Post-Its

Some traditions are waiting to be broken

Ellie Chestnut and David Abram take a stroll during their wedding in Brooklyn, New York. (Lorie Kleiner Eckert)

At the end of a Jewish wedding ceremony, there is the dramatic moment in which a wine glass (wrapped in a napkin) is placed on the ground. The groom stomps on and shatters the wine glass as the assembled guests shout their congratulations, “Mazel tov!” There are many interpretations… Read more »

Abigail Claire Cherkis

Abigail Claire Cherkis, daughter of Brenda Frye and Sergey Cherkis, will celebrate becoming a bat mitzvah on Saturday, Oct. 20, at Congregation Anshei Israel. She is the granddaughter of Norma Frye of Maricopa, Scott Frye of Gilbert, Margarita Lazereva of Tucson, and Alexander Cherkis of Brooklyn, NY. Abigail attends… Read more »

Beatrice Lippel

Beatrice Lippel, 82, died Sept. 24, 2018. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, she was the eldest of three children. An accomplished pianist, she earned her bachelor’s in music at Brooklyn College and master’s in musicology at Indiana University. She married Berthold Lippel in 1959 and they had… Read more »

Donald Simon

Donald Simon, 88, of Delray Beach, Florida, died Sept. 16, 2018. Mr. Simon’s first career was in the garment center of New York, selling children’s wear. Upon moving to Tucson in 1989, he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology from Prescott College, and worked for Jewish Family &… Read more »

OBITUARY: Harold Hirshberg

Harold Murray Hirshberg of Park Ridge, New Jersey, 99, died Sept.18, 2018. Born in Paterson, New Jersey, Mr. Hirshberg attended Rutgers University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in business administration and a Master of Arts degree. After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, he… Read more »

Adam Brish

Adam Brish, M.D., age 93, of Marquette, Michigan, and Sun City West, Arizona, died Sept. 11, 2018 in Surprise, Arizona. Dr. Brish was born in Lodz, Poland, to Sura and Yeshayahu Brysz. A Holocaust survivor, he ultimately survived by hiding in the Lodz Ghetto with his father, until liberation… Read more »

Howard Rapoport

Howard Lee Rapoport, 89, died Sept. 19, 2018. Educated in St. Louis, Mr. Rapoport graduated from University City High School and later Washington University with a degree in business. Among his duties while in the U.S. Army during the Korean Conflict was serving as his company’s bugler. He later… Read more »

Ready or not, here life comes

The email was waiting in my inbox. My column was due. “What column?” I asked myself. I did not remember that it was my turn. What could I possibly write about on short notice at this time of year with four funerals over the next few days, and the… Read more »

Molly Shenitzer

Molly Shenitzer, 95, died Sept. 4, 2018. Mrs. Shenitzer was born and raised in Chicago, the youngest of four children of Abe and Rose Slutsky. She married Hyman Shenitzer in 1944 and together they ran Hy’s Food Market on Chicago’s Westside. In 1953, they packed up their two young… Read more »

Eleanor Gellman

Eleanor Gellman, 91, died Thurs., Aug. 16, 2018 in St. Louis, Missouri. Mrs. Gellman was a native of St. Louis. She was a founding member of the Central Reform Synagogue. Survivors include her son, Larry (Kristen) Gellman of Tucson and Aspen, Colorado. Services and interment were in St. Louis.… Read more »

Robert Palles

Robert J. Palles, 77, died on Sept. 5, 2018. Mr. Palles, the son of Maurice and Mildred Palles, was born in Chicago. He moved to Tucson in 1978, where he was the owner of Palles Insurance Agency. Survivors include his wife, Eileen Tucker Palles; children, Lawrence (Darcy Renfro) Palles… Read more »

Nathan Shapiro

Nathan Shapiro, 100, died Sept. 4, 2018. Mr. Shapiro was born in New York City, the youngest child of Aaron and Gussie Shapiro. The first in his family to attend college, he earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s in elementary education. While at City College of… Read more »

Philanthropist and activist Joan Kaye Cauthorn dies

Those who knew Tucson philanthropist and community activist Joan Kaye Cauthorn, who died on Sept. 3, 2018 at age 75, describe her as one-of-a-kind. “Joan was a one-of-a-kind, kind-hearted force of nature who spent much of her energy making the world a better place.  She cared deeply about the… Read more »

Sen. John McCain remembered as war hero, strong supporter of human rights and Israel

U.S. Sens. John McCain and Joseph Lieberman, right, place notes in the Western Wall in Jerusalem, March 19, 2008. (Brian Hendler/JTA)

Six-term Arizona Republican Sen. John Sydney McCain III, 81, died at the family ranch in Sedona, Arizona, Aug. 26, one day after declining further treatment for brain cancer. Today, he lies in state in the U.S. Capitol, where a formal ceremony will take place in the Capitol Rotunda at… Read more »

Hochberg-Lappitt

Hochberg-Lappitt Rachel Hochberg and Andrew Lappitt were married on July 8, 2018 at The Wilshire Grand Hotel in West Orange, New Jersey, with Rabbi Cecelia Beyer officiating. Rachel is the daughter of Sharon and Mark Hochberg of Plainview, New York. She graduated from the University of Arizona, receiving a… Read more »

Richard Siegel, educator who co-edited ‘The Jewish Catalog,’ is dead at 70

Richard Siegel worked at the National Foundation for Jewish Culture for 28 years (HUC)

NEW YORK (JTA) — Richard Siegel, an educator who advocated for Jewish culture and arts and co-edited the seminal “Jewish Catalog” series of guides to “do-it-yourself” Judaism, died Thursday in Los Angeles. He was 70 and had been battling cancer for two years, according to a friend and colleague,… Read more »

Rabbi’s Corner: In modern times, is peace and harmony possible?

Benzion Shemtov

Many times we wonder: What is happening with the tranquility of this world? Where has it gone? Do peace and harmony reside in the spiritual realms while our world is destined to live with hardships and troubles? The fifth Chabad Rebbe lived in the early 1900s. One of his… Read more »

Dorothy Sayre

Dorothy “Dotte” Sayre, 90, died June 30, 2018. Mrs. Sayre was born and raised in Chicago. She attended the National College of Education and taught pre-K and kindergarten. She and her husband, Julian, moved to Tucson in 1959. Mrs. Sayre was an active volunteer in the Tucson Jewish community,… Read more »

Eugene Hameroff

Eugene “Gene” J. Hameroff, 96, died June 24, 2018. Mr. Hameroff was born to immigrant parents, Abraham and Sarah Hameroff, in Cleveland, Ohio. Upon graduating from Ohio State University, he married Terri, and began working in advertising. He opened his own advertising agency in 1955 and grew it into… Read more »