Local

WASHINGTON (JTA) – Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, launched a gun control initiative on the second anniversary of the Jan. 8 shooting in Tucson. “I was shot in the head while meeting with constituents two years ago today,” Giffords wrote with Kelly, an ex-astronaut, in… Read more »

California filmmaker Roberta Grossman, who was inspired to make "Hava Nagila (The Movie)" by cherished memories of dancing to the tune at family affairs, spent three years researching the song's history. (Courtesy "Hava Nagila The Movie")

NEW YORK (JTA) — You’re at a wedding or Bar Mitzvah, mingling at the bar or catching up with a distant relative, when you hear it — the opening notes of a familiar tune that as if by some invisible force carries you and other guests to the dance… Read more »

Sharon Megdal (third from left) toasts “L’Chaim”with desalinated seawater with her colleagues at a desalination plant in Hadera, Israel.

University of Arizona Distinguished Outreach Professor Sharon Megdal grew up in Irvington, N.J., where scarcity of water wasn’t a problem. After she settled in Tucson in the late 1970s, her perspective began to change. “I lived here a dozen years before becoming immersed in water,” says Megdal, who started… Read more »

A family reunites outside the New Jersey home of Elise and Hal Hirshberg, parents of Tucsonan Amy Lederman. Front row: (L-R) Sylvia Boris, Lederman, Lynn Pollan, Carol Lewis, Farida Deske, Elise Hirshberg, Myriam Nahmani. Back: Shelley Hirshberg, Bella Bernard, Jeff Hirshberg (Robert D. DeCuir)

Since the beginning of time, in every culture, across every continent, one thing connects us all: the deeply human need to convey what is important to us from one generation to the next. The telling and retelling of the stories of our lives is essential to the creation of… Read more »

One of the oldest gowns in the Jewish History Museum exhibit was worn in 1702. The gown was shown in the museum’s first ketubah exhibit and was so fragile it was kept behind glass. It has since been restored at the Costume and Textile Study Center in Norfolk, England, and has been donated to the JHM permanent collection.

Three dark-colored wedding gowns will be spotlighted in the Jewish History Museum’s Fifth Annual Ketubah exhibit, which opens Jan. 1, including a Virginia widow’s gown of black satin with a collar trim of white lace. The bride who wore it, Elizabeth Rachel Richardson, was a wealthy confederate widow, says… Read more »

Jeannie OpDyke Smith

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Northwest Division will hold a campaign event on Wednesday, Jan. 16 at 7 p.m., featuring Jeannie OpDyke Smith, the daughter of Polish rescuer Irene Gut OpDyke, who died in 2003. OpDyke received international recognition for her actions during the Holocaust while working for… Read more »

Dmitri Shostakovich

The University of Arizona’s Center for Judaic Studies, School of Music and Center for the Study of American Ideals and Culture will present a free symposium and concert, “The Jewish Experience in Classical Music: Shostakovich and Asia,” on Sunday, Jan. 13. The symposium will look at the influence of… Read more »

Irving Berlin (Culver Pictures)

Why has the Broadway musical proven to be such fertile territory for Jewish artists? From Broadway’s golden age, names like Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, the Gershwins, Arthur Laurents, Jerome Robbins, Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim immediately come to mind. More recently, Broadway babies such as Stephen Schwartz, Marc Shaiman… Read more »

Rabbi David Nesenoff

David Nesenoff, who filmed the video exposing the anti-Semitic and anti-Israel views of longtime White House correspondent Helen Thomas, will speak Sunday, Jan. 6 at 7 p.m. at Congregation Young Israel. The lecture, “To Catch an Anti-Semite,” will kick off Chabad of Tucson’s 2013 lecture series. Nesenoff, ordained as… Read more »

Ruth Davis

Ruth Davis will go anywhere to talk about the U.S. Constitution. Anywhere that people will listen, says the retired attorney, former public school teacher and counselor. Her next stop to discuss “The U.S. Project: In Our Words” will be Temple Emanu-El on Wednesday, Jan. 9 at 7 p.m., the… Read more »

Emilio Zweig and Noam Shahar in a scene from “The Chosen,” adapted by Aaron Posner and Chaim Potok from Potok’s novel set in Brooklyn in the 1940s. “The Chosen” will be performed at Live Theatre Workshop from Jan. 3-Feb. 9. For more information visit www.livetheatreworkshop.org.

