Tagged FRONT

Teens, seniors will launch life stories book at reception

Gianna Lampert and partner Ruth Cooper at Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging (Photo: Angela Salmon)
April 5, 2019 /

Tracing Roots 2.0 paired Tucson’s Jewish teens with residents of Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging to build meaningful relationships. The program encourages participants to learn together, share their stories, trace their ancestry and bring memories to life through technology and personal interaction. Tucson Hebrew High students met regularly… Read more »

Repertory choir to bring its rich sound back to Emanu-El

Elliot Jones conducts the Arizona Repertory Singers in the ‘King David’ oratorio at Temple Emanu-El on April 29, 2018. (Photo: Celesteal Photography)
April 5, 2019 /

Arizona Repertory Singers will present a concert at Temple Emanu-El on Sunday, April 28, “Psalms of David and Songs of Solomon.” “The Arizona Repertory Singers are one of this city’s choral treasures,” says Robert Lopez-Hanshaw, music director at Temple Emanu-El. “They always bring a beautiful, rich sound to the… Read more »

Federation transportation service takes seniors from isolation into action

Driver Mark Contreras has worked for HandiCar, Inc. for 11 years. Jeanne Fischer is one of his regular passengers. The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s free transportation service is available for seniors and disabled passengers traveling to Jewish cultural, religious and community activities around Tucson. (Photo: Debe Campbell/AJP)Driver Mark Contreras has worked for HandiCar, Inc. for 11 years. Jeanne Fischer is one of his regular passengers. The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s free transportation service is available for seniors and disabled passengers traveling to Jewish cultural, religious and community activities around Tucson. (Photo: Debe Campbell/AJP)
April 5, 2019 / Debe Campbell, AJP Assistant Editor

For some local Jewish seniors and the disabled, transportation can’t be taken for granted. Without a vehicle, a driver’s license, friends or family to take them places, or the ability to afford a ride service, life can be confining. Isolation can lead to depression and affect general well-being. When… Read more »

Tucson philanthropist and developer Don Diamond dies at 91
April 4, 2019 / Debe Campbell, AJP Assistant Editor
Donald R. DiamondDonald R. Diamond

The Tucson Jewish community mourns the loss of local philanthropist, businessman, and real estate developer Donald R. Diamond, who died March 25 at the age of 91. His daughter Rabbi Jennifer Diamond and Cantor Janece E. Cohen conducted funeral services March 27 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Rabbi… Read more »

Chabad of Flagstaff building site vandalized

Rabbi Dovie Shapiro posted this photo on Facebook March 28, showing the community’s response to vandalism at a Chabad of Flagstaff building site. “The people of Flagstaff have hearts of gold — and silver — Thank you for all the love!” he wrote, tagging the post “#thisisflagstaff #movingbeyondhate #jewishflagstaff #lightoverdarkness #chabadflagstaff.” (Facebook)
April 4, 2019 /

A Chabad center being built in Flagstaff was broken into and vandalized sometime between late afternoon on Friday, March 22 and 7 a.m. on Monday, March 25. Crude swastikas were drawn in black paint on the windows and carved into the walls of the Molly Blank Jewish Community Center, which… Read more »

What I wish people knew about Yiddishists

Cup with Yiddish writing(Adam Berry/Getty Images)
April 4, 2019 / Rokhl Kafrissen

This article originally appeared on Alma. My name is Rokhl and I’m a Yiddishist. I’ve been a Yiddishist my entire adult life, pretty much since I took my first Yiddish class in college. Being visibly (or audibly) Yiddish in public means I’ve heard every possible comment about my linguistic… Read more »

An indigenous and Jewish photographer wants to tell her people’s story before it’s too late

In “An Exploration of Resilience and Resistance,” Kali Spitzer photographed indigenous and mixed race women and gender non-conforming people. (Kali Spitzer)In “An Exploration of Resilience and Resistance,” Kali Spitzer photographed indigenous and mixed race women and gender non-conforming people. (Kali Spitzer)
April 4, 2019 / Josefin Dolsten, JTA

(JTA) — At the age of 20, Kali Spitzer left her home in Victoria, British Columbia, to travel north and immerse herself in the culture of her father, who is a member of the Kaska Dena, a First Nations people native to Canada. For around seven months, she lived… Read more »

A former Jewish punk rocker wrote an acclaimed novel about Holocaust memory

The last picture of Jacob Rand before “the hell into which he was cast … For most of the students, it would be their last photo ever.” Rand is all the way on the left, in the double-breasted suit. (Courtesy of Presser)
April 4, 2019 / Curt Schleier, JTA

(JTA) — At first glance, Bram Presser looks more like a punk rocker than a sensitive novelist. He has two big lip piercings, a few scraggly dreadlocks and a quirky beard only under his chin line. And, yes, Presser, 43, was the lead singer and songwriter of Yidcore, an… Read more »

A family Haggadah imagines a ‘complicated, engaging and fleshy’ Passover

The Kveller Haggadah is "for curious kids — and their grown-ups." (Kveller)
April 1, 2019 / Emily Burack, JTA

(JTA) — The Passover seder can be boring for kids. A new Haggadah is trying to change that. Published by Kveller, a Jewish parenting site, the Kveller Haggadah is “for curious kids — and their grown-ups.” The Haggadah’s co-creators are Elissa Strauss, a columnist on parenthood for CNN, and… Read more »

This new town will be the first fully inclusive community in Israel
March 27, 2019 / Ben Sales
Ayala, 11, a student with a cognitive disability, communicates via a computer screen with her teacher, Rivka Dimant, in a school at Aleh Negev, a campus for Israelis with disabilities, Oct. 25, 2018. (Ben Sales)

OFAKIM, Israel (JTA) — Ayala’s eyes darted around the screen, choosing words and pictures as her teacher asked her rapid-fire questions. Ayala, 11, has a cognitive disability that prevents her from speaking. But she can communicate thanks to a screen that reads her eye movements and transmits answers to… Read more »

Tucson pilot stars at annual local air show over weekend

U.S. Air Force Maj. Jason Markzon, center, with his Tucson family, (L-R) brother, Seth; mother, Andrea; father, David; and sister, Heide. (Debe Campbell/AJP)
March 25, 2019 / Debe Campbell, Assistant Editor

This year’s “Thunder and Lightning Over Arizona,” at Davis-Monthan U.S. Air Force Base, March 23-24, brought a hometown pilot soaring into town for the performance. Maj. Jason Markzon, flying the #8 slot, is the only Jewish pilot in the Thunderbirds Air Combat Command unit. The advance squadron’s advance pilot,… Read more »

Unity marks interfaith vigil honoring Muslim terror victims

Unity marks interfaith vigil honoring Muslim terror victims [Debe Campbell/AJP)
March 22, 2019 / Debe Campbell, AJP Assistant Editor

Tucson community members attended a vigil at the Muslim Community Center of Tucson on Monday to express solidarity and commemorate the 50 people killed in the March 14 shootings at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. Another 50 people were wounded in the shootings. Mayor Jonathan Rothschild spoke on… Read more »

Kippur to be honored at JFSA Men’s Night Out
March 22, 2019 / Phyllis Braun, AJP Executive Editor
Gary Kippur

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s annual Men’s Night Out event is getting a new format this year. There will be no keynote speaker for the event on Tuesday, April 9. Instead, it will begin at 6 p.m. in the Tucson Jewish Community Center Sculpture Garden with a whiskey… Read more »

At Tucson’s old Benedictine monastery, Jewish health practitioners aid migrants

(L-R): Medical volunteers Audrey Russell-Kibble, D.N.P., F.N.P.C., F.A.A.N.P.; Richard Wahl, M.D.; and Kenneth Iserson, M.D., on Feb. 24, in the Benedictine monastery chapel in Tucson that serves as a dormitory for asylum-seekers. (Debe Campbell/AJP)
March 22, 2019 / Debe Campbell, AJP Assistant Editor

Disembarking without fanfare and frequently no forewarning, asylum-seekers file, dozens at a time, into the old Benedictine monastery in midtown Tucson.  Since Jan. 26, the monastery has been a makeshift “hospitality center” providing a safe place for families released from custody after applying for asylum at the Mexican border.… Read more »

Sarver family matching funds spur transformation of Tucson J tennis center

Chuck Reisig, Tucson Jewish Community Center director of tennis, poses in a forklift prior to the removal of the tennis courts’ current surface. (Photo: Andrew Rosenfeld/Tucson Jewish Community Center)
March 22, 2019 / Phyllis Braun, AJP Executive Editor

The late Jack Sarver was an excellent tennis player. In fact, he started at the University of Michigan on a tennis scholarship, but his need to support his mother, three sisters and a brother made it impossible to continue his studies, says his daughter, Betty Anne Sarver. When Jack,… Read more »

Laughter, activity, support help Tucson Cancer Conquerers boost wellness

(L-R): Gila Ben-Jamin, Arlene Kutoroff, and Sheryl Boris at a recent University of Arizona women’s basketball game where cancer survivors were recognized, with Tucson Cancer Conquerors participating.(Courtesy Marlyne Freedman)
March 22, 2019 / Debe Campbell, AJP Assistant Editor

For nearly a half-century, Gila Ben-Jamin had a secret she refused to share. She reluctantly accompanied a friend to a meeting of Tucson Cancer Conquerors 17 months ago and called it life-changing. There, for the first time, she was able to talk about what had once been a taboo… Read more »

In Focus 3.22.19: UA Hillel commemorates Holocaust
March 22, 2019 /
Holocaust survivor Yulia Geninatalk makes a tile at the 28th Annual Holocaust Vigil on the University of Arizona mall.

At least 500 people stopped by the University of Arizona Hillel Foundation’s 28th Annual Holocaust Vigil, held over 24 hours beginning at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, March 13. Volunteers read the names of victims throughout the vigil. Visitors also had the opportunity to participate in an art project, meet… Read more »