Our Town

Brunch kicks off Women inPower fellowship

Women inPower fellows (L-R) Marian Schiltz, Robin Kelley, and Debbie Boggs engage in a self-reflection activity on values.
January 24, 2020 /

The Tucson Jewish Community Center launched its 2020 Women inPower Tucson leadership program with a brunch orientation session Jan. 12. The fellows chosen for the pilot program funded by the JCC Association are Elise Bajohr, Debbie Boggs, Gabby Erbst, Katie Filous, Katharine L. Gerst, Maya Horowitz, Robin Kelley, Shannon… Read more »

Women enjoy mahj, margaritas, mitzvahs

After cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, women get down to the business of playing mah jongg at a Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona event Jan. 8.
January 24, 2020 /

A multi-generational group of more than 100 women gathered Jan. 8 at the Harvey and Deanna Evenchik Center for Jewish Philanthropy for an evening of food and drink, mah jongg — with many newcomers learning the game— and giving, hosted by the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Young Women’s… Read more »

Business briefs 1.24.20
January 23, 2020 /

Dr. Jonathan Kay joined Arizona Glaucoma Specialists in June 2019, after graduating from the University of Houston College of Optometry in May 2019. He joined his father, Jeffrey S. Kay, M.D., who founded the practice in 1987, as well as his brother, David B. Kay, M.D., who joined the… Read more »

Grant-Shapir
January 23, 2020 /

Emily Miller Grant and David Shapir have announced their engagement. Emily is the daughter of Jennifer Miller Grant and Ron Grant and Stephanie Pearmain, all of Tucson, and the granddaughter of Donna Grant and Gordon Waterfall, Merrill and Virginia Grant, Lee Miller and the late Jerry Miller, and Lee… Read more »

JLTC celebrates quinceañera

Humberto Lopez, left, and Paul Baker, Jewish Latino Teen Coalition quinceañera co-chairs, display wind chimes presented to them and longtime JLTC Leader Shari Gootter (not pictured). Local artist Julie Szerina Stein created the unique pieces, which capture both cultures to make a “milagro-mizrach,” she says, using the Spanish word for a votive folk charm and the Hebrew word for an ornament hung on an eastern wall to indicate the direction for prayer.
January 23, 2020 /

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona welcomed more than 150 people Jan. 5 to honor Jewish Latino Teen Coalition founders Humberto Lopez and Paul Baker at a quinceañera/15th year celebration. Young adult alumni shared their stories, Tucson Mayor Regina Romero and former Mayor Jonathan Rothschild delivered greetings, and Shari… Read more »

Temple Emanu-El Hanukkah Spectacular
January 10, 2020 /

About 150 people attended Temple Emanu-El’s Hanukkah Spectacular on Sunday, Dec. 15, with students from the Kurn Religious School and Strauss ECE singing, dancing, acting, and playing music. Here, Kurn teacher Sarah Fire leads children in “I’m a Little Latke” and “Hanukkah is Here.”… Read more »

CCC marks Hanukkah and 40th anniversary
January 10, 2020 /

About 100 people attended Congregation Chofetz Chayim’s dinner party on Sunday, Dec. 29, celebrating both the final night of Hanukkah and Rabbi and Esther Becker’s 40th year in Tucson.… Read more »

PJ Library, COC celebrate with Handmaker

Aaron Winter cheers on his daughter as she colors a menorah at Handmaker, where PJ Library kids and Congregation Or Chadash students joined with residents to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah, Sunday, Dec. 22. Participants also designed menorah drip mats, laminated by PJ Library coordinator Mary Ellen Loebl, and joined in candle lighting, songs, and stories with COC’s Cantor Janece Cohen and rabbinical student Julia Berg.
January 10, 2020 /

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Shlicha hosts Hanukkah open house

