Events

Tucson J plans physically distant Sculpture Garden opening

j-sculpture-garden_Cutline: New and established works will be on display at the Tucson Jewish Community Center’s Sculpture Garden opening on Oct. 25. (Photo: Jacob Kaufman)
October 13, 2020 /

The Tucson Jewish Community Center will hold a physically distanced opening for its Sculpture Garden on Sunday, Oct. 25, from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. The Sculpture Garden, created in 2009, includes new and established artists and is a cornerstone of the J’s arts programming. The opening will feature nine new… Read more »

Amplifying Voices series to examine junction of Black and Jewish identity, community

(L-R) Professors Marc Dollinger, Jerome Dotson, and Gil Ribak will kick off the Amplifying Voices series with a Zoom discussion of Dollinger’s book, “Black Power, Jewish Politics” on Oct. 18.
October 9, 2020 /

This month, the Tucson Jewish Community Center will launch Amplifying Voices, a six-part virtual series designed to help explore the intersectional relationship between Black and Jewish identity and community. The series will begin Oct. 18 at 4 p.m. with Professors Marc Dollinger of San Francisco State University and Jerome… Read more »

UArizona Poetry Center, with support of Hurand Connection Fund, to launch virtual Institute for Inquiry and Poetics with U.S. poet laureate

Joyce HarjoU.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo (Shawn Miller)
October 2, 2020 /

The University of Arizona Poetry Center, part of the College of Humanities, is launching a new, virtual Institute for Inquiry and Poetics. The inaugural convening, offered in partnership with the Hurand Connection Fund, will feature U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo and poets Jennifer Foerster and LeAnne Howe, editors of… Read more »

UA Music+Festival focuses on artists who bridge classical and popular music

jeremy-huw-williams-paula-fan-1024pxJeremy Huw Williams, baritone, and Paula Fan, pianist, perform at the St. Augustine Cathedral in Tucson on Oct.13, 2015. (Solaris Photography)
October 1, 2020 /

The Fred Fox School of Music at the University of Arizona College of Fine Arts will present its 13th annual Music+Festival, featuring the music of George Gershwin (1898-1937), Steve Reich (b. 1936), and William Bolcom (b. 1938), from Oct. 9-12. All festival events will be online, with free admission.… Read more »

Taika Waititi adapting anti-Semite Roald Dahl’s work is exactly what we need

Taika Waititi will write, direct and executive produce two series based on the work of Roald Dahl for Netflix, starting with "Charlie and the Chocolate Factor." (Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)
March 12, 2020 / A.R. Vishny, JTA

This story originally appeared on Alma. Netflix just announced that the Academy Award-winning Maori-Jewish filmmaker Taika Waititi will write, direct and executive produce two series based on the work of author Roald Dahl for the streaming platform. The first is based on “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” focusing specifically… Read more »

Congregation M’kor Hayim will focus on refugees for special Shabbat service

Gloria Goldman and Teresa Cavendish
March 6, 2020 / Debe Campbell, AJP Assistant Editor

Editor’s note: Due to the spread of coronavirus, Congregation M’kor Hayim has postponed this event. HIAS’ National Refugee Shabbat is a call to congregations across the country to dedicate sacred time on the March 20-21 Shabbat to honor refugees and asylum seekers. Congregation M’kor Hayim will hold a special Friday,… Read more »

Rugelach, Syrian pepper dip on menu for Tucson Festival of Books demo
March 6, 2020 / Lauren Bookwalter, AJP Iintern
Leah Koenig

Leah Koenig will be representing Jewish cuisine at the Tucson Festival of Books with her new cookbook, “The Jewish Cookbook,” which includes recipes from around the globe. Koenig’s recipes have been featured in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine’s Grub Street, and other popular… Read more »

Hear balalaikas ringing out at orchestra’s annual concert of music and dance

Folk dancers, musicians, and singers will join the Arizona Balalaika Orchestra for its 40th anniversary concert in Tucson on Saturday, March 7.
March 6, 2020 /

The Arizona Balalaika Orchestra’s 40th Anniversary Concert of traditional music and dance of Russia, Poland, Ukraine, and other Slavic countries is Saturday, March 7, at 7 p.m. at Pima Community College Center for the Arts. The 25-member orchestra, founded in 1980 by Mia Bulgarin Gay, presents a wide spectrum… Read more »

A 4th-generation Vermont Orthodox Jew is starting the state’s first Jewish day school

Kids in the Chabad-run preschool in Burlington, Vermont, play in the yard. (Courtesy of Draizy Junik)
March 3, 2020 / Josefin Dolsten, JTA

(JTA) — Draizy Junik is well acquainted with the challenges of living a Jewish life in Vermont, a state that while home to a well-known Jewish Democratic presidential candidate has a total Jewish population of about 20,000 people. As a kid, Junik was homeschooled until the age of 13… Read more »

Simon Wiesenthal’s granddaughter leads march marking 75 years since Mauthausen’s liberation

Dozens participate in a memorial ceremony at Mauthausen, the sprawling Nazi concentration camp that held nearly 200,000 prisoners during the Holocaust, including famed Nazi-hunter-to-be Simon Wiesenthal, March 1, 2020. (Larry Luxner)
March 3, 2020 / Larry Luxner, JTA

MAUTHAUSEN, Austria (JTA) — Under a bright blue sky, with Austria’s snow-capped Alps in the distance, Racheli Kreisberg set foot for the first time in her life inside Mauthausen — the sprawling Nazi concentration camp that held nearly 200,000 prisoners between 1938 and 1945. Fewer than half of the… Read more »

Bat mitzvah: Josephine Elyse Hanley
February 21, 2020 /
Josephine Elyse Hanley

Josephine Elyse Hanley, daughter of Rebecca and Todd Hanley, will celebrate becoming a bat mitzvah on Saturday, Feb. 29, at Congregation Or Chadash. She is the granddaughter of Shana and Richard Oseran and Pat Dale, all of Tucson. Josephine attends Miles Exploratory Learning Center where she is an honor… Read more »

Israeli violinist Perlman to perform at UA
February 21, 2020 /

Itzhak Perlman, arguably the world’s most famous living violinist, will perform for UA Presents on Sunday, March 1, 6:30 p.m. He will be accompanied by pianist Rohan De Silva. The subject of a 2018 PBS documentary, “Itzhak,” Perlman spoke that year to JTA reporter Curt Schleier. “I’m a violinist.… Read more »

County launches garden emissions voucher program
February 21, 2020 /

To cut down on pollution created by gasoline-powered lawn and garden equipment, the Pima County Department of Environmental Quality, in partnership with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, has created the “Cut Down Pollution” program. “Our region exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s health standard for ground-level ozone on… Read more »

Pick from a plethora of fun-filled community Purim festivities

Kenny Mirman and Marlene Burns celebrate Purim at Chabad Oro Valley. (Photo courtesy Chabad Oro Valley)
February 21, 2020 / Debe Campbell, AJP Assistant Editor

A full array of Southern Arizona Purim parties will ensure that this most fun holiday of the Jewish calendar is action-packed. Take your pick from a string of family-friendly events, submitted by area synagogues and agencies. Friday, March 6 6 p.m.: Purim Shabbat Early Shabbat tot and child-friendly service;… Read more »