Local

“You do not come to Israel to learn. You come to Israel to feel,” said a speaker at Israel Independence Hall. My feelings were so deep and profound that tears welled up uncontrollably often on Congregation Or Chadash’s mission to Israel, March 5 to 12. Let me try to… Read more »

The cast of ‘Olive and the Bitter Herbs,’ (L-R): David Alexander Johnston, Eric Anson, Susan Claassen, Susan Kovitz and Jack Neubeck (Tim Fuller)

Actress Olive Fisher, known for her “Gimme the Sausage” commercial, is a classic New York curmudgeon at war with the world in general and her next door neighbors in particular. Her closed-off life is shaken by the appearance of a ghost in her mirror, but that’s the least of… Read more »

The cast of “Love, Loss and What I Wore,” (clockwise from top left): Avis Judd, Carley Elizabeth Preston, T. Loving, Carlisle Ellis and Carrie Hill.

Five women explore identity and relationships in “Love, Loss and What I Wore,” a play by Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron, based on the best-selling memoir by Ilene Beckerman. In monologues that are by turns comic and bittersweet, the characters recall prom dresses and cowboy boots, parents and lovers,… Read more »

Rabbi Simkha Y. Weintraub

Rabbi Simkha Y. Weintraub, rabbinic director of the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services of New York’s National Center for Jewish Healing, will present at Congregation Anshei Israel’s “Torah and Healing” study session on Saturday, April 26 at 5 p.m. Weintraub, a licensed therapist, will lead “The Taboo… Read more »

Theodore Sasson

The University of Arizona’s Center for Judaic Studies will host “Continuity and Discontinuity in Jewish Culture,” the annual Western Jewish Studies Association conference, next month. Membership in the WJSA is not required to attend the conference. Theodore Sasson, senior research scientist at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies… Read more »

Stuart Mellan

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona has announced its slate of recommended officers and directors for the 2014-15 program year. The list of 26 names (see below: Nominees for JFSA officers, board named ) marks a significant restructuring of the JFSA board, which previously numbered more than 100 members.… Read more »

Gilberto Bosques

The 2014 community Yom HaShoah Commemoration, “Diplomatic Acts of Conscience and Courage,” will honor Tucson’s Holocaust survivors and Mexican diplomat Gilberto Bosques. The event will take place on Sunday, April 27 at 2 p.m. at Temple Emanu-El, and will begin with a procession and candlelighting ceremony by local Holocaust… Read more »

Four generations, including Oshrat Barel, director of Tucson’s Weintraub Israel Center (third from right), her grandmother, mother and daughters, celebrate Mimuna in Israel in April 2013.

As a first-generation Israeli of Moroccan descent, Oshrat Barel is bringing a personal touch to “Mimuna! Israeli-Moroccan Nights,” a traditional end-of-Passover celebration the Weintraub Israel Center and Temple Emanu-El will present on Tuesday, April 22 at 6:30 p.m. at the synagogue. The evening will include live music, Moroccan sweets… Read more »

Rosie Eilat Kahn and Terry Allen Perl, JFSA Woman and Man of the Year

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona will honor its 2014 award winners at its annual meeting and awards celebration on Thursday, May 1 at 7 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. “Feddy’s,” the custom metal and glass awards designed by Lynn Rae Lowe for the Federation, and other… Read more »

Ronnie Sebold

For more than 30 years Ronnie Sebold has been involved with the Tucson Hebrew Academy. She volunteered for 22 years, held two staff positions and her three children attended THA for a total of 19 years straight. Next month THA will honor Sebold at its annual Guardian Appreciation Brunch.… Read more »

Jonathan Ben-Asher

The Tucson Hebrew Academy board of trustees has appointed Jonathan Ben-Asher as interim head of school. To establish a strong transition, Ben-Asher started last week and will assume full leadership of the school in July. Arthur Yavelberg, the cur­rent head of school, is leaving to take a position in… Read more »

A normal to-do list for a 13-year-old probably wouldn’t include a 30-city global headliner musical tour, but Ethan Bortnick is no average Jewish teen. Bortnick’s ability to enthrall audiences with his uncanny musical ear and astonishing talent on the piano has led him to be named as one of… Read more »

Herschel and Jill Rosenaweig (Chris Mooney)

Jill and Herschel Rosenzweig will be honored next month at the annual Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Southern Arizona Celebration of Caring luncheon. Jill is chair of the JFCS board and Herschel, a psychiatrist, has been a volunteer consultant to JFCS clinicians for more than 20 years. “This… Read more »

Myq Kaplan

Comedian Myq Kaplan has appeared on “The Tonight Show,” “The Late Show with David Letterman,” “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” and his own Comedy Central Presents special. In 2010 he performed in Tucson in the Last Comic Standing Tour. Next month, he’s bringing his act back to… Read more »

Artifacts filmmaker Arnon Goldfinger found in his grandparents’ Tel Aviv apartment reveal a troubling story.

A special screening of “The Flat” will take place at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on Sunday, March 30 at 3 p.m. The documentary, in Hebrew/German/English with subtitles, was released in September 2011 in Israel, where it played continuously for 13 months. At age 98, director Arnon Goldfinger’s grandmother… Read more »

Pima Community College has posted its Family Heritage Project website at www.pima.edu/community/the-arts/family-heritage.html. The project was conceived by Todd Poelstra, director of PCC’s production of “Fiddler on the Roof,” in celebration of the musical’s themes of tradition and family. The project includes more than 125 photographs and stories submitted by… Read more »

Can you play a sad, beautiful Hebrew-speaking Israeli in her 30s? The Invisible Theatre will be holding auditions for this female character and two male characters on Sunday, March 30 at 5 p.m. for “Handle With Care,” a romantic comedy by Jason Odell Williams. The play will be part… Read more »

If you are looking for a community Passover Seder to attend this year, Tucson’s got you covered. There are first, second, third and seventh night Seders, several chocolate-based festivities and a chance to start the celebrating more than a week before the holiday officially begins. The 18 events below… Read more »

Rabbi Simkha Y. Weintraub

Depression may often seem like an epidemic in today’s so­­­ciety. Rabbi Simkha Y. Weintraub, a rabbi and licensed therapist, will deliver the first keynote address, “The Dark Night of the Soul: Some Jewish Perspectives on Depression,” at the Interfaith Community Services “Faith Com­munities and Mental Illness” conference on April… Read more »

“Why Teach Jewish Women’s History?” Kelly Feinstein-Johnson, Ph.D., will address this question at a Hadassah Southern Arizona Chapter luncheon on Sunday, April 6 at noon at the Five Palms Restaurant, 3500 E. Sunrise Drive. Feinstein-Johnson taught “Jewish Women’s History through Memoir” at Temple Emanu-El’s Adult Education Academy, and is… Read more »