Local

While the Tucson Jewish Community Center continues to build momentum and rosters for this summer’s Maccabi Games for Jewish teen athletes in Columbus, Ohio, another member of the community was able to experience Maccabi on an international scale. Martin Reichgott spent Dec. 26-Jan.5 in Santiago, Chile, as a coach… Read more »

When Mike Lex turned 13 he did not celebrate becoming a bar mitzvah. He grew up in a remote part of Wyoming, a place where he says as a Jew he was in a tiny minority and because his parents did not practice, his 13th birthday came and went.… Read more »

A Jewish section has been established at Marana Mortuary and Cemetery, with Rabbi Ephraim Zimmerman of Chabad of Oro Valley overseeing religious aspects of the section. “Until now Jewish burial was available in Tucson in two cemeteries, Evergreen and East Lawn. figured I was the obvious… Read more »

Jewish Family & Children’s Services will hold a three-hour, community-wide ethical will writing workshop from 9 a.m.-noon on Tuesday, March 22, at the TMC Senior Services/El Dorado Medical Center, 1400 N. Wilmot Road. Ethical wills began as a Jewish oral tradition centuries ago, a way to pass on values… Read more »

About 125 people turned out on Saturday, Feb. 20, for Party Royale, the fifth annual Hava Tequila event hosted by Young Leadership of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona. The James Bond-themed event, held at Playground Bar and Lounge, raised $6,000 for the Ethiopian National Project in Tucson’s partnership… Read more »

Some men go fishing when they retire. Some play golf. When Wayne Gould sold his steel bar manufacturing company and retired, he opened a car museum. “It started out as a man cave in a smaller building,” Gould says. “I retired and I wanted to pick up a couple… Read more »

Amelia Saltsman

Amelia Saltsman, chef, teacher and author of “The Seasonal Jewish Kitchen: A Fresh Take on Tradition,” will offer a cooking demon­stration and tasting at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on Friday, March 11, from 2-4 p.m. Saltsman, whose first book was the “The Santa Monica Farmer’s Market Cookbook,” is… Read more »

Marcie Sutland drew this illustration in 1966, highlighting the Tucson Jewish community’s annual fundraising campaign and its volunteer leaders.

View the special 70th anniversary section here: Page 16  Page 17 Page 18  Page 19 Page 20  Page 21 Page 22  Page 23 Page 24  Page 25 Page 26  Page 27 Page 28  Page 29… Read more »

Tess Gerritsen

When international best selling writer Tess Gerritsen writes a mystery, she is sometimes as surprised as her readers and the characters in her story at who did the dirty deed.… Read more »

It was perhaps the most daring hostage rescue mission ever attempted: a middle-of-the-night raid on a Ugandan airport terminal to retrieve more than 100 hostages. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Israel Defense Force’s historic raid on Entebbe, officially known as Operation Thunderbolt. On Jan. 24, veteran… Read more »

Jim Showers

The Weintraub Israel Center will present “Thank G-d for Israel,” an event showcasing multifaith support for Israel, on Sunday, Feb. 28 at 2:30 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. The keynote speaker will be Jim Showers, executive director of Friends of Israel, a worldwide Christian ministry founded in… Read more »

Rabbi Yaakov Kleiman will present “The DNA Connection — Modern Jews and the Ancient Hebrews” on Wednesday, Feb. 24 at noon at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Kleiman is the director of the Center for Kohanim in Jerusalem and the author of “DNA & Tradition: The Genetic Link to… Read more »

It was a combination of dry desert air and the Arizona Jewish Post that brought Marcie Sutland’s family to Tucson more than 60 years ago. “When we were deciding to come out West” in the late 1940s, “I wrote to the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and somehow I got… Read more »

During holiday musaf services at Congregation Anshei Israel, Jack, Alan and Ian Strauss ascend the bimah to recite the priestly blessing. As the son-in-law, grandson and great-grandson of the late Cantor Maurice Falkow carry on their patriarch’s legacy, they cover their heads with their prayer shawls, raise their arms… Read more »

Stuart Mellan

Seventy years! My how the world has changed! While we are always trying to keep up with these changes, we remain very much rooted in our values and our mission. Underlying our Federation’s work is the adage that “community doesn’t just happen, it has to be created,” which begs… Read more »

Tucked away in an upstairs corner of the Tucson Jewish Community Center sits a room that would make any kid’s eyes light up. That’s where a new, huge jungle gym lives. Donated by the Diamondbacks baseball team, the structure features tubes and slides and soft climbing stairs. An oversized,… Read more »

The Tucson Jewish Community Center is recruiting young Jewish athletes, ages 13-16, for the 2016 JCC Maccabi Games to be held this summer in Columbus, Ohio. The Tucson J hopes to register 20-25 teens by March 11, with practice starting at the end of March. The games will feature… Read more »

Young Leadership of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona will hold its fifth annual Hava Tequila event, “Party Royale,” on Saturday, Feb. 20 beginning at 8 p.m. at Playground, 278 E. Congress St. The James Bond-themed event for ages 21 and over will include hors d’ouevres, drinks, a DJ… Read more »

Congregation Anshei Israel will present its third annual “Wisdom of Jewish Tucson” adult education series on Wednesdays, February 10, 17 and 24, from 7-9 p.m. This year’s program, “What We Need to Know About … Islam, Mormonism & Catholicism” provides an opportunity for interfaith conversations and greater understanding of… Read more »

Have you been asking yourself when you are finally going to get around to researching your Jewish family roots? The opportunity to jump-start your genealogical quest will be available at the Feb. 21 re-opening of Tucson’s Holocaust History Center on the Jewish History Museum Campus. Joel Alpert will have… Read more »