In an attempt to keep up with its expanding student population, Torah Day School of Phoenix is installing five modular buildings to its campus.

In the 1980s, Dungeons & Dragons was considered the cause for moral panic among religious circles, particularly in Christian communities. By now, public perception of the fantasy game has positively shifted thanks to Internet communities and platforms such as YouTube. Through this change…

On the weekend before Rosh Hashanah, an anti-Semitic group posted white nationalist stickers around college campuses across the nation. Three Phoenix-area schools were targeted according to two reports from the AZ Mirror. 

For nearly 10 years, the Phoenix division of PJ Library has brought books to families all across the Valley to help them build a personal Jewish library. Recently, the library just hit a new milestone by delivering its 150,000th book on Sept. 17.  

In January, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Phoenix hired its new executive director, Paul Rockower. 

For the first time in its 14 year history, Mt. Sinai Cemetery had help cleaning its monuments. Members of Congregation Or Tzion volunteered their time and labor in preparation for an important religious service the cemetery will host next month.  

BJE to hold volunteering events to welcome Jewish New Year

Scottsdale startup Mouthguard Club recently sponsored the men’s and women’s Israeli national football teams for their performances in the International Federation of American Football’s 2019 European Flag Football Championships. 

In an effort to promote more interfaith communication, the East Valley JCC has started two new speaker series, the first of which launched on Sunday, Sept. 15. 

On Wednesday, Sept. 11, the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix launched its inaugural Women’s Professional Panel. 

In many ways, 20-year-old Israeli ice hockey player David Levin has the ultimate underdog story. 

The High Holidays are an especially busy time for a rabbi, and it makes the preparation a high-pressure endeavor. Some rabbis prepares for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur for several months, if not a year, in advance. But for the five new rabbis who made Phoenix their home this summer, there we…

Thirty-three high school students crammed into a small classroom at the Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center in Scottsdale on Tuesday, Aug. 20 for an opening night program about Hebrew High.

Rabbi Ephraim Weiss’ passion as a rabbi is Jewish education. He believes that Jewish learning doesn’t and shouldn’t stop after Sunday school, but is something that continues every day. 

With any luck, the newly launched iGen Parenting education series will make it easier for parents to help their tweens navigate those transitional years. 

AZ senators sign letter supporting reparations for Holocaust survivors

It was a hectic day at the community challah bake at the Chabad of Phoenix. 

A panel of five alumni of the Bureau of Jewish Education’s Hebrew High will give a talk on Tuesday, Aug. 19 in advance of the 2019-’20 academic year. 

In the wake of the two mass shootings that occurred within 13 hours of each other this weekend, the First Church United Church of Christ of Phoenix hosted a candlelight interfaith vigil to mourn the victims of the shootings. The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Phoenix worked to…

Dr. Howard Kaye will not allow himself to be depressed. He said he can be sad, but the practicing rheumatologist chooses to maintain a positive outlook despite the tragedy he faced.Kaye lost his wife, Lori Gilbert- Kaye, on April 27, 2019, when a shooter entered the Chabad of Poway in Southe…

Temple Solel Senior Rabbi John Linder first learned about the Arava Institute of Environmental Studies during a sabbatical he took to Israel in the spring. He was looking for organizations that focus on conflict resolution and collaboration in the Middle East, and he came across the AIES.“Wh…

Rabbi Mindie Snyder leaves Congregation Lev ShalomOn July 31, Rabbi Mindie Snyder completed her tenure as the spiritual leader of Congregation Lev Shalom in Flagstaff. Congregation Lev Shalom first welcomed Rabbi Snyder in the fall of 2015.“It has been an honor to serve the community of Nort…

Congregation Lev Shalom is only a few miles south of Mount Elden, where the Museum Fire is burning nearly 2,000 acres of forest.

Rabbi Mindie Snyder of Congregation Lev Shalom in Flagstaff chose to honor the late Rabbi Yosef Garcia — the president of the Association of Crypto-Jews of the Americas and founder of Avde Torah Jayah in Chandler, and a friend to Snyder — not by just mentioning his achievements as a spiritua…

Randi Jablin, founder of the Shabbat Dinner Club, never underestimates how difficult dating can be. Even with the advancements of dating technology that are supposed to make dating easier, she still believes the best way to get people to connect is to get them to meet in person.

From the outside, an observer might have assumed that Hannah Kaplan and half-dozen other preschoolers at the Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center’s Early Childhood Center were playing with their food. 

Married couple Suzanne Dreyfus and Sue Fimmen attended a happy hour hosted by the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix’s new LGBTQ initiative. 

Mary Jo Whitfield of JFCS honored at ASU’s Arizona Behavioral Health Awards

Teenage members of the Aguila Youth Leadership Institute were given the ultimate history lesson as they met face-to-face with seven Holocaust survivors to hear their stories. 

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…