Elbit Systems of America, the American subsidiary of Israeli aerospace and defense company Elbit Systems, was recently awarded an approximately $26 million contract from the United States Customs and Border Protection to install an integrated fixed towers system in the U.S. Border Patrol Cas…

Few people were as qualified for the Jewish Family & Children’s Service volunteer coordinator position as Jody Goldman was when she took the job in May 2016. Goldman spent most of her career in Phoenix working in volunteer leadership and coordinator roles. For more than nine years, Goldm…

For sisters Chloe and Camille Vitoff, gymnastics is much more than a hobby. Both grew up with the sport since they were toddlers and have been competing since grade school. 

The Jewish Family & Children’s Service of Arizona received $25,175 from the City of Scottsdale for its Older Adults In-Home Program.

Late last month, two communities came together to share and express spirituality through music. 

For nearly 40 years, Camp Swift has continued to provide economically disadvantaged youth with the opportunity to experience overnight summer camp. For many of the mostly Jewish teen and young adult volunteers, the camp is an opportunity to build leadership skills and create meaningful relat…

Children and teens at public schools throughout the state will be safer thanks to the efforts of Rep. Alma Hernandez, Arizona’s first Jewish Latina lawmaker. Working with the office of Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, Hernandez, a Democrat, secured an agreement to begin mandatory training in de-e…

When Janet Arnold Rees, senior concierge and creative aging coordinator for Jewish Family & Children’s Service, was cleaning her home office she stumbled upon a Jewish News article she had saved in a file full of theater memorabilia. 

After a two year-long search, Temple Beth Sholom of the East Valley has hired a new permanent rabbi. Rabbi Herschel Brodie Aberson will begin working at the congregation on July 15. 

Updated: 07/02/2019

Rabbi Shelley Moss has been Temple Beth Shalom of the West Valley’s rabbi since 2005, but in July he will be retiring from the congregation. On Friday, June 28, the synagogue will formally welcome its new spiritual leader, Rabbi Dana Evan Kaplan, with a Shabbat dinner. 

Yosef was a fitting name for the late Rabbi Yosef Garcia, mused Rabbi Sarah Leah Grafstein of Ruach Hamidbar—Spirit of the Desert.

Jewish day school Menachem Mendel Academy has selected Rabbi Yoseph Wernick to be its new full-time principal. The school has been looking for a permanent principal since first opening last year.

Rabbi Yosef Garcia, president of the Association of Crypto-Jews of the Americas and founder of Avdey Torah Jayah in Chandler died on Monday. He was 62.

Valley of the Sun JCC Chief Operating Officer Kim Subrin has worked with the Jewish Agency for Israel since 2001, assisting with its shlichim program that brings young Israeli emissaries to the U.S. But in the 18 years that she’s collaborated on the project, Subrin never hosted shlichim hers…

The Stockroom, a family-owned and operated office supply store since 1986, will close at the end of the month when the president and co-owner of the company, Les Moskowitz, changes gears. It’s one of the last family-run office supply stores in Phoenix, said Les’ wife, Linda, The Stockroom’s …

Before the April 27 shooting at Chabad of Poway in California, the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League of San Diego, Tammy Gillies, was told by her colleagues in law enforcement that it wasn’t a question of if a shooting would happen, but when.

When doctors gave Bob Beliak a diagnosis of kidney disease, his life became a race between the disease’s progression and a long-term medical solution. He and his wife, Marci, were still processing the news while searching for the best possible option.

Matty G’s Steakburgers and Spirits in Mesa is a haven for all sports fans. The menu items are named after classic sports terms, every TV has a game playing and the walls and tables are dressed with paraphernalia from every team imaginable.

The word canapé has buzzed in my ear for decades. It implied fancy food, but I didn’t know what that meant.

Dan Witenstein was inducted into the Arizona Gymnastics Hall of Fame at the USA Gymnastics State Awards Banquet this week at the Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale. Witenstein is the co-owner and team director of Arizona Sunrays, a popular local gymnastics school.

