Jonathan Rothschild, left, and Pastor D. Grady Scott
Although the African American community faces many challenges, such as gaining better access to healthcare and education, for Pastor B. Grady Scott of Grace Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Tucson, the number one issue is overrepresentation in jails and prisons. Scott and former Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild presented “African… Read more »
Laura McKee has been hired as executive assistant to the CEO of the Jewish Federation and Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona. McKee began her career with an associate’s degree as a legal assistant from Pima Community College and worked as a legal secretary while earning her bachelor’s degree… Read more »
Rabbi Dr. Scott Saulson
Rabbi Scott Saulson, Ph.D., joined Temple Emanu-El this month as interim rabbi. With an extensive background in pastoral counseling and mediation, Saulson specializes in helping congregations in transition. This is his eighth interim rabbi position. Along with fulfilling typical rabbinic duties for a year, such as officiating at services… Read more »
This year, essential school supplies will include face masks and hand sanitizer to help guard against COVID-19. (Photo: Tatevik Bagdasaryan/Shutterstock.com)
Contingency plans are the order of the day as Tucson’s synagogue religious schools and Tucson Hebrew Academy look ahead to the first day of school next month. On June 29, Gov. Doug Ducey announced that the target date for Arizona schools to open with in-person instruction had been pushed back… Read more »
Bob Schwartz speaks on Jewish songwriters and American music at the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library in Columbus, Mississippi, July 14, 2011. (Courtesy Bob Schwartz)
Bob Schwartz has been involved with the Jewish community since he was a child growing up in the suburbs of New Jersey. He has been a part of nine congregations in six states and has been active within the Jewish community in Tucson for two years. A former attorney,… Read more »
A joint Congregation Or Chadash-Temple Emanu-El ‘100 Menorah Celebration’ Shabbat on
Dec. 27 filled the sanctuary at Temple Emanu-El. (Simon Rosenblatt - Facebook)
In an era when non-Orthodox synagogues throughout the country have seen membership decline, two Reform synagogues in Tucson, Temple Emanu-El and Congregation Or Chadash, are considering joining forces. Temple Emanu-El, established in 1910, is the oldest synagogue in Arizona, while Or Chadash is celebrating its 25th year. After more… Read more »
Photo courtesy Temple Emanu-El
Members of Congregation Or Chadash and Temple Emanu-El joined for a 100 Menorah Celebration, an Or Chadash tradition, at Temple Emanu-El on Friday, Dec. 27. After a light supper, participants lit menorahs in the sanctuary, lending their glow to the holiday Shabbat service led by clergy from both congregations.… Read more »
About 150 people attended Temple Emanu-El’s Hanukkah Spectacular on Sunday, Dec. 15, with students from the Kurn Religious School and Strauss ECE singing, dancing, acting, and playing music. Here, Kurn teacher Sarah Fire leads children in “I’m a Little Latke” and “Hanukkah is Here.”… Read more »
After finishing her acclaimed first anthology, “The Sacred Table: Creating a Jewish Food Ethic” (CCAR Press, 2011), Rabbi Mary Zamore realized that over time, in much of her teaching about food, “I was speaking more about the intersection of food and money.” “I was talking about SNAP — food… Read more »
(L-R): Bob Schwartz, Rick Unklesbay, Rabbi Batsheva Appel, Michael Gill, Dan Cooper, and Amy Krauss at the Forum on the Death Penalty and Judaism at Temple Emanu-El on Dec. 4. (Debe Campbell/AJP)
It was a “hung jury” at a free public forum Temple Emanu-El hosted Dec. 4. The forum explored the death penalty in what event organizer, moderator, and former attorney Bob Schwartz called “the start of a much bigger conversation” he hopes will continue. The “Forum on the Death Penalty… Read more »
On Oct. 27, 2018, a gunman killed 10 congregants and injured six more at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. The gunman himself was shot but survived. On Aug. 26, 2019, the U.S. Attorney in Pittsburgh announced that federal prosecutors would be seeking the death penalty in the… Read more »
Rabbi Batsheva Appel and kids enjoy Shabbat Shabang at the Ruth & Irving Olson Center for Jewish Life, Sept. 13./Ariel Miklofsky/JFSA
On Friday, Sept. 13, 12 children and their families joined Rabbi Batsheva Appel of Temple Emanu-El and PJ Library at the Ruth & Irving Olson Center for Jewish Life for the Northwest Family Shabbat Shabang. The rabbi led a service full of songs, prayers, and storytelling while teaching the… Read more »
Congregation Or Chadash, Temple Emanu-El and the University of Arizona Hillel Foundation are participating in this year’s Pack-a-Thon on Sunday, Oct. 27, 2-4 p.m. at the Muslim Community Center, 5100 N. Kevy Place. This is a multi-faith program involving these Jewish organizations, churches and the Muslim community of Tucson… Read more »
The Union for Reform Judaism’s Taste of Judaism classes, taught by Temple Emanu-El’s Rabbi Batsheva Appel, will be offered at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on Sundays, Sept. 8, 15, and 22 from 2:30-4:30 p.m., and at Temple Emanu-El on Thursdays, Sept. 12, 19, and 26, from 6-8 p.m.… Read more »
The Union for Reform Judaism’s Taste of Judaism classes, taught by Temple Emanu-El’s Rabbi Batsheva Appel, will be offered in Sierra Vista on Thursdays, Aug. 22 and 29 and Sept. 5; at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on Sundays, Sept. 8, 15 and 22; and at Temple Emanu-El on… Read more »
I wish to thank the Arizona Jewish Post and interviewer Debe Campbell for the well-written article (“Retiree takes social justice to heart,” 6/28/19). She provided important information I shared with her when we met at the monastery. She has seen firsthand the role that so many volunteers and Catholic… Read more »
(L-R): Rabbi Batsheva Appel, Rotem Rapaport, Ron Benacot, and Cantorial Soloist Marjorie Hochberg About 60 community members celebrated with Tucson’s outgoing shinshinyot (Israeli teen emissaries), Rotem Rapaport and Ron Benacot, as they were called to the Torah at Temple Emanu-El on Saturday, June 15. The young women had celebrated coming of age with parties in Israel, but neither had read from the… Read more »
Rotem Rapaport (L) and Ron Benacot cherish their year as Israeli emissaries to Tucson. (Courtesy Weintraub Israel Center)
Weintraub Israel Center’s shinshiniyot (Israeli teen emissaries), Ron Benacot and Rotem Rapaport, will be called to the Torah as b’not mitzvah Saturday, June 15 at Temple Emanu-El. “I had my bat mitzvah when I was 12,” said Benacot, “but where I grew up in Israel, it’s not common for… Read more »
Marjorie Hochberg Temple Emanu-El will present a concert, “Celebrating 20 Years of Song,” on Thursday, June 13, in honor of Cantorial Soloist Marjorie Hochberg’s 20 years of service to the synagogue community. Hochberg will sing some of her favorite theater and opera solos, and musical guests will present Jewish favorites as… Read more »
Members of Cub Scout Pack 613 bring in the colors at the opening of the Tucson Jewish Community’s Israel at 70 Festival on April 22, 2018. These Cubs moved up to become Boy Scouts in Troop 613 in May 2018. [Courtesy Herbert Cohn)
Herbert Cohn, chair of the Catalina Council Jewish Committee on Scouting, is attempting to create a more inclusive environment by reminding all in the local scouting community of the intention by Lord Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the world scouting movement, that it should embrace all faiths. Cohn has been… Read more »