… Read more »

Zerach Greenfield writes the first letter of Congregation Anshei Israel’s new Torah with the Borin family. Seated (L-R): Anna Katz Lederman, Greenfield and Leon Lederman. Standing: Sara Borin, Tom Borin, Zach Singer and Stacey Singer. At right, Jonah Parnaby and Michael Jurkowitz (in camouflage jacket) look on. (Madeline Friedman)

Each Hebrew letter has meaning, Zerach Greenfield, a sofer stam (scribe), said at the kick-off for Congregation Anshei Israel’s new Torah scroll on Dec. 16. That meaning is reflected in the way each letter is written in the Torah. For example, the letter aleph stands for eretz (earth) and… Read more »

Prof. Robert Eisen

Congregation Anshei Israel will host Prof. Robert Eisen as its scholar-in-residence for the weekend of Jan. 11-12. ­Eisen’s work as a professor of religion and Jewish studies at George Washington University focuses on the interpretation of peace and violence in the three Abrahamic faiths. Why is it, asks Eisen,… Read more »

The Women’s Philanthropy Advisory Council of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is accepting applications for the Seventh Annual Bryna Zehn­gut Mitzvot Award, recognizing an outstanding Jewish teenage girl. The award, which honors the late Zehngut, will recognize a girl who is currently a high school junior or senior… Read more »

Anna Greenberg lights the Chanukah candles at the service of healing in her honor Dec. 5. (L-R) Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon, Wendy Weise Cohon, Anna, Bruce Greenberg, Burney Starks (behind Bruce), Aaron Greenberg, Alayne Greenberg, Joree Sowards, Tzadik Rosenberg-Greenberg (MartyJohnston/TJCC)

“Anna-tude” – it’s a new word in the Tucson lexicon to describe the shining spirit of Anna Greenberg, 27, who has been fighting cancer with enormous courage and a wry sense of humor for more than a year. Anna was diagnosed with cancer in October 2011 after her dramatic… Read more »

The Silverman family's kindness yard at night in Winterhaven (Gila Silverman)

I live in a neighborhood known for its Christmas festival. Several years ago, I wrote an essay for this paper, describing our decision to build a giant dreidel for the festival, and reflecting on the experience of living here. That essay ended with this thought: Sometimes a giant dreidel… Read more »

Members of the B’nai Tzedek Teen Advisory Council take a break at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona on Nov. 18 after working with B’nai Tzedek’s newest teens to pack Thanksgiving food bags for 62 students at Homer Davis Elementary School as part of this year’s New Teen Social Action Sunday. (L-R) Belle Soyfer, Madeline Levy, Allison Whitehill, Sarah Cassius, Abigail Herz. In front: Eli Soyfer.

“Something magical began to happen among the villagers. As each person opened their heart to give, the next person gave even more. And as this happened, the soup grew richer and smelled more delicious.” — from “Stone Soup” by Jon J. Muth The B’nai Tzedek Tucson Jewish teen philanthropy… Read more »

Sandra Toro

Sandra Toro, author of several historical novels including the recently published “Secrets Behind Adobe Walls” (Gaon Books), will shed light on the little known activities of the Spanish Inquisition in America in a lecture on Thursday, Dec. 20 at 7 p.m. The talk, hosted by Chabad of Tucson, will… Read more »

Mike Reiss, writer/producer of ‘The Simpsons,’ as he would look in the cartoon world he helped create.

The 22nd annual Tucson International Jewish Film Festival, featuring almost two dozen comedies, dramas and documentaries about everything from music to bagels to the healing power of dolphins, will be held Jan. 10-20. A pre-festival kick-off will be held Sunday, Jan. 6 at 2:15 p.m. and 7 p.m. at… Read more »

A new video biography, “The Black Shawl — Chana Fels’ Journey Remembered,” provides chilling details of Jewish life in Poland during the Nazi occupation. The story, narrated by Chana’s son, Moses Sterngast, follows the journey of two Jewish women, Chana Fels and her mother, Sara Fels, as they experience… Read more »