Local

Nuclear expert will speak on Iran issues

Carolynn Scherer

Carolynn Scherer Katz will present “Iran Update: a Jewish Perspective” at a Hadassah Southern Arizona lunch later this month. Scherer Katz is a scientist and team leader of the nuclear nonproliferation and systems analysis team at Los Alamos National Laboratory. She was instrumental in drafting Safeguards-by-Design documents for the… Read more »

Business briefs 9.13.19

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Keith Marcum joins the Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona as communications and marketing manager. Most recently, he managed marketing and sales for Kuumba Made Inc., in Tucson. Before that, he was marketing manager at IMPACT of Southern Arizona, a Tucson non-profit. He is a graduate of James Madison… Read more »

Rancho Sahuarita founder Robert Sharpe succumbs to brain cancer

Robert (“Bobby”) Sharpe died Aug. 28, 2019, in Snowmass Village, Colorado, after a long battle with terminal brain cancer. Born and raised in Minnesota, Sharpe’s career took him to the movie business in Los Angeles and the garment industry in Minnesota before he was drawn to Tucson, where he… Read more »

Tucson Jewish Community Center aims for autumn Garden of Hope opening

he ‘Garden of Hope’ at the Tucson Jewish Community Center will be a multipurpose healing space. (Photo: Barbara Grygutis Sculpture LLC)

Gan Tikvah, the Garden of Hope, is nearing completion at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. It will have a fluid connection to the current Sculpture Garden and provide a shady and tranquil pocket park for all seasons. It will offer an outdoor venue for classes, programming, and, with dramatic… Read more »

Annual book brunch to highlight women’s prayers

Esther Becker will explore “Conversations with G-d” at the annual Women’s Academy of Jewish Studies Women’s Book Brunch, Sunday, Sept. 15 at Congregation Chofetz Chayim. “We live in an era when we all have our challenges to deal with and no one goes unscathed,” says Becker.  “I wanted to… Read more »

Classes offer free ‘Taste of Judaism’

The Union for Reform Judaism’s Taste of Judaism classes, taught by Temple Emanu-El’s Rabbi Batsheva Appel, will be offered at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on Sundays, Sept. 8, 15, and 22 from 2:30-4:30 p.m., and at Temple Emanu-El on Thursdays, Sept. 12, 19, and 26, from 6-8 p.m.… Read more »

Cook comes full circle at UA Hillel Foundation

Abbii Cook, a University of Arizona alum, now UA Hillel Foundation’s assistant director, stands in front of Old Main, the first building constructed on the UA campus. (Photo courtesy University of Arizona Hillel Foundation)

It’s very nostalgic to be back in Tucson,” says Abbii Cook, University of Arizona Hillel Foundation’s new assistant director. “I’m so excited to be back at the place that really shaped me. It’s like a full circle,” she says. Cook spent a lot of time at Hillel as a… Read more »

Locals traveling to Israel urged to take medicine to Tucson teen on gap year

Tucsonan Aliya Markowitz in Jerusalem’s Old City during the 2019 March of the Living trip to Poland and Israel. (Photo courtesy Neil Markowitz)

Eighteen-year-old Aliya Markowitz had a goal: maintain a 4.0-grade point average through all four years at Catalina Foothills High School. She achieved this, while being active in BBYO, serving on the youth group’s Tucson and regional boards, and participating in the March of the Living two-week trip to Poland… Read more »

Gallery Chat on migration to reopen JHM

Scott Warren

Scott Warren, Ph.D., will be the Gallery Chat speaker at the Jewish History Museum and Holocaust History Center as it reopens for its 2019-2020 season on Friday, Sept. 6, at 11 a.m. He will speak about human migration through the Sonoran desert and how it shapes both memory and… Read more »

ICSAVE offers Arizonans free lifesaving training for active shooter incidents

Green Valley Fire Captain Mark Lytle, a member of ICSAVE’s team of volunteers, learned about Israeli emergency medical services as part of Tucson’s first Firefighters Without Borders delegation in October 2013. The Magen David Adom (Red Shield of David) is Israel’s national ambulance, blood services, and disaster relief organization. It has been a member of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement since 2006. (Photo courtesy Mark Lytle)

Mark Lytle, a native Tucsonan who has worked in the fire service for 24 years, is part of a coalition of first responders who created Integrated Community Solutions to Active Violence Events, or ICSAVE, to provide free active violence trainings to schools, religious institutions, and other groups across Arizona.… Read more »

New guidelines call for early breast cancer risk assessment

Dr. Michele Ley

Women should get a formal breast cancer risk assessment between the ages of 25 and 30, according to the new guidelines set by The American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBrS), published in May. According to the organization, one in eight women, or 12 percent of women in the United… Read more »

A relaxation garden, no matter how small, turns your house into a home

This very tropical looking plant survives in a desert garden with afternoon shade. Its flowers are visited by hummingbirds. (Photo: Pixabay.com)

Behaviorists have stacks of data highlighting the fact that getting out in nature can calm and restore the human spirit. This applies to all humans, even if you never lived in the country, even if you hate to hike, and no matter what age. Five, 35, or 85, we… Read more »

Sisterhood high tea will focus on fashion, fund-raising

Fashions by LuLaRoe will be among those modeled by synagogue members at the Congregation Or Chadash/Temple Emanu-El high tea, Sept. 15. (Photo courtesy Congregation Or Chadash Sisterhood)

Congregation Or Chadash Sisterhood and Temple Emanu-El Women of Reform Judaism will hold their first major collaboration, a fashion show high tea, on Sunday, Sept. 15, from 2-4 p.m. The event will be catered by L’Chaim Catering and fashions provided by Clique and LuLaRoe will be modeled by members… Read more »

Tucson Botanical Gardens annual butterfly exhibit returns with colorful flora, fauna

Heliconius sara longwing at Tucson Botanical Gardens Butterfly Magic exhibit. (Debe Campbell/AJP)

The time to get all aflutter is approaching at Tucson Botanical Gardens, with the annual Butterfly Magic exhibit. Beginning each October, the Cox Butterfly and Orchid Pavilion exhibit offers an exclusive opportunity to get up close and personal with some of the world’s most beautiful and exotic butterflies imported… Read more »

Temple Emanu-El adds Sierra Vista location for Taste of Judaism

The Union for Reform Judaism’s Taste of Judaism classes, taught by Temple Emanu-El’s Rabbi Batsheva Appel, will be offered in Sierra Vista on Thursdays, Aug. 22 and 29 and Sept. 5; at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on Sundays, Sept. 8, 15 and 22; and at Temple Emanu-El on… Read more »

Fall Arts Preview Art Directory

In this directory, we present some of the finest arts companies in Tucson: ANDREW SMITH GALLERY www.andrewsmithgallery.com • 984-1234 Andrew Smith Gallery is the leading gallery in the world specializing in buying and selling historic, classic, and contemporary Western American photography. The gallery is the international source for the… Read more »

Tucson teens make friends and win big at JCC Maccabi Games in Atlanta

With a cowboy as their logo for the 2019 JCC Maccabi Games, Team Tucson galloped out at the July 28 opening ceremonies in Atlanta to the song “Old Town Road.” From left: Grant Cohen (front), Gabe Green, Pasha Maher (basketball coach), Elijah Nogales,Josh Shenker (delegation head), and Gianna Miltenberger

Tucson’s team for the annual JCC Maccabi Games for Jewish teens, held July 28-Aug. 2 in Atlanta, was “small but mighty” with four athletes, says Josh Shenker, delegation head and director of children, youth and camping services at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. “Though we were the smallest delegation… Read more »