Aiden Justice Glesinger, son of April and Jeff Glesinger, will celebrate becoming a bar mitzvah on April 2 at Congregation Or Chadash. He is the grandson of Sue and Sonny Ross of Tucson and Jan and Jerry Glesinger of Papillion, Neb. Aiden is in the seventh grade at Tucson… Read more »
Post-Its
Art Dorfman
Art Dorfman, 91, died Feb. 23, 2016. A U.S. Marine infantry radar operator, Mr. Dorfman was a survivor of three South Pacific campaigns — Roi Namur, Saipan and Iwo Jima. He returned home to Bayonne, N.J., in 1945, and later moved to Roselle, N.J. Upon the birth of their… Read more »
Irving Rubinstein
Irving Rubinstein, 93, died Feb. 29, 2016. Born in the Bronx, N.Y., Mr. Rubinstein moved to Tucson in the early 1940s. After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, he started a 40-year career in building, working for Tucson architect William Wilde. In the mid 1950s, he… Read more »
Sylvia Daniels
Sylvia Goldberg Daniels, 95, died Feb. 12, 2016. Born and raised in New York City, Mrs. Daniels was a first generation American. In 1945, she married Max Daniels and they moved to the Bronx, N.Y. After retiring from the men’s apparel industry in 1971, she moved to Forest Hills,… Read more »
Monique King
Monique V. King, M.D., died Feb. 3, 2016. Born in Paris, France, in 1932, Dr. King survived the German occupation during World War II. In 1948, she came to the United States to study for a year on an American Field Service scholarship. She returned to the United States… Read more »
Jean Aberman
Jean Aberman, 86, died March 5, 2016. Born in Gary, Ind., Mrs. Aberman married Myles “Buddie” Aberman at the age of 21. They owned and operated the family business, Comay’s Jewelers, in Northwest Indiana for 30 years before moving to Tucson, where they opened Jean and Barb, a women’s… Read more »
Abraham Kaufman
Abraham Nathan Kaufman, 75, died March 2, 2016. Born in the Brooklyn, N.Y., Mr. Kaufman was raised in Fallsburg, N.Y. During his teenage years, he worked in the kitchen of the Concord Hotel in the Catskills. He served in the U.S. Army as a military policeman. In New York… Read more »
How we respond to sorrow
Two consequential decisions were made by Ahasuerus, King of Persia in the 4th century BCE. Both elicited the same crisis management, as told in the Book of Esther, which we will read on the upcoming holiday of Purim (Wednesday night, March 23 and Thursday, March 24). The first was… Read more »
Joshua Aaron Quigley
Joshua Aaron Quigley, son of Karen and Thomas Quigley, will celebrate becoming a bar mitzvah on Saturday, March 26, at Foothills Shul at Beis Yael. He is the grandson of Susan and Alan Marvin Levinson of Greenbrae, Calif., Gerrard and Ellen Quigley of Placitas N.M., Artur Berliner of San… Read more »
Eternal light not just symbol of God’s presence
A key feature of a synagogue tour is the ner tamid, the eternal light. We explain to people unfamiliar with synagogue symbolism that the light represents God’s eternal presence. But is it that simple? The Torah describes in detail the menorah, the seven-branched lamp stand, which was one of… Read more »
Op-Ed: I’m not your mitzvah project
(JTA) — I have Tourette syndrome, a neurological disorder characterized by involuntary movements and noises called “tics.” My Tourette’s is relatively mild at this point, but I went through a turbulent adolescence when Tourette’s was the most defining thing about me. Between the constant movements and the loud, uncontrollable… Read more »
Valentine’s Day: An ideal date for Jewish weddings?
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — In December, around the time my wife and I were celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary, we received an invitation to an outdoor Jewish wedding to be held on Valentine’s Day 2016. Printed on a red postcard affixed with a heart postage stamp, the couple, Lena Silver… Read more »
John Koretz
John E. Koretz, 76, died Jan. 16, 2016. Survivors include his wife of 53 years, Carol Provol Koretz; children, Jim “JK” Koretz of Northbrook, Ill., and Leslie Koretz Heros of Tucson; brothers, Allan (Tracy) Koretz of Las Vegas, and Bill Koretz of Sun Valley, Idaho; and four grandchildren. Services… Read more »
Roberta White
Roberta White, 88, died Jan. 16, 2016. Born in Chicago and raised in Minneapolis, Mrs. White graduated from North High School. When her brother Alvin returned from World War II, he introduced her to Mandell White. They were married in 1947 and built a series of successful businesses in… Read more »
Roslyn Sirota
Roslyn Sirota, 91, died Jan. 13, 2016. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and raised in Connecticut, Mrs. Sirota graduated from The Teacher College of Connecticut and taught in a two-room schoolhouse until moving to Tucson in 1947. She earned master’s degrees in education and art history at the University of… Read more »
Tucson businessman and wife killed in plane crash
Shockwaves were sent throughout the Tucson community on Jan. 18 following the death of local businessman and philanthropist Donald Baker, 59, co-owner of commercial real estate firm Larsen Baker L.L.C., and his wife, Dawn Hunter-Baker, 55, in a plane crash. Baker was piloting his Cessna Citation 525, returning to… Read more »
In defense of the big fat bar/bat mitzvah party
(Kveller via JTA) — I took my first baby steps into bat mitzvah planning this week, and I had a lot of feelings — but mostly a twinge of nostalgia. Somehow a girl who was once a toddler with a furrowed brow, a desperate love of Little Bear, and… Read more »
Lyle Tumarkin
Lyle Yi Tumarkin, daughter of Joanna Norman and Paul Tumarkin, will celebrate becoming a bat mitzvah on Saturday, Jan. 30 at the Jewish Community Center with Congregation Chaverim. She is the granddaughter of Linda and Gerald Tumarkin of Tucson. Lyle attends the Civano Middle School, trains in gymnastics, and… Read more »
Stella Salmon
STELLA BITAR SALMON, daughter of Sosan Moussa and Stewart Salmon, celebrated becoming a bat mitzvah on Saturday, Jan. 9 at Congregation Bet Shalom. She is the granddaughter of Joan Tobias Salmon and the late Dr. Sydney Salmon, and George and Magdalien Moussa, all of Tucson. Stella attends Basis Tucson… Read more »
Donald Baker
Donald Lee Baker, 59, died Jan. 18, 2016, in an airplane accident with his wife, Dawn Hunter-Baker, while returning from a conference in Deer Valley, Utah. Mr. Baker moved to Tucson 30 years ago. He was raised in Venice Beach, Calif. He was the co-owner of Larsen Baker LLC,… Read more »