Tagged Weintraub Israel Center

Dan Karsch, longtime Tucson doctor and community activist, dies at 78

dan_karsch-_tom_newman_large_obitAt left, Daniel Karsch (left) and Tom Newman, former partners in Old Pueblo Urology, during a visit Karsch and his wife, Carol, made to Tucson from Israel in February 2020. At right, Karsch and Newman co-host 'The Plumber's Ball' in 1974. (Courtesy Carol Karsch)
September 10, 2020 /

Daniel Nathan Karsch, M.D., 78, died of cancer on July 23, 2020. Dan was born in Philadelphia to Lil and Joe Karsch and grew up in the large Jewish neighborhood of Wynnefield, centered around Har Zion Temple, Jewish schools, synagogues, and Camp Ramah. A graduate of Ursinus College and Jefferson… Read more »

Virtual Yom Hazikaron commemoration for Southern Arizona planned
April 26, 2020 /

The Weintraub Israel Center and the Tucson Jewish Community Center will host a virtual event for Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s memorial day, on Monday, April 27 6:30 p.m. via Zoom. All those in Tucson and beyond are invited to gather as a community to honor the memory of Israel’s fallen… Read more »

Preparing for elections, for the third time
February 21, 2020 / Inbal Shtivi, Weintraub Israel Center

As I go around the community in Tucson, many people ask me what I think about Israeli politics. Who is going to “win,” what will the future look like, plus questions about how our political system with its many parties works and how it relates to the world and… Read more »

‘Shtisel’ watch party, lecture to give insight into Israel’s ultra-Orthodox
January 24, 2020 / Inbal Shtivi, Weintraub Israel Center

The ultra-Orthodox make up some 13% of Israel’s population. The main cities in which this largely secluded population lives are Jerusalem and Bnei Brak, with large ultra-Orthodox communities in Elad, Betar Illit, and Modi’in Illit. There also are ultra-Orthodox communities in mixed cities such as Sefad, Ashdod, and Tiberius.… Read more »

Shlicha hosts Hanukkah open house

Photo: AJP Phyllis Braun
January 10, 2020 /

Inbal Shtivi, director of the Weintraub Israel Center and one of Tucson’s shlichim (Israeli emissaries), and her family hosted a Hanukkah open house on Thursday, Dec. 26, the fifth night of the holiday, with food, fellowship, and song. Here, Shtivi (left) and Cantorial Soloist Sara Golan Mussman prepare to… Read more »

Gaza clash evokes painful memories of rockets, shelters
November 22, 2019 / Inbal Shtivi, Weintraub Israel Center

As these words are being written, an Israel-Gaza truce has been already achieved, after 48 hours of intensive fighting. The attack from Gaza — retaliation for an Israeli action against an Islamic Jihad leader — included over 300 rockets fired at Israeli communities near and far. Eighty Israelis were… Read more »

Thank you and l’hitraot to Barel family

Oshrat Barel, left, and Deborah Oseran, chair of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona boar. Polaroid photos from the event were made into an instant scrapbook for Barel and her family to take home to Israel. Roman Urias/AJP)
September 27, 2019 /

More than 100 colleagues and friends turned out Sept. 12 to say thank you and l’hitraot (until we meet again) to Oshrat Barel at a party in her honor at the Harvey and Deanna Evenchik Center for Jewish Philanthropy. Barel returned to Israel after six years in Tucson, four… Read more »

Local volunteer’s love for teaching is a good fit for P2G

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)
July 12, 2019 / Debe Campbell, AJP Assistant Editor

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 »

New shlicha will bring experience, charm, young family to town

Inbal Shtivi, her husband, Eran Falach, and their children look forward to a new experience sharing Israel with Tucson. (Courtesy Shtivi)
July 12, 2019 / Phyllis Braun, AJP Executive Editor

Twenty-first century technology can go a long way toward bridging distances between people thousands of miles apart, but there is no replacement for personal and cross-community connections, says Inbal Shtivi. Shtivi, 43, who will be Tucson’s new shlicha (Israeli emissary) and director of the Weintraub Israel Center, will arrive… Read more »

Israeli Scouts perform in Tucson
June 28, 2019 /

The Israeli Scouts Tzofim Friendship Caravan performed their high-energy song and dance show for about 200 people at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on Thursday, June 20. Prior to the show, the scouts spent the day at Camp J. They gave a morning show for the camp, the Taglit… Read more »

Israeli teen ambassadors arrive in August

Shay Friedwald and Danielle Levy
June 14, 2019 /

Danielle Levy and Shay Friedwald will arrive in Tucson in early August as Tucson’s shinshinim (Israeli teen ambassadors) for the coming year. These 18 year-olds are emissaries through the Jewish Agency for Israel, sponsored by the Weintraub Israel Center. They will work with day schools, congregations, and Jewish organizations… Read more »

Israeli fallen soldiers mourned in song for Yom Hazikaron

Holocaust survivors lit memorial candles at the 2019 Yom Hazikaron event at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. (L-R): Dov Marhoffer, Wanda Wolosky, Walter Feiger, Pawel Lichter, and Wolfgang Hellpap. (Marty Johnston)
May 31, 2019 /

The Weintraub Israel Center organized a musical tribute to Israel’s fallen soldiers and victims of terror for a local commemoration of Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day, on Tuesday, May 7 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center.… Read more »

Started from seed, pomegranate bears fruit

Celebrating the Tucson Jewish Community Center’s pomegranate tree, now bearing fruit on its first anniversary, are Early Childhood Education students with (L-R): ECE teacher Kristina Li, Dale Green and Tammy Lewis from the J’s building services department, Lipowich, and Adi Olshansky, Weintraub Israel Center P2G school twinning coordinator. WIC is a joint project of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona and the J, dedicated to bringing the cultural richness of Israel to Tucson. (Debe Campbell/AJP)
May 31, 2019 /

The pomegranate, said to have 613 seeds corresponding to the 613 mitzvot (commandments) in the Torah, frequently is a symbol of Israel. It is one of the seven species of Israel listed in the Torah, along with wheat, barley, grapes, figs, olives, and dates. As part of building living… Read more »

Tucsonans celebrate Israel at 71

Tots celebrate Israel’s 71st birthday with Tucson shinshiniyot (Israeli teen emissaries) Rotem Rappoport (left) and Ron Benacot.
May 17, 2019 /

More than 250 people attended a celebration of Israel’s 71st birthday on Sunday, April 28, at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, enjoying food, music, an artisan fair, kids’ activities and Israeli film shorts. The Weintraub Israel Center, a program of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona and the Tucson… Read more »

Israeli partners connect with Tucson peers; Passover preparations begin

(L-R): Marlyne Freedman, Steve Silverman, Stuart Mellan (Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona president and CEO), Shelly Silverman (JFSA board chair), Hila Yogev-Keren (Partnership2Gether director), Hila Kordana, Vered Hengali-Maschiach, Deborah Oseran (incoming JFSA board chair), Isaac Amar, Shneor Katash, Edit Asor, Yedidya Green, and Steve Caine at a post-budget meeting dinner at the Silverman home [Oshrat Barel)
April 19, 2019 / Sharon Klein, Special to the AJP

Reciprocal hospitality The Weintraub Israel Center’s Partnership2Gether Israeli and Tucson teams gathered here March 3-8 for the P2G 2019-20 annual budget meeting. Since 1996, the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona has participated in P2G, a Jewish Agency for Israel program connecting Jewish communities around the world.  One year the… Read more »

Festival for Israel’s 71st promises family fun

Phoenix duo Erez and Gal will perform Israeli music at Tucson’s Yom Ha’atzmaut festival April 28.
April 19, 2019 /

A family-friendly Yom Ha’atzmaut festival, marking the 71st anniversary of Israel’s Independence, will be held Sunday, April 28, from 4-6:30 p.m. in the Sculpture Garden at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. “This is an opportunity to celebrate Israel’s birthday,” says Jennifer Selco, the Tucson J’s director of Jewish life… Read more »

Local teachers cement bond with counterparts on Partnership trip to Israel

Partnership2Gether School Twinning program participants at the Western Wall in Jerusalem on Feb. 2. (L-R) Back row: Adi Olshansky, Danielle Weiss, Zohar Bisker, Daniella Cohen, Keren Mor, Jill Sobieszyk, Orly Gros, Kim Spitzer, Nili Cohen-Hammer, Adi Shacham, Jeanette Butcher, Ofra Gueta, Nichole Chorny; front: Yochi Azran, Allie Silber (Weintraub Israel Center)
March 8, 2019 / Danielle Weiss, Tucson Hebrew Academy

A delegation of Tucson educators representing Jewish organizations experienced Israel in a meaningful, weeklong cultural exchange during rodeo school break in late February. Jeanette Butcher (Tucson Jewish Community Center), Nicole Chorny and Kim Spitzer  (Congregation Anshei Israel), Allie Silber (Temple Emanu-El), Jill Sobieszyk (Congregation Or Chadash) and I were… Read more »

Newcomer Lepow brings wealth of community experience to partnership role
February 8, 2019 / Debe Campbell, AJP Assistant Editor
Dan Lepow

With one eye to retirement and the other to community involvement, Dan Lepow and his wife, Susie, arrived in Tucson last April from St. Paul, Minnesota. They had frequented Tucson over the years, as his sister Rebecca Crow relocated to the Old Pueblo in 1968 and his late mother… Read more »