Rain Pryor Rain Pryor is bringing her one-woman show, “Fried Chicken and Latkes,” to Tucson next month. Pryor, 49, is the daughter of the late comedy icon Richard Pryor and a Jewish go-go dancer-turned-astronomer, Shelley R. Bonus. In the show, she plays 11 different characters, from her famous father to her… Read more »
Alma Hernandez, MPH, the first Mexican American Jew to be elected to the Arizona state legislature, was included in Lilith magazine’s “7 Jewish Feminist Highlights of 2018.” She was previously featured on the cover of the magazine’s Fall 2018 issue. Hernandez will represent Legislative District 3, on Tucson’s west… Read more »
Tucson Hebrew Academy’s lower school (kindergarten through fourth grades) put on a ’50s-style Hanukkah Hop show of song and dance on Thursday, Dec. 6. The production was attended by parents, grandparents, other family and friends.… Read more »
(L-R): Rabbi Emeritus Ed Stafman of Congregation Beth Shalom in Bozeman, Montana; Rabbi Ethan Seidel of Tifereth Israel Congregation in Washington, D.C.; Olivia Rocamora, dean of Spanish at The Weber School in Atlanta, Georgia; Rabbi Julia Andelman, director of community engagement at Jewish Theological Seminary in New York; Rabbi Pamela Jay Gottfried, dean of Jewish studies at The Weber School; Stella Stanway, direct of education at Temple Beth Miriam in Elberon, New Jersey; Rabbi Charles Arian of Kehilat Shalom in Gaithersburg, Maryland; and Rabbi Michael Bernstein of Gesher L’Torah in Alpharetta, Georgia. Ruven Barkan)
Rabbi Ruven Barkan and his wife, Adina Weber, hosted a dinner at their home on Wednesday, Dec. 19 for rabbis and educators who participated in a three-day border immersion program in Nogales, sponsored by the Kino Border Initiative. Rabbi Thomas Louchheim of Tucson’s Congregation Or Chadash called in to… Read more »
Miriam Romero received the Arizona English Language Teacher of the Year Award at the Arizona Department of Education’s Office of English Language Acquisition Services 2018 Conference, held Dec. 5 at the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort. Romero is a teacher at Carrillo K-5 Magnet School in the Tucson Unified… Read more »
Jeremy Huw Williams
Editor’s note: A second concert, in which Argentine pianist and conductor Ricardo Hegman was to play works by the renowned Israeli composer Andres Hadju, was canceled on Jan. 10 because Hegman will not be able to get a visa in time. Daniel Asia, a composer and University of Arizona… Read more »
Scott Zorn The Tucson Jewish community was stunned by the news that Scott Zorn, 59, died Jan. 1, 2019, in Akron, Ohio, with hundreds of Facebook messages quickly going out to his wife, Julie; children, Haley and Dylan; and in-laws, Tucsonans Kathy and David Unger. Zorn was the director of children,… Read more »
Anyone who owns property — personal or commercial — may find themselves in need of legal services. A personal property attorney can represent you in a dispute over transfer of moveable property, such as a car, a piece of furniture, or even stocks and bonds. This differs from real… Read more »
Rabbi Shai Held, Ph. D. Rabbi Shai Held, Ph.D. — one of the 50 most influential rabbis in America, according to Newsweek — will be the scholar-in-residence at Congregation Anshei Israel on Jan. 11 and 12. His overall theme for the weekend will be “The Heart of Jewish Spirituality.” A theologian, scholar and educator,… Read more »
Réka Tenki in a scene from ‘Budapest Noir.’ (Pioneer Pictures)
This year’s Tucson International Jewish Film Festival will bring 15 full-length films, one TV show, and three shorts from around the world to local screens. TIJFF is one of the country’s longest-running Jewish film festivals, one of Arizona’s longest running film fests, and one of Tucson’s most popular cultural… Read more »
Sara Lopez Sara Lopez, a local wife, mother and opera singer, is curating a Jewish women’s performance showcase, by and for women, at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on Sunday, Jan. 6 at 6 p.m. Having an all-female audience “allows women across the spectrum of Jewish practice and belief to participate,”… Read more »
Partnership2Gether fellows celebrate the last night of Hanukkah with Jewish Federation of the Southwest staff at the Ruth and Irving Olson Center for Jewish Life in the Northwest. Back (L-R): Ariel Miklofsky, Adi Shacham, Ravit Gedanken, Alan Kendal, Phyllis Gold, Nili Cohen Hammer, Daniealla Cohen, Nesia Regev Livne. Front (L-R): Rotem Rappaport, Amir Eden, Ron Benecort. Not pictured: Avi Hadad and Ofra Gueta. (Courtesy Olson Center) Visiting Tucson during the week of Hanukkah, four Israeli teachers and three school principals from the Partnership2Gether region were most surprised by the effort local community members invest in maintaining their Jewish identity. “It was a very powerful experience,” says Ravit Gedanken, a principal at Netzach Israel school in… Read more »
Daniel Breen, Ph.D., J.D. Brandeis University lecturer Daniel Breen, Ph.D., J.D., will present “Stories of Privacy: The Legal Boundaries of Public and Private Life” on Wednesday, Jan. 9 as the Tucson Chapter of Brandeis National Committee’s annual University on Wheels program, in partnership with the Tucson Jewish Community Center. The talk will take… Read more »
Richard Hallick explores a graveyard in Chester County, Pennsylvania, in fall 2018. Hallick’s sixth great-grandfather is buried there. (Courtesy Hallick)
The Southern Arizona Jewish Genealogy Society will host Richard Hallick, Sunday, Jan. 13, offering a comprehensive look at DNA testing and how it applies to genealogy today. Hallick will discuss how to understand and interpret DNA test results, including those with Jewish ancestors. Hallick is a retired University of… Read more »
Sam Hoffman’s resoundingly funny debut feature, “Humor Me,” could be marketed thusly: Come for Elliott Gould, stay for Jemaine Clement. The New Zealand actor displays a nimble gift for wit and pathos in this smart, grown-up comedy about mid-career stumbles, aging parents, and intergenerational acceptance. An under-the-radar treat, “Humor… Read more »
Michal Uziyahu Jewish National Fund will host a panel in Tucson, “The Magic of the Negev Desert: From East to West and Everything in Between” on Monday, Jan. 14 (registration at 11 a.m.; event at 11:30 a.m.) at a private residence. The panelists are Michal Uziyahu, JNF’s liaison for the Gaza… Read more »
Jewish Tucson’s Shalom Baby program now is accessible online. The Shalom Baby box has gifts for mother and baby, resources, and information about Jewish Tucson. It includes gifts from the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, area synagogues and agencies. If you have had or adopted a new baby or… Read more »
A view from the lobby of the Harvey and Deanna Evenchik Center for Jewish Philanthropy, home of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona and the Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona (Martha Lochert)
Editor’s Note: This is the last in a series of four articles on how the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona allocates funds. The first, in the Oct. 12 issue, focused on youth and family education programs at synagogues. The second, in the Nov. 23 issue, looked at national and… Read more »
Carlos Galindo-Elvira In the first 10 days of December, a series of six swastika incidents across Arizona were reported to ADL Arizona. The latest incident involved an elderly woman in Scottsdale who found a swastika drawing at her doorstep the morning after displaying her menorah during Hanukkah. This was the second… Read more »
International journalists Dagmar and Peter Schroeder will share their experience in addressing hate, discrimination and intolerance Jan. 7 as part of a two-day symposium hosted by the Ruth and Irving Olson Center for Jewish Life in the Northwest. (Courtesy Dagmar and Peter Schroeder)
Anti-Semitism past and present will be the focus of a two-day symposium hosted by the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Ruth and Irving Olson Center for Jewish Life in the Northwest next month. “Anti-Semitism from the Spanish Inquisition On: Educating for Social Justice,” which will be held Jan. 6-7… Read more »
