Local

If a trip abroad were in your future, you’d undoubtedly make careful plans, from financial arrangements to who’ll take care of your house and dependents during your absence. But despite the realities of aging and death, many of us are less proactive when it comes to estate planning or… Read more »

Tucson’s Jewish Culture Shuk, a night of classes and discussions led by local rabbis and Jewish educators, is something Debbie Gubernick looks forward to every year. Gubernick, founder of Agents of STEAM, a local organization that helps facilitate events and literacy in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, has attended… Read more »

For more than two decades, Lynn Rae Lowe, an awarding-winning local artist, has strived to empower people through her symbolic work. “Ancient symbols give us access into the collective unconscious, and through that we can raise up ourselves,” says Lowe. And the arts can help communities make sense of… Read more »

As Arizona Theatre Company celebrates its 50th anniversary with its largest production ever, “Fiddler on the Roof,” two Jewish University of Arizona seniors are making their ATC debuts in the iconic musical, under the direction of ATC artistic director David Ira Goldstein. For Shira Elena Maas (Rivka) and Taylor… Read more »

Visitors to the Park Place Mall will be able to see a collection of menorahs through Dec. 31. The mall contacted the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona last year to ensure that there would be Hanukkah decorations amongst the Christmas decorations displayed at the mall during the winter holiday… Read more »

Historical rules work until they stop working, Mara Liasson, an award-winning political correspondent for National Public Radio, told about 1,000 people who crowded Congregation Anshei Israel on Nov. 16 for the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s 2017 Community Campaign kickoff. President-elect Donald Trump proved that he could break all… Read more »

We Stand Together launch event will be held Nov. 30 at YWCA What: We Stand Together, a citywide initiative being sponsored by the Southern Arizona Hate Crimes Task Force to encourage and equip Tucsonans to stand up against bigotry and prejudice, is being launched at a community forum this week.… Read more »

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Asher Susser

Asher Susser, a professor emeritus of Middle Eastern history at Tel Aviv University, signed on as the Stein Family Professor of Modern Israel Studies at the University of Arizona four years ago. He is the moderator for the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies’ second annual Modern Israel Conference, “Balancing… Read more »

The Tucson International Jewish Film Festival will hold a FAST (First Annual Short Topics) & Fun! evening to announce the schedule for the festival on Wednesday, Dec. 7 at 7 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. The festival, which will run from Jan. 12-22, will feature more than… Read more »

Searching for a program that helps people with memory loss stay physically and mentally active, Natalija Kuznecova had one very specific requirement: she needed to find a program with a Russian speaker for  mother, 77-year-old Yevgenia Kiseleva, who has been in the United States only four months and speaks… Read more »

Haimish, Yiddish for friendly or homey, sums up Claire’s Cafe and Art Gallery in Catalina. Good food also figures into the picture, but the warm atmosphere created by owners Claire and Steve Johnson keeps drawing loyal customers. The cafe was awarded the 2016 Better Business Bureau Good Neighbor Award… Read more »

The Tucson Jewish Community Center is currently recruiting Jewish teenage athletes between ages 13 and 16 to attend the JCC Maccabi Games next summer. The annual tournament runs from July 30 to Aug. 4 in Birmingham, Ala., and offers students competitive sporting events, social activities, social action projects and… Read more »

Tibetan Buddhist Monk Ringu Tulku Rinpoche will speak on “The Power of Gratitude to Heal” at Temple Emanu-El’s Chardonnay Shabbat service on Friday, Nov. 25 at 5:45 p.m. Following the service, Rinpoche will continue the discussion with Rabbis Samuel M. Cohon and Batsheva Appel and guests at a Shabbat… Read more »

A groundbreaking ceremony for a new building that will house the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona and the Jewish Community Foundation will be held Sunday, Dec. 4 at 4 p.m. in the northwest corner of the Tucson Jewish Community Center parking lot at River and Dodge Roads. The project,… Read more »

The mini-mission, an annual behind the scenes bus tour of programs supported by the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, will be held Friday, Dec 2, 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m. The tour is sponsored by JFSA Women’s Philanthropy but is open to men and women. New this year is an exclusive… Read more »

Leah Avuno, one of Tucson’s two Shinshinim (teen ambassadors from Israel) brought more than just her abundant youthful energy when she came to Tucson — she also brought the rich culture of her Ethiopian heritage. This year, the Tucson Jewish community will join Avuno in celebrating the Jewish Ethiopian… Read more »

(JTA) — An Arizona teenager was sentenced to eight years in prison for plotting an attack on government buildings and the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Mahin Khan, 18, was sentenced on Friday in Maricopa County Superior Court a month after he pleaded guilty to charges of terrorism, conspiracy to… Read more »

Stuart Mellan

“Weaving … is the essential art of creating the unified out of two opposites. If the meeting of opposites does not take place, nothing is created, for each element is defined by its opposite and takes its meaning from it.” — Dario Valcarenghi as quoted in “The Art of… Read more »

Steve Levine

The Beth Shalom Temple Center, Green Valley’s self-proclaimed “reconformadox” Jewish congregation, recently hired its first membership coordinator. Steve Levine was attracted to his new position for professional and personal reasons, and began his new job in September. “The Jewish community has been very good to me over the years,… Read more »