In Focus

Temple Emanu-El Consecration The Temple Emanu-El Kurn Religious School consecration class of 5777 at Simchat Torah on Monday, Oct. 24.  … Read more »

Tween escapes and adventures PJ Our Way tweens put their heads together to try an escape room game and learned some tricks that would have made Houdini proud at an Escapes and Adventures party on Sunday, Sept. 18 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. PJOW’s next event will be… Read more »

Rep. McSally visits Holocaust History Center Jewish History Museum board member Leonard Schultz shows U.S. Rep. Martha McSally photos of his parents-in-law, Rachel and Rachmil Kane, in the Holocaust survivor exhibit at the Holocaust History Center. McSally visited the Holocaust History Center at the Jewish History Museum on July… Read more »

Israel Scouts Friendship Caravan The Tzofim (Israel Scouts) visited Tucson for several days last month. Along with their annual concert at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on June 20, the scouts also gave performances for Camp J and Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging and spent time with local… Read more »

Camp J time capsules Summer campers at the J traveled through time to visit Old Tucson Studios and learn about the Jewish History Museum time capsule that was opened by Gabrielle Giffords in 2010. They decided to make their own time capsules and stuffed them with a penny, recent… Read more »

Happy birthday, Israel The Weintraub Israel Center capped off Tucson Celebrates Israel Week with a family-friendly Yom Huledet L’Yisrael (Happy Birthday Israel) party at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on Sunday, May 15. The event included Israeli party games, party favors and birthday cake.       Lag B’Omer… Read more »

12 Torches Ceremony  Two hundred and fifty people attended the Weintraub Israel Center’s 12 Torches Ceremony and Dinner on Thursday, May 12 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. The dinner was prepared by four Israeli chefs visiting from the Israel Center’s Partnership2Gether region. In Israel, the 12 Torches Ceremony… Read more »

Poster contest winner Sophie Bergantino, an eighth grade student at The Gregory School, won the City of Tucson Environmental Service’s “Do More Blue” recycling poster contest, which was open to students in the fourth through eighth grades, citywide. More than 150 entries were received. The winning poster, with the… Read more »

Brandeis high tea The Tucson chapter of the Brandeis National Committee held a “High Tea” party and installation of officers on Wednesday, April 6 at Skyline Country Club, with 65 people attending. Marilyn Heins, M.D., spoke on “The Joy of Aging.” Proceeds from the event benefit the Tucson Endowed… Read more »

History, Holocaust museums reopen Hundreds of people turned out Sunday, Feb. 21 for the reopening of the Rose and Maurice Silverman Jewish History Museum Campus. The Friedman Family Jewish History Museum and the newly expanded Gould Family Holocaust History Center opened to the public after remarks by Tucson Mayor… Read more »

Super Extraordinary Sunday The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona held its Super Extraordinary Sunday fundraiser and Mitzvah Day on Jan. 31. With 150 phone and clerical volunteers logging more than 480 pledges and donations to the 2016 Community Campaign, the phone-a-thon raised $225,000. Thirty-four people donated blood through the… Read more »

Tu B’Shevat celebration at Temple Emanu-El Children sang about Tu B’Shevat and trees at Temple Emanu-El’s Strauss Early Childhood Education Tu B’Shevat Seder on Tuesday, Jan. 26, led by Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon, Rabbi Batsheva Appel and Cantorial Soloist Marjorie Hochberg. About 130 children and parents celebrated the holiday… Read more »

Temple Emanu-El’s Greatest Hanukkah on Earth! XVII Some 450 people attended Temple Emanu-El’s “Greatest Hanukkah on Earth!XVII — Making Miracles” celebration on Sunday, Dec. 13. The event included songs, stories, parodies, drama, dance and a menorah lighting.           LEGO Chanukah at Chabad Mikaela Perry, Jonathan… Read more »

  THA Chanukah concert Tucson Hebrew Academy celebrated Chanukah on Monday evening, Dec. 7, with a show featuring holiday-themed parodies of Disney tunes performed by lower school students, the upper school choir, orchestra and eighth-grade class. Lower school students also visited local preschools last week to perform their songs… Read more »

THA gets AED The Steven M. Gootter Foundation presented Tucson Hebrew Academy with an automated external defibrillator on Friday, Nov. 13. The Gootter foundation’s mission is to save lives by defeating sudden cardiac death. Allen Yalen, a THA parent and Rincon Valley Fire District battalion chief, trained and certified… Read more »

PJ Library & THA celebrate Chanukah PJ library held a pre-Chanukah celebration at Tucson Hebrew Academy on Sunday, Nov. 8. Children listened to “Gracie’s Night: A Hanukkah Story” by Lynn Taylor Gordon, illustrated by Laura Brown; built sparkly menorahs; ate latkes and desserts created by THA’s chef; and filled… Read more »

McSally dinner with UA student leaders U.S. Rep. Martha McSally spoke to some 80 University of Arizona student leaders on Tuesday, Oct. 13 about the U.S.-Israel relationship, saying it needed to be strengthened. The dinner, held at the UA Hillel Foundation, was hosted by CatPAC Wildcats for Israel and… Read more »

Chaverim cemetery dedication Congregation Chaverim dedicated a new sign and consecrated an expanded section of Evergreen Cemetery on Sunday, Sept. 6. Pictured (left to right): Naomi Present, Jill Shover, Jack Aaron, Ann Revelle, Rabbi Stephanie Aaron, Bob Schwartz, Judith Brown, Dina Rosengarten and Dave More.   Rosh Hashanah at… Read more »

(L-R) Rachel, Maya, Nanci and Douglas Levy with Irving Silverman

A visit with a former Tucsonan Irving Silverman, 95, hosted the Levy family of Tucson for dinner on Saturday, July 25 at Newbridge on the Charles — Hebrew Senior Life campus in Dedham, Mass., where Silverman has primarily resided since leaving Tucson in 2011 to be closer to his… Read more »

The Tucson Hebrew Academy 2015 trip to Israel marked the 13th such trip for the school, bringing the total of THA students who have visited Israel with their eighth grade classmates to 300. This year, 15 students along with Rabbi Billy Lewkowicz, the school’s director of Judaics/Hebrew studies, and… Read more »