News

Cook comes full circle at UA Hillel Foundation

Abbii Cook, a University of Arizona alum, now UA Hillel Foundation’s assistant director, stands in front of Old Main, the first building constructed on the UA campus. (Photo courtesy University of Arizona Hillel Foundation)
August 30, 2019 / Debe Campbell, AJP Assistant Editor

It’s very nostalgic to be back in Tucson,” says Abbii Cook, University of Arizona Hillel Foundation’s new assistant director. “I’m so excited to be back at the place that really shaped me. It’s like a full circle,” she says. Cook spent a lot of time at Hillel as a… Read more »

Locals traveling to Israel urged to take medicine to Tucson teen on gap year

Tucsonan Aliya Markowitz in Jerusalem’s Old City during the 2019 March of the Living trip to Poland and Israel. (Photo courtesy Neil Markowitz)
August 30, 2019 / Phyllis Braun, AJP Executive Editor

Eighteen-year-old Aliya Markowitz had a goal: maintain a 4.0-grade point average through all four years at Catalina Foothills High School. She achieved this, while being active in BBYO, serving on the youth group’s Tucson and regional boards, and participating in the March of the Living two-week trip to Poland… Read more »

Gallery Chat on migration to reopen JHM
August 30, 2019 /
Scott Warren

Scott Warren, Ph.D., will be the Gallery Chat speaker at the Jewish History Museum and Holocaust History Center as it reopens for its 2019-2020 season on Friday, Sept. 6, at 11 a.m. He will speak about human migration through the Sonoran desert and how it shapes both memory and… Read more »

ICSAVE offers Arizonans free lifesaving training for active shooter incidents

Green Valley Fire Captain Mark Lytle, a member of ICSAVE’s team of volunteers, learned about Israeli emergency medical services as part of Tucson’s first Firefighters Without Borders delegation in October 2013. The Magen David Adom (Red Shield of David) is Israel’s national ambulance, blood services, and disaster relief organization. It has been a member of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement since 2006. (Photo courtesy Mark Lytle)
August 30, 2019 / Phyllis Braun, AJP Executive Editor

Mark Lytle, a native Tucsonan who has worked in the fire service for 24 years, is part of a coalition of first responders who created Integrated Community Solutions to Active Violence Events, or ICSAVE, to provide free active violence trainings to schools, religious institutions, and other groups across Arizona.… Read more »

BYOB bash to celebrate babies and books
August 30, 2019 / Debe Campbell, AJP Assistant Editor
Parents and siblings can read to babies early in life. (Courtesy PJ

Babies and reading are the focus of a lighthearted BYOB (bring your own baby) event coming up at the Tucson Jewish Community Center Early Childhood Education Center next month. “It’s an opportunity to meet other Jewish families with babies,” says Mary Ellen Loebl, coordinator for Southern Arizona’s PJ Library… Read more »

New guidelines call for early breast cancer risk assessment
August 30, 2019 / Shayne Tarquinio, AJP Intern
Dr. Michele Ley

Women should get a formal breast cancer risk assessment between the ages of 25 and 30, according to the new guidelines set by The American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBrS), published in May. According to the organization, one in eight women, or 12 percent of women in the United… Read more »

A relaxation garden, no matter how small, turns your house into a home

This very tropical looking plant survives in a desert garden with afternoon shade. Its flowers are visited by hummingbirds. (Photo: Pixabay.com)
August 30, 2019 / Jacqueline A. Soule, Ph.D. Special to the AJP

Behaviorists have stacks of data highlighting the fact that getting out in nature can calm and restore the human spirit. This applies to all humans, even if you never lived in the country, even if you hate to hike, and no matter what age. Five, 35, or 85, we… Read more »

Sisterhood high tea will focus on fashion, fund-raising
August 30, 2019 /
Fashions by LuLaRoe will be among those modeled by synagogue members at the Congregation Or Chadash/Temple Emanu-El high tea, Sept. 15. (Photo courtesy Congregation Or Chadash Sisterhood)

