Sassy Reuven Veteran Israel Defense Forces elite Red Beret paratrooper Sassy Reuven will share his role in the famed hostage-rescue mission code-named “Operation Thunderbolt” when Chabad Tucson and the Weintraub Israel Center commemorate the 40th anniversary of Operation Entebbe on Sunday, Jan. 24 at 7 p.m. Reuven and 100 commandos flew… Read more »
Lisa Belkin Lisa Belkin, a former New York Times reporter and author of “Show Me a Hero,” the basis for the HBO miniseries, will speak at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona- Northwest on Sunday, Jan. 17 at 3 p.m. Belkin is senior national correspondent for Yahoo News, covering American social… Read more »
The Women’s Philanthropy Advisory Council of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is seeking nominees for its 10th annual Bryna Zehngut Mitzvot Award. The award, honoring the late Bryna Zehngut, recognizes the outstanding achievements of a Jewish teenage girl in Tucson. Nominees must be current high school juniors or… Read more »
Congregation Anshei Israel’s Esther B. Feldman Preschool/Kindergarten will hold a casino night fundraiser on Saturday, Jan. 23. The adults-only evening will begin at 7:30 p.m. and include casino gambling (for fun and entertainment), hors d’oeuvres and dessert, a cash bar, live music and dancing, and a raffle. Among the… Read more »
The Coalition for Jewish Education of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is accepting applications for scholarships to Jewish overnight summer camps for the summer of 2016. The need-based scholarship assistance is funded by the Mo and Frances Beren Family Scholarship Fund at the Jewish Community Foundation of Southern… Read more »
Or Chadash religious school students and teacher’s aide Seth Brown spell “Or Chadash” in Hebrew with their bodies during a Jewish yoga elective.
After an intensive process that began more than two years ago, the Congregation Or Chadash Religious School has won accreditation from the Association of Reform Jewish Educators. It is the only school in Arizona, and one of the smallest congregations nationwide, to currently hold that distinction. Rina Liebeskind, director… Read more »
Bryan Davis This past year, 2015, has been an historic year for an institution whose focus is the preservation of history. In December 2014 the Jewish History Museum received a lead gift that propelled our organization and our community into a yearlong effort to transform the Jewish History Museum campus. On… Read more »
LimmudAZ will hold its second annual day of Jewish learning on Sunday, Jan. 31 at Arizona State University in Tempe. Was the real writer of Shakespeare’s plays a Jewish woman? Is there an answer to the water wars in the Middle East? What are the top 20 Jewish books… Read more »
Gil Mann JFSA-NW to host ‘Jewish Dear Abby’ If you’re on the fence about attending “Sex, G-d, Christians and Jews: Struggling with Jewish Identity Today,” keynote speaker Gil Mann makes this promise: “I pretty much am positive that anyone who comes to this program will come out thinking a little differently… Read more »
Tom Doherty Professor Tom Doherty, Ph.D., chair of the American studies program at Brandeis University and author of “Hollywood and Hitler, 1933-1939,” will present a University on Wheels lecture, “Jews, Nazis and Hollywood Cinema,” on Thursday, Jan. 7 from 9 to 11 a.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. The Tucson… Read more »
The inaugural exhibition of the expanded Holocaust History Center on the campus of the Jewish History Museum will feature an exhibit displaying portraits of individuals who perished in the Holocaust, whose relatives live or have lived in Southern Arizona. The Center is issuing a public call for photos and… Read more »
The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Northwest Division and Chabad of Oro Valley will present local Holocaust survivor Willy Halpert on “The Hidden Child During the Holocaust” on Sunday, Dec. 27 at 4 p.m. at the JFSA Northwest office, 190 W. Magee Road. Halpert recalls walking with his father… Read more »
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA Tucson resident Beth Surdut will present “The Modern Tallit” at a Hadassah Southern Arizona luncheon on Sunday, Jan. 10. Surdut, who creates hand-painted silk prayer shawls, will discuss how personal stories and prayers become essential elements in her designs. Whether for pre-teens or adults, she says, each tallit becomes… Read more »
The 25th annual Tucson Jewish International Film Festival is dedicated to the memory of Bob Polinsky, a longtime volunteer. Every time I go to a movie, it’s magic, no matter what the movie’s about. —Steven Spielberg The Tucson International Jewish Film Festival uses that “magic” to promote the preservation of Jewish culture and celebrate cultural diversity. For 10 days, Jan. 14 - 23, the 25th annual festival… Read more »
Gregg Mozgala (left) and choreographer Tamar Rogoff in a scene from ‘Enter the Faun,’ which will be screened as part of the 25th Tucson International Jewish Film Festival.
When New York choreographer Tamar Rogoff invited Gregg Mozgala, an actor with cerebral palsy, to dance the role of the faun in an original production, they had no idea that their collaboration would lead to a profound and unexpected physical transformation. At the time they met in 2008, Mozgala… Read more »
Netanel (left) and Eden Achituv, Israeli teachers new to Tucson Hebrew Academy this year, at THA’s all-school Thanksgiving lunch on Nov. 24. (Alix Cramer/THA)
Netanel and Eden Achituv are the first Israelis to join Tucson Hebrew Academy as part of the World Zionist Organization’s Morim Shlichim (teacher-emissary) program. WZO and the Weintraub Israel Center helped THA recruit the Achituvs, who bring rich experience to the day school’s Hebrew and Judaic studies programs. Coming… Read more »
Sheldon Clare teaches Yiddish at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. (Renee Claire)
So what’s your Yiddish IQ, bubbeleh? Don’t be too quick with your answer because truth is, lots of the mamaloshen (mother tongue) has entered into common English usage; think kibbitz, bagel, klutz, kosher and chutzpah. But should you want to think of more than the commonly known terms, then… Read more »
Elder Rehab at the Tucson Jewish Community Center couples memory-impaired seniors with University of Arizona students who supervise them in physical exercise and memory and language stimulation activities. The research-tested program, developed by psychologist Sharon Arkin, is now enrolling participants for its third semester, which begins Jan. 25. The… Read more »
Nanci Levy and Handmaker residents braid challah. Seated, L-R: Peggy Simon, Betty Light and Anna Rogovin (Courtesy Handmaker)
Recently hired as community outreach coordinator at Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging, Nanci Levy says 20 years of volunteer work in the Tucson Jewish community was great preparation for her new role — along with a background in advertising, public relations, event planning and fund development. “Over the… Read more »
Rabbi Nachum Ehrentreu, left, and Tucsonan Ron Rosenberg with Jewish kindergarteners in Zaporozhye, Ukraine (Courtesy Ron Rosenberg)
Looking back at 2015, there is no question that the growing number of refugees worldwide has become a huge concern. The United Nations refugee agency reported this summer that there are more refugees in the world today than ever previously recorded. The agency labels Syria, Ukraine and South Sudan… Read more »
