News

From left: Fernanda Lagunas-Pachecho, Antonella Bonillas-Cruz, Kyla Chacon, Ezra Mandel, Abby Jeck, Razin Smith, Rep. Dan Goldman, Matthew Meislin, Nathanial Hirshman, Liam Sagar, Joaquin Lopez, Natalia Alejandro, and Jacqui Hoffman on Capitol Hill

For the students in this year’s Jewish Latino Teen Coalition, active shooter lockdown drills have long been a fact of life. “I’m not sure about preschool, necessarily, but I can 100% say elementary school,” says Ezra Mandel, a junior at Catalina Foothills High School who was one of the… Read more »

Mazal tov to Gil Ribak, Ph.D., who earlier this month was promoted to Full Professor and is now the Shirley D. Curson Professor of Judaic Studies and History at the School for Global Studies, University of Arizona. Also this month, Ribak won the Bernard Briskin Faculty Award for distinguished… Read more »

Pictured, from left: Leighton Jeffy, JPSA Director of Impact and Engagement Robyn Schwager, and THA Head of School Johanna Bork Shlomovich

Mazal tov to Leighton Jeffy, the 2026 Tucson Hebrew Academy (THA) Teacher Excellence Awardee. Jeffy is a Middle School Humanities teacher at THA. The THA Teacher Excellence Award Endowment was established in 2005 at the Jewish Community Foundation by THA parents Robyn Kessler and Martha Sampson z”l, who wanted… Read more »

The Dr. Sam Goldfein Memorial Award honors Dr. Sam Goldfein, whose leadership qualities and commitment to healing, patient advocacy, education, and clinical acumen had a significant impact on students at the University of Arizona College of Medicine and a positive influence on the practice of medicine in Southern Arizona.… Read more »

(Photo courtesy Tucson J)

As we approach summer and I begin finalizing registrations and swag for the 2026 Team Tucson delegation headed to the Toronto 2026 JCC Maccabi Games, where they’ll compete alongside nearly 400 athletes, I cannot help but reflect fondly on last summer. I could hardly contain my excitement to host… Read more »

Handmaker resident Karen Green and Activity Assistant Ariana Canez visit vendor booths at the Handmaker Healthcare Fair on May 12, 2026. (Photo: Nanci Levy)

On Tuesday, May 12, Handmaker welcomed healthcare professionals, community partners, residents, families, and guests to a successful and informative Healthcare Fair held on campus — the first event of its kind at Handmaker in recent memory. The fair brought together a wide variety of healthcare providers and organizations, offering… Read more »

Stanley Lehman peacefully said his final goodbye on May 11, 2026, surrounded by family and encircled with love. He was born Oct. 13, 1929, in Brooklyn, NY, and moved his family to Tucson in 1970 with the hope of improving the health of his beloved wife Renaye (Ricki). They… Read more »

On June 12-13, Tucson will welcome a unique blend of music, spirituality, and Israeli creativity as the Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center’s Zamru Ensemble arrives for a musicians-in-residence Shabbat. The weekend promises an immersive experience of prayer, learning, and musical connection, rooted in a program that has become a powerful source… Read more »

The Pulse survey revealed that a majority of Jewish individuals in Soutthern Arizona are engaging with the Jewish community in some capacity, but there is opportunity to deepen engagement.

Most Jews in Southern Arizona say their Jewishness is meaningful to them. They have Jewish friends. They know where to find Jewish life if they look for it. Nearly half say they want to be more involved than they currently are. And only one in three says… Read more »

Judith Manelis

Some years ago, while working in Jewish communal service, I decided to go back to school and get a social work degree. I had worked for many years as a journalist and public relations executive, and later, as the executive director of a national agency. Although I had reached… Read more »

Nitay Bar, left, and Yuval Malka listen to speakers at their lehitraot party on May 6, 2026. (Photo: Phyllis Braun/AJP)

I’m sitting down to write my final communication as Southern Arizona’s senior community shlicha, and I honestly can’t believe the time has come. It feels like only yesterday that Nitay and I arrived here, but looking back at everything we’ve been through together, it also feels like a whole… Read more »

Benjamin Ball, an 18-year-old senior outfielder at Hamilton High School in Chandler, starts each day by wrapping tefillin with his father. He wears his Star of David necklace on and off the baseball diamond and says the Shema before each game. Ball, the fifth-rated Arizona high school senior baseball… Read more »

Holly Kitay transitioned peacefully out of this life on Jan. 22, 2026, from complications due to Parkinson’s disease. She was a Tucson resident for over 40 years, almost half of that living with Parkinson’s. Through her journey of 73 years, first as a teacher, then as a nurse, and… Read more »

Theresa Dulgov, a Holocaust survivor from Hungary, lights a candle with her great-grandchildren Fabian Ybarra (left) and Adacelia Figueroa at the Southern Arizona community Yom HaShoah commemoration on April 12, 2026. Raisa Moroz, JFCS director for Holocaust services, looks on from the podium. (Photo: Tucson J)

Community members, clergy, and other local leaders came together with Holocaust survivors and members of the second and third generations on Sunday, April 12, in the Paul and Alice Baker Ballroom at the Tucson Jewish Community Center to honor the survivors, the flickers of light that came out of… Read more »

Ariel Burger with his book, "Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel's Classroom"

Every student who tours Tucson Jewish Museum & Holocaust Center will hear the words of Elie Wiesel, “When you listen to a witness, you become a witness.” On Thursday, May 7 at 6:00 p.m. in the Paul & Alice Baker Ballroom at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, the Lakin… Read more »

Handmaker resident Karen Green with Better Together participants Avey Hanshaw and Oliver Sheinbein (Photo: Nanci Levy/Handmaker)

On Friday, April 10, Handmaker residents gathered in the Great Room alongside BBYO teens, Tucson Hebrew Academy students, and family members for a truly special evening — celebrating Shabbat, marking the conclusion of Passover, and honoring four remarkable years of the Better Together intergenerational program. More than four… Read more »

Each year, as the holiday of Shavuot approaches, Jewish communities around the world prepare to revisit a defining moment in their collective story: The receiving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai. Traditionally understood as a spiritual marriage between God and the Jewish people, Shavuot has also come to be… Read more »

Judith Manelis

As many older adults know, it is often difficult to forge close personal relationships when you relocate to a new place. Most people already have an intimate circle of friends, a comfortable routine, regular work or leisure activities — organized lives. And suddenly, there you are, reaching out and… Read more »

Mitzvah Magic co-chairs Danielle Larcom (left) and Katie Stellitano Rosen with some of the gifts destined for needy Jewish families in Southern Arizona this Passover. Mitzvah Magic is a joint program of Jewish Philanthropies of Southern Arizona and Jewish Family & Children’s Services.

Mitzvah Magic, a volunteer program that supports local Jewish families in need, is celebrating its 18th year with a birthday bash on Wednesday, May 13. Marlyne Freedman, then a vice president at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, started the program in 2008 in response to the economic… Read more »

Rabbi Stephanie Aaron of Congregation Chaverim reads the names of people who were murdered in the Holocaust during the University of Arizona Hillel Yom HaShoah vigil on April 13, 2026. (Photo courtesy UA Hillel)

To commemorate Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) for 2026, the University of Arizona Hillel gathered students and community members on the UA Mall to bear witness together. This was the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic that a name-reading vigil has occurred on the UA mall. At… Read more »