Congregation Or Chadash Sisterhood and Temple Emanu-El Women of Reform Judaism will hold their first major collaboration, a fashion show high tea, on Sunday, Sept. 15, from 2-4 p.m. The event will be catered by L’Chaim Catering and fashions provided by Clique and LuLaRoe will be modeled by members… Read more »

Tucson Botanical Gardens annual butterfly exhibit returns with colorful flora, fauna

Heliconius sara longwing at Tucson Botanical Gardens Butterfly Magic exhibit. (Debe Campbell/AJP)
August 30, 2019 / Debe Campbell, AJP Assistant Editor

The time to get all aflutter is approaching at Tucson Botanical Gardens, with the annual Butterfly Magic exhibit. Beginning each October, the Cox Butterfly and Orchid Pavilion exhibit offers an exclusive opportunity to get up close and personal with some of the world’s most beautiful and exotic butterflies imported… Read more »

Lowe’s ‘Let There Be Light’ reflects life’s journey

Day 4 of Lynn Rae Lowe’s ‘Let There Be Light’ (Photo courtesy Lynn Rae Lowe)
August 30, 2019 / Phyllis Braun, AJP Executive Editor

Award-winning local artist Lynn Rae Lowe will unveil a seven-panel “aluminations” series, “Let There Be Light,” at a one-day exhibit Saturday, Sept. 7 from 10 a.m.-8 p.m. at the Southern Arizona Arts Guild gallery in La Encantada before the work, commissioned by Temple Beth El in West Bloomfield, Michigan,… Read more »

Jewish roots stir revival in world’s largest Muslim nation

Yaakov Baruch, a ‘born-again’ Indonesian Jew, visits the world’s largest permanent menorah in Manado, Indonesia. (Photo courtesy Yaakov Baruch)
August 30, 2019 / Debe Campbell, AJP Assistant Editor

Editor’s note: AJP Assistant Editor Debe Campbell lived and worked in Indonesia for more than 20 years. Returning in July on holiday with her husband, Gilbert Alvidrez, she visited Sulawesi island, where she conducted research and interviews for this story. The world’s largest permanent menorah looms over Manado, the… Read more »

Abandoning East Jerusalem would undermine Zionism and the city’s Arab residents

Israeli security forces stand guard in one of the alleys of Jerusalem's Old City following a knife attack, May 31, 2019. (Thomas COEX / AFP)
August 29, 2019 / Noa Lazimi

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Fifty-two years ago, following the Six-Day War, Israel took control of the eastern part of this city. After annexing additional Arab villages to the north and south, it created what we know today as East Jerusalem, where approximately 200,000 Jews and 300,000 Arabs live. While Israel… Read more »

Sackler family in talks to give up ownership of Purdue Pharma under proposed opioid settlement

A view of Purdue Pharma headquarters in Stamford, Conn., owned by the Sackler family. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
August 29, 2019 / Marcy Oster, JTA

(JTA) — The Sackler family would give up ownership of Purdue Pharma and pay $3 billion of its own money to settle thousands of state and federal lawsuits over its role in fueling the nation’s opioid epidemic. The settlement, according to a tentative negotiated agreement described to NBC and… Read more »

Far-right candidate takes party out of elections in agreement with Netanyahu
August 29, 2019 / Marcy Oster, JTA

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Moshe Feiglin is taking his far-right Zehut party out of next month’s national elections in Israel following an agreement with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Feiglin made the announcement during a joint appearance Thursday with Netanyahu, who heads the Likud party. Feiglin is a former member of… Read more »

Jewish socialist philosopher who met with Hamas is running for president
August 29, 2019 / Josefin Dolsten, JTA

(JTA) — A Jewish socialist philosopher who met with the leader of Hamas is running for president. On Wednesday, Jerome Segal announced that he would run as the nominee of the Bread and Roses Party he founded last year. The party supports wealth redistribution, as well as guaranteed employment… Read more »

Amazon launches operations in Israel
August 29, 2019 /

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Amazon announced the launch of operations in Israel. The company set up a website in Hebrew, which talks about its local delivery services, in order to attract vendors. Amazon also is asking overseas businesses to warehouse their inventory in Israel and make arrangements with international shippers… Read more »