Nancy and Stuart Mellan
Stuart Mellan, longtime leader of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, and his wife, Nancy, will be the honorees for Tucson Hebrew Academy’s 2020 Tikkun Olam Celebration. “Then and Now: Celebrating 25 Years of Leadership” will be presented as a YouTube video on Thursday, Oct. 22 at 7 p.m.… 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 »
Arizona native Chanel Bragg has been named associate artistic director at Arizona Theatre Company. A graduate of Northern Arizona University and Cortez High School, Bragg is a producer, director, teaching artist, and performer, and a passionate advocate for equity, diversity, and inclusion. Bragg holds a Master of Arts degree with… Read more »
A fourth-grade student at Tucson Hebrew Academy displays a Lego® tower he created after the school switched to remote learning in mid-March. The structure, which demonstrates engineering principles, can hold a ball for longer than two minutes. (Courtesy Stephanie Buchler/Tucson Hebrew Academy)
Gov. Doug Ducey announced the closure of Arizona schools on Sunday, March 15 to mitigate the spread of coronavirus. On March 16, Tucson Hebrew Academy was ready with online learning, says Head of School Laurence Kutler, Ph.D. ”We were prepared two weeks before it happened,” Kutler says, explaining that THA… Read more »
(L-R): Howard Levkowitz, Ella Levkowitz, Elayne Levkowitz, Tom Herz, Bertie Levkowitz, Helene Goodman, and Dan Goodman at the Tucson Hebrew Academy Tikkun Olam dinner Oct. 27. (Courtesy Tucson Hebrew Academy) More than 250 people joined Tucson Hebrew Academy in celebrating one of its primary founders and supporters, Bertie Levkowitz, at its annual Tikkun Olam gala on Sunday, Oct. 27. The night began with a cocktail hour and silent auction, followed by dinner and a tribute award program. Howard Levkowitz,… Read more »
Jordan Wiley-Hill, right, with Fox Tucson Theatre Executive Director Craig Sumberg and “Kit,” mascot of the Fox’s “Kids In the Theatre” program. (Courtesy Fox Tucson Theatre)
Professional storyteller Jordan Wiley-Hill joined Tucson’s Fox Theatre Foundation about a year ago to expand its youth programming known as Kids In the Theatre. Filling the new position of youth arts and culture program associate, he brings an extensive repertoire of performance art, education, and program development. Local community… Read more »
Bertie Levkowitz Tucson Hebrew Academy will honor one of its founders, Bertie Levkowitz, at its 2019 Tikkun Olam Celebration next month. Daniel Asia, president of THA’s board of trustees, remembers meeting her back in 1988. “When we first got to Tucson I met Bertie and her then-husband, Jack, and I went… Read more »
Tucsonan Aliya Markowitz in Jerusalem’s Old City during the 2019 March of the Living trip to Poland and Israel. (Photo courtesy Neil Markowitz)
Eighteen-year-old Aliya Markowitz had a goal: maintain a 4.0-grade point average through all four years at Catalina Foothills High School. She achieved this, while being active in BBYO, serving on the youth group’s Tucson and regional boards, and participating in the March of the Living two-week trip to Poland… Read more »
Shelley Lipowich, right, employs science, nature, and technology to build bridges between students in Tucson and Israeli classrooms while volunteering for Weintraub Israel Center’s Partnership2gether school twinning program. (Courtesy Lipowich)
Shelley Ann Lipowich, Ph.D., says she’s taught “for 150 years … everything from pre-kindergarten to post-doctoral, and I’ve had a ball.” She got her first taste of the Old Pueblo when it truly was a little village. She attended Sam Hughes Elementary as a child, “when Plumer Avenue was… Read more »
Andy Kunsberg
This is the final part of a series on the Jewish agency volunteers who received 2019 Special Recognition Awards at the Jewish Community Awards celebration held May 9 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. The evening also included the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s annual meeting. Andy Kunsberg, Jewish… Read more »
The Arizona Jewish Post has won a Simon Rockower Award from the American Jewish Press Association. The second place Louis Rapoport Award for Excellence in Commentary (Division B., newspapers 14,999 circulation and under) is for three columns by Amir Eden, former director of the Weintraub Israel Center: “On the… Read more »
Participants on Tucson Hebrew Academy’s 18th annual eighth grade Israel trip and their Partnership2Gether school twinning counterparts on Zikim Beach in southern Israel, May 2019. Standing, from left: Adi Shacham, Hodaya Shoshani, Yuval Cohen, Carly Wright, Ziv Yona, Lily Goldberg, Robin Garcia, Yoni Green, Yuval Nir, Gaya Benaim, Lila Season, Adamari ‘Mari’ Pasillas, Ben O., and Ziv Gibli; seated: Noam Amitay, Avia Gez, Talya Fleisher, Isabella ‘Izzy’ Garcia, Rylee Herman, Dahlia Tolby, Hadlie Polonski, Orli Levy, Eitan Otmasgin, Shahar Kahana, Davis Yalen, Bodhi Teufel, and Eli Kahana (Courtesy Tucson Hebrew Academy)
Last month, Tucson Hebrew Academy graduate Davis Yalen had the kind of Israel experience every Jewish parent and educator dreams of. He enjoyed floating in the Dead Sea: “It was such a cool experience, because I’ve heard about it, and learned about it in school.” Riding on the world’s… Read more »
JFSA Young Leadership Campaign volunteer Sarah Singer (left) presents a check to Tucson Hebrew Academy Head of School Laurence Kutler (center) and outgoing THA Board Chair Neil Kleinman. (Martha Lochert)
Two Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Young Leadership special teams received funds to disburse in the community, which they presented at the JFSA Annual Meeting and Community Awards Celebration on Thursday, May 9 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Recipient agencies included the University of Arizona Hillel Foundation, Jewish… Read more »
THA eighth-graders graduate, anticipate annual end-of-year journey
Tucson Hebrew Academy held its eighth-grade graduation on Wednesday, May 8. During the ceremony, graduates reflected on their time at the school, and looked forward to the future, including THA’s annual eighth-grade trip to Israel. “THA not only has helped me grow and further my education but has shaped… Read more »
Laurence Kutler competes in the 171-mile bicycling leg of the March 6-8 Ultraman Israel endurance challenge. (Courtesy Laurence Kutler)
As if completing a 320-mile race in three days isn’t enough, doing it in 36 hours is an enormous challenge. Included in that are a 6.2-mile swim through chilly mountain waters and cycling 171 miles across a desert at the lowest point on earth, not to mention running a… Read more »
At a past Tucson Hebrew Academy STEM festival, a visitor plays an electrical fruit piano. ( www.thastem.com ) “How Things Work” is the theme for Tucson Hebrew Academy’s fifth annual free community STEM Festival on Sunday, April 7. Many exhibitors from previous years will be returning, along with some exciting new organizations, says Jennifer Lehrfeld, THA’s upper school science/STEM teacher. Vector Launch will invite students to send… Read more »
Students in Melissa Landau’s third-grade class at Tucson Hebrew Academy won a SARSEF first place Grand Award for their project at the Southern Arizona Research, Science and Engineering Foundation fair on March 7 in the animal and plant sciences category. The project, “Germination Station,” allowed students to use the… Read more »
Jared Bernard Matheson, son of Teresa and Brandon Matheson, will celebrate becoming a bar mitzvah on March 16, at Congregation Anshei Israel. He is the grandson of Darlene and Robert Moen of Sartell, Minnesota; Susan Matheson of Tucson; and Debra and Landon Matheson of Chicago. Jared attends Tucson Hebrew… Read more »
Laurence Kutler talks with Tucson Hebrew Academy first graders, Jan. 8. (Debe Campbell/AJP)
Laurence Kutler, Ph.D., left Florida’s beaches and retirement to join Tucson Hebrew Academy as the head of school on Jan. 8. “Highly regarded in the Jewish day school movement, he has earned a reputation for working closely with students, faculty, parents and the community as a collaborative team builder… Read more »
JFNA chief updates JFSA leaders Jewish Federations of North America President and Chief Executive Officer Jerry Silverman briefed the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s national and overseas planning and allocation committee at a working lunch Wednesday, Jan. 9. Silverman highlighted JFNA’s activities as a convener and supporter of 147… Read more »
