Tagged JCRC

Operation Elijah is a community effort to ensure that every Jew in Southern Arizona has a seat at a Seder table for Passover. Sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Jewish Community Relations Council and Outreach Connections, the project matches those who are new to the Tucson community,… Read more »

What a delight to be present when Eileen Warshaw received the well-deserved Margie Fenton Award at the Jewish Community Relations Council annual meeting on Jan. 5. It was also wonderful to see so many young people there in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Jewish Latino Teen Coalition.… Read more »

In Washington, D.C., for a 2011 lobbying trip are Jewish Latino Teen Coalition members (L-R) Maia Schneider, Rena Barber, Harrison Avigdor, Roberto Flores, Susan Keovongsa, Amanda Monroy, Brian Molina, Analiza Grabowski, Louie Sanders, Natalia Navarro and Lindsey Bressler. Many will attend the coalition’s anniversary celebration in Tucson on Jan. 5.

More than 100 teens who otherwise may have never met have shared their cultures through the Jewish Latino Teen Coalition, a program founded by Rep. Raul Grijalva and the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona. The purpose of the coalition, which may be the… Read more »

Building on the success of the Jewish-Latino Teen Coalition, a program founded almost 10 years ago by the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona and the office of U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, the JCRC is seeking new ways to strengthen relations between the Jewish… Read more »

Project Isaiah, the Jewish community’s annual High Holidays food drive benefiting the Community Food Bank, begins today and runs through Sept. 30. The project is named for the Prophet Isaiah, who when asked why we fast on Yom Kippur, responded, “Is it not to share your bread with the… Read more »

Peter Likins moderates a panel discussion on higher education in Arizona sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council and Hadassah Southern Arizona, at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on April 26. (Simon Rosenblatt)

Our system of higher education hasn’t changed in the last 60 years, University of Arizona President Emeritus Peter Likins said at a breakfast and panel discussion April 26 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. As the moderator of the discussion on “The Future of Higher Education in Arizona,” when… Read more »

The Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona will hold a breakfast and panel discussion on “The Future of Higher Education in Arizona: Is the Current Model Sustainable?” on Friday, April 26, from 7:30 to 10 a.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. The program… Read more »

Students at hte Ben Gamla Kendall charter school in Florida paint durning an artist's visit to the school. (Courtesy of Ben Gamla Kendall)

BOSTON (JTA) — When the U.S. Supreme Court effectively legalized school vouchers in 2002, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs called it “a devastating blow to one of the foundations of our democracy”: the separation of church and state. Four years earlier, JCPA had conducted a yearlong study that… Read more »

Pima County Supervisor Ray Carroll

Cooperation was on the agenda at the annual legislative breakfast that took place at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on April 20. Republican and Democratic Pima County supervisors and Tucson City Council members started out by voicing opposition to the proposed Rosemont Mine, drawing repeated applause from the audience… Read more »

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is partnering with local synagogues for Operation Elijah, an annual effort to ensure that every Jew in Southern Arizona has a seat at a Seder table for Passover. Now in its seventh year, Operation Elijah will match Seder hosts and guests for the… Read more »

“Food Stamped — A Documentary” will be shown at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on Thursday, March 15 at 7 p.m. The film humorously chronicles a couple who are trying to maintain a healthy, balanced diet while on a food stamp budget. The documentary is part of the Jewish… Read more »

Brenda Landau, director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, signs up for the Food Stamp Challenge at the JCRC annual meeting Oct. 27. Waiting their turn are Dani Bregman and Carlos Araujo. (Rebecca Goodman/JFSA)

Jose Miranda, 23, was one of 90 people attending the Jewish Community Relations Council Annual Meeting and Food Stamp Challenge Kick-Off on Oct. 27 at Temple Emanu-El. While listening to stories and statistics on hunger in the United States, “I decided to put myself in the shoes of young… Read more »

Robert Morris

Growing up in Tucson during the 1950s, Robert Morris, Jr. learned about the importance of fresh vegetables from a local Jewish peddler. “When I was elementary school age Toby would let me ride on his truck for a few blocks,” says Morris. Today, fresh vegetables have often disappeared from… Read more »

Last month I had the privilege of being invited to a Ramadan “break fast” at the Tucson chapter of the Foundation for Intercultural Dialogue, a moderate Muslim Turkish organization. Ramadan is the Muslim month of fasting between sunrise and sunset, during which Muslims focus on introspection and study. FID’s… Read more »

Asked why we fast on Yom Kippur, the prophet Isaiah responded, “Is it not to share your bread with the hungry?” (Isaiah 58:6) Each year, the local Jewish community honors Isaiah with the Project Isaiah High Holidays food drive benefiting the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona. This year,… Read more »

Josh Protas, head of the Washington office of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, pauses in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building on Aug. 4, 2011, on his way to a meeting in the United Methodist building to discuss strategy for interfaith advocacy related to the debt “super committee” and the budget negotiations.

Josh Protas is a vice president and director of the Washington office of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. In Tucson, he was director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona and JFSA senior vice president for planning and community affairs. Previously, he… Read more »

  A breakfast meeting cosponsored by Hadassah Southern Arizona and the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Foundation of Southern Arizona, “Views on Recovery and Progress: A Conversation with Tucson City Council Members and Pima County Board of Supervisors,” held at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on April… Read more »

(L-R) Debi Chess-Mabie, Shelley Lipowich and Maria Rodriguez participate in a Habitat for Humanity build on March 23.

Following the passage of Arizona SB 1070, an anti-illegal immigrant measure that critics say encourages racial profiling of Hispanics, in April 2010, the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, considered ways to support Tucson’s Hispanic community, says Brenda Landau, JFSA director of women’s philanthropy… Read more »