Alice Mayoral, with Jordan the lizard, won most unusual pet. Photos: Debe Campbell/AJP) Pets of all description were on parade at Congregation Or Chadash May 5 for the annual pet blessing. About 50 gathered with their beloved dogs, a rabbit, and a gecko to share the Prayer for Animals, led by Rabbi Thomas Louchheim. The blessing also culminated a monthlong b’not mitzvah… Read more »
Holocaust survivor Walter Feiger, right, lights a candle with his partner, Nancy Alexander, and Rabbi Thomas Louchheim of Congregation Or Chadash.
The community-wide 2019 Yom HaShoah commemoration on Sunday, May 5 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center focused on highlighting Jewish life and culture before the Holocaust. Rather than rehearse the political miscalculations and complicity of European nations or the mechanics of Nazi genocidal violence, says Bryan Davis, executive director… Read more »
From left, Rabbi Billy Lewkowicz, Ken Light, Fred Steiniger and Emily Ellentuck helped lead the Yom HaShoah program at the Ruth and Irving Olson Center for Jewish Life on May 2.
On Thursday, May 2, the Ruth and Irving Olson Center for Jewish Life held a Yom HaShoah Remembrance event. More than 40 attendees heard guest speakers Ken Light and Fred Steiniger talk about the Holocaust memorial at the entrance to the Tucson Jewish Community Center and watched a video… Read more »
Front row (L-R): Erika Spivack, Natalie Feldman, Jillian Cassius, Michael Gross; second row: Geva Ozeri, Mallory Hulsey, Rachel Davenport, Rebecca Dubin, Maya Levy; Back: Yuval Barel, Aaron Green, Téa Weiner, Brandon Esbit, Rafael Herreras-Zinman. Not pictured: Isaac Hammer
“Live, from Tucson, it’s Tuesday night!” The class of 2019 kicked off the 41st Tucson High School for Jewish Studies (Hebrew High) Commencement on April 30 in the rousing spirit of “Saturday Night Live.” The program, driven and written by the students, featured all the hallmarks of SNL, includin… Read more »
Nancy and Stuart Mellan and their blended family at their 1992 wedding. (Photo courtesy Nancy Mellan)
The Father’s Day Council Tucson is holding its 25th Annual Fathers of Year Awards Gala next month, and the Jewish Federation’s Stuart Mellan is among the honorees. Mellan, JFSA president and CEO, is one of seven men who will be celebrated on June 1 for their success in combining… Read more »
Filmmaker Judy Ben-Asher and her Truthseeker alter-ego, Jude. (Photo courtesy Judy Ben-Asher)
Documentaries, feature films, and animation in production by native Tucsonan Judy Ben-Asher’s Starry Sky Films focus on her discoveries about health and wellness. “These are all passion projects with the cohesive thread to uplift and educate, resolve misinformation, and find answers,” she says. The “Truthseeker®” documentary film follows Ben-Asher’s… Read more »
Ester Leutenberg with her latest mental health facilitator workbooks
Mitchell A. Leutenberg had a mental illness. The first time he tried to die by suicide, he asked his parents not to tell anyone. He died at his fourth attempt eight years later in 1986. He was 30 years old. In the years since, Mitchell’s mother, Ester Leutenberg, has… Read more »
Ellen Melamed instructs University of Arizona College of Medicine students on tools to build empathetic relationships with future patients. (Photo: Michelle Doggett/ UA College of Humanities)
Ellen Melamed’s medical humanities courses at the University of Arizona are encouraging medical students to develop empathetic relationships with their future patients. Melamed, the child of Holocaust survivors, draws on her family’s history of trauma and illness, as well as her own experiences in the arts, to inform her… Read more »
Every day during the month of Iyar, we observe the mitzvah of Sefirat HaOmer, or counting the Omer. This mitzvah begins on the second day of Passover and continues until the eve of Shavuot. The counting is practiced daily after nightfall with some counting from a Siddur (prayer book),… Read more »
Kate Stewart, the lead archivist at the Arizona Historical Society in Tucson, profiles the life of librarian Ruth Rappaport in her first biography, “A Well-Read Woman: The Life, Loves, and Legacy of Ruth Rappaport,” released this spring by Little A Publishing. Rappaport grew up in Nazi Germany, reading banned… Read more »
Collaborating to strengthen security in Tucson’s Jewish community are, (L-R) Graham Hoffman, president and CEO, Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona; Paul Patterson, Jewish community security director; and Stuart Mellan, president and CEO, Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona. (Photo courtesy Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona)
The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona took a proactive stance to harden local vigilance, bringing on 23-year law enforcement and security veteran Paul Patterson in March as the Jewish community security director. Patterson is assisting all area synagogues and agencies with facility security assessments, ensuring best practices and up-to-date… Read more »
Cody Blumenthal Cody Blumenthal was selected to play on the Maccabi USA Youth Men’s Basketball Team for the 14th Pan American Maccabi Games July 5-15 in Mexico City. Playing 16 games as a sophomore guard for Catalina Foothills High School varsity Falcons this season, he averaged 11.4 points per game and… Read more »
The Tucson community's abundant generosity is evidenced at this drop location at the old Benedictine Monastery. Donations also are being collected at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. (Photo: Debe Campbell/AJP)
Updated May 6 The Jewish and greater Tucson communities routinely step up and volunteer to meet the needs of migrant families passing through the Old Pueblo. In the past eight months, Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Jewish Community Relations Council has provided roughly 750 hot meals at shelters housing… Read more »
Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s official Memorial Day dedicated to fallen soldiers and victims of terror, will be observed in Tucson on Tuesday, May 7 with song and remembrances at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, 6:30-8 p.m. Enacted into Israeli law in 1963, Yom Hazikaron traditionally is observed by the sounding… Read more »
Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Southern Arizona serves the whole community and all ages. (Photo courtesy Jewish Family & Children’s Services)
Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Southern Arizona is hosting a free, family-friendly event, “Celebration of Caring for Tucson’s Children” on Sunday, May 19, from 12-3 p.m. at the Scottish Rite, 160 S. Scott Ave. Children of all ages are welcome. There will be food and music for parents… Read more »
Graham Hoffman We may find it convenient to believe that because young adults in our community are not exhibiting the same historically Jewish behaviors as their parents, they do not feel a strong connection to Jewish life. Nevertheless, consistently, when polled, millennial Jews report having strong, positive feelings about being Jewish.… Read more »
Rabbi Menachem Nissel Congregation Chofetz Chayim and the Southwest Torah Institute will host author, educator and historian Rabbi Menachem Nissel at a fundraiser Sunday, May 5 at 5:30 p.m. Nissel will present “Messiah: What We Believe, Why We Believe.” “This topic holds so much meaning for me,” says Rabbi Israel Becker, explaining… Read more »
Amelia Bande, Jeanne Vaccaro
In the past year, the Jewish History Museum has continued conversations started by its “Invisibility & Resistance: Violence Against LGBTQIA+ People” exhibit, which was on display in the Holocaust History Center’s Contemporary Human Rights space from September 2017 through May 2018. Along with continuing to highlight violence, JHM programs… Read more »
(L-R): Ben Silverman, Steve Landau, Scott Goorman and Andrew Isaac play a hand at the JFSA Young Men’s Group Poker Tournament, April 21. (Photo Damion Alexander)
Mike Wexler reigned over the Young Men’s Group Poker Tournament April 21. Other top finishers, in order of rank, were Peter DeLuca, Josh Silverman, Myles Levine, and Mckenzie Carlat. Fifty players raised $1,800 at the event for “Making a Difference Every Day: The Homer Davis Project.” Proceeds will provide… Read more »
(L-R) Missy Driggers, Kathylynn Saboda, Pearl Joseph, Emily Joseph, Rabbi Thomas Louchheim, and Cantor Janece Cohen at Congregation Or Chadash on April 14 (Courtesy Congregation Or Chadash)
The Sisterhood of Congregation Or Chadash honored Kathylynn Saboda as its first Eshet Or (Woman of Light) at a luncheon and end of year meeting on Sunday, April 14. Saboda served as Sisterhood president in 2004. She served on the congregation’s board of directors from 2005-2008; since 2008 she… Read more »