Photo: AJP Phyllis Braun
January 10, 2020 /

Inbal Shtivi, director of the Weintraub Israel Center and one of Tucson’s shlichim (Israeli emissaries), and her family hosted a Hanukkah open house on Thursday, Dec. 26, the fifth night of the holiday, with food, fellowship, and song. Here, Shtivi (left) and Cantorial Soloist Sara Golan Mussman prepare to… Read more »

Five generations at BSTC

Back row (L-R): Scott Casey (grandfather), Jacob White (father); middle row: Rachel Casey White (mother) with baby Eli, Kim Ronkin Casey (grandmother), Pam Weston (great-grandmother), Sandy Ostroff (great-grandfather), Sarah Casey (aunt); front row: Yeta Bart Weston (great-great-grandmother)
January 10, 2020 /

Yeta Weston, 104, one of the earlier members of Beth Shalom Temple Center in Green Valley, recently became a great-great-grandmother. She returned to BSTC to celebrate the naming of Eli White. The baby and parents were in town for the special service on Friday, Dec. 27, conducted by Rabbi… Read more »

J-Street honors Gellman
January 10, 2020 /

J Street founder and President Jeremy Ben Ami (right) honored Larry Gellman Dec. 16 at the first major event the pro-Israel group hosted in Tucson. More than 110 people, including a broad range of political leaders, rabbis, and Jewish professional and community leaders, attended. The event featured a timely… Read more »

People in the news 1.10.20
January 10, 2020 /

  State Rep. Alma Hernandez was named to The Forward’s list of 50 “Machers and Shakers Who Influenced, Intrigued and Inspired Us This Year.” Hernandez also was appointed this month to be the Young Democrats of America Jewish Caucus Southwest regional director. Steve Brass, a Tucson-based “stun and run” self-defense… Read more »

Business Brief 1.10.20
January 10, 2020 /

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, area synagogues, and community members recently conducted the annual Project Isaiah food drive, collecting more than 3,636 pounds of food and $512 in donations for the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona. Many other donations were collected directly from local synagogues.… Read more »

Business briefs 12.20.19
December 20, 2019 /
Rabbi Norman T. Roman

Beth Shalom Temple Center of Green Valley has hired Rabbi Norman T. Roman as its first part-time rabbi, beginning Jan. 1. Roman was rabbi emeritus at Temple Kol Ami in West Bloomfield, Michigan, after serving as senior rabbi there for 30 years. Roman, born in New York City and… Read more »

M’kor Hayim joins URJ

(L-R): Carol Weinstein; Janice Brumer, a member of the Union for Reform Judaism national board; and Rabbi Helen Cohn Photo courtesy Congregation M’kor Hayim
December 6, 2019 /

Congregation M’kor Hayim has joined the Union for Reform Judaism, the association of nearly 900 Reform congregations in North America.  “Our congregation began in 2008. Now that we are fully established locally, we felt it was time to connect with the wider Jewish community,” Rabbi Helen Cohn said. She… Read more »

Border trip enlightens NW/Hadassah group

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December 6, 2019 /

About 85 community members joined a trip to the U.S.-Mexico border wall in Nogales, Arizona, on Wednesday, Nov. 20. The bus trip, hosted by the Ruth and Irving Olson Center for Jewish Life and Hadassah Southern Arizona, included several speakers along the journey: immigration attorneys Alexandra Miller from Humane… Read more »

Asher Jax Goldstein
December 6, 2019 /

A son, Asher Jax Goldstein, was born Oct. 15, 2019 to Steffany and Joseph Goldstein of Scottsdale. Grandparents are Ellen and David Goldstein and Tess and Mark Holcomb, all of Tucson.… Read more »

People in the news 12.6.19
December 5, 2019 /

Jeffrey Jacobson has been elected to the board of directors of the Alpha Epsilon Pi Foundation. Last year, he became the 74th supreme master (international president) of Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity. Jacobson is a member of the Tucson Hebrew Academy board of trustees and co-founder of the Will for… Read more »