Ron Blomberg Former New York Yankee first baseman Ron Blomberg made history as the first designated hitter in the major leagues. “In 1973 I screwed up the game of baseball and I’m very proud of it, and having a Jew to do it is great,” he told the AJP in a… Read more »
Israeli flags fly high at a recent Israel Festival in Tucson. (Marty Johnston/TJCC) “Israel’s Incredible Innovations” — 65 years’ worth of remarkable achievements in computing, medicine, agriculture, biotechnology, renewable energy and many other fields — will be front and center at the Israel 65 Festival on Sunday, April 21, which will be held from noon to 6 p.m. on the Jewish community… Read more »
Tucson’s Israel 65 Festival next month will celebrate “Israel’s Incredible Innovations,” such as: Computers • MinDesktop, a thought-controlled, hands-free computer for the disabled that could be used without a keyboard or mouse. Developed by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev students under the supervision of professor Rami Puzis, it features… Read more »
The annual Mimuna concert, a Moroccan-style end-of-Passover celebration sponsored by the Weintraub Israel Center and Temple Emanu-El, will be held Tuesday, April 2 at 6 p.m. at Temple Emanu-El. “We will host two very special musicians for a live performance of the MoroMore group, with Bulgarian musician Anton Shekerjiev… Read more »
Howard J. Schwartz, M.D., will speak on “Ethical Issues for Jewish Doctors” at a Hadassah Southern Arizona lunch on Thursday, April 18 at noon at Skyline Country Club. Born in New York City, Schwartz attended yeshiva and received his B.A. from Brooklyn College and his M.D. from the Einstein… Read more »
Elinor and Yale Palchick both served in the Philippines during World War II. (Courtesy Yale Palchick) During World War II, Tucsonan Yale Palchick, now 91, helped liberate a Japanese war camp holding American POWs, was at Okinawa at the war’s end and in Tokyo a few days after the United States dropped its third atomic bomb on Aug. 19, 1945. But mostly, “I was trying… Read more »
Around 50 people attended a panel discussion, “Jewish Responses to the Border,” at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on March 14. Three of the four panelists, including Mayor Jonathan Rothschild, Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon and Bob Feinman, are Jewish. The event, sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council of… Read more »
A Tucson Walking Tour in Women’s History, presented by the Arizona Women’s Heritage Trail, draws from the significant involvement of Jewish women in the city’s history. Take the former residence of Theresa Marx Ferrin at the corner of Meyer and Cushing Streets. Ferrin and her family lived in the… Read more »
The annual community-wide Yom HaShoah commemoration, sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council and the Coalition for Jewish Education of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, will be held Sunday, April 7 at 2 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. This year, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum… Read more »
Israeli peace activist Roni Keidar speaks in Tucson (Guy Gelbart) It’s not easy living 500 yards from the Gaza border. Roni Keidar, who lives in Netiv Ha’asara — the closest community in Israel to the Gaza Strip — is an Israeli educator and active member of Other Voice, a non-partisan group promoting peace and encouraging dialogue between Israelis and… Read more »
The Noah Warren Cohen Scholarship has been established in memory of Noah Warren Cohen, a young man with great enthusiasm for social causes and compassion for those less fortunate. Noah died in 2010 at the age of 12 and his family has established a scholarship fund that will award… Read more »
Naomi Schuster, UA Hillel director of student life (left) and Holocaust survivor Yuliya Genina paint ceramic butterflies for the Butterfly Project, to be displayed around Tucson in the coming months. Participants at the UA Holocaust Vigil will have the opportunity to paint butterflies. (Amy Gould) The University of Arizona Hillel Foundation’s Annual Holocaust Vigil — a 24-hour program dedicated to Holocaust remembrance — will take place on the UA mall from Wednesday, March 20 at noon until Thursday, March 21 at noon. This year’s theme is “Silence Helps the Oppressors.” The event will include… Read more »
Jane Ash, one of the founders of the Bryna Zehngut Mitzvot Award, left, and Ital Ironstone with framed print by Julie Szerina Stein. (Marth Lochert) The Advisory Council of the Women’s Philanthropy of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona awarded Ital Ironstone its seventh annual Bryna Zehngut Mitzvot Award at the Connections brunch on Sunday, March 3. The award recognizes an outstanding Jewish teenage girl. The council, which includes past Women’s Philanthropy chairs and… Read more »
David Graizbord David Graizbord, Ph.D., associate professor of Judaic studies at the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies, will present “Kaballah, What is it, Really and What does it Matter (Especially if You are Not a Hasid or Neo-Hasid)” at a Hadassah Southern Arizona luncheon on Sunday, March 17 at noon at… Read more »
Jewish War Veterans Friedman-Paul Post 201 will sponsor a lunch meeting on Sunday, March 17 at noon in honor of the 117th anniversary of the national veterans’ organization. The guest speaker will be James Ross, administrator of the Arizona State Veteran Home in Tucson. Jewish War Veterans of the… Read more »
Friends of the Israel Defense Forces is sponsoring a mission to Poland and Israel next month. Fifty IDF officers will accompany supporters of FIDF from the United States and Panama on the 10-day “From Holocaust to Independence” journey, April 8-19. In Poland, the group will travel to historical sites… Read more »
For Passover, the Maimonides Society of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is continuing its new program of matching established Jewish doctors in Tucson with Jewish medical students and residents from the University of Arizona for home holiday meals and observances. If you are a doctor planning a Passover… Read more »
Tucson’s Israel 65 Festival next month will celebrate “Israel’s Incredible Innovations.” Some of Israel’s many claims to fame include: Computers: The USB flash drive, a portable memory storage system, developed by M-Systems Agriculture: The modern drip irrigation system that dispenses a single drop of liquid at a time, invented… Read more »
Mayor Jonathan Rothschild will give the opening remarks at an all-day seminar sponsored by the Alzheimer’s Association Desert Southwest Chapter at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on Wednesday, March 13 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sessions at the 19th Annual Mayor’s Alzheimer’s Conference will include “Caregiving: Elder Law… Read more »
Jewish Family & Children’s Services is seeking volunteers and donations for its Matza and More project,, which it started in 1970. Local businesses, synagogues and Jewish organizations join JFCS in collecting and delivering a variety of food items to more than 200 individuals and families to help them celebrate… Read more »
