Local

Detective Donna Jacob, who retired last month from her position in intelligence and hate crimes with the Tucson Police Department, is now serving as a Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona community security consultant on a part-time contract, funded by the Federation for six months. Jacob will be available to… Read more »

Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging will hold a celebration for the holiday of Tu B’Av on Monday, Aug. 15 at 10 a.m. . The holiday celebrates the end of a three-week period of mourning that commemorates tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people. Tu B’Av is considered a… Read more »

The Outreach Connections of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is sponsoring Jewish Heritage Night at a Tucson Padres baseball game on Sunday, Aug. 21 at 7 p.m. at Kino Park (formerly Tucson Electric Park). The Padres will play against the Sacramento River Cats. Cosponsors of the event include… Read more »

"Mrs. Cohen's Shabbat Table" is part of the new Jewish History Museum exhibit

A new exhibit, “History & Nostalgia: The Southern Arizona Jewish Experience, 1850-1950,” exploring the daily life of Jews of the Southern Arizona region, will be on display at the Jewish History Museum from Aug. 14 through Dec. 30. The exhibit is part of Tucson’s birthday celebrations (see tucsons birthday.org).… Read more »

Emily Ellentuck

Congregation Anshei Israel will hold a special Shabbat evening service called “Shir Hadash: A New Song,” beginning Friday, Aug. 19, at 5:45 p.m., and continuing approximately once a month. The service will be led by Rabbis Robert Eisen and Ben Herman and feature Emily Ellentuck as cantorial soloist. Ellentuck… Read more »

Members of the Weintraub Israel Center and the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona have formed an Israel Action Network to counter efforts to delegitimize Israel. The network is “part of a national trend among Jewish communities,” says Dan Karsch, chair of the network… Read more »

Hebrew High students (L-R) Shane Weinstein, Ariel Nadler and Ben Bressler celebrate Purim 2011 with a hamantashen break. (Courtesy Hebrew High)

Sharon Glassberg was a member of Tucson’s second Hebrew High graduating class in 1980. Thirty years later, as director of the Coalition for Jewish Education at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, she’s the principal of Hebrew High. The evening program’s main goal is still the same, to enhance… Read more »

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

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords returned to Congress today to vote in favor of legislation that will avoid a default by the U.S. government. It was the first vote she has cast since she was shot and critically wounded on Jan. 8 while meeting with her constituents in… Read more »

Bernadette Donfeld (left) and Esther Becker on a hill overlooking Shilo, where the Tabernacle was located for 369 years until destroyed by the Philistines. The photo was taken on a 2011 Southwest Torah Institute Israel trip. (Bob Donfeld).

      Rabbi Israel Becker and his wife, Esther, who have led Congregation Chofetz Chayim since 1979, have visited Israel dozens of times and lived there for extended periods in the ’60s and ’70s. But until last month, the Beckers had never led a group of their fellow… Read more »

Congregations Anshei Israel and Or Chadash will host a themed film series, “All God … And Only God,” Sundays, July 10 – August 7 at 7 p.m. at Congregation Anshei Israel. The series is free and will include complimentary popcorn and lemonade. A discussion with Rabbi Robert Eisen, Rabbi… Read more »

Monument fire view from Temple Kol Hamidbar parking lot in Sierra Vista (Ben Caron)

Usually a peaceful place, Dr. Samuel and Mary Caron’s house recently stood at the edge of a fiery maelstrom: the Monument wildfire, which as of Monday had burned 30,526 acres in Cochise County, but was considered 85 percent contained. The Caron home is at the bottom of Carr Canyon… Read more »

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

Photos of a smiling Gabrielle Giffords, the Arizona congresswoman who was shot in the head in January, were released on her Facebook page. The photos show Giffords with close-cropped hair. According to a statement on the Facebook page, they were taken May 17, the day after her husband, Mark… Read more »

The Tzofim (Israel Scouts) Friendship Caravan national tour will stop in Tucson with a free concert of song and dance on Thursday, June 30, at 6 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. The Weintraub Israel Center is seeking host families to house the Israeli teens for one night.… Read more »

Rabbi Yehuda Ceitlin [Britta Van Vranken)

Congregation Young Israel appointed Rabbi Yehuda Ceitlin as associate rabbi as of May 2011. He will work alongside CYI’s spiritual leader of 27 years, Rabbi Yossie Shemtov.   Ceitlin grew up in Montreal, where his parents are both educators. He studied in yeshivot in Bnei Brak and Kfar Chabad… Read more »

Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon of Temple Emanu-El in front of the Knesset, where 30 American rabbis were briefed during a ‘Rabbis Engaging with Israel’ mission last month

It’s not unusual for rabbis to frequently visit Israel, but last month Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon of Temple Emanu-El enjoyed the rare opportunity of traveling to the Holy Land as part of a select group from around the United States and Canada that included 10 Reform, 10 Conservative and… Read more »

The Tucson Jewish Community Center summer camp (“Camp J”) and the Weintraub Israel Center are seeking host families for two Israeli counselors who will be working at Camp J this summer. Yael Weizner, 19, has a passion for dance and painting. She comes from a non-religious background and although… Read more »

As the summer begins, Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona campaign leaders are working to close the 2011 Campaign by contacting past donors who have not yet made a pledge for this year. “The budgeting process for next season begins this summer,” explains Campaign Chair Kathryn Unger. “And the 2011… Read more »

Rabbi Ben Herman

Congregation Anshei Israel has hired Rabbi Ben Herman to serve as director of congregational learning, effective July 1. In this new position at CAI, Herman will be responsible for the synagogue’s religious school and adult education programs and will also be the liturgical coordinator, arranging for congregants to lead… Read more »

ulian Barcelo plants an herb garden in March 2011 with students in his kindergarten class at the Davis Bilingual Magnet Elementary School.

Merrill Eisenberg is a dynamo — a medical anthropologist and assistant professor at the University of Arizona’s Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health whose $16 million grant strikes at obesity from multiple fronts. “The bottom line is to make the healthy choice the easy choice,” says Eisenberg,… Read more »

Ever wonder what’s in the Talmud and why it was written? Who wrote it and where? Why we study it and what we can learn from it? The Tucson Board of Rabbis will host “Talmud in Twenty” on Sunday, June 5 at Congregation Anshei Israel. The program will begin… Read more »