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 »
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 »
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 »
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 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 »
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 »
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 »
(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 »
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 »
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 »
Asked why we fast on Yom Kippur, the prophet Isaiah responded, “Is it not to share your bread with the hungry?” (Isaiah 58:6) Each year, the local Jewish community honors Isaiah with the Project Isaiah High Holidays food drive benefiting the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona. This year,… Read more »
After retirement some people say they don’t know how they used to fit work into their busy lives — and understandably so, considering the wide range of adult education classes available in Tucson. The Brandeis National Committee, Tucson Chapter, a non-alumni philanthropic support group of Brandeis University, is offering… Read more »
The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona and the Weintraub Israel Center are encouraging area residents to sign a “Petition Against a Unilaterally Declared Palestinian State” created by the Israel Action Network, a joint project of the Jewish Federations of North America and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. The… Read more »
Richard Albin Temple Emanu-El will hold a free health awareness seminar, “Prostate Cancer: Every Man Needs a Plan,” with Richard J. Ablin, Ph.D., D.Sc. (Hon.), on Sunday, Sept. 25 at 9:30 a.m. Ablin is a research professor of immunobiology and pathology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine and president… Read more »
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (P.K.Weis/southwest photobank.com) The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona has nominated Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and Rabbi Stephanie Aaron for the Third Annual Jewish Community Hero Awards. Created by The Jewish Federations of North America, the awards project uses social media such as Facebook and Twitter to bring national attention to local leaders,… Read more »
Birthright Israel staff member Jeremy Lichtman, left, with Tucsonan Peter Ruiz at the Western Wall It wasn’t easy for 24-year-old Peter Ruiz to venture to Israel with other young adults, but it was more difficult for him to leave. Ruiz, who has cerebral palsy, toured Israel from June 13 to 23 on a Taglit- Birthright Israel trip. His parents, Bernadette and Joaquin Ruiz, were… Read more »
Congregation Chaverim will observe the first yahrzeit and celebrate the life of Karla Ember on Sunday, Sept. 11 at 9 a.m. Ember was cantorial soloist at Chaverim. She died Sept. 8, 2010, after being attacked Sept. 3, 2010 by a man friends described as either her ex-husband or ex-boyfriend… Read more »
Noah Pensak (left) and Jacob Meyer donate books to the Ocotillo Learning Center library. (Courtesy Ocotillo Learning Center) It started as a novel way to teach Jewish children about philanthropy, social justice and tikkun olam (repairing the world). Today, the mitzvah project has become a cherished part of the Bar and Bat Mitzvah scene. Yet for each child who chooses to take part in this burgeoning tradition,… Read more »
Gertrude Shankman, a Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging resident, and Adam DeLuca in front of the B’nai Tzedek triptych, currently on display at Handmaker. The painting includes a poem by DeLuca. (Bryan Davis) Eighteen-year-old Adam DeLuca has participated in the B’nai Tzedek Tucson teen philanthropy program since 2007. Now starting his freshman year at the University of Arizona, DeLuca has also embarked on a lifetime of giving. “Before I joined B’nai Tzedek I understood that charity was a good thing,” DeLuca… Read more »
Girls play at the SEGA Girls’ School in Tanzania, the recipient of Dining for Women’s August 2011 fundraising efforts. (Warren Zelman) Do Jewish women enjoy sharing a meal while contributing to worldwide social justice? Of course — and the Tucson chapter of the national organization, Dining for Women, does just that. Dory Martin, a local psychotherapist, started the chapter two years ago after learning… Read more »
