A gravestone at the Jewish cemetery in Douglas shows signs of vandalism. (Benjamin Herman) Touring the U.S.-Mexico border may conjure up intrigue, fear and compassion, depending on one’s perspective. For Congregation Anshei Israel’s Assistant Rabbi Benjamin Herman, checking out the border led to an adventure in Jewish pioneer history. On Nov. 29, 2012, Robert Feinman, vice president of the humanitarian organization Humane Borders,… Read more »
Spend five minutes with Oshrat Barel, the new director of the Weintraub Israel Center and community shlicha (Israeli emissary), and you realize that this is a woman who radiates joy. It is not surprising that the title of Barel’s talk for the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Women’s Philanthropy… Read more »
Handmaker will recognize volunteers Michael and Allison Wexler and their daughters, (L-R), Lily, Sage and Bella, at its “Celebration of Tucson’s Oldest Jewish Residents” on Oct. 22. Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging will hold its fifth annual “Celebration of Tucson’s Oldest Jewish Residents” on Tuesday, Oct. 22 at 11 a.m. The lunch is a celebration of Jewish Tucsonans ages 88 and older. The Wexler family will be recognized for their spirit of volunteerism and commitment… Read more »
I.H. “Murf” and Mae Handmaker started the process for a Jewish geriatric home in Tucson in the 1950s. Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging is celebrating its 50th anniversary jubilee with a black-tie gala next month. Hirsch Handmaker, a physician in Phoenix, remembers how his parents, Mae and I. H. “Murf” Handmaker, came up with the idea for a Jewish geriatric home in Tucson. “My maternal grandmother,… Read more »
Anna Greenberg Tucson Hebrew Academy will celebrate its 40th anniversary at the Tikkun Olam (repairing the world) dinner on Sunday, Oct. 27 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. The annual event will honor the memory of Anna Greenberg with the 2013 Tikkun Olam Award. Greenberg, a… Read more »
The “I Heart Jenny” film crew (L-R): Shani Rajesh, sound and camera operator; Katie Harris, director of photography; Jenny Vanderlinden; Blake Babbit, director and producer Jenny Vanderlinden, 51, is battling stage 3 ovarian cancer. She will speak about her struggle — and her ongoing sense of adventure —on Wednesday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Vanderlinden and filmmaker Blake Babbitt are creating a documentary to raise awareness of the… Read more »
Hedy Feuer Hedy Feuer is a two-time breast cancer survivor. She knows that makes her one of the lucky ones. Feuer was diagnosed the first time 16 years ago, and again two years ago. The advances in treatment that saved her life a second time underscore why breast cancer research is… Read more »
The Jerusalem Quartet The Arizona Friends of Chamber Music will open its 66th season with the Jerusalem Quartet in two performances. The quartet will perform an all-Shostakovich concert on Wednesday, Oct. 16 at 7:30 p.m. and a matinee on Thursday, Oct. 17 at 3 p.m. in the Leo Rich Theater at the… Read more »
Israelpalooza, a one-day Israeli culture fest at the University of Arizona, will be held Oct. 16 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. This year, the UA Hillel Foundation is partnering with Chabad of Tucson, Jewish Arizonans on Campus, the World Zionist Organization, Associated Students of the University of Arizona… Read more »
Todd Rockoff Shalom Tucson, a program of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona and the Tucson Jewish Community Center, will hold a “Gateway to our Jewish Community” bagel brunch on Sunday, Oct. 20, 10 a.m. to noon, at the JCC. Representatives from synagogues, Jewish agencies and organizations will be on hand.… Read more »
David Sadker Congregation Or Chadash will hold a retreat, “Courage & Renewal: A Sabbath Dedicated to Our Hidden Wholeness” Friday, Oct. 18 through Sunday, Oct. 20 at the Redemptorist Renewal Center, 7101 W. Picture Rocks Road. “It is said that on the Sabbath we are given an extra soul — the… Read more »
Holocaust survivors Meyer and Susan Neuman with their children, Rosie (left) and Phillip upon arrival in Tucson. (Courtesy Rosie Eilat-Kahn) Although the mission of Tucson’s Jewish History Museum is to tell the stories of Jewish settlers in the American Southwest, the museum is about to highlight another imperative. After raising funds for expansion and purchasing the building on the adjoining Stone Avenue property four years ago, “we started doing… Read more »
Idan Raichel (Yeara Livny) On Oct. 9, the Idan Raichel Project, Israeli world music pioneers, will kick off their U.S. tour with a live concert at the Fox Tucson Theatre. Voted “Musical Group of the Decade” in an Israeli national media poll, the Project blends a range of cultures, languages and musical influences… Read more »
Dorothy Kret (Sheila Wilensky) Dorothy (Dot) Kret isn’t your typical matchmaker. For the past 25 years she’s been helping people with disabilities “become employable and employed,” as the DK Advocates mission statement puts it. “My mother always said what my company does is today’s version of a yenta,” she says, using the word… Read more »
Ryan Ballis, center, with award from the Wounded Warrior Project, is flanked by Quentin Irion, the group’s outreach coordinator (left) and Derek L. Duplisea, Wounded Warrior alumni director for the Western United States. (Courtesy Mark Ballis) Each year, caring and energetic 12- and 13-year-olds contribute immeasurably to the social action efforts of the Jewish community in Tucson and around the world. These B’nai Mitzvah students participate in a “mitzvah project,” as these endeavors have come to be known, adding another layer of meaning to the… Read more »
Stuart Milk The Tucson Jewish Community Center will host “A Conversation with Stuart Milk,”co-founder and board president of the Harvey Milk Foundation, on Sunday, Oct.13 at 6 p.m. Milk was instrumental in steering a bill through the California legislature in 2009 to make May 22 a state holiday honoring his uncle… Read more »
Dan Fellner Dan Fellner of the Road Scholars Speakers Bureau of the Arizona Humanities Council will present “Jews in Eastern Europe” at a Hadassah Southern Arizona luncheon on Sunday, Oct. 13. Fellner has more than 25 years of experience in corporate public relations, television news and university teaching in the United… Read more »
Robert A. Williams, Jr. Robert A. Williams, Jr., the E. Thomas Sullivan Professor of Law and American Indian Studies at the University of Arizona Rogers College of Law, will speak on “Savage Anxieties: The Invention of Western Civilization,” the topic of his most recent book, at the fall opening luncheon of the Brandeis… Read more »
Esther Sternberg, M.D., will speak on “The Science of the Mind-Body Interaction in Illness and Healing” at a Tucson Maimonides Society dinner on Thursday, Oct. 10 at 6:30 p.m. at Hacienda del Sol, 5501 N. Hacienda del Sol Road. The Tucson Maimonides Society is a program of the Jewish… Read more »
The University of Arizona School of Music will present “A Barber/Britten Music + Festival: Symposium, Concerts and Film,” directed by professor and composer Daniel Asia, on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 12-13. American composer Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings” is a classical music standard that can be heard in several… Read more »
