Columns

Israel provides medical assistance and dignity across a war-torn border

Metal silhouettes of soldiers positioned as if they were protecting an abandoned Israeli outpost overlooking the border with Syria.

Driving up the mountainous road to Mt. Bental, I feel the temperature drop and the wind pick up as we reach the 3,800-foot peak where an abandoned Israeli army outpost, complete with bombed-out bunkers, sits. Anyone willing to ascend this mountain will be treated to a better understanding of… Read more »

Doctors, pilots and Holocaust survivors try to thwart Israel’s plan to deport African migrants

Students and teachers from Seminar Ha'kibuzim protest against the deportation of African asylum seekers, in Tel Aviv, January 24, 2018. Photo by Tomer Neuberg/ FLASH90

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Holocaust survivors and rabbis, as well as doctors and some airline pilots, are among the Israelis who say they will try to thwart Israel’s plan to deport thousands of African migrants, even if it means taking them into their own homes. The latest group to come… Read more »

My daughter’s doctor recommended plastic surgery. We said no way.

(Kveller via JTA) — After experiencing a yearlong medical crisis due to complications with ulcerative colitis, my daughter, Nava, made a complete recovery. Miraculously, after a tremendous amount of hard work, she resumed her life and was able to live it exactly as she had in the past. Now… Read more »

Local woman’s Israel trip focuses on people-to-people connections

Back row (L-R): Bob and Peggy Feinman, Nancy Rubin, Nancy Vornholt; front row: Ginny Spencer, Rachel Rabin Yaacov, Marlyne Freedman (Courtesy Marlyne Freedman)

Marlyne Freedman, past senior vice president of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, has traveled to Israel many times. A few friends asked her to assemble and lead a small, intimate group of first-timers to visit our homeland. From Oct. 14-28, Tucsonans Peggy and Bob Feinman, Ginny Spencer and… Read more »

Men’s fishing trip a chance to share wisdom

Tucson’s Men’s Next Gen Group and Chai Life Men’s Group on a San Diego fishing boat. Back row (L-R): Rob Glaser, Alex Chaffin, David Goldstein, Gary Kippur, Nolan Shifren, Barry Baker, Christian Yoder, Jeff Katz, Matt Landau, Daniel Ash, Mike Ash, Doron Sears, Lex Sears, Paul Baker, Michael Shiner; front row: Tom Warne, Steve Silverman, Larry Selig, Josh Hurand, Jeff Wortzel, Bobby Present, Adam Goldstein, Stuart Mellan, Mitch Pozez, Ben Pozez, Josh Silverman, Ben Silverman, Damion Alexander, Todd Sadow

The Tucson Jewish community’s Men’s Next Gen group and the Chai Life Men’s Group took a weekend in San Diego Nov. 3-5 to build intergenerational relationships. While the trip included a fishing excursion (perhaps with a small wager on who would haul in the largest fish), great food, and… Read more »

Havdalah spice box reminder of father’s legacy of hope

An heirloom Havdalah spice box is displayed with photographs of Esther Blumenfeld’s late father, Rabbi Karl Richter. (Courtesy Esther Blumenfeld)

After the death of his youngest sister in Stuttgart, Germany, my father thought deeply about the meaning of life and death, and the idea of becoming a rabbi became a calling. The 17-year-old Karl Richter, with youthful enthusiasm, decided to do his university as well as rabbinical studies at… Read more »

Nations connect, learn at ‘Wicked Water Problems’ conference in Israel

Sharon Megdal, center, with fellow Central Arizona Project board members Jennifer Brown and Mark Taylor at the ‘Cutting-Edge Solutions to Wicked Water Problems’ conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, September 2017. (Courtesy Jennifer Brown)

I recently had the great honor and pleasure of co-chairing the international water conference “Cutting-Edge Solutions to Wicked Water Problems.” Held Sept. 10-11 at Tel Aviv University’s beautiful Porter School of Environmental Studies building, the conference was jointly convened by the American Water Resources Association and the Water Research Center… Read more »

Celebrating local people, places, travels and simchas

Editor’s note: We accidentally omitted Sharon Klein’s byline and photograph in the Sept. 8 P.S. column, a two-page spread highlighting Israel summer travel (see azjewishpost.com/category/columns/ps/). Our sincere apologies. Sailing, sailing From July 5-16, Terri and David Polan and Holly and Steve Shenitzer embarked on Oceania’s Iberian Tapestries cruise from… Read more »

Reflections: Learning to embrace uncertainty

Amy Hirshberg Lederman

In 1980, I began my career as a law clerk working at the Arizona Court of Appeals. My job was to research issues for the judge and work on draft opinions, which would then be fully reviewed, analyzed and edited until he was satisfied with the result. I spent… Read more »

Figuring out what Shemini Atzeret is. Finally.

I know something about most Jewish holidays. I can tell you that Hanukkah is about miracles, Passover is about slavery and freedom, and Shavuot is about cheesecake. (I have no idea why, but when it comes to matters of cheesecake, it is not mine to question.) The one holiday… Read more »

Tucsonans share Israel summer experiences

Gila (Gail) Ben-Jamin credits her many years on the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Partnership2Gether committee for having made lifelong friends in Israel. She has hosted people from the P2G region at her home in Tucson and has been hosted by those folks in Israel. She stays in touch… Read more »

German heritage kindles journey of healing

Carolin Haase Atchison

For more than three years, I have been researching my family’s history — and I’m still at it. When I received the results of my DNA test a couple of years ago, I was surprised, like the actors in the Ancestry TV ads. Instead of being of mainly German… Read more »

Mission to Ukraine, Israel shows power of JFSA giving

Incoming Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Campaign Chair Ronnie Sebold with Sonia, a teenage Ethiopian immigrant, at the Ben Shemen Youth Village in Israel on July 13 (Courtesy Ronnie Sebold)

A few months ago, I accepted the daunting responsibility to chair the 2018 campaign for the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona. I have been a staunch supporter of the Federation since I moved to Tucson 37 years ago, and having recently retired from Tucson Hebrew Academy as their director of… Read more »

Email unlocks treasure chest of family history, new possibilities

Family members in Paris in April 2017 (L-R): Lauren Lederman, Amy Lederman, Ema Nachmani, Bella Bernard and Mariyam Nachmani (Courtesy Amy Lederman)

It all began in 2001 with my mother’s insatiable desire to discover more about her background and family.  I had heard stories since I was a young girl about her parents who had tragically died within a month of each other, leaving my mother an orphan before her third… Read more »

FIRST PERSON The time Israeli security strip-searched me at their embassy in Jordan

During a 2006 visit to the Jordanian capital of Amman, JTA's Uriel Heilman underwent some invasive security checks when he visited the Israeli Embassy there. (Uriel Heilman)

  (JTA) — “Drop your pants.” The order came curt and clipped, and it caught me by surprise. What?! “Drop your pants,” he repeated sternly. I had been subject to the indignities of Israeli security before, but never this. I was in a holding area of the Israeli Embassy… Read more »