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THA Tikkun Olam Award to honor Giffords

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (P.K.Weis/southwest photobank.com)

Tucson Hebrew Academy will honor Rep. Gabrielle Giffords with its 2011 Tikkun Olam Award on Sunday, Nov. 6. The Jewish concept of tikkun olam (repairing the world) is a call for all to do their part to make the world a better place, both through public service and by… Read more »

Holocaust survivor to speak of ghettos, camps

Regina Gutman and Sam Spiegel wed under a chuppah at the Foehrenwald displaced persons camp in 1946. (Courtesy United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)

Regina Spiegel, a Holocaust survivor from Radom, Poland, currently living in Washington, D.C., will discuss her experiences in ghettos, forced labor and concentration camps, including Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen, on Sunday, Oct. 30, from 3:30 to 5 p.m. The program, “Literature and Testimony,” presented by the Coalition for Jewish Education… Read more »

At Tucson Meet Yourself, celebrate in the Sukkah

Scene from the 2010 Tucon Meet Yourself Festival (Steven Meckler)

Tucson’s Jewish community will have a significant presence at the Tucson Meet Yourself Festival this weekend. In celebration of the weeklong Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which started Thursday, the Jewish History Museum will house its festival booth in a sukkah (which is apropos, as the word “sukkah” means “booth”)… Read more »

Handmaker to honor Tucson’s oldest Jews

Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging will hold its third annual “Celebration of Tucson’s Oldest Jewish Residents” on Tuesday, Oct. 25 at 11 a.m. The free lunch is a celebration of Jewish Tucsonans ages 90 and older. The lunch will begin with a color guard presentation by Tucson’s Jewish… Read more »

JFCS parties mark success of two programs

Jewish Family & Children’s Services will hold events celebrating two programs next month. The LEAH — Let’s End Abusive Households program, which serves victims of domestic violence within a Jewish cultural and religious context, will mark its 11th year of service with a free house party at Covenant House… Read more »

JHM to screen ‘Jewish Soldiers in Blue & Gray’

In commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the U.S. Civil War, the Jewish History Museum, in partnership with the Tucson Jewish Community Center, will present a free screening of “Jewish Soldiers in Blue & Gray” on Sunday, Oct. 23 at 2 p.m. at the JCC. The film reveals the… Read more »

Shalom Tucson brunch offers bagels, community info

Shalom Tucson will hold a free bagel brunch on Sunday, Oct. 23, 10:30 a.m. to noon at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, with the theme “One Stop Shopping for the Tucson Jewish Community!” Geared toward newcomers and those interested in connecting to Jewish Tucson, the event will include the… Read more »

Exhibit on Pope, Jews prompts JFSA bus trip

Pope John Paul II visits Rome’s Great Synagogue with Chief Rabbi Elio Toaff in April 1986, the first recorded papal visit to a synagogue.

The Northwest Division of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is sponsoring a bus trip to Phoenix on Tuesday, Nov. 29 to attend the exhibit, “A Blessing to One Another: Pope John Paul II and the Jewish People.” The 2,000 square foot, multi-media traveling exhibit chronicles the friendship of… Read more »

Ending hunger goal of JCRC annual meeting/food stamp challenge

Robert Morris

Growing up in Tucson during the 1950s, Robert Morris, Jr. learned about the importance of fresh vegetables from a local Jewish peddler. “When I was elementary school age Toby would let me ride on his truck for a few blocks,” says Morris. Today, fresh vegetables have often disappeared from… Read more »

Temple’s empty chair symbol of Shalit’s plight

A chair for Gilad Shalit was displayed on the bimah at Temple Emanu-El throughout the High Holidays.

During this year’s High Holiday services, an empty, decorated chair was displayed on the bimah at Temple Emanu-El as a reminder of the ongoing captivity of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped by Hamas five years ago and has been held in Gaza. The idea for the chair… Read more »

Former JFSA VP John Peck to get LGBT award

John Peck

­ John Peck, a former senior vice president of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, will be among four honorees at the second annual Rainbow Keshet Awards reception later this month. The Rainbow Keshet Awards were created as a joint partnership between the Federation’s LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender)… Read more »

‘Heartbeat of Israel’ presents Uri Banai concert

Uri Banai

As Israeli actor and singer/songwriter Uri Banai takes the concert stage at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on Sunday, Oct. 30, he will take the audience on a journey through the history of his family — one of Israel’s leading entertainment dynasties. Told through songs, video clips, rare photos… Read more »

Shop local

The Arizona Jewish Post has relied on the support of the local business community since our first edition was printed in September 1946. Fashions may have changed — our ads no longer feature chenille bedspreads and silver cocktail shakers — but it still makes good sense to shop local.… Read more »

On electric bike, zooming around Tucson is a breeze

  On a muggy monsoon morning early in July, I drove to my friend Susan Silverman’s house to test ride her electric bike. She had spoken so enthusiastically about it and I’d admired it when she rode it to events. I’d decided to spend part of my vacation researching… Read more »

Israeli quartet coming to Tucson

A performance by the Jerusalem String Quartet will open the season for Arizona Friends of Chamber Music on Wednesday, Oct. 5 at 7:30 p.m. at the Leo Rich Theater. The Jerusalem Quartet has garnered acclaim for its recordings of the quartets of Shostakovich. The concert will feature Shostakovich’s Sixth… Read more »

Multi-faith pride service to launch exhibit of sacred items

The Third Annual Multi-Faith Pride Worship Service, “Just Be —Emerging Out of the Wilderness,” cosponsored by the Wingspan Multi-Faith Working Group and the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s LGBT Jewish Inclusion Project, will be held Tuesday, Oct. 11, at 7 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, 915 E. 4th… Read more »

Destination, Israel: Maccabi athletes get trip of a lifetime

(L-R) Dakota Kordsiemon, Daniel Goldstein, Shawn Spitzer and Austen Berens paint a mural at a school in Kiryat Shmona during the “Day of Caring, Day of Sharing.” (Courtesy TJCC)

Each year for the past 15 years, the Tucson Jewish Community Center has taken a delegation of young athletes to the JCC Maccabi Games in another U.S. city: Omaha, or Boca Raton, or Dallas. In 2000, Tucson hosted the games, which brought excitement and nachas (pride) to our city… Read more »

At UA Hillel ‘Talk Israel’ tent, peace pegged to negotiations

Nicole Siegel, a University of Arizona sophomore from Columbia, Md., wears a t-shirt displaying the names of 20 campuses taking part in Hillel’s “Talk Israel: Join the Conversation” initiative. (Sheila Wilensky)

The University of Arizona Mall is often peppered with tents promoting various causes, but on Sept. 21 the discussion inside the UA Hillel Foundation’s “Talk Israel: Join the Conversation” tent was reminiscent of college teach-ins during the 1960s. Around 30 students and faculty were standing around or sitting on… Read more »

M’Kor group offers spiritual path

Congregation M’kor Hayim will hold an orientation for its second Mussar study group on Oct. 4, 7-9 p.m., at Tucson Hebrew Academy, with Rabbi Helen Cohn and facilitator Nan Rubin. The ancient Jewish practice of Mussar, rooted in Jewish texts, is an ethical and spiritual approach to daily life.… Read more »