(L-R) Tucsonans Donna Moser, Audrey Brooks, Marlyne Freedman and Deanna Evenchik at the Birthright Israel Mega Event at Haifa Naval Base July 12 The faces of our grandparents are with me in early July as I leave for the Jewish Federations of North America Campaign Chairs and Directors Mission to Odessa and Israel with my sister, Donna Moser. Grandpa Nathan and Grandma Sadie came to the United States in 1899 from Odessa;… Read more »
LAS VEGAS (JTA) — In this city of betting and sin, the Jewish Federations of North America took a gamble. Jewish federations from the United States and Canada collectively kicked in tens of thousands of dollars in subsidies to send 1,500 Jews aged 22 to 45 to the Venetian… Read more »
Audrey Brooks with a child at the Mevaseret Zion Absorption Center near Jerusalem. (Courtesy JFSA) The story is in the stories. That’s what I learned with 100 others from 37 other communities on the Jewish Federations of North America’s Campaign Chairs and Directors Mission to Moscow and Israel this summer. I heard stories of inspiration, intrigue, courage and hope. I learned that just as… Read more »
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (P.K.Weis/southwest photobank.com) The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona has nominated Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and Rabbi Stephanie Aaron for the Third Annual Jewish Community Hero Awards. Created by The Jewish Federations of North America, the awards project uses social media such as Facebook and Twitter to bring national attention to local leaders,… Read more »
Members of the Weintraub Israel Center and the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona have formed an Israel Action Network to counter efforts to delegitimize Israel. The network is “part of a national trend among Jewish communities,” says Dan Karsch, chair of the network… Read more »
Jerry Silverman, right, president and CEO of Jewish Federations of North America, with Stuart Mellan, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, and Carol Karsch, executive director of the Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona. “Jerry brings the future into every conversation about the present,” says Mellan. “Change is the new normal and we need to embrace that concept,” Jewish Federations of North America president and CEO Jerry Silverman told a Tucson audience on Sept. 15. Making one of the dozens of community visits he’s become known for since taking the JFNA helm in September 2009,… Read more »
(L-R) Brenda Landau of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, Vern Kozlen of the Jewish Federation of Palm Springs and Desert Area, former Canadian Olympic swimmer Karen James and Israeli President Shimon Peres recite the Shehecheyanu blessing at Peres’ residence in Jerusalem on July 13. In Hungary, as in other eastern European countries, many young adults are now discovering their Jewish histories and identities. Recently, four Jewish women from Tucson experienced their own journeys of Jewish discovery as participants in a Jewish Federations of North America mission to Hungary and Israel, joining 120 U.S.… Read more »
