News

Beloved: A Multifaith Pride Service to celebrate the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and two-spirit communities, will be held Thursday, Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. at Temple Emanu-El. Co-sponsored by the Wingspan Multifaith Working Group and the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s LGBT Jewish Inclusion Project, the service will… Read more »

Tucson’s Jewish History Museum, housed in Arizona’s first synagogue building at 564 S. Stone Ave., will open a century-old time capsule at its centennial celebration on Sunday, Oct. 24. The celebration will begin at noon with a street festival. The capsule will be opened at 2 p.m. Placed in… Read more »

Tedd Goldfinger

The Tucson Maimonides Society will present “Wine and Your Heart: Wine Tasting & Dinner” with guest speaker Dr. Tedd Goldfinger on Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010, at Skyline Country Club. Goldfinger is the founder of Desert Cardiology of Tucson Heart Center and chaired a Tucson Cardiology Update Colloquium for 13… Read more »

Eighteen years ago, Stuart Mellan and Nancy Etter, both widowed, single parents, met, fell in love and united their combined five children to create their new family.

Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona President and CEO Stuart Mellan and his wife, Nancy, will celebrate 18 years of marriage by hosting an open house anniversary party to benefit the Homer Davis Elementary School’s Friday food pack program on Sunday, Oct. 10, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at the… Read more »

‘Fractured Bubble’ by Henry Grosman and Babak Bryan won the Sukkah City architectural competition in Manhattan. (Courtesy of Reboot)

It was a surprise hit on the cultural roster of a city that may be the most culturally busy city in the nation. And even though the Sukkah City architectural competition in New York was being dismantled this week, look for Sukkah City next year in a town near… Read more »

Jerry Silverman, right, president and CEO of Jewish Federations of North America, with Stuart Mellan, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, and Carol Karsch, executive director of the Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona. “Jerry brings the future into every conversation about the present,” says Mellan.

“Change is the new normal and we need to embrace that concept,” Jewish Federations of North America president and CEO Jerry Silverman told a Tucson audience on Sept. 15. Making one of the dozens of community visits he’s become known for since taking the JFNA helm in September 2009,… Read more »

Shira Ledman

Until recently, government grants accounted for around 75 percent of the budget at Jewish Family & Children’s Services. But after losing big chunks of federal, state and local funding over the past 18 months — bringing the government share of the agency’s budget down to about 50 percent —… Read more »

(L-R) Brenda Landau of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, Vern Kozlen of the Jewish Federation of Palm Springs and Desert Area, former Canadian Olympic swimmer Karen James and Israeli President Shimon Peres recite the Shehecheyanu blessing at Peres’ residence in Jerusalem on July 13.

In Hungary, as in other eastern European countries, many young adults are now discovering their Jewish histories and identities. Recently, four Jewish women from Tucson experienced their own journeys of Jewish discovery as participants in a Jewish Federations of North America mission to Hungary and Israel, joining 120 U.S.… Read more »

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and Palestinian President Abbas R) at Netanyahu residence in Jerusalem, Sept. 15, 2010. (Kobi Gideon / Flash90)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — When the fat lady sings on Sept. 26, it may only be an intermission. That’s the word from an array of Mideast experts across the political spectrum. They are predicting that the seeming intractability between Israel and the Palestinians over whether Israel extends a settlement moratorium… Read more »

A recent survey of British Jewry showed a decline in every Jewish denomination since 1990 except for two groups: the strictly Orthodox haredi and the Masorti, or Conservative movement. Over those 20 years, both have nearly doubled. Researchers behind the report, published in May by the Board of Deputies… Read more »

Mark and Michael Levkowitz of the Chicago Music Store

There’s an optimistic spirit in downtown Tucson. Whether it’s about food, the music scene or the arrival of artisanal coffee, many Tucsonans say it’s about time, while business people rejoice. Returning to downtown after 12 years, Janos Wilder will open Downtown Kitchen & Cocktails next month in the former… Read more »

The Third Annual Sukkot Water Drawing Celebration will be held Sunday, Sept. 26 at 4 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. It will focus on sustainability not only with respect to water, but also in community life. The PJ Library, a program administered by the Jewish Federation of… Read more »

Six fine kosher wines will be featured at the Temple Emanu-El Women of Reform Judaism “Beyond Manischewitz” Kosher Wine Tasting on Sunday, Sept. 16, from 3 to 5 p.m. in the Temple Emanu-El sukkah. Five local chefs will pair samples of their favorite recipes with the wines. Chefs will… Read more »

Steven Lightman

Philanthropist Steven Lightman will be honored at the Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging annual dinner on Sunday, Oct. 10 at 5 p.m. at Loews Ventana Canyon. The event will feature “Encore: A Salute to Musical Theatre” by performers from the University of Arizona School of Theatre, Film and… Read more »

Jonathan Rothschild, chair of Tucson’s Jewish Community Relations Council, left, with Pastor Keni Ashby (Teaneck, N.J.) and Larry Schooler (Austin, Texas). (Courtesy JCPA)

Some pundits have declared the historic black-Jewish alliance of the civil rights era over, dead, finished. Not so, say Tucsonans Jonathan Rothschild and Barbara Lewis, who in June took part in a Jewish Council on Public Affairs-sponsored African-American/Jewish Community Leaders Mission to Birmingham, Ala., to witness the still vibrant… Read more »

Inbal and Guy Gelbart with (L-R) Arbel, 5; Carmel, 7; and Clil, 3

As a teen growing up in Haifa, Guy Gelbart was active in the Israeli Scout Movement, the Tzofim. “It was about the coolest thing you could do,” Gelbart told the AJP. Now, at age 36, the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s new Israel Center director and community shaliach, or… Read more »

Karla Ember

“Radiant” and “giving” are the words friends use to describe Karla Marie Ember, 54, cantorial soloist for Congregation Chaverim, who died Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2010, from injuries sustained in an attack on Friday, Sept. 3.… Read more »

Imam Rauf

Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 2010 9:31 AM Initially the controversy over building a $100-million Muslim community center and mosque two blocks from Ground Zero was about location, location, location. Increasingly, however, attention has turned to the 61-year-old Sufi imam behind the project. Depending on who you ask, Rauf —… Read more »

President Barack Obama holds a working dinner with, clockwise from left, President Hosni Mubarek of Egypt, King Abdullah II of Jordan, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, George Mitchell, Special Envoy for Middle East Peace, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, and Tony Blair, the international Middle east envoy and former British Prime Minsiter, in the Old Family Dining Room of the White House, Sept. 1, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Peace in a year? Try getting past Sept. 26. Or is it 30? Direct talks between Palestinians and Israelis have barely begun and already the sides are facing their first major hurdle — the end of Israel’s partial moratorium on settlement building. Several issues might beset… Read more »

Last Friday night, my dear friend Karla Ember, beloved cantorial soloist of  Congregation Chaverim and longtime Tucson Jewish community musician was violently attacked and gravely wounded. She is now in intensive care and fighting for her life. Members of our Jewish community are trying to help Karla and her… Read more »