Rabbi Jason Holtz When I arrived in Tucson three years ago, I found synagogues filled with learning, service and community. I found Jewish agencies and nonprofits devoted to turning Jewish values into Jewish action. I found a compelling Federation centered on tzedakah, righteous giving, and tikkun olam, repairing the world. And… Read more »
Handball hall-of-famer Fred Lewis, second from right, with his brother, Jack Lewis, sister-in-law, Ilene Lewis, and son, David Lewis, at the memorial to the 11 athletes murdered at the Munich Olympics in 1972, at the Wingate Institute in Netanya, Israel, site of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame
(Courtesy Fred Lewis) Israel hosted the world’s largest sporting event of the year this summer, the 19th Maccabiah Games, held July 17-30. Three Tucsonans participated as athletes in the Olympic-style games, which included Jewish athletes from 70 countries, while one current and one former Tucsonan were inducted into the International Jewish… Read more »
Ella Vaturi and Noa Berman On August 2, Noa Berman and Ella Vaturi wrapped up two months as shlichot (Israeli emissaries) with the Tucson Jewish Community Center’s day camp. Every year, the Jewish Agency for Israel sends two Israelis in their early 20s to share knowledge and love for Israel and Jewish culture with… Read more »
Rabbi Batsheva Appel Temple Emanu-El has appointed Rabbi Batsheva Appel as associate rabbi. “I’m looking forward to working with a rabbi who I know is very talented,” Appel told the AJP, referring to Temple’s senior rabbi Samuel M. Cohon, “and a community that seems to be doing wonderful things here in Tucson.… Read more »
Rides to synagogue programs and services – including High Holy Days celebrations – are available for seniors and adults with disabilities through a special grant program. The program, “Tucson Community Shared Transportation for Seniors and Adults with Disabilities,” has a new phone number: 465-4323. The Jewish Federation of Southern… Read more »
Congressman Ron Barber with children at a fortified indoor playground in Sderot, Israel, built with contributions from American groups and individuals. It can withstand a direct hit from a Gaza rocket. The area, under constant threat, is protected by the Iron Dome rocket interceptor. (Office of Congressman Ron Barber) Israel and Southern Arizona have ties that bind — in both the economic and national security realms. U.S. Rep. Ron Barber, who describes himself as “a strong supporter of Israel,” participated in a fact-finding trip to Israel from Aug. 5 to 11. Barber is a Tucson Democrat and a… Read more »
A new school year is beginning and innovative plans are on the agenda for Tucson’s Jewish schools. Congregation Bet Shalom’s religious school is adding a seventh and eighth grade Sunday program that will combine text study with “inspirational informal learning.” It will include a class on the Mishnah, which… Read more »
Essie Nadler and Stu Mellan, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, sign an endowment agreement for the Message of Hope Fund at the home of Ruthann Pozez. “We will never forget.” These words have become a staple for Jewish people around the globe. On the surface, they remind us of the millions of innocent lives lost in a world of blind hatred, blatant egotism and unimaginable fear, in the hope that such horrendous acts never happen… Read more »
(L-R) Becky Monroy, Heather Rich and Hayley Flanigan won bronze medals with the Team Austin girls basketball team. Thirteen teen basketball players from Tucson — 10 boys and three girls —participated in the JCC Maccabi Games in Austin, Texas, July 28-Aug. 2. The annual games for Jewish teens ages 13 to 16 are like a mini-Olympics, but with the emphasis on camaraderie and enhancing Jewish identity more… Read more »
Until 2009, right-wing Portuguese politician José Ribeiro e Castro didn’t have much interest in the expulsion of his country’s Jewish community in the 16th century. That changed once Ribeiro e Castro opened a Facebook account. Online, the 60-year-old lawmaker and journalist connected to several Sephardic Jews, descendants of a… Read more »
September is National Preparedness Month. It’s a great time to plan for an emergency or disaster. It is a myth that “nothing ever happens in Tucson!” We are fortunate to live where few natural disasters occur. Earthquakes are very rare, hurricanes don’t come our way and a tsunami just… Read more »
Arlene Barth with a few of the thousands of dolls in her collection (Renee Claire) Walk around Arlene Barth’s eastside Tucson home and you will find over 2,300 pairs of eyes looking your way. Barth, RN, MSN and captain (retired) from the U.S. Public Health Service began collecting dolls in 1996. They are present in every room of her home; organized on tables, spilling… Read more »
Friends of the Israel Defense Forces has closed its Arizona chapter, which was based in Phoenix. Administrative duties will be handled by the national office in New York, which will be in touch directly with FIDF supporters in Arizona. “We would like to express our deepest gratitude to the… Read more »
In an effort to combat the national obesity epidemic that also afflicts children and families locally, the Tucson Jewish Community Center is implementing Discover: CATCH® Early Childhood — a new wellness initiative. The program has already been instituted in 19 JCCs across the country. Starting this month, children enrolled… Read more »
Todd Rockoff Todd Rockoff, the new president and CEO of the Tucson Jewish Community Center, has worked for JCCs from Akron, Ohio, to Calgary, Alberta. He started out at age 16 as a camp counselor in his hometown of Rochester, N.Y. “I’m honored to never have received a paycheck from anyone… Read more »
Left to right, Juice co-organizers Inna Yampolskaya and Igor Kozlovskiy, Ukrainian Chief Rabbi Yaakov Bleich and the American Joint Distribution Committee's Lilya Vendrova at a Juice event in Kiev, November 2012. (Courtesy Juice) KIEV, Ukraine (JTA) — Hours after assailants shot Rabbi Artur Ovadia Isakov on a street in the Russian republic of Dagestan last month, mainstream Russian media were still scrambling to ascertain his identity. But Isakov’s name and condition already were known to the readers of Jewishnet.ru, a growing social… Read more »
From left, Anthony Weiner, Eliot Spitzer and Bob Filner, three Jewish politicians seeking to move on after misdeeds. (U.S. Congress/Getty Images/City of San Diego) WASHINGTON (JTA) — The guy with the socks up. The guy with the pants down. The guy with the headlocks. The guy who tweets and deletes. What is it with these male politicos? And why are they all Jewish? The cloistered community that is Washington’s Jewish elite collectively choked… Read more »
Jewish communal attitudes toward interfaith marriages, like the wedding between Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan in 2012, have shifted considerably since 1990. (Allyson Magda/ Facebook) NEW YORK (JTA) — When the nation’s largest Jewish federation convened its first-ever conference recently on engaging interfaith families, perhaps the most notable thing about it was the utter lack of controversy that greeted the event. There was a time when the stereotypical Jewish approach to intermarriage was to… Read more »
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The election for Massachusetts governor is still 16 months away — too soon to know what the issues are or who the viable candidates will be. But apparently it’s never too soon for tikkun olam. Four of the declared candidates are Jewish, and all are grounding… Read more »
Reflecting its new motto, "Protect the Refugee," HIAS is helping refugees in Chad. (Courtesy HIAS) TARRYTOWN, N.Y. (JTA) — The new HIAS is not your grandmother’s Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, and it’s certainly not the one that brought her mother over from the Pale of Settlement. After decades as the Jewish community’s foremost voice on immigration — first in leading the resettlement of Jews… Read more »
