Local

Sol Sylvan will present “The Nine Most Important Words You Need To Know Before Making an Ancestral Visit To Eastern Europe” at the Tucson Genealogy and Oral History Group’s meeting on Sunday, March 11 at 12:30 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Have you ever wanted to breathe… Read more »

2011 Tucson Festival of Books (James S. Wood Photography)

Top-notch authors from Tucson and around the United States will descend on the University of Arizona campus March 10-11 for what’s been called the “Best Book Festival Under the Sun.” The Tucson Festival of Books has grown exponentially since it debuted in 2009, attracting 100,000 book lovers in 2011,… Read more »

Temple Emanu-El will hold a “funraiser” dance on March 3 from 7 to 10 p.m., with a DJ spinning rock and roll music from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s. The event is open to ages 21 and up and will include a silent auction. Admission is $9 per single,… Read more »

Tucson diners will now be able to go out on the town while still paying attention to calories. Twenty-seven restaurant owners joined nutritional experts earlier this month to launch the “Smart Choices for Healthy Dining” program. The program is one of the crowning achievements of the $16 million grant… Read more »

Melissa Hamilton, a violist with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, is organizing 16 TSO members to perform at this year’s community-wide Yom HaShoah commemoration on Sunday, April 22. Hamilton and TSO pianist Marie Sierra will hold a fundraising recital for the Yom HaShoah event on Saturday, March 3 at 7:30… Read more »

Congregation Bet Shalom will hold its 9th annual Wine Tasting Event on Saturday, March 10, from 7:30 to 11 p.m. This year’s theme is “Wines from Around the World,” with wines from Israel, Australia, Italy and the United States provided by event sponsor Total Wine & More. The evening… Read more »

Paulina Goldberg (left) and Raisa Moroz, Holocaust case manager at Jewish Family & Children’s Services, review paperwork at Goldberg’s Council House apartment.

Raisa Moroz, Holocaust case manager/program manager at Jewish Family & Children’s Services, has more than 80 clients on her caseload. But she wants more. “I want people to know this program is available,” says Moroz, who estimates that there are 120 or more Holocaust survivors in Southern Arizona. Every… Read more »

The Claims Conference recently negotiated changes with the German government that should make more Holocaust survivors eligible to collect ghetto pension and one-time ghetto fund payments. Raisa Moroz, Holocaust case manager at Jewish Family & Children’s Services, explains that under previous ghetto pension rules, people had to have lived… Read more »

Mira Awad (left) and Noa

Israeli star Noa and her touring partner Mira Awad will give a UApresents concert on Sunday, March 25 at 6:30 p.m. at Centennial Hall. “Noa and Mira are amazing Jewish Israeli and Palestinian Israeli singers; they bring a fresh musical approach to peace that shows that there can be… Read more »

Anna Greenberg at Sabino Canyon in a “Run with Anna” t-shirt. One of her brothers, Aaron, created “Run with Anna” events as a way to promote regular physical activity. See facbeook.com/RUNwithANNA.

Get healthy — it could save your life. That may sound incredibly obvious, but in the case of Tucson native Anna Greenberg, it’s the start of a remarkable story. Greenberg, 26, was told two years ago that her weight was jeopardizing her health. Her doctor, also a family friend,… Read more »

For the second year, the Tucson Jewish Community Library and the Weintraub Israel Center will present “Israel to Go,” a three-part series for people interested in traveling to Israel. The seminars will be held Feb. 15, March 29 and April 4 at 7 p.m. in the library, which is… Read more »

With four notable authors, including world-renowned “Clan of the Cave Bear” author Jean M. Auel and former University of Arizona President Peter Likins, the 16th Annual Brandeis National Committee, Tucson Chapter, Book & Author events promise to be a treat for readers. The Evening Soirée with authors Auel, Likins,… Read more »

Nancy K. Miller

A Jewish uncle who was the first mayor of South Tucson, a family past discovered as an adult, ownership of unknown property in Israel — all this, and more, contribute to the story of Nancy K. Miller’s family. Miller, the author of “What They Saved: Pieces of a Jewish… Read more »

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Northwest Division will present a talk by Laura Green, “When It Comes to Israel, Why is the World Silent?” on Tuesday, Feb. 28, at 7 p.m. at the Hilton El Conquistador in Oro Valley. Green is on the Utah board of the America-Israel… Read more »

Rachel Knox

Rachel Knox will receive the 2012 Bryna Zehngut Mitzvot Award, which honors an outstanding Jewish teenage girl, at the Women’s Philanthropy Connections brunch on Feb. 19. The award, which honors a late community leader, was created by the advisory council of Women’s Philanthropy of the Jewish Federation of Southern… Read more »

Joe Pasternack (University of Arizona)

University of Arizona basketball has a new Jewish assistant coach, Joe Pasternack. Pasternack, 34, came to the UA in May from the University of New Orleans, where he was head coach for four years. He’s friends with former UA assistant coach Josh Pastner, who is now head coach at… Read more »

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona will offer a Birthright Israel trip this June, with 20 spots available for local young professionals and graduate students, 22-26 years old. Birthright is a national nonprofit that sponsors men and women ages 18-26 to go on a free, educational 10-day tour of… Read more »

Capitol Steps performer as Sarah Palin. (Capitol Steps)

The Capitol Steps have sung about it all — from Bill Clinton’s sexcapades to George W. Bush’s language-shattering syntax. The Washington-based group will bring their equally-offensive-to-all musical satire to the University of Arizona’s Centennial Hall on Wednesday, March 14 at 7 p.m. The performance will benefit the UA Hillel… Read more »

Tucsonan Josh Landau, left in second row, with teammates at the opening ceremony of the Pan American Maccabi Games in Brazil.

Sao Paolo, Brazil, is “a weird place,” with the most skyscrapers in the world but also teeming slums, says Tucsonan Josh Landau, who was there for the 12th annual Pan American Maccabi Games, held Dec. 26-Jan. 2. “We were staying in a really nice four-star hotel and you look… Read more »

It’s not morbid, it’s history. For a state that’s nearly 100 years old, Arizona has no shortage of fascinating stories, many of which can be found in our historic Jewish cemeteries. Evergreen Cemetery in Tucson contains the grave sites of the men and women that figure prominently in the… Read more »