An Israeli firefighter views a wildfire that broke out near Jerusalem, Nov. 25, 2016. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Six firefighters from Tucson will head to Israel next month to share their expertise in handling wildland fires. Since spring, incendiary kites and balloons launched from Gaza have burned thousands of acres of Israeli land. The trip is part of the Greater Tucson Fire Foundation’s Firefighters Beyond Borders program.… Read more »
A night view of the Beth Shalom Temple Center of Green Valley and its new labyrinth (Courtesy Lenny Friedman) Beth Shalom Temple Center of Green Valley will host a weekend of events with Rabbi Norman T. Roman, Nov. 2-4. Roman has been the rabbi emeritus at Temple Kol Ami in West Bloomfield, Michigan, since 2016, after serving as senior rabbi for 30 years. The weekend marks a significant… Read more »
Last year, AARP Arizona conducted a telephone survey of adults 45 and older across Tucson in efforts to help make the city more age-friendly. AARP accepted the City of Tucson into its Network of Age Friendly Communities in October 2016 as the 122nd community. Tucson is the first Arizona… Read more »
The Women’s Philanthropy Advisory Council of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is seeking nominations for the 12th annual Bryna Zehngut Mitzvot Award, recognizing an outstanding Jewish teenage girl. The award honors Zehngut, a community leader who died in 2005. Nominees should be high school juniors or seniors who… Read more »
Holocaust survivor Wolfgang Hellpap lights a memorial candle at the community Yom HaShoah commemoration on May 1, 2016, at the Tucson Jewish Community Center.
Wolfgang Hellpap, 87, a child survivor of the Holocaust from Berlin, Germany, tells his remarkable story with matter-of-fact simplicity. He’s told it many times during the past 13 years he’s lived in Tucson, to high school students and other groups. “I want people and especially young people to know… Read more »
Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon Congregation Beit Simcha (House of Joy), a new synagogue based in Northwest Tucson, will open later this month. Established by a group of congregants and Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon, Beit Simcha will hold its inaugural Friday night Shabbat services on Oct. 19 at 6 p.m. at the Harvey and… Read more »
Goldie Gibbons Goldstein
Shalom Baby celebrates the birth or adoption of new babies and welcomes them to the Southern Arizona Jewish community with a box of supplies for the new parents. “It’s like the Jewish community in a box,” says Jewish Tucson Concierge and program coordinator Carol Sack. “There’s not many opportunities… Read more »
Hebrew High students Maya Krause, left, and Rachel Levy, right, collaborate with Handmaker resident Lois Waldman to trace her family tree. (Courtesy Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging)
Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging and Tucson Hebrew High will launch a Tracing Roots 2.0 intergenerational program next month, bringing together Handmaker residents and Jewish teens. The original program, which began in fall 2015 and wrapped up in 2017, built “beautiful connections,” says Nanci Levy, Handmaker’s community outreach… Read more »
Congregation Bet Shalom members work on the pollinator garden for the Midbar Project. Later project development will include beehives, gardens, and chickens for lessons about desert and Biblical gardening traditions. (Courtesy Congregation Bet Shalom)
Local congregations are enhancing youth and family education programs while increasing inter-synagogue collaboration to enrich Tucson Jewish life. Participants credit expanded funding from the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona for this boon. “The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona has always allocated grant money to synagogues, but additional funding through… Read more »
Esther Becker (Courtesy Southwest Torah Institute)
Jewish wisdom teaches that it takes 40 days to form a habit. “The same is true for molding character and changing how we look at life,” says Esther Becker, director of the Women’s Academy of Jewish Studies at the Southwest Torah Institute. Her “40 Days to Become a Better… Read more »
Maxine Krasnow is the founder of the Tucson Clay Co-op.
The Tucson Clay Co-op is celebrating a special birthday in October. The building where clay bowls and pots come together is turning 100 years old and proprietor Maxine Krasnow wants to send it up big. “You don’t celebrate when a building is 101 or 102, you do it the… Read more »
Yofi wears her Sparks Cheer T-shirt.
Yofi, a fluffy 2-year-old goldendoodle, leads a very dynamic life in the Jewish community and beyond. She is an athlete, educator, therapist and beloved pet with a very busy schedule. Her active social life began early with basic training at eight weeks old. “She went from crazy to calm… Read more »
Brooke Sebold, left, with her mother, Ronnie Sebold, at a Sept. 29 tribute event in Denver for trauma surgeon Ernest E. Moore, who saved Brooke’s life 25 years ago after a skiing accident. Brooke will be the keynote speaker at Tucson Hebrew Academy’s Tikkun Olam Award dinner Nov. 4. (Courtesy Ronnie Sebold)
I’ve always considered Tucson Hebrew Academy as my fourth child and this community to be my family,” Ronnie Sebold recently told the AJP. With hands-on involvement within the school for 37 of its 45- year history, she has dedicated a lifetime to nurturing the academy. For this dedication to… Read more »
Newlyweds Grace Kolack and Daniel Louchheim (Steven Palm)
Grace Kolack, daughter of Marque Kolack of Naples, Florida, and Janice Wilson of Tucson, and Daniel Louchheim, son of Thomas and Marcia Louchheim of Tucson, were married April 29, 2018, at La Mariposa Resort with Rabbi Thomas Louchheim and Cantor Janece Cohen officiating. The maid of honor was Bailey… Read more »
Ellie Chestnut and David Abram take a stroll during their wedding in Brooklyn, New York. (Lorie Kleiner Eckert)
At the end of a Jewish wedding ceremony, there is the dramatic moment in which a wine glass (wrapped in a napkin) is placed on the ground. The groom stomps on and shatters the wine glass as the assembled guests shout their congratulations, “Mazel tov!” There are many interpretations… Read more »
Seth Windham with the lovin’ Ozzie
All hounds were on deck Sunday for a Blessing of the Pets at Congregation Anshei Israel, led by Rabbi Robert Eisen. About two dozen dogs attended, and a half-dozen cats were blessed virtually through photographs or with stuffed stand-ins. One dog even brought her stuffed cat for blessing. The… Read more »
Dana Adler has been elected president of the Women of Reform Judaism Pacific District for a two-year term. She will be installed at the WRJ 2018 Pacific District Convention, which will be held in San Diego Oct. 18-21. The district comprises 13 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. Adler… Read more »
At Passport to Peace on Sept. 17, Tucson Hebrew Academy’s student council helps fellow students prepare gift bags to be delivered to young patients at the Diamond Children’s Medical Center.
Tucson Hebrew Academy’s student government held its annual Passport to Peace event Monday, Sept. 17. Taking place around the Jewish High Holidays, it provides students an opportunity to reflect and to learn about ways they can do mitzvot and actively participate in tikkun olam (repair of the world). Representatives… Read more »
More than 75 people attended Splish Splash in the Sukkah, a joint event co-hosted by Tucson Hebrew Academy, PJ Library and PJ Our Way on Sunday, Sept. 30. The event included a reading of “Leo and Blossom’s Sukkah” by Jane Breskin Zalben, making rain sticks in the THA sukkah,… Read more »
A national expert in multigenerational fundraising will be on hand for the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona 2019 Campaign training next month, dubbed “Inspire and Inquire.” Dirk Bird is a former Wexner Graduate Fellow and a certified trainer at 21/64, a nonprofit practice providing advising, facilitation, and training for family… Read more »
