Local

Character Day spurs students to ask, what makes a mensch?

Rabbi Billy Lewkowicz, a faculty member at Tucson Hebrew High, leads 10th grade students through an exercise on character development in the digital age on Aug. 11, during the opening program of the 2015-16 school year. (Courtesy Tucson Hebrew High)
August 27, 2015 / Phyllis Braun, AJP Executive Editor

What makes someone a mensch (a person of integ­rity)? Students at Tucson Hebrew High and the Tucson Jewish Community Center will join others worldwide in exploring that question as part of the second annual Character Day, a concept created by filmmaker Tiffany Shlain. Known for her 2005 short film… Read more »

Volunteer to professional and back: Jewish causes engage Tucsonan
August 14, 2015 / Sarah Chen, Special to the AJP
Elaine Lisberg

Elaine Lisberg doesn’t like to live in the past or dwell over what she’s accomplished. “To me, life’s all about moving forward.” A lifelong devotee of Jewish causes and educational nonprofits, Lisberg has transitioned from active volunteer to trained professional, then to professional volunteer and now officially considers herself… Read more »

Helping others, local man fosters own sense of belonging

Allan Mendelsberg at the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s Great Strides walk in Tucson on March 29
August 14, 2015 / Renee Claire, Special to the AJP

Allan Mendelsberg serves on the community advisory board for the Special Olympics. He began volunteering for the organization when he was a high school student in Denver. “I really enjoyed working with the kids and when I moved to Tucson to attend the University of Arizona, I just stayed… Read more »

THA full of energy, innovation
August 14, 2015 / Jon Ben-Asher, Tucson Hebrew Academy
Jonathan Ben-Asher

It’s time for school, and the view from THA is tremendously exciting! At the eagle’s perspective, you’ll see our beautiful building (designed like a tallit, or prayer shawl) and grounds, ready to embrace teaching and learning every day; our wonderful, engaged, energized community of students, parents, teachers and staff… Read more »

At TIHAN’S Poz Café, locals serve up simple pleasures

(L-R): Patrice White, Naomi Present, Max Harris and Barbara Holtzman of Congregation Chaverim are recognized for their service to Poz Cafe at Tucson Interfatih HIV/AIDS Network in March.
August 13, 2015 / Craig S. Baker, Special to the AJP

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a diagnosis of HIV or AIDS was essentially a death sentence. Pharmaceutical representative Pa­trice White was fresh out of grad school at that time and employed as a social worker for the local hospitals. “It was just awful,” says White of the… Read more »

Local Jewish schools eager to start new year
August 13, 2015 / Phyllis Braun, AJP Executive Editor

As students sharpen their pencils and charge their laptops and smartphones for the new school year, Tucson’s Jewish schools are keeping their programs fresh with everything from new electives to new teachers. Temple Emanu-El’s Kurn Religious School will hold a geniza (archive) ceremony field trip as students learn about… Read more »

Memoir of love, survival focus of book brunch
August 13, 2015 /
Lola Lieber

“A World After This” will be the focus of the Women’s Academy of Jewish Studies eighth annual High Holy Days season book brunch with Esther Becker on Sunday, Sept. 20 at Congregation Chofetz Chayim. A memoir by Holocaust survivor Lola Lieber, “A World After This” spans 91 years, moving… Read more »

History museum reopens with postcard show
August 13, 2015 /

The Jewish History Museum, which reopens Aug. 15, will present “Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Postcards from the Permanent Collection,” Aug. 19-Dec. 20. The collection of handwritten cards shows Southern Arizona from the early 1900s through the 1960s. Visitors will have the opportunity to write their own postcards and send them… Read more »

Tucson Jewish Montessori preschool opening
August 13, 2015 /

Tucson Jewish Montessori, Tucson’s first Jewish Montessori preschool, founded by Rabbi Israel and Esther Becker, will open Monday, Aug. 31. Classes are aimed at 3- to 6-year-olds, and will run from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday through Friday, with childcare available before and after classes. “Our focus is honoring the… Read more »

At autism forum, educator says inclusion also a spectrum
August 13, 2015 / Laura Wilson Etter, Special to the AJP
Stephen Shore

For some students who have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder or Asperger’s syndrome, the start of a new school year can be especially difficult. Adjusting to new teachers, schedules, classmates and rules can be hard for all children, but for children with ASD or Asperger’s syndrome, changes in… Read more »

Emotions, diversity imbue JFSA leadership mission to Israel

At a stop on the drive back to Jerusalem from Masada and the Dead Sea, Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona leadership mission participants, from left, Dinah Lucas, Roe Callahan, Linda Immerman-Stoffers, Ellen Freeman and Priscilla Storm prepare to ride a camel — an activity, says JFSA President and CEO Stuart Mellan, that was “strictly optional.”
August 13, 2015 / Nancy Ben-Asher Ozeri, Special to the AJP

“Israel is an inspirational and complicated place,” Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild said upon returning from the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona interfaith community leadership mission last month. “Visiting Israel teaches that one must have great resolve and still, at the same time, be very open to hear competing views.”… Read more »

Grief group for young adults returns to UA
August 13, 2015 /

Tu Nidito is reaching out to college students and other young adults who may need support as they cope with the death of a loved one. More than 31,600 students will be returning to the University of Arizona this month, and odds are more than 6,300 of them will… Read more »

At UA, new Chabad house adding space for students, family

The shell of the new Chabad UA house was completed last month. (Courtesy Chabad UA)
July 14, 2015 / Craig S. Baker, Special to the AJP

It was under the direction of the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (commonly and lovingly referred to as “The Rebbe” by practitioners of the Chabad-Lubavitch philosophy of Judaism) in the 1950s that Chabad began setting up permanent educational and resource centers for Jewish students on university campuses… Read more »

Taste of Judaism class to feature sign language interpretation
July 9, 2015 /

Temple Emanu-El will offer its 16th year of A Taste of Judaism, a free, interactive exploration of Jewish spirituality, values, and community in three two-hour sessions. The classes are led by Rabbis Samuel M. Cohon and Batsheva Appel. Over the past 15 years in Tucson, the free sereis has… Read more »

Chaplain reminds patients to notify hospital
July 9, 2015 /

Pinchas Zohav, M.Ed., M.A.J.S., a certified counselor, has been hired by the Northwest Division of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona to provide chaplaincy services to hospitals, retirement communities and the homebound. Zohav notes that hospital patients must notify the hospital that they are Jewish in order to be… Read more »

Tucson J community garden to plant seeds of commemoration, good health

Shay Hammer, who died at age 15, inspired the community garden being created at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. (Susanne Kaplan)
July 9, 2015 / Sheila Wilensky, AJP Associate Editor

It is forbidden to live in a town that does not have a green garden. — Jerusalem Talmud, Kiddushin 4:12 Sustainability, growing local and urban gardens are trending. But growing your own food has been a staple of a healthy lifestyle over the last century, from the early Zionists… Read more »

STI will include women in Spirit program
July 9, 2015 /
Rachel Leah Mittleman

Women’s learning has been added to the Southwest Torah Institute’s long-running Dr. Paul W. Hoffert Spirit Program, which returns to Tucson Sunday, July 19, through Sunday, Aug. 2. This year’s program, entitled “Torah By Appointment,” allows participants to schedule individual and group appointments with four rabbinic students from the… Read more »