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JPSA young leadership volunteers and Handmaker residents with the boxes of school supplies they packed for Homer Davis Elementary School, June 1, 2025 (Photo courtesy JPSA)

Volunteering is rejuvenating and “good for the soul,” said David DiCosola, one of 18 volunteers from Jewish Philanthropies of Southern Arizona’s Young Leadership Division who joined Handmaker residents on Sunday, June 1, for a service and learning program. Nate Weisband, JPSA Young Leadership Manager, created the pre-Shavuot program to… Read more »

Students attend the April 15, 2025, Jewish Student Union meeting at University High School. (Photo: Joseph Goodman)

You don’t have to be Jewish to attend Jewish Student Union meetings at University High School. JSU board members offer snacks to entice Jewish and non-Jewish classmates to their Tuesday lunchtime gatherings, held in the AP U.S. history classroom. “The vast majority of people at our meetings aren’t Jewish,… Read more »

The 2025 Jewish Latino Teen Coallition in Washington, D.C., in the spring of 2025

There is no room for courage if we’ve already lost the battle in our minds. Through the Jewish Latino Teen Coalition, courageous young leaders from numerous high schools throughout Tucson, Arizona, were able to further develop their awareness of other cultures from Latino backgrounds and Jewish heritage. In addition,… Read more »

The Greens — from left, Gabe, Ryan, Rachel, Jonathan, and Aaron — were hosts for the 2000 JCC Maccabi Games in Tucson, sparking a love of the Games that continues to this day, with Jonathan and Rachel co-chairing the 2025 athletics committee. (Photo courtesy Tucson J)

In a little over two months, more than 1,500 Jewish teen athletes, coaches, and delegation heads will visit Tucson for the 2025 JCC Maccabi Games® & Access, which will be held July 27-Aug. 1. Many community members have answered the call to serve as hosts for the athletes, but… Read more »

Last month, I went to the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona on South Country Club Road to drop off several bags of food. When I arrived, I realized that I had entered the wrong parking lot; it was for those seeking food. But before turning around, I sat… Read more »

{L-R): Seton, Torin, Amity, and Debbie Claggett

For the Claggett family, the Tucson J has always felt like home. Amity Claggett, a former ECE student and J-Care participant, represented Team Tucson at the 2024 JCC Maccabi Games® in Detroit. Her mother, Debbie, previously worked on staff. This year, in addition to Amity’s return as an athlete… Read more »

Johanna Shlomovich loves giving tours of Tucson Hebrew Academy. “I invite anybody and everybody to come for a tour. I will give a personal tour to anybody to come see the great work that we’re doing,” says Shlomovich, who became Head of School at THA in July 2021. She… Read more »

Congratulations to Lynn Davis, director of the Rabbi Joseph H. Gumbiner Community Action Project at the Tucson Jewish Museum & Holocaust Center, for earning her Master of Arts in Jewish Professional Studies from the Spertus Institute. Davis completed the 18-month program along with a cohort of other Jewish professionals… Read more »

Lindsey Baker, left, and Allyson Israel

Congratulations to Lindsey Baker, nonprofit consultant, founder & principal of LR Baker Consulting, and Allyson Israel, entrepreneurship program manager, Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona, on their May 16 graduation from Greater Tucson Leadership’s Lead Tucson Class of 2025. Israel was selected as the 2025 class speaker. Both women are… Read more »

Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Southern Arizona has launched a significant new partnership with Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation of Southern Arizona. The partnership will combine resources to better serve local families affected by childhood cancer and blood disorders. The collaboration has already begun making an impact through emergency… Read more »

In the spirit of honoring their elders, engaging in hiddur p’nai zaken, teens from Tucson Hebrew Academy and BBYO have been meeting monthly with Handmaker residents since September as part of the Better Together intergenerational program. One Wednesday morning each month, residents eagerly waited in the Grand Foyer or… Read more »

May is Jewish American Heritage Month, a time to elevate the significant contributions that Jews have made to American arts, music, business, science, education, and public service. At Tucson Jewish Museum & Holocaust Center, we use the intimate and heartfelt stories of Jews in our local community to proudly… Read more »

Mazel tov to Tucson composer Daniel Asia, whose opera “The Tin Angel” will premiere on June 28 and 29 with Teatro Grattacielo at the Ellen Stewart Theater at La Mama in New York City. Asia’s Jewish heritage deeply informs his music, which integrates Jewish texts and traditions, merging classical… Read more »

Rabbi Arnold Task, 92, died on May 8, 2025, surrounded by his wife, Judy, and daughters, Sherri Gouterman, Susan Israel, and Laurie Klein. Rabbi Task was born in Chicago on October 21, 1932. He and Judy were married on Sept. 4, 1955. Rabbi Task completed his undergraduate degree at… Read more »

David Graizbord

Professor David Graizbord, director of the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Arizona, will lead an interactive workshop on a question that has been at the center of controversy within Jewish communities in the United States and elsewhere: “Is anti-Zionism antisemitism?” The workshop will be held… Read more »

The Loft Cinema will show the film ‘October 8’ on Wednesday, May 14 at 7:30 p.m.   “‘October 8’ offers a look at the explosion of antisemitism on college campuses, social media and in the streets of America beginning the day after the October 7th attack on Israel by Hamas,”… Read more »

Wearing a “Bring Them Home Now” T-shirt, Eli Hayut crosses the finish line of the Arizona Monster Race on April 11, 2025. (Photo courtesy Eli Hayut)

Eli Hayut, Israel’s ultramarathon national champion, made history last month in Arizona. Hayut, 47, ran the 304-mile Arizona Monster Race, setting the record for the longest distance run by an Israeli. The race follows the Arizona Trail from Superior to Patagonia through rugged Sonoran Desert terrain and up Mt.… Read more »

Tucson police investigate the vandalism at Chabad Tucson–Young Israel synagogue on Tuesday, April 22. Rabbi Yehuda Ceitlin called the Tucson police chief who sent out a crime scene unit. (Photo courtesy Chabad Tucson)

Rabbi Yehuda Ceitlin discovered the words “End Apartheid Abolish Israel” spelled out in purple graffiti on the outer wall of his Chabad Tucson–Young Israel synagogue early in the morning on Tuesday, April 22. Neither he nor the congregants who gathered for morning prayer noticed the graffiti when they drove… Read more »

Former University of Arizona basketball player/assistant coach Josh Pastner speaks at the press conference where he was introduced as the new head coach of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Men's Basketball Team on March 26. (Photo courtesy UNLV Athletics)

The 1990s were the last golden age for college basketball programs west of the Rocky Mountains, with three winning national championships that decade. Josh Pastner, 47, was a freshman on the 1997 University of Arizona men’s basketball team – the most recent team west of the Rockies to win… Read more »

The Tucson Jewish Community Center (the J) will honor volunteers and staff, elect new board members, and celebrate the organization’s 2024 accomplishments in the Alice and Paul Baker Ballroom on Thursday, May 15 from 5:30-7:30pm. The entire community is invited to join for a celebratory evening. Honorees include Amy… Read more »