When Sanford and Terry Cohen moved to Prescott in 1985, there wasn’t a lot going on in Jewish life.

The Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Phoenix awarded $141,000 in scholarships for children hoping to attend Jewish day and sleep-away camps this summer. The need-based scholarships were granted to 108 families with children at 41 different camps throughout the United States and Canada.

For Rachel Krell, summertime isn’t about taking a well-deserved rest. After finishing her junior year at Northern Arizona University, where she was recognized for her work in the honors college, awarded scholarships and selected for a place in STARS College — an organization for students pur…

Emma Lammersen, 15, is one of two Arizonans who are part of a relatively new national Jewish teen group called Sababa Society.

Congregation Kehillah Rabbi Bonnie Sharfman was elected president of the Greater Phoenix Board of Rabbis in early May for a two-year term.

When Princeton University announced last fall that it was not ready to let students return to campus, Jacob Miller, 20, decided it was time for a different type of learning experience. He took a leave of absence from Princeton, determined to be living in Israel by January 2021.

Menachem Mendel Academy will begin its 2021 fall academic year with a new offering: a preschool.

Judi Gyory Missel grew up not knowing much about her extended family.

Rabbi Jeremy Schneider alerted Temple Kol Ami members on June 13, that there would be a change of plans. Cantor Rita Glassman, who was hired as interim cantor in mid-April, would not be coming after all.

The COVID-19 pandemic was difficult for small businesses to manage. One local group of Jewish business owners and professionals helped each other make it through.

Prescott has a new Israeli-owned tech company in town.

The Board of Rabbis of Greater Phoenix released a short video June 9, encouraging the Jewish community to remember its heritage and to find strength in community during a time of increased antisemitism. The video was released two days after Tucson’s Chabad of River’s front door was spray-pai…

Emma Schwarz, 16 and a sophomore at Verde Valley School in Sedona, won first place in this year’s Anti-Defamation League’s No Place for Hate® essay contest. Her essay, “A Generational Legacy,” was inspired by her grandfather’s efforts to spy on the Ku Klux Klan and report on its activity to …

Jews going into their morning prayers and Torah class Monday at Chabad of River in Tucson were met with a vandalized entrance.

Rebecca Wolf remembers when she first learned about the Holocaust. She was about 8 or 9 years old and in Hebrew school.

If you asked Shlomo