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JCF seeks Israel Discovery Fund applications
November 19, 2015 /

The Jewish Community Foundation is seeking applications from nonprofit organizations in Southern Arizona for a grant from the JCF Israel Discovery Fund, made possible by the Shaol & Evelyn Pozez Endowment Fund and the Beren Family Scholarship Fund. The purpose of the JCF Israel Discovery Fund is to send… Read more »

Tucson gets PJ Our Way book program for ages 9-11
November 19, 2015 /
“Penina Levine Is a Potato Pancake” is one of the PJ Our Way selections for November.

The PJ Library program in Southern Arizona is expanding to include kids ages 9-11 with PJ Our Way. Offering free, age-appropriate monthly books with Jewish content, PJ Our Way puts kids in control of their book choices via a protected, regulated website, pjourway.org. Kids can also contribute book reviews,… Read more »

Hadassah to name Woman of the Year at holiday brunch
November 19, 2015 /

Hadassah Southern Arizona will hold a Chanukah party brunch on Dec. 6 at 10 a.m. at the Lodge on the Desert, 306 N. Alvernon Way. The Woman of the Year Award will be announced and Cathy Olswing, president of the Desert-Mountain Region of Hadassah, will install the following as… Read more »

For candy store owner, Tucson memories go way back
November 19, 2015 / Phyllis Braun, AJP Executive Editor

Native Tucsonan Patricia Zarin, owner of Classy Sweets, owes both her entrepreneurial spirit and her strong Jewish identity to her parents, Bill and Roselyn Dumes. “I was bat mitzvahed at Anshei Israel,” she says, noting that this was in “the old shul” on Sixth Street, where she and her… Read more »

Top Israeli first responders train, consult with Tucson experts

Chief Les Caid of Rio Rico Fire District, in blue shirt, with Israelis, from left, Guy Caspi, Magen David Adom; Brig. Gen. Shmulik Friedman, Israel Fire and Rescue Authority; Lt. Col. Ariel Blitz, Israel Defense Forces Home Front Command; Maj. Sivan Inbar, Israel Defense Forces Home Front Command. Not pictured: Avi Borger, National Emergency Management Authority (Firefighters Beyond Borders Facebook page)
November 19, 2015 / Nancy Ben-Asher Ozeri, Special to the AJP

“When we train for mass casualty incidents, we know that the blood isn’t real and when the training is over, everyone is going to stand up and walk away. How does Israel deal with real mass casualty incidents that can happen every day?” That question by Tucson Fire Department… Read more »

Help JFCS win the $15,000 Santa Rita landscaping grant
November 9, 2015 /

Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Southern Arizona is a finalist in the Santa Rita Landscaping $15,000 Nonprofit Landscape Makeover. If you are on Facebook and would like to help JFCS win, do the following Click here and like the JFCS Facebook page Once there, click on the link… Read more »

Eat Local: Hot pizza, cold beer and other pleasures
November 6, 2015 /

Good food and drink are among life’s best simple pleasures — especially when you’re talking about pizza baked to perfection or a cold brew shared with friends. Here are a few words about some of Tucson’s best purveyors of gustatory bliss. Fresco Pizzeria & Pastaria Mat and Britnee Cable,… Read more »

CAI taps Jerusalem Post analyst as scholar-in-residence
November 6, 2015 / Laura Wilson Etter
Gil Hoffman

As the chief political correspondent and analyst for The Jerusalem Post, Gil Hoffman has a profound understanding of the nuances that make Israeli politics complex and, at times, confusing. On Friday, Nov. 13 and Saturday, Nov. 14, Hoffman will share his insights as scholar-in-residence at Congregation Anshei Israel. Having… Read more »

JFSA women get update on sex trafficking

(L-R) Event co-chair Tamar Bergantino, Aimee Graves of CODAC, event co-chair Robyn Kessler and Beth Jacobs of Willow Way at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Women’s Philanthropy annual welcome Oct. 14. (Danielle Larcom/JFSA)
November 6, 2015 / Kate Mailliard, AJP Intern

Around 60 women gathered in the Tucson Jewish Community Center sculpture garden at 7 p.m. on Oct. 14 as the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Women’s Philanthropy installed its new board. The evening served as an update on the issue of sex trafficking, a subject discussed at last year’s… Read more »

JScreen co-founder will discuss genetic disease testing
November 6, 2015 /
Karen Grinzaid

Karen A. Grinzaid, MS, CGC, CCRC, senior director and co-founder of JScreen, will present “Knowledge is Power: Impacting the Health of Future Generations” at a Tucson Maimonides Society dinner on Nov. 12 at the La Paloma Country Club. The Maimonides Society is a fellowship of doctors dedicated to education… Read more »

Jewish Culture Shuk returns: love, violence, shellfish and more
November 6, 2015 /

The Jewish Culture Shuk (Hebrew for “marketplace”) returns Sunday, Nov. 15 with an evening of adult education classes taught by more than a dozen local rabbis and educators. Presented by the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Coalition for Jewish Education and the Synagogue-Federation Dialogue and held at Tucson Hebrew… Read more »

Policy maven’s series to cover ISIS, debt crisis, elections
November 6, 2015 /
Bob Harris

Bob Harris, a former policy and management expert with the federal government, will lead a four-part discussion series sponsored by Hadassah Southern Arizona at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, beginning Thursday, Nov. 12. Topics will be “Combating the Islamic State or ISIS” on Nov. 12; “Debt Crisis from Greece… Read more »

Green Valley Jews to celebrate center’s 20th
November 5, 2015 /
Cyrel Bandy

The Beth Shalom Temple Center, serving Green Valley and Sahuarita, will celebrate its 20th anniversary with a full weekend of activities beginning on Nov. 20. Located at 1751 N. Rio Mayo in Green Valley, the Temple Center is the successor to a grassroots organization that began in the early… Read more »

Rabbi to parse anti-Semitism in ‘new’ Europe
November 5, 2015 /
Rabbi Joel Oseran

Rabbi Joel Oseran, D.D., vice president of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, will present “The ‘New’ Jews Face the ‘New’ Anti-Semitism in the ‘New’ Europe — Implications for Reform Jews in Europe and Around the World,” at Temple Emanu-El’s Shabbat evening service, Friday, Nov. 13 at 7:30 p.m.… Read more »

Kindertransport story sparks Tucsonan’s novel of intrigue
November 5, 2015 / Nancy Ben-Asher Ozeri, Special to the AJP
Lauren Grossman

Tucson author Lauren B. Grossman found the inspiration for her second novel, “The Golden Peacock,” in a souvenir from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. When visiting the museum about a decade ago, Grossman was handed the identity card of a Holocaust survivor, randomly selected from a bin. She… Read more »

Mideast expert Dennis Ross to speak at free JFSA event
November 5, 2015 /
Dennis Ross

Former Middle East peace envoy Dennis Ross, author of the new book “Doomed to Succeed: The U.S.-Israel Relationship from Truman to Obama,” will speak at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s free Together community event on Wednesday, Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. at Congregation Anshei Israel. The event will… Read more »

Ethics of driving course to give teens Jewish perspective
October 22, 2015 /

“You’re Driving Me Nuts,” a program on the ethics of driving for teens, will take place Sunday, Nov. 1 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Congregation Or Chadash. “Every year we see too many accidents and other issues related to teens and driving, some stemming from lack of… Read more »