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For a second year, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Phoenix (JCRC) put out a call to collect winter coats for newly arrived refugees in Arizona. And just as they did last year, Jewish communities in the state and across the country stepped up to answer that call by deliverin…

For a second year, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Phoenix (JCRC) put out a call to collect winter coats for newly arrived refugees in Arizona. And just as they did last year, Jewish communities in the state and across the country stepped up to answer that call by deliverin…

Every Monday, Pnina Levine wakes up early to volunteer for the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Phoenix, helping refugees who have newly arrived in the country and are hoping to be granted asylum. She loves her time there so much she calls Monday her “fun day.”

One hundred and forty Jews, Christians and Muslims will sit down together next month to discuss human dignity and how it is exemplified in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Quran for “Peoples of the Book,” the third in a series of interfaith events. This will be the first time Jews…

Joining their counterparts across the globe, more than 200 women and girls gathered in Scottsdale to make challah at the Great AZ Challah Bake on Nov. 10 at Menachem Mendel Academy. The event preceded the “One Shabbat Together” weekend on Nov. 11-12, presented by the Shabbat Project.

One very big, red and yellow bus, emblazoned with the words “Let’s Be Better Humans,” is parked outside of Arizona Jews for Justice’s (AJJ) Phoenix office, and it might be just the thing to help the organization get to the next level of its humanitarian work.

On the evening of Oct. 26, 150 women gathered for the “Power of the Purse” at a sprawling estate at the base of Camelback Mountain. They came together to celebrate the Center for Jewish Philanthropy of Greater Phoenix’s Women IN Philanthropy’s first event in more than three years.

We live our respective faiths most deeply by being in covenantal relationships with one another, bound by our shared humanity. For me, this was never validated more powerfully than during a recent, unexpected trip to Rome. I was invited to join a delegation of 20 interfaith leaders and organ…

MyZuzah describes the mezuzah as “a touchpoint that unites all Jews.” A national nonprofit, MyZuzah, was recently chosen by the SRE (Safety, Respect, Equity) Network to receive funding for projects focused on intersectional gender justice and victim-survivor support. Utilizing this funding, …

Rabbi Mendel Slonim is now making his second journey through rural Arizona and its small towns in order to make connections with fellow Jews, some of whom haven’t talked to a rabbi, or even another Jew, for years.

After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, Hebrew High’s CAREaVAN embarked on its 18th trip in 20 years, helping communities in need. Hebrew High is a program of the Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater Phoenix (BJE). This year CAREaVAN, which is unique to Arizona, took 12 teens to Nevada…

Before Corbin Leafman’s family moved to Arizona, she lived in the Chicago suburbs. Her family attended Congregation Beth Shalom in Northbrook, Ill., where she became a bat mitzvah and graduated from Hebrew school. Every year, her family would adopt six or seven needy Jewish families and they…

The pandemic has been a challenging time, but for Jeffrey Schesnol, ordained madrikh and rabbinic candidate, it expedited the completion of his goal to become a rabbi. “I couldn’t have proceeded with the ordination until I got my master’s degree,” he said. “It’s part of what’s required, and …

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine persists into its fourth week, many Americans are searching for ways to help refugees. One local realtor has tapped into his international network to help find housing and other assistance for those fleeing the country.

Jewish Family & Children’s Service (JFCS), an organization that provides behavioral health, healthcare and social services to all ages, faiths and backgrounds, is hosting its annual Backpack & School Supply Drive to support parents and teachers in the Greater Phoenix area who are str…

Carolyn Leff was 13 years old when she first met Gennadiy Kats. Kats and his family arrived in Arizona in 1991 from Kyiv, Ukraine. Leff’s mom, Barbara, was in charge of the Russian Resettlement Program at Tempe Chai in Phoenix and worked with a group of about 90 volunteers to help several fa…

When Michelle Schwartz was 10 years old, her mother asked her if she had given any thought to her bat mitzvah project. Michelle remembered her exact reply, “Yes, I want to volunteer and help kids in a theater program for special needs.”

Eleven months into 2021, the words COVID and coronavirus have assumed a dominant place in the international vernacular.

Marian Wright Edelman, founder of the Children’s Defense Fund, famously said, “We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make, which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.”

Jewish Family & Children’s Service provides support and counseling to more than 40,000 people in Maricopa County each year, largely enabled by financial support from individuals and corporate entities.

Image of Jay Jacobs on a treadmill

On Sunday, Sept. 26, Jay Jacobs, CEO of Martin Pear Jewish Community Center in Scottsdale, will spend 12 hours, albeit with some breaks, on a treadmill. His day-long physical feat is the highlight of the eponymous “See Jay Run” fundraiser for MPJCC’s SMILE Campaign.

Jewish Family & Children’s Service is in need of food donations and volunteers. Its Just 3 Things food pantry in Phoenix needs non-perishable and non-expired foods, including soup, rice, pasta, canned fruit and vegetables, as well as cleaning supplies and personal care items, such as soa…

Emily Schwartz, a Temple Emanuel of Tempe board member, recently found herself on the verge of complaining about the customer service of a local eatery. Her “hangry, frustrated self” got online to issue a complaint on a restaurant’s website.

In a large room on the bottom floor of the Phoenix Art Museum, more than 10,000 8 inch by 8 inch fabric squares line the walls. But they won’t for much longer.