Local

Culinary author to speak at Jewish History Museum

The Jewish History Museum will present Abbie Rosner, author of “Breaking Bread in Galilee: A Culinary Journey into the Promised Land” on Thursday, June 6 at 7 p.m. Rosner, an American, moved from Washington, D.C. to Israel’s lower Galilee in the late 1980s. In the process of exploring local… Read more »

Southwest Torah Institute gets grant for 2014 Israel Experience trip

The Southwest Torah Institute, the educational and outreach arm of Congregation Chofetz Chayim, has been awarded the Goldman Family Israel Scholarship by the Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona and the Elliot S. Goldman and Goldman Family Israel Scholarship Funds. The $2,500 grant will support a scholarship for one… Read more »

Anna Greenberg, ‘valiant warrior,’ loses battle with cancer

Anna Greenberg at her brother Isaac's wedding in February 2012.

Anna Cela Greenberg, 28, lost her courageous battle with cancer on Tuesday, May 28, 2013. She died as she had lived – surrounded by the love and support of her family and innumerable friends. In the last few days before her death, friends who visited her at Carondelet St.… Read more »

Partnerships help JFCS expand behavioral health care services

Shira Ledman

“Eileen” is struggling. Once an independent business woman, she now finds herself isolated and depressed due to age-related macular degeneration and limited mobility. Her isolation is ironic, since her three grown children have moved back in with her. But as each of these adult children has either a mental… Read more »

‘Conundrum kids’ intrigue, bring joy to neuropsychologist

Renee Gutman, Ph.D., has a thriving practice as a pediatric and adolescent neuropsychologist in Tucson, but her family’s relocation from Mamaroneck, N.Y., wasn’t for professional reasons. Their 2004 move depended on finding the right Orthodox shul for her grieving father. When Gutman’s mother lay dying in her arms, her… Read more »

THA tidbits: Author visit, Jewish history blend

Gwen Harvey, author of ‘Esperanza Means Hope,’ with Tucson Hebrew Academy fourth graders Breanna Yalen and Jonah Parnaby, holding their painting inspired by characters in the book. (Sheila Wilensky/AJP)

What could be more exciting for fourth graders than to read a book and have the author visit their classroom? On April 26, Gwen Harvey, former director of education at the Arizona Historical Society and the author of “Esperanza Means Hope,” visited Tucson Hebrew Academy. “They’re so excited,” said… Read more »

Local planners aim to reduce barriers to Jewish engagement

How do you break into the circle? A concierge service to help people navigate the Jewish community is one of several new initiatives to come out of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s strategic planning process. (Allegro Photography, http://allegrophotography.com)

Looking for a way to jump into a Jewish community “can be a very lonely place,” says Liz Kanter Groskind, a member of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona strategic planning steering committee. That’s why a “concierge” service to help people at various stages of life find Jewish community… Read more »

PR star going strong despite two brain tumors

Marian Salzman

May is Brain Tumor Awareness Month. After having two brain tumors removed in the last four years, Tucsonan Marian Salzman, 53, is celebrating being alive. And she’s not just alive, she’s vibrant, creative and has a prominent role in the world of public relations and newscrafting. Salzman, the CEO… Read more »

Tucson student earns Hillel medical school scholarship

Rachel Baumann

Rachel Baumann, a University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson student, has won the Shandel Medical Endowment Scholarship from the University of Arizona Hillel Foundation. The merit-based, $20,000 biennial scholarship is awarded to Jewish second-year medical students attending the UA College of Medicine in either Tucson or Phoenix.… Read more »

Gelbart family farewell planned

(L-R) Guy, Carmel, Arbel, Clil, Hadar and Inbal Gelbart

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona and Tucson Jewish Community Center will host a farewell party for community shaliach (Israeli emissary) and Israel Center Director Guy Gelbart and family on Wednesday, May 22, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the JCC. The family friendly event will include a light… Read more »

Relationships in business and love to be focus of author talk

Jeffrey McIntyre and Miriam Hawley

The Temple Emanu-El adult education committee will present a book talk by Miriam Hawley and her husband, Jeffrey McIntyre, authors of “Living with Intention in Life, Love and Business,” on Tuesday, May 21, from 7 to 9 p.m. Hawley and McIntyre, business coaches who have worked with executive management… Read more »

Arizona higher education panel examines funding, philosophy

Peter Likins moderates a panel discussion on higher education in Arizona sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council and Hadassah Southern Arizona, at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on April 26. (Simon Rosenblatt)

Our system of higher education hasn’t changed in the last 60 years, University of Arizona President Emeritus Peter Likins said at a breakfast and panel discussion April 26 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. As the moderator of the discussion on “The Future of Higher Education in Arizona,” when… Read more »

Hadassah will host heart health expert

Lorraine Mackstaller, M.D.

Lorraine Mackstaller, M.D., is devoted to educating the public, especially women, about heart disease. She will present “Knowledge is Power” at Hadassah Southern Arizona’s luncheon on Sunday, May 19, at noon at Skyline Country Club. Mackstaller is a clinical associate professor of medicine at the Arizona Health Sciences Center,… Read more »

Lecture to tell journey from pastor to rabbi

Rabbi Jack Parisi

Jack Parisi, an evangelical Christian pastor who became a rabbi, will speak as part of Chabad of Tucson’s 2013 lecture series on Sunday, May 19, at 7 p.m. at Congregation Young Israel. Parisi’s life-changing journey began when he and his wife, Sally, co-pastors of a church in the Bible… Read more »

Tucson’s Israel 65 Festival – in pictures

More than 4,000 people attended the Israel 65 Festival on Sunday, April 21, enjoying food, games, the shuk marketplace, music and dance. Special guests included Dana Erlich, consul for public diplomacy, Consulate General of Israel, Los Angeles; U.S. Rep. Ron Barber; Tucson City Councilwoman Karen Ulich; and Mayor Jonathan… Read more »

Israel fest to spotlight innovations, hoopsters, Maccabeats

From the creation of the world’s first hybrid cucumber in the 1950s to the building of particle collectors for Switzerland’s Large Hadron Collider, which led to the 2012 discovery of the Higgs Bosun or “God Particle”(a subatomic particle that accounts for the existence of matter and diversity in the… Read more »

Author to discuss new novel, ‘The Wanting,’ set in Middle East

Michael Lavigne

Michael Lavigne, winner of the 2007 Sami Rohr Choice Award for emerging Jewish writers for his first novel, “Not Me,” will speak about his new novel, “The Wanting,” on Sunday, May 5, from 3:30 to 5 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. The free event is cosponsored by… Read more »

AZ higher education focus of JCRC breakfast

The Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona will hold a breakfast and panel discussion on “The Future of Higher Education in Arizona: Is the Current Model Sustainable?” on Friday, April 26, from 7:30 to 10 a.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. The program… Read more »

Youth day of service to aid seniors, school

Handmaker Youth Leadership Team, the B’nai Tzedek teen philanthropy program, Tucson Hebrew High and Young Judaea are partnering in J-Serve Volunteer Day, part of an international day of Jewish youth service, on Sunday, April 28, from 2 to 5:30 p.m. at Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging. The event… Read more »

JWI Mother’s Day Flower Project to aid local women’s shelter

Women and children living at Tucson’s Emerge! Center Against Domestic Abuse will receive flowers and a basket of beauty products on Mother’s Day through Jewish Women International’s 15th annual Mother’s Day Flower Project. Two other shelters in Arizona, Chrysalis Shelter in Phoenix and Chrysalis Shelter in Scottsdale, also will… Read more »