Our Town

SARAH LANGERT, leadership development and PR director at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, was among 100 American Taglit Fellows who attended a four-day Taglit-Birthright Israel training in Chicago in August with experts in Jewish, Israel and experiential education. Fellows were selected from a pool of hundreds of applicants. Taglit-Birthright… Read more »

EAST LAWN PALMS MORTUARY AND CEMETERY, a Dignity Memorial provider, has named Michael Landy as family service counselor with special responsibility for Jewish funeral and cemetery needs. Landy, the former executive director of Congregation Anshei Israel in Tucson and Congregation Ohev Shalom in Maitland, Fla., has over 20 years… Read more »

MARIAN SALZMAN has been named the new executive chair of Tucson Values Teachers. Salzman has been CEO of Havas PR North America since 2009 and has been named PRWeek’s U.S. PR Professional of the Year (2012) and Global PR Professional of the Year (2014), among other honors. Salzman also… Read more »

Rabbi Gedaliah Druin talks to University of Arizona students and other members of the community at the University of Arizona Hillel Foundation about the restoration of the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies’ Torah scroll on Feb. 10. (John Winchester/Arizona Center for Judaic Studies)

  Rabbi Gedaliah Druin, a master scribe, spent Feb. 10 and 11 working on the restoration of a Torah scroll owned by the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Arizona (left). The scroll, which is thought to be nearly 200 years old and originally used by… Read more »

ANDREA S. GOULD-MARKS, Ph.D., ABPP, a psychologist with private and public practices in New York, is opening a practice for integrative transitional psychotherapy. Offices will be centrally located in Tucson. Gould-Marks is founder of Lucid Learning Systems, LLC, a provider of psycho-educational programs, and director of community development for… Read more »

AMY KRAUSS has been elected to serve on the governing board of the Catalina Foothills School District. Her four-year term began last month. Krauss, an attorney, will join four other board members. Krauss also serves on the steering committee of the Cardozo Society of the Jewish Federation of Southern… Read more »

Children took part in a PJ Library story walk in the sculpture garden of the JCC. At each set of pages from “Matzo Frogs” by Sally Rosenthal, illustrated by David Sheldon, they performed an activity relating to the story, such as hopping like frogs and pretending to catch flies with their tongues. PJ Library kids also decorated picture frames and created soup kits for seniors in the community. (John Wu)

Super Extraordinary Sunday The Jewish Federation’s Super Extraordinary Sunday phonathon and mitzvah day was held Jan. 25 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. More than 150 volunteers made calls to community members, who pledged more than $229,000 to the 2015 Community Campaign, which supports humanitarian, educational and social programs… Read more »

Sharon Glassberg

SHARON GLASSBERG, vice president of the JEWISH FEDERATION OF SOUTHERN ARIZONA, director of the Coalition of Jewish Education and principal of Tucson Hebrew High, was highlighted in Inside ICS, the newsletter of the Institute for Curriculum Services of the National Resource Center for Accurate Jewish Content in Schools, for… Read more »

Back row (L-R): Rabbi Batsheva Appel, Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon, Bonnie Golden (Temple president), Ken Silverman, Moira Silverman, Amanda Caldwell, Jason Feld, Lauren Katz, Jonathan Katz and Marcia Katz. Front row: JCTEY-NFTY members Emiliano Miller, Levi Rubin, Rachel Levy, Lucy Heller (Photo: Steve Shawl)

The Rebecca Katz Family Library and Youth Center at Temple Emanu-El was dedicated on Dec.16 in memory of Rebecca Lynne Katz. The new facility includes a collection of Jewish children’s books, games, space for video and digital technology and comfortable furnishings. The library will also serve as a lounge… Read more »

The Strauss ECE Dancing Dreidels perform at Temple Emanu-El’s “Greatest Hanukkah on Earth! XVI” on Sunday, Dec. 14. About 550 people attended the event.

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Tucson Hebrew Academy first graders roll dough for challah.

THA challah making Every Tucson Hebrew Academy student rolled dough and braided challah on Thursday, Dec. 4. The dough was prepared by teachers the day before. The significance of challah was explained to the students and all said the blessing while they separated out the portion of dough traditionally… Read more »

The National Exchange Club, the oldest service club in the United States, inducted ROBERT ALAN DAVIDSON, owner of Davidson Advertising, into its Court of Honor in October. Induction into the court, located at the headquarters in Toledo, Ohio, is the club’s highest honor. Davidson is a member of the… Read more »

INTERFAITH COMMUNITY SERVICES has appointed Daniel Stoltzfus as chief executive officer, effective Feb. 16. Stoltzfus succeeds longtime ICS CEO Bonnie Kampa, who is retiring at the end of 2014. Stoltzfus has more than 20 years of management experience in nonprofit organizations. He was most recently chief program officer at… Read more »

Jonathan Ben-Asher

JON BEN-ASHER, interim head of school at TUCSON HEBREW ACADEMY since June, was hired by the board of trustees as the permanent head of school. THE TUCSON JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER was selected to participate in a pilot program through the JCC Association aimed at identifying and retaining talented staff. … Read more »

JOAQUIN RUIZ, dean of the University of Arizona College of Science and vice president for innovation, will present “The Geotourism Corridor: Southern Arizona’s Gateway to Discovery” at a Show & Tell event on Dec. 10 at 6 p.m. at Playground Bar & Lounge, 278 E. Congress St. The UA… Read more »

Back row (L-R): Jared Friedman, Jacob Peters, Rafi Herreras-Zinman. Middle: Leah Tolby, Michael Artzi, Ellie Friedman, Rothschild, Hannah Baker, Amanda Bressler, Sam Gordon. Front: Richard Fisher, Jenny Steinberg, Emma Finkelstein, Lily Wexler, Michaela Davenport, Aaron Green.

B’nai Tzedek In commemoration of Kristallnacht on Nov. 9, members of B’nai Tzedek Tucson Teen Philanthropy, a program of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona and the Jewish Community Foundation, engaged with community organizations that support those who have been persecuted and become refugees. Later they joined the Jewish… Read more »

MARIS FINLEY has joined the ARIZONA JEWISH POST as advertising account executive. Originally from New York, she moved to Tucson from Baltimore in 2008 and spent several years working in the advertising department at the Arizona Daily Star. She is involved with a variety of community events and fundraising… Read more »

Dr. Richard J. Ablin

RICHARD ABLIN, Ph.D., DSc. (Hon), presented a presidential lecture on his studies of prostate cancer at the 13th National Conference on Medical Oncology, held Oct. 9-12 in Poiana Brasov, Romania, and was the guest of honor and keynote lecturer at the Conference on Innovations in the Management of Prostate… Read more »

(L-R) Rosie Eilat Khan, Marcia Abelson, Ricki Weinstein-Wolf, Hedy Feuer, Judy Schultz and Peggy Langert (Courtesy Hedy Feuer)

Walking to end breast cancer On Oct. 12, volunteers joined the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Women’s Philanthropy team at the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk, held at the Kino Sports Complex.       Hillel Israelpalooza The University of Arizona Hillel Foundation held its… Read more »

The board of directors of B’NAI B’RITH STRAUSS MANOR ON PANTANO has elected three new board members, (L-R) Adriana Moerkerken, Bonnie Shore Dombrowski and Ezra Roati. The Manor, located at 370 N. Pantano, provides 80 federally subsidized independent living apartments for qualifying low-income individuals ages 62 and over. ARIZONA… Read more »