Local

In focus 2.9.18

Super Sunday outreach Ronnie Sebold, chair of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s 2018 Community Campaign, makes a call at the Federation’s Super Sunday phone-a-thon on Jan. 28. At the annual event, 130 phone and clerical volunteers reached out to community members, garnering more than 350 pledges and donations… Read more »

In Tucson talk, Heller to address cyber hate for ADL

Brittan Heller

Brittan Heller will bring personal experience as a victim along with extensive professional international law and cybercrime experience to her Tucson presentation, “Pulling the Plug on Online Anti-Semitism & Bigotry,” on Thursday, Feb. 8 at 6 p.m. at the Harvey & Deanna Evenchik Center for Jewish Philanthropy, 3718 E.… Read more »

Former ambassador for religious freedom to give Bilgray lectures at Temple Emanu-El

Rabbi David Saperstein

Named America’s most influential rabbi by Newsweek in 2009, Ambassador Rabbi David Saperstein will be the scholar-in residence for Temple Emanu-El’s annual Rabbi Albert T. Bilgray Memorial Lecture Series, Feb. 8-10. Speaking on “Freedom and Justice in the World Today,” Saperstein will draw upon a career of service to… Read more »

Brandeis professors: Verified information trumps fake news

Brandeis professor Eileen McNamara, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, left, talks with Susan Cole, Myrna Silver, Ellen Adelstein and Judy Norris at the Brandeis University on Wheels event at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on Jan. 8. (Debe Campbell)

The best defense against today’s era of “fake news” is to counter misinformation with accurate information. That’s the remedy offered by two speakers at the recent Brandeis University on Wheels lecture hosted by the Tucson Chapter of Brandeis National Committee and the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Brandeis University professors… Read more »

Or Chadash plans fourth annual casino night benefit

Congregation Or Chadash’s fourth annual Tournament and Casino Night will be held Saturday, Feb. 10 at the historic Scottish Rite Cathedral. Along with a Texas Hold-Em tournament and other casino games, the evening will feature a buffet dinner, cash bar, DJ, dancing, and prizes. For a $100 registration fee,… Read more »

‘Chocolate factory’ is theme for JFSA young leaders’ gala

(L-R) Alejandra Baltazar-Molina, Melissa Landau, Matt Landau, Selim Cam and Heidi Steiner at the masquerade-themed Hava Tequila event on Jan. 21, 2017.

Hava Tequila and the Chocolate Factory” is the theme for the 7th annual Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Young Leadership party on Saturday, Feb. 3 at 8 to 11 p.m. at the Scottish Rite Cathedral, 160 S. Scott Ave. The golden ticket-themed event, for ages 21 and over, includes… Read more »

Pozez lecture to focus on Trump’s Middle East policy

Shai Feldman of Brandeis University will present “A Year into the Trump Presidency: The U.S. & the Middle East” on Monday, Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. at the Tucson J. The free talk is part of the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies Shaol & Louis Pozez Memorial Lectureship Series.… Read more »

Tucson genealogist’s links to Yurburg, Lithuania, help spur memorial project

Tucsonan Joel Alpert, in white shirt, in the Israeli studio of sculptor, left, David Zundelovitch, with a model of the Yurburg memorial and, from far left, Alpert’s cousins Itzhak Zarnitsky and Benny Naividel, and architect Anna Zundelovitch.

Those entering Tucson’s Holocaust History Center or the Tucson Jewish Community Center will notice a black and white film portraying life in turn of the 20th century Eastern Europe. In fact, it depicts life in the small western Lithuanian town today known as Jurbarkas. The majority of the population… Read more »

UA Hillel alumni plan pre-game dinner

Lorenzo Romar.

The University of Arizona Hillel Foundation will host its annual alumni and friends basketball event on Thursday, Feb. 8 at 5:15 p.m. The pre-game dinner will feature Lorenzo Romar, UA associate head basketball coach under Coach Sean Miller, who will brief attendees on this year’s Wildcat team. A silent… Read more »

Beth Shalom Temple Center to hear Lynn Rae Lowe on Aleph-Bet symbolism

'Lichtenstein: Otiyot as Words,’ printed vinyl on acrylic, 43” x 30”, by Lynn Rae Lowe

The art gallery at Beth Shalom Temple Center is presenting an exhibit by award-winning Tucson artist Lynn Rae Lowe, “Ancient and Contemporary Symbolism of the Hebrew Alphabet,” through March 4. Lowe uses a variety of materials, two- and three-dimensional methods and the techniques of 20th century master artists to… Read more »

Curator to explore Polish Jewry’s 1,000-year history in JHM talk

The 'Paradisus Iudaeorum' gallery, part of the core exhibition at Warsaw's POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, examines a 'golden age' for Jews in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 16th and 17th centuries.

A passion for history that began with her father’s stories of his childhood in pre-war Poland has led Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett to play a large part in piecing together the scattered, thousand-year history of the Polish Jews. Now she is bringing this history to Tucson. Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, chief curator of the core… Read more »

UA partners with Israel, Mexico on technology research

Universities in Arizona, Mexico and Israel have formed a three-way partnership to cooperate on research, innovation and entrepreneurship. The partnership is made up of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the University of Arizona and the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. According to Bruce Wright, associate vice president of the… Read more »

Super Sunday will be part of JFSA ‘100 Days’

Michael Shiner makes a call at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Super Sunday phone-a-thon on Jan. 29, 2017. Shiner is one of three Super Sunday co-chairs for 2018.

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona will hold its annual Super Sunday phone-a-thon on Jan. 28, 2018 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Volunteers will call members of the Tucson Jewish community seeking donations to the Federation’s 2018 Community Campaign. This year’s campaign theme is “100 Days of Impact.” … Read more »

UA Hillel switches gears with local focus for fundraiser

Tempest DuJour

The University of Arizona Hillel Foundation is going more local for this year’s fundraiser.  On Saturday, Feb. 17, at 6:30 p.m., Hillel will hold “A Night at La Cage Hillel” at the Stevie Eller Dance Theater building on the university campus. The event is crucial to supporting Hillel’s work… Read more »

JFSA Connections talk to highlight forgiveness

Edith Eger, Ph.D.

Forgiveness is the ultimate spiritual freedom, says Edith Eger, Ph.D.: “It takes forgiveness to heal.” One of the last remaining Holocaust survivors, Eger, a psychologist, will be the guest speaker at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Women’s Philanthropy Connections 25th Anniversary brunch, “The Power to Heal,” on Feb.… Read more »

New shinshinim ready to ‘talk tachles’ in adult ed series

Chen Dinatzi and Tamir Shecory are Tucson's latest Israeli teen volunteers. (Courtesy Weintraub Israel Center)

Chen Dinatzi and Tamir Shecory, Tucson’s second cohort of shinshinim (Israeli teen emissaries), will present a series of Israel education events for adults, “Talking Tachles with Chen and Tamir” at community congregations and organizations. Tachles is a slang Hebrew word, derived from Yiddish, that means “to the point” or… Read more »