Local

Chabad of Tucson will hold a “Spa for the Soul” event for women on Sunday, Feb. 16, 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Hacienda Del Sol Guest Ranch Resort. The event will begin with an hour of mini spa treatments and health and beauty consultations, plus vendor tables and… Read more »

Scholarships for Jewish overnight summer camp are available through the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Coalition for Jewish Education. Forms are available for need-based scholarships for students currently attending Tucson’s religious schools or Tucson Hebrew Academy. The scholarships, funded by the Moe and Frances Beren Family Scholarship Fund at… Read more »

Rabbi David Wolpe

  David Wolpe — named the most influential rabbi in America by Newsweek magazine and one of the 50 most influential Jews in the world by the Jerusalem Post — will speak in support of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona 2014 Community Campaign on Wednesday, Feb. 12. The… Read more »

Steven Weitzman will present “King Solomon’s Mines Revisited: A Misadventure Story,” the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies 2014 Marcus Breger Memorial Lecture, on Tuesday, Jan. 21. Weitzman, the Daniel E. Koshland Professor of Jewish Culture and Religion at Stanford University, will speak at noon at the University of Arizona… Read more »

(L-R) Nina Isaac, Randi Levin, Cheryl Wortzel, Shaun Kozolchyk and David Plotkin at a past Hava Tequila event.

Hava Tequila, a party with a 1920s theme sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Young Leadership department, will be held Saturday, Feb. 8, 8 to 11 p.m. at Hotel Congress. The event, for ages 21 and over, will include a DJ, dancing, photo booth, hors d’oeuvres, signature… Read more »

Scholarships for Jewish overnight camps, funded by the Moe and Frances Beren Family Scholarship Fund, are available through the Coalition for Jewish Education of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona. “As in past years, these funds are critical in both showing the community’s recognition of the positive impact Jewish… Read more »

The Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona has announced the fifth annual Goldman Family Israel Scholarship Grant, with available funding of $2,500. The deadline for application is 5 p.m. on Feb. 7. The Elliot S. Goldman Israel Scholarship Fund and the Goldman Family Scholarship Fund are endowment funds held… Read more »

Gavin Cohen watches a shot.

Tucson is a golfer’s paradise — and not just for retirees and sun-seeking vacationers. Many Tucsonans develop a love of the game at an early age, including several teens in the Jewish community, such as 15-year-old Gavin Cohen. “Gavin Cohen is a pretty good stick,” says Scott Gregoire, general… Read more »

Adisa Ayaso

Adisa Ayaso arrived in Israel in January 1984, but her family’s aliyah wasn’t the typical airplane flight of so many modern-day Jews. Ayaso, now 33, was born in the village of Gedlia Murim in Ethiopia. She was 3 when her family began the 1,000-mile trek across the mountains of… Read more »

Enriqueta Fassler

Enriqueta “Neneng” Fassler is a 71-year-old dynamo who earned her third college degree in May. She was the oldest graduate of Pima Community College, earning her post-graduate certificate — with honors — as a paralegal. Fassler holds two college degrees in education: one in physical education from her native… Read more »

J. Edward Wright, director of the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies and the J. Edward Wright Endowed Professor of Judaic Studies, will lead “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow — Israel and Palestine,” a Magellan Circle excursion to Israel from May 25 to June 4. The Magellan Circle excursions are group… Read more »

A scene from 'Out in the Dark'

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s LGBT Jewish Inclusion Project is sponsoring a film, “Out in the Dark,” at the Tucson International Jewish Film Festival on Jan. 23. What begins as a tender romance between a privileged Israeli lawyer and a Palestinian student becomes an edge-of your-seat thriller, says… Read more »

Super Sunday co-chairs Kris and Ben Silverman

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona will hold its annual fundraising phone-a-thon, Super Extraordinary Sunday, on Jan. 26 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Several mitzvah projects, including a Red Cross blood drive and a Gift of Life bone marrow registry, will help make the day special. “Arizona is… Read more »

On Jan. 8, 2011, the peace of a sunny Tucson day was shattered at 10:10 a.m. in front of a Northwest Safeway, when a lone gunman killed six Tucsonans and wounded 13 others at a Congress on Your Corner event with U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. One of those wounded… Read more »

Linor Abargil in ‘Brave Miss World’

Nearly two dozen films from around the world will be screened at the 23rd annual Tucson International Jewish Film Festival. Running Jan.16 to 25, this year’s program features several international award winners, Arizona premieres and special guests. A pre-festival kickoff is scheduled Sunday, Jan.12 at the Desert View Performing… Read more »

Thinking about going to Israel in 2014? At least five Tucson congregations would be delighted to have you join them. Congregation Or Chadash is first up with a trip March 5 to 12. Congregation Chofetz Chayim’s trip will be May 4 to 18, followed by Congregation Bet Shalom June… Read more »

Cantor Ivor Lichterman

Cantor Avraham Alpert has gathered an eclectic group of performers for Congregation Bet Shalom’s “An Enchanted Evening: A Jewish Music Concert” on Saturday, Feb. 1 at 8 p.m. at the Berger Performing Arts Center. Cantor Ivor Lichterman will be the special guest artist. “I think everybody knows Cantor Lichterman,”… Read more »

Bruce Magid, dean of the Brandeis University International School of Business, will discuss “Not Business as Usual: How Changes in the Global Economy Will Impact Your Lives,” at the Tucson chapter of the Brandeis National Committee’s annual University on Wheels event on Thursday, Jan. 9 at 9:30 a.m. The… Read more »

Congregation Anshei Israel will present a three-week adult education series offering a wide range of speakers on being Jewish and Judaism. The series will take place on Wednesdays, Jan. 22, 29 and Feb. 5, from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. A different keynote speaker will open each evening from… Read more »

Hava Tirosh-Samuelson

“Judaism and the Contemporary Pursuit of Happiness” will be the topic of the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies Shaol & Louis Pozez Memorial Lecture on Monday, Jan. 13 at 7 p.m., at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Hava Tirosh-Samuelson, of Arizona State University, will discuss happiness as a central… Read more »