cruise. They were part of a University of Arizona Alumni Association contingent, with other schools also represented. Before boarding the ship in Amsterdam, they visited the… Read more »
Danielle Levy and Shay Friedwald, Tucson’s new shinshinim (Israeli teen emissaries) visited Disneyland over the 2019 Labor Day weekend with Congregation Anshei Israel’s B’Yahad madrichim (teen leaders) and USY programs.
Editor’s note: This is a new, occasional column to update the community on the activities of the Weintraub Israel Center’s shinshinim (Israeli teen emissaries). Tuson? Taksen? Tucson? And then we are told that we’re about to live a whole year, in the middle of the desert, with a complete… Read more »
Amy Hirshberg Lederman In October 1965, Columbia Records released a hit song by the Byrds called “Turn, Turn, Turn.” While my friends and I loved its beautiful harmony, I never suspected that its words would accompany me through life, spanning decades of historical and personal events from the Vietnam War to the… Read more »
Rabbi Yehuda Ceitlin (Britta Van Vranken) There is a tale about a rabbi whose synagogue was infested with mice. When the conventional method to get rid of them didn’t succeed, he turned to a fellow rabbi for advice. “Simple,” said his colleague, “give them a Bar Mitzvah and they won’t step foot in your synagogue… Read more »
Ben Sargus, left, with Avery Shultz and Hayden Jones of Phoenix, at the Dead Sea
The Big Trip Israel From June 3–July 1, Ben Sargus traveled on Camp Daisy & Harry Stein’s Big Trip Israel. A camper since third grade, Ben, a University High School junior, has been active in NFTY (the Reform Jewish Youth Movement, formerly North American Temple Youth) and is one… Read more »
