Our Town

A sample of goods donated by the Jewish community for children who had been removed from their adoptive parents’ home.

Community aids children in distress Members of the Tucson Jewish community provided clothing and funds to help four children from the Flowing Wells School District who were recently removed from their adoptive parents’ home. After reading about the children’s plight in local media, Mary Ellen Loebl, coordinator of “Making… Read more »

OSHRAT BAREL, the Weintraub Israel Center’s first woman director and its sixth shlicha (emissary from Israel) completes her transition this month to vice president of the JEWISH FEDERATION OF SOUTHERN ARIZONA’s community engagement department. The new department will facilitate collaboration among three existing program areas: the Jewish Community Relations… Read more »

ALMA HERNANDEZ is a candidate for the Arizona State House of Representatives in Legislative District 3 for the Democratic primary. A native Tucsonan, Hernandez is a former Jewish Community Relations Council coordinator for the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona and sings in the choir at Congregation Chaverim where she… Read more »

Karen Katz presents a Bryna Zehngut Mitzvot award certificate, created by local artist Julie Szerina Stein, to Jillian Cassius on Feb. 18. Winners also receive a gift of $613, relating to the tradition of 613 mitzvot. (Martha Lochert)

Two teens win Bryna Zehngut Mitzvot Award The advisory council of the Women’s Philanthropy of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona chose two teens, Jillian Cassius and Maya Levy, as the 2018 Bryna Zehngut Mitzvot Award recipients. The award, created in memory of a community leader who died in… Read more »

(L-R): Ron and Gail Isaacs, Rep. Austin Scott, Betty Anne Sarver and Leonard Schultz Photo courtesy Desert Caucus

Georgia congressman addresses Desert Caucus U.S. Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA) spoke to the Desert Caucus on Sunday, Feb. 11 at Skyline Country Club. The Desert Caucus, Inc., is a bipartisan, single issue Jewish political action committee supporting federal congressional candidates outside of Arizona who support a strong U.S.-Israel relationship.… Read more »

JAX LARCOM, son of Danielle and Guy Larcom, was one of two students chosen as winners in the third through fifth grade category of the Tucson Festival of Books 10th Annual Young Authors Competition, for his poem “Rainbow.” Jax is a third grade student at Canyon View Elementary School… Read more »

The ARIZONA JEWISH POST has hired MARLA HANDLER as an advertising sales representative. Handler grew up in Plainview, N.Y. She received an associate’s degree in marketing from Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, N.Y., and a bachelor’s degree in marketing and business from Florida State University. She has… Read more »

Super Sunday outreach Ronnie Sebold, chair of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s 2018 Community Campaign, makes a call at the Federation’s Super Sunday phone-a-thon on Jan. 28. At the annual event, 130 phone and clerical volunteers reached out to community members, garnering more than 350 pledges and donations… Read more »

A photograph by TUCSON HEBREW HIGH student JEREMY LEVINE is featured in a dedicated exhibit at Beit Hatfutsot – The Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv, which runs through May 2018. Levine’s photograph, “The Meaningful Meal,” was selected as a winning entry in The Jewish Lens@ Beit… Read more »

ORI GREEN (left) and ORAIA REID have joined the JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SOUTHERN ARIZONA. Green, a legacy officer for the JCF, has lived in Tucson since the 1980s. For the past three years, she served as Tucson’s Jewish community concierge. Reid, a JCF marketing and legacy officer, moved… Read more »

Archer Thomas Martin, son of Bruce and Linda Martin, formerly of Tucson, will celebrate becoming a bar mitzvah on Saturday, Feb. 10 at Temple Beth Ami in Rockville, Maryland. He is the grandson of Jerry and Betty Martin of Springdale, Arkansas, the late Viretta Novotny of Anchorage, Alaska, and… Read more »

ALLIE LONDON is the TUCSON JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER’S new director of marketing. A native New Yorker who received her B.A. in politics and journalism from New York University, London relocated to Tucson from Chicago in 2014. She has since served as the program officer for The Jewish Community Foundation… Read more »

Former Jewish Community Center Executives Ken Light (Tucson) and Jay Roth (Milwaukee and Miami) have formed a partnership to serve the nonprofit community, L/R STRATEGIES.  Key services offered include executive coaching and training; board governance, structure, and development; communication, conflict management; planning and organizational change; fund development; and communication.… Read more »

CARLOS CHAVEZ and ALLAN MENDELSBERG are among the 40 Under 40 honorees chosen by the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Congress. Chavez is the mentor match specialist for the Arizona’s Children Association Thrive Mentor Program in Pima County and Southeastern Arizona. The program provides volunteer mentors for youth aging out… Read more »

Intergenerational Thanksgiving lunch On Tuesday, Nov.  21, Temple Emanu-El’s Olga and Bob Strauss Early Childhood Center celebrated with residents from Handmaker at the Temple’s second annual intergenerational Thanksgiving Lunch. The ECE’s children presented a short program of Thanksgiving blessings and songs on the themes of friendship, community and gratitude.… Read more »

JESSE CHARLES has opened MAVERICK DESIGN & CONSULTING, featuring a demo theater to help clients design a new audio/video system or improve their current one. Visit avmaverick.com for more information. ELYSA CRUM and SHERRY WEISS have created TASTE OF TUCSON DOWNTOWN CULINARY AND CULTURE TOURS. Longtime Tucson residents with a… Read more »

UA Hillel gets defibrillator The Steven M. Gootter Foundation recently gave an AED (automated external defibrillator) to the University of Arizona Hillel Foundation. Since 2009 the Gootter Foundation, which works to save lives by defeating sudden cardiac death, has donated and distributed hundreds of AEDs to schools, police and… Read more »

MARK ROBERT GORDON has filed to run for Arizona Secretary of State in the 2018 election. Born in Phoenix, he spent much of his youth participating in programs at the old Phoenix Jewish Community Center, Beth El, and Phoenix High School for Jewish Studies. He earned degrees from Princeton… Read more »

Women and girls flock to Mega Challah Bake A record 330 women and girls turned out for Tucson’s fourth annual Mega Challah Bake on Thursday, Oct. 26, hosted by Chabad Tucson and the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Feigie Shemtov, program director at Chabad Tucson, led the evening, which included… Read more »

(L-R): Jim Whitehill, JCF board chair; Tom Warne, JFSA immediate past chair; Deanna Evenchik; Jonathan Rothschild, mayor of Tucson; Stuart Mellan, JFSA president and CEO; and Shelly Silverman, JFSA chair (Martha Lochert)

JFSA and JCF hold grand opening celebration The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona and the Jewish Community Foundation held a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house at their new home, the Harvey and Deanna Evenchik Center for Jewish Philanthropy, on Sunday, Oct. 15. More than 150 people attended the event.… Read more »