Religion & Jewish Life

New Torah Center Aims to Expand Jewish Learning in Tucson

In August 2023, six young rabbis, recent graduates of the Rabbinical Seminary of America in Queens, New York, moved to Tucson with their wives and children to start the Tucson Torah Center (TTC). The TTC offers one-on-one and group Torah study for men and daily minyanim, plus classes and… Read more »

Weintraub Israel Center Welcomes Shaliach Yuval Malka to the Community

Yuval Malka, Southern Arizona community Shalicha

The Weintraub Israel Center, a partnership between the Tucson J and Jewish Philanthropies of Southern Arizona, is thrilled to share some exciting news: Tucson is once again bringing back a community Shalicha to foster a strong bond between our community and Israel. For those who may not be familiar… Read more »

New semi-pro soccer team takes historic name: Tucson Maccabees

Members of the Tucson Maccabees semi-pro soccer team pause during a recent practice for a team meeting. (Courtesy Tucson Maccabees)

A new local semi-professional soccer team has its roots not only in the Old Pueblo, but also in “the old country.” “My first experience with soccer was as a young child in Romania when my father took me to a game,” recalls Meir Segal, the team’s founder and coach.… Read more »

Author to discuss power of gratitude in free JFSA talk

Janice Kaplan

What began as an ambitious idea — to spend a full year living gratefully — became a life-changing experience for author Janice Kaplan. Her inspirational memoir, “The Gratitude Diaries: How a Year Looking on the Bright Side Can Transform Your Life” (Dutton, 2015) was a New York Times bestseller.… Read more »

JFSA vp’s Partnership2Gether visit to Israel affirms bonds with Southern Arizona

SAHI-volunteers-with-hand-sanitzerParticipants in the S.A.H.I. program for at-risk youth give out hand sanitizer in Kiryat Malachi, Israel. (Courtesy Adi Shacham, director of P2G Kiryat Malachi-Hof Ashkelon)

In early June, Aviva Zeltzer-Zubida, Ph.D., vice president for planning and engagement at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, visited Kiryat Malachi and Hof Ashkelon in Israel for what she calls a “deep dive” into the Weintraub Israel Center’s Partnership2Gether program. Zeltzer-Zubida met with representatives of social service programs… Read more »

‘Avoidance is no longer an option’: This Yom Kippur, rabbis across the country focused their sermons on racial injustice

A photo of George Floyd is pictured on a fence alongside other victims of police brutality in Brooklyn, N.Y., Sept. 24, 2020. (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)

(JTA) — From the coronavirus pandemic to the fires that have ravaged California to the anxiety of our politically polarized moment, there was no shortage of current events for rabbis to mine in their High Holiday sermons this year. But the topic that stood out this year on Yom… Read more »

Hillel International introduces Broadway Kol Nidre

This Sunday evening, Jews around the world will chant the Kol Nidre, the ancient Aramaic incantation repeated three times at the Yom Kippur evening ceremony. Hillel International, embracing the diversity of Jewish tradition, is sharing three distinct versions as part of its Higher Holidays program: A dramatized reading in… Read more »

One Zoom employee saved High Holidays streaming for 300 synagogues

Mitch Tarica is the streaming platform’s director of North American sales. (Courtesy of Tarica)

(JTA) — When Rosh Hashanah begins on Friday night, some 300 synagogues across North America streaming their High Holidays services via Zoom will be able to set it and forget it thanks largely to one man: Mitch Tarica. Tarica is the streaming platform’s director of North American sales. He’s… Read more »

A tale of two High Holidays: Why Orthodox Jews are going to synagogue while everyone else is on Zoom

A socially distanced outdoor service at the Green Road Synagogue in suburban Cleveland, June 2020. (Courtesy of Rabbi Binyamin Blau)

(JTA) – At the Jewish Center on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, this year’s High Holidays will be anything but normal. With eight services happening in various spaces throughout the building, on the roof and in the street (closed off to facilitate services), approximately 400 people will gather for socially distanced… Read more »

Chabad to present Mega Challah Bake online

Southern Arizona’s Mega Challah Bake will be held in your own kitchen this year — with Chabad providing live instructions and entertainment via Zoom, plus ingredients for those who want them. “It has been a delight to organize and host the Mega Challah Bake of Tucson over the past… Read more »

Chabad of Oro Valley plans outdoor Shofar blowing

Chabad of Oro Valley will hold three socially-distanced Shofar blowing events outside its premises at 1171 E. Rancho Vistoso Blvd. #131 on Sunday, Sept. 20. The times are 9:15 a.m., 12:15 p.m. and 6 p.m. Each will include a 10-minute service in the parking lot. No registration is required.… Read more »

CAI to hold drive-up Shofar blast

Congregation Anshei Israel will give Tucsonans an opportunity to hear the Rabbi Sara Metz sound the Shofar live on Friday, Aug. 21 at 8:30 a.m., in the northwest parking lot (facing the sanctuary doors). Members also can pick up thei High Holy Days packages. Other LIVE Shofar blast opportunities… Read more »

They thought a Jewish school in Oakland would be able to accommodate their gender-fluid child. It wasn’t that simple.

Meg Keene and David Mishook said their son, left, was rejected from Oakland Hebrew Day School for being gender-fluid. (Kenzie Kate)

(JTA) — A Jewish day school in Oakland, California, is committing to making changes this week after a local family said the school had declined to accept their gender-fluid child. Meg Keene, an Oakland mother who runs a prominent wedding planning website, encouraged her thousands of Instagram followers to… Read more »