One might not expect a Phoenix-area bakery to compete with East Coast bakeries when it comes to bagels, but the website Nosher found such a gem in Phoenix. On May 1, Nosher posted “The best bagels in unexpected places around the United States,” and Odelay Bagel Co. was one of seven bakeries …

NEWS RELEASE

Raquel Kahn wants everyone who comes into her dance and workout studio to feel like Beyonce. 

Over the past year, a group of elementary school girls learned about social justice issues and led community service projects as part of G-RAD (Girls Read and Do), a Jewish book and social justice club for girls in grades 1-4 and their mothers.

Desert Mountain High School student Dylan Brooks has attended Camp Daisy and Harry Stein every year consecutively for 10 years. Last summer, he was able to participate in Camp Stein’s Big Trip Israel. It was so profound for Brooks that he was motivated to find a leadership role afterward.

Arizona lawmakers approved an $11.8 billion budget on Memorial Day, which will include funding for the establishment of an Arizona trade office in Israel. Gov. Doug Ducey signed the budget on Friday, May 31. 

Arizona State University’s Hillel chapter was nominated for several categories at the college’s 2018 Pitchfork Awards. ASU Hillel took home the Outstanding Undergraduate Student Organization award, which recognizes the achievements and successes of a registered ASU student organization that …

Scottsdale police removed a “suspicious” individual from the Valley of the Sun JCC’s premises on Saturday, May 11. 

Documentary filmmaker Civia Tamarkin believes that Arizona is on the brink of true social change. She was recently elected president of the National Council of Jewish Women Arizona Section and is already using her new position to help advocate for that change. 

Finding a kidney for a transplant is not easy. I know because I am one of 100,000-plus people on the waiting list for a deceased donor kidney. 

Beth El Congregation will welcome its new spiritual leader, Rabbi Nitzan Stein Kokin, on Monday, Aug. 5. Her arrival ends Beth El’s search for a new rabbi, which began last year.

In an effort to shape the strategic direction of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Phoenix, the organization has made a change in its board of directors.  

Last month, a bill that bars government contractors from participating in a boycott of Israel or Israeli-controlled territories was signed into law by Gov. Doug Ducey. 

Jewish War Veterans National Commander Dr. Barry Schneider believes that the veterans’ organization is the Jewish community’s best kept secret, and he’s working to change that.

Four years after the Life & Legacy program launched in the Valley, the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Phoenix, along with 12 community partners, secured legacy commitments from the community with an estimated value of $31.4 million. The Foundation announced the amount at its annu…

For Shelley Cohn, the past board chair of the Arizona Community Foundation, being inducted into the Arizona Women’s Hall of Fame was quite a shock.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix has announced $1.7 million in allocations for 2019. The funds, from Federation donors and sponsors, will be used to help strengthen Jewish life and help Jews in need locally, in Israel and around the world.

According to the most recent data released by the Anti-Defamation League, anti-Semitic incidents are increasing throughout the country and in Arizona. For the third year in a row, Arizona has seen a rise in anti-Semitic behavior. 

As a Federation, we are proud to host an interfaith men’s mission of community leaders to Israel to develop a better understanding of our cultures and forge relationships that can benefit our local and global community.

Today is Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. The community observes Holocaust Remembrance Day in a variety of ways; at the Ina Levine Jewish Community Campus the Phoenix Holocaust Association is reading names of those who perished. Additionally, tonight the Association is hosting a panel…

Every day, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, better known as ICE, drops off dozens, if not hundreds, of migrant families at churches across the Valley. After the asylum seekers are dropped off, having been transported from ICE detention centers, the volunteers get busy, people of all…

On Sunday, April 7, at this year’s Phoenix Pride Parade, more than 300 Jews from different congregations and synagogues across the Valley banded together to show support for the LGBTQ community. As they marched together, many donned orange shirts that had the Hebrew word for love, Ahava, pri…

On April 27, six months to the day after the massacre at Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha synagogue in Pittsburgh that left 11 dead and six injured, a gunman opened fire at Chabad of Poway in Southern California on the last day of Passover, killing one and injuring three.