Carolee Asia, left, visits with longtime friend Gertrude Shankman, a Handmaker resident. Photo: Nanci Levy/Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging
If you are a Tucson Hebrew Academy student, you have probably met, or at least heard of, Gertrude Shankman, a resident at Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging. THA students have been celebrating Shankman’s birthday every year since she turned 100. On Oct. 26, Shankman will turn 105. “It… Read more »
Lively at 95, Bill Kugelman says, “Old is what you make of yourself.” (Debe Campbell/AJP)
When I first spot Bill Kugelman across the room at a local senior living community, he is sitting in a chair, waving his arms in the air and stomping his feet to lively Zumba music. Surrounded by a group of grey-headed women, he is one of very few men… Read more »
Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Southern Arizona is initiating a free support group for Jewish women of all ages who have been impacted by domestic violence. The LEAH (Let’s End Abusive Households) Support Group represents a safe environment for healing and support. Group activities may help in anxiety… Read more »
Laurie Rein, right, works on balance practice with friend and client Jenny Fisk. (Debe Campbell/AJP)
Health and fitness coach and author Laurie Rein will present a Healthy Aging for Women program for a Congregation Or Chadash Sisterhood Girl’s Night Out on Nov. 13. Rein brings 30 years of experience in health training and a career in professional dance to her talk. Growing up in… Read more »
Mark Schmidt and his sister Patricia Payne are co-owners of Home Care Assistance in Tucson, along with Payne’s husband, Bradley Payne. (Photo courtesy Mark Schmidt)
As part of its balanced care method, Tucson’s Home Care Assistance caregivers offer adult clients care to help them live longer, happier, more balanced lives. That’s why the caregivers are trained in kosher care, to deliver a Jewish perspective to services and conform with Jewish laws and customs, according… Read more »
Hundreds of women and girls gathered at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on Thursday, Sept. 26, for the sixth annual Mega Challah Bake, co-sponsored by Chabad Tucson. Participants learned how to make and shape dough for round challahs in advance of the Rosh Hashanah holiday, enjoyed a buffet of… Read more »
(L-R) Jewish National Fund President Sol Lizerbram, JNF Joint Institute Project Co-Director Udi Gat, and Dean of the University of Arizona College of Science and Vice President of Innovation Joaquin Ruiz sign a memorandum of understanding, Sept. 12. Photo courtesy JNF
In an effort to boost global agriculture, the University of Arizona has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Jewish National Fund and Israel’s Arava region to establish The JNF Joint Institute for Global Food, Water and Energy Security. The memorandum was signed on Sept. 12 by JNF President… Read more »
Former Catalina Foothills High School swimmer Hannah Orbach-Mandel is one of nine finalists chosen from a field of 585 nominees for the National Collegiate Athletic Association Woman of the Year Award, which will be announced Oct. 20 at a ceremony in Indianapolis. The finalists demonstrated excellence in academics, athletics,… Read more »
The Arizona Jewish Post won two awards at the Arizona Newspapers Association convention, held Sept. 28 in Phoenix. Executive Editor Phyllis Braun and staff won a third-place award for “Fall Arts Preview” in the Special Section category, Division 2 (non-daily circulation 3,500-10,000). Michelle Shapiro, AJP graphic designer, won a… Read more »
Photo: Nanci Levy/Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging
Using a recipe Handmaker resident Betty Light shared, Bonnie Gottesman (left) and Rabbi Richard Safran were among a group of residents at Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging who enjoyed making honey cakes Sept. 25 in preparation for Rosh Hashanah. Some added nuts and/or raisins, depending on their individual… Read more »
Photos: Debe Campbell/AJP
The Ruth & Irving Olson Center for Jewish Life in the Northwest opened its new facility at 180 W. Magee Road, Suite 140, on Sept. 24. About 40 people gathered as Rabbi Avraham Alpert (above) hung a mezuzah on the outer door and another on the interior office door.… Read more »
Children will be able to release their sins the really old-fashioned way by sending them away with a goat at Temple Emanu-El’s Yom Kippur morning family service, Wednesday, Oct. 9 at 8:30 a.m. During Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, repentance is achieved by prayer, repentance, and fasting, but… Read more »
The Jewish New Year is a time for reflection and commitment toward a more just world. The six Holocaust survivors we feature in this issue are a few among the approximately 75 survivors currently living in Southern Arizona, most of whom were children or teens when the war broke… Read more »
Jewish History Museum/Holocaust History Center staff Bryan Davis, left, and Josie Shapiro, center, unfurl a new banner on the fence in front of the museum Aug. 12 while Rabbi Stephanie Aaron, right, looks on. (Debe Campbell/AJP)
Tucson’s Jewish History Museum and Holocaust History Center will launch a migrant justice initiative in conjunction with its new annual exhibition, “Asylum Seeking at the U.S.-Mexico Border,” which opens in the Allen and Marianne Langer Contemporary Human Rights Gallery on Oct. 24. As with past annual exhibits, programming, and… Read more »
Tucsonans Joel Alpert and Nancy Lefkowitz attended the Synagogue Square Memorial dedication in Yurburg, Lithuania, on July 19. (Courtesy Joel Alpert)
The town of Yurburg, Lithuania, dedicated a new Synagogue Square Memorial on July 19. Tucson genealogist and author Joel Alpert and his wife, Nancy Lefkowitz along with 10 of his relatives from Israel, Canada, and the United States, represented the descendants of emigres from the once-thriving Jewish community. “It… Read more »
Ricardo Santana Velázquez, the Mexican consul in Nogales, Arizona (back row, center), with the Jewish Council for Public Affairs delegation at the consular office on Sept. 9. (Courtesy Melanie Roth Gorelick)
A 23-member delegation from 12 states recently completed a fact-finding mission trip to the Arizona-Mexico border, conducted by the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, which is the national network hub of 125 Jewish Community Relations Councils around the country and 17 national Jewish agencies. The Jewish History Museum hosted… Read more »
Jordan Wiley-Hill, right, with Fox Tucson Theatre Executive Director Craig Sumberg and “Kit,” mascot of the Fox’s “Kids In the Theatre” program. (Courtesy Fox Tucson Theatre)
Professional storyteller Jordan Wiley-Hill joined Tucson’s Fox Theatre Foundation about a year ago to expand its youth programming known as Kids In the Theatre. Filling the new position of youth arts and culture program associate, he brings an extensive repertoire of performance art, education, and program development. Local community… Read more »
Rabbi Batsheva Appel and kids enjoy Shabbat Shabang at the Ruth & Irving Olson Center for Jewish Life, Sept. 13./Ariel Miklofsky/JFSA
On Friday, Sept. 13, 12 children and their families joined Rabbi Batsheva Appel of Temple Emanu-El and PJ Library at the Ruth & Irving Olson Center for Jewish Life for the Northwest Family Shabbat Shabang. The rabbi led a service full of songs, prayers, and storytelling while teaching the… Read more »
Southern Arizona’s Jewish Artist Group seeks new members for its monthly meetings, says group coordinator Carol Sack, the Jewish Tucson concierge. The informal meetings offer an opportunity for artists who often work alone to network and connect with other area artists. The free meetings include coffee and noshes. The… Read more »
The Free Loan at the Federation Coordinator Yana Krone and Board President Phil Bregman review new brochures with Susannah Castro. /Debe Campbell, AJP
For more than 70 years, the Hebrew Free Loan Association of Tucson was “an autonomous mom and pop operation,” quietly going about its good work of providing interest-free financial assistance to thousands of Tucsonans, says board president Phil Bregman. In fact, Bregman has called it “the best-kept secret in… Read more »
