Events

Violins of Hope resonate with stories of Shoah

Israeli Amnon Weinstein, who has restored more than 60 violins that survived the Holocaust, will be in Tucson for Violins of Hope Feb. 17. (Daniel Levin)

Israeli violin maker Amnon Weinstein and his son Avshi have spent the last two decades locating and restoring violins from the Holocaust as a tribute to those who were lost, including 400 of their own relatives. Amnon calls these the Violins of Hope. Violins of Hope will be at… Read more »

Green Valley synagogue gallery to display Tucson artist’s ‘Sacred Intention’

‘Mazal Tov’ by Marlene Burns. ‘Most often used when offering congratulations or wishing good luck, Mazal Tov has a deeper message. Mazal means an alignment of the stars. Our tradition sees our mazal as the influence of the stars trickling down on us,’ says Burns. (Marlene Burns)

The Beth Shalom Temple Center Art Gallery will present “Sacred Intention” by Tucson artist and educator Marlene Burns, Feb. 1-April 1.    A reception with the artist will be held at 11 a.m. on Sunday, March 3, following the temple’s monthly bagel breakfast. Burns has been a professional artist… Read more »

Local screening OF ‘Who Will Write Our History’ will be part of global event

Julia Lewenfisz-Gorka, Wojciech Zielinski, and Marta Ormaniec portray Ora, Abraham and Luba Lewin in ‘Who Will Write Our History.’ (Anna Wolch)

The Jewish History Museum and Holocaust History Center will join hundreds of partners on Sunday, Jan. 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, for a global screening event of “Who Will Write Our History.” The film will be shown at 200 venues in 40 countries; U.S. locations include the United States… Read more »

JHM talk to focus on ‘the right to have rights’

Lida Maxwell

The Jewish History Museum’s “States of Rightlessness” series will culminate with a keynote lecture by Lida Maxwell on the evening of Thursday, Jan. 24. The museum coordinated “States of Rightlessness” to mark 70 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly,… Read more »

JFSA Super Sunday brings generations together

Volunteers and Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona staff work together at the 2017 Super Sunday. This year’s phone-a-thon is planned for Jan. 27. (Courtesy of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona)

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is gearing up for its annual Super Sunday phone-a-thon on Jan. 27 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, when volunteers will call members of the Tucson Jewish community seeking donations to the Federation’s 2019 Community Campaign. Super Sunday signals that the end of… Read more »

Hillel to host Pryor in ‘Fried Chicken and Latkes’

Rain Pryor

Rain Pryor is bringing her one-woman show, “Fried Chicken and Latkes,” to Tucson next month. Pryor, 49, is the daughter of the late comedy icon Richard Pryor and a Jewish go-go dancer-turned-astronomer, Shelley R. Bonus. In the show, she plays 11 different characters, from her famous father to her… Read more »

CAI rabbi in residence to focus on heart of Torah

Rabbi Shai Held, Ph. D.

Rabbi Shai Held, Ph.D. — one of the 50 most influential rabbis in America, according to Newsweek — will be the scholar-in-residence at Congregation Anshei Israel on Jan. 11 and 12. His overall theme for the weekend will be “The Heart of Jewish Spirituality.” A theologian, scholar and educator,… Read more »

Free screening of true crime ‘The Driver is Red’ planned

German journalists Dagmar and Peter Schroeder will hold a discussion after a free screening of Randall Christopher’s ‘The Driver is Red’ animated short film on Jan. 8.

An exclusive, free screening of the documentary film “The Driver is Red” is set for Tuesday, Jan. 8 at 6:30 p.m. The award-winning, animated short by Randall Christopher depicts the Mossad raid that brought Adolf Eichmann to justice. It was shown at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and almost… Read more »

Explore relationships, change while discovering clay

Joan-e Rapine, MS, LAC, NCC, a clinical therapist at Jewish Family & Children’s Services, will present  “Self-Discovery Through Clay” at the Jan. 13 meeting of CHAI Circle, a support group for women with cancer in the Jewish community. “One of my favorite things about modeling clay is its pliability,… Read more »

Make mitzvahs with mah jongg, mojitos and fun

Join the Young Women’s Cabinet of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona for an evening of mah jongg, mojitos and mitzvahs to benefit Jewish Family & Children’s Services. There will be teachers on site to teach or help you refine your game. First-timers, mah jongg mavens and non-players are… Read more »

All-female talent to show display entertainment variety

Sara Lopez

Sara Lopez, a local wife, mother and opera singer, is curating a Jewish women’s performance showcase, by and for women, at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on Sunday, Jan. 6 at 6 p.m. Having an all-female audience “allows women across the spectrum of Jewish practice and belief to participate,”… Read more »

Chanukah Cantata will bring together voices from across the Jewish community

Robert Lopez-Hanshaw is the organizer of the Chanukah Cantata (Debe Campbell)

The Tucson Jewish Community Center is hosting a Chanukah Cantata on Dec. 8 at 7:30 p.m. that will feature cantors and other vocalists from multiple congregations across Tucson and the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra in a special telling of the Hanukkah story. Robert Lopez-Hanshaw, musical director at Temple Emanu-El,… Read more »

New photo exhibit at JHM examines plight of Rohingya

Rohingya men wait in line for food dispersal from aid agencies. (Andrew Stanbridge)

The Jewish History Museum is currently showing “Call Me Rohingya,” an exhibition that illuminates the persecution of Rohingya people, an ethnic minority in Burma, through the photographic works of Andrew Stanbridge. Staged in the Allen and Marianne Langer Contemporary Human Rights Gallery in the Gould Family Holocaust History Center… Read more »

Jewish thrift store plans ‘Best Of’ sales event

The 1st Rate 2nd Hand Thrift Store, Southern Arizona’s only Jewish thrift store, will hold its “Best Of” event on Thursday, Nov. 29, 6-8 p.m. The event will feature select merchandise, snacks and wine, and music by Birks Works. Held twice a year, the “Best Of” events are a… Read more »

Hadassah to host regional speaker at installation lunch

Ian Merles

Hadassah Southern Arizona will honor its 2018 Woman of the Year, install officers for 2019 and recognize its annual supporters at a luncheon on Dec. 9. Ian Merles, the annual giving officer for Hadassah West Coast Region, will be the guest speaker. Honey Manson will install the new slate… Read more »

Tucson’s two oldest synagogues plan Kristallnacht anniversary pulpit exchange

Rabbi Robert Eisen, left, and Rabbi Batsheva Appel

Rabbi Robert Eisen of Congregation Anshei Israel and Rabbi Batsheva Appel of Temple Emanu-El will exchange pulpits this weekend for “Unity in the Faceof Brokenness,” a commemoration of the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht. Kristallnacht, which is German for “Crystal Night,” is also known as “The Night of Broken Glass.”… Read more »

Hadassah brunch to focus on nursing history

Hadassah Southern Arizona will present “Glimpses from 100 years of the Henrietta Szold – Hadassah School of Nursing Through the Eyes of Nursing Graduates” at a brunch on Sunday, Nov. 11. Gilat Yihye, a graduate of the Henrietta Szold Hadassah Hebrew University School of Nursing, will speak and screen… Read more »