Local

The Foundation for Cardiovascular Health, a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization, will offer two free presentations next month on reversing coronary artery disease. The first was on Sunday, Aug. 8, 1:30-3:30 p.m., at the Northwest YMCA Pima County Community Center, 7770 N. Shannon Road, and the second will be on… Read more »

Applications for the 2010 Cohon Award are being accepted through Sept. 1. The $25,000 prize will be awarded by the Rabbi Samuel S. and A. Irma Cohon Memorial Foundation for “accomplishments that benefit  Klal Yisroel — the entire Jewish people,” recognizing achievements in the fields of Jewish unity, education… Read more »

A Taste of Judaism, a free outreach program, will celebrate its 10th anniversary at Temple Emanu-El with a new family class. More than 3,500 people have completed the course offered by Temple Emanu-El, an interactive exploration of the history and practice of Judaism in three two-hour sessions on spirituality,… Read more »

Temple Emanu-El will hold a completion ceremony (siyyum) for its 100th Anniversary Linda Nadell Centennial Torah on Sunday, Aug. 29 at 9:30 a.m. During this celebration the scribe, Rabbi Shmuel Miller, along with a few honored members of the congregation, will fill in the last letters of the Torah… Read more »

Mitzvah Magic, a joint endeavor of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Woman’s Philanthropy and Jewish Family & Children’s Services, is beginning its second year of bringing together women in the Jewish community to perform hands-on tzedakah for local families needing assistance. Last year’s Co-Chairs Pamela Dubin and Stephanie… Read more »

Rabbi Robert Eisen has created a new tzedakah box program at Congregation Anshei Israel. Collapsible cardboard boxes imprinted with the synagogue’s name and logo, some general information and a quote from the Talmud were mailed recently to all congregants. “I remember a tzedakah box near my mother’s Shabbat candlesticks.… Read more »

Shalom Tucson will present its 8th annual “Gateway to our Synagogues” free bagel brunch on Sunday, Aug. 15, from 10:30 a.m. to noon at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. The program provides an opportunity for newcomers and anyone newly interested to chat with representatives of Tucson’s synagogues, including many… Read more »

Ari Ginsburg, a member of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona's LGBT Jewish Inclusion Project steering committee, left, with Marc Paley, project coordinator, in Berkeley at the 2010 LGBT Jewish Movement-Building Convening(Bynna Fish)

Who are we? Where did we come from? How do we get started? Where do we want to go and how are we a part of our Jewish community? While these questions ring true for everyone, they’re especially true for members of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender community looking… Read more »

Rachel Green reads a newspaper while floating in the Dead Sea

Sixteen Jewish women, ages 32 to 45, plus group leader Amy Hirshberg Lederman, departed from Tucson in June on a 10-day Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona mission that many say changed their lives.  “It was a pretty emotional trip. If the personal is political then this was a political… Read more »

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona will take baseball fans out to the ballgame for the inaugural Jewish Heritage Day at Chase Field in Phoenix on Sunday, Aug. 22. The Colorado Rockies will play the Arizona Diamondbacks at 1:10 p.m. and fans will celebrate Arizona’s Jewish heritage with special… Read more »

The Steven A. Lightman Family Foundation, a supporting organization of the Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona, is reiterating its call for grants. Areas of interest include children, education, the needy, the elderly, the environment and the arts. It is suggested that funding requests be between $500 and $5,000.… Read more »

Elsa Leibovitz receives a blessingfrom Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon of Temple Emanu-El on her 100th birthday, June 25. (Joe Steiner)

Elsa Leibovitz celebrated her 100th birthday on June 25 in grand style by receiving a blessing from Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon at Temple Emanu-El’s Friday night service and sponsoring the evening’s Oneg Shabbat. “It’s wonderful to reach this age,” Leibovitz told the AJP by phone on the morning of… Read more »

Congregation Chofetz Chayim’s 2010 Spirit program scholars (L-R): Frankie Snaid of Savannah, Ga.; Ben Tziyon Eisenberg of Rochester, N.Y.; Boruch Wasser of East Bruswick, N.J.; Dani Semel of Queens, N.Y. (Not pictured: Moshe Morgenstern of Queens, N.Y.)

This summer, Tucson’s Jewish men can experience one-on-one or intimate group learning, yeshiva-style, without leaving town. Congregation Chofetz Chayim is offering up to 100 men two weeks of free Torah study through its Spirit program. Spirit participants will study with students from Rabbi Israel Becker’s alma mater, The Rabbinical… Read more »

Carol Karsch

From blogs to social media to e-blasts, modern journalism is about more than just getting the story. Jewish newspaper editors and publishers from around the United States gathered to discuss those topics and our niche’s future direction at the American Jewish Press Association conference at the Hilton Scottsdale Resort… Read more »

To submit  your “Books that made a difference” entry,  mouse over “Contact” and  select “Books that made a difference” from the drop-down menu.. Submissions will be posted online and selected entries will appear in the AJP Rosh Hashanah issue on Sept. 3. The book that changed my life: “This… Read more »

Irving Silverman with Jagger

If “Jagger” evokes an image of the frenzied gyrations of the Rolling Stones lead singer, the Tucson dog bearing his name had an opposite, calming effect on 90-year-old Irving Silverman, who participated in dog therapy with Jagger at Tucson’s St. Joseph’s Hospital. Following surgery for a benign brain tumor… Read more »

Interfaith Community Services, a volunteer-based nonprofit founded in 1985, is holding its second annual “Freedom from Hunger” food drive through June 27. “The shelves of ICS’s food bank get barer in the summer,” says ICS Executive Director Bonnie Kampa, who notes that the agency provided food to 25 percent… Read more »

Hebrew High Class of 2010 (L-R), front row: Sharon Glassberg, director, Coalition for Jewish Education; Andrew Irving Berger; Brianna Paige Finkelstein; Jenna Brynn Langert; Ashley Robert Brio. Second row: Bryan Davis, Hebrew High Principal; Jeremy Fenn; Erica Esther Bee; David Richelson; Yonatan Meir Twena. Third row: Jacob Sheldon Kotz; Samuel B. Silverman; Carly Levy; Erin Olitzky. Fourth row: Sam Rubin; Nate Sacks; Bonnie Segal; Ron Grant, senior class faculty

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Coalition for Jewish Education held two graduation ceremonies last month, for Hebrew High and the Tucson Melton Adult Mini School.… Read more »

“Dawning of One Hundred Days,” acrylic by Ginny Tompkins

Paintings by Ginny Tompkins will be featured in the Tucson Jewish Community Center Fine Arts Gallery through Aug. 24. Specializing in very large abstract art in acrylic, Tompkins was the subject of “Ginny Tompkins: A Retrospective” by France-Marie Haeger, Ph.D., published in 2005 with 101 color plates. Haeger’s descriptions… Read more »

Rabbi Jason Holtz

Temple Emanu-El’s new assistant rabbi, Jason Holtz, will take up his duties June 21. Holtz received his rabbinic ordination earlier this month from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Ohio. Since 2006, he has served as a student rabbi at Congregation B’nai Abra­ham in Portsmouth, Ohio; Temple… Read more »