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Congregation Anshei Israel’s Esther B. Feldman Preschool/Kindergarten will open its summer camp June 6 to children ages 2 to 6. This year, an additional 4-week morning camp for children with special needs ages 3 to 5 will be offered. Staffed by Debby Eisen, a certified special education teacher with… Read more »

Barry Baker, one of 43 Jewish Federations of North America Young Leadership Cabinet members from around the United States, represented Tucson on a JFNA mission to Chile — its first ever — and Argentina earlier this month. After spending two days in Chile and three in Argentina, Baker told… Read more »

Dawn Hunter (left) and Tandy Kippur in Buenos Aires on Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona 2011 Lion of Judah mission

Visiting a home for senior citizens may seem an unlikely highlight for a trip to Argentina, a land known for tango, sun and sea. But ask the 11 women who went on the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Lion of Judah mission to Buenos Aires April 3 to 8… Read more »

Children enjoy the pool at the Tucson Jewish Community Center (Larry Haas)

Hearing about the rising incidence of obesity in children makes Mary Burns cringe. Burns, the group fitness coordinator at the Tucson Jewish Community Center is working with other JCC staffers, including children, youth and camping services director Scott Zorn; sports and wellness coordinator/ aquatics supervisor Mindy Grodzki; and sports… Read more »

Congregation Or Chadash is “the congregation that’s been wandering in the desert forever,” says Cantor Janece Cohen. Not any more. Or Chadash’s May 20 Shabbat service will be held in a new community room on its property at 3939 N. Alvernon Way, which the congregation will use for virtually… Read more »

  A breakfast meeting cosponsored by Hadassah Southern Arizona and the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Foundation of Southern Arizona, “Views on Recovery and Progress: A Conversation with Tucson City Council Members and Pima County Board of Supervisors,” held at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on April… Read more »

Re-Vital Dance Ensemble will perform its new show, “Hatikvah,” at the Israel 63 Festival on May 15, 2011.

A dance performance by Israel’s acclaimed Re-Vital Dance Ensemble, which played to a standing-room-only crowd here two years ago, will be the climax of Tucson’s Israel 63 Festival, to be held Sunday, May 15 from 1 to 6 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. But the festival, celebrating… Read more »

(L-R) Debi Chess-Mabie, Shelley Lipowich and Maria Rodriguez participate in a Habitat for Humanity build on March 23.

Following the passage of Arizona SB 1070, an anti-illegal immigrant measure that critics say encourages racial profiling of Hispanics, in April 2010, the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, considered ways to support Tucson’s Hispanic community, says Brenda Landau, JFSA director of women’s philanthropy… Read more »

Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon

The speaker invited then uninvited. The signature on the petition removed. The activity joined, then unjoined. The job threatened. Rabbis and Jewish professionals increasingly are being faced with a dilemma over discussing divisive topics — especially regarding Israel — central to how they see their Jewish missions without losing… Read more »

The Southwest Jewish Education Center, directed by Rabbi Shafir Lobb, is sponsoring a weekend with Cantor Richard Kaplan May 5-7, including a memorial and service of healing concert honoring the victims of the Jan. 8 shooting on May 7. Kaplan, who is also a teacher and ethnomusicologist, has performed… Read more »

The Temple Emanu-El Kurn Religious School will hold a Simcha Fair on Sunday, May 1 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Temple Emanu-El. Simcha, which means happy event or celebration, can include weddings, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, baby showers and engagement parties. The fair is free and open… Read more »

The Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona and Hadassah Southern Arizona will hold a breakfast event, “Views on Recovery and Progress: A Conversation with Tucson City Council Members and Pima County Board of Supervisors” on Friday, April 29, 7:30-9 a.m. at the Tucson Jewish… Read more »

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s nominating committee, chaired by Jennifer Miller Grant, has recommended the following slate of officers for the 2011-2012 program year: Jeff Katz, chair of the board; Kathryn L. Unger, senior vice chair; Madeline Friedman, vice chair; Larry Gellman, vice chair; Joyce Stuehringer, vice chair;… Read more »

The Weintraub Israel Center will hold its annual Yom Hazikaron memorial service in honor of fallen Israeli soldiers and victims of terror on Thursday, May 5 at 6:30 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. The program will include an honor guard from the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and… Read more »

The Federation’s TIPS Partnership incorporates the Regional Council of Hof Ashkelon, a consortium of kibbutzim and moshavim that border Gaza. This update from our partners, written Sunday, April 10, reveals how life is being impacted on a day-to-day basis by the uptick in missiles coming into the region from… Read more »

On, Monday, May 2, more than 10,000 high school students and Holocaust survivors from around the world will take part in the 2011 March of the Living, walking three kilometers from Auschwitz to Birkenau. The event will air live at 9 a.m. on Jewish Life Television on cable and… Read more »

In conjunction with this year’s Tucson community Yom HaShoah memorials, the Temple Emanu-El Readers Theater, members of the Adult Education Academy’s “So You Think You Can Act” class, will present a staged reading of “Ani Maamin” (“I Believe”) on Saturday, April 30 at 8 p.m. One of Maimonides’ Thirteen… Read more »

Ishmael Khaldi

Middle Eastern countries want to learn from Israel, the region’s only democracy, Israel’s first Arab Bedouin diplomat, Ishmael Khaldi, told an audience of around 65 people at an April 15 breakfast at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. “We’re ready to speak with Iran or anybody who wants to speak… Read more »

David Abraham and his mother, Marlene, in Israel

David Abraham, a former Tucsonan who made aliyah in 2008 after graduating from the University of Arizona and spent two years in the Israel Defense Forces, where he was a tank commander, has joined with other “lone soldiers” and native Israelis to launch a website that provides information, in… Read more »

Artist’s rendering of proposed Hillel renovation

After more than three years in the planning, the University of Arizona Hillel Foundation is ready to begin work on renovating and expanding its current building. Hillel will hold a ceremonial groundbreaking at the site (1245 E. Second Street) at 8 a.m. on Thursday, May 5. Hillel serves as… Read more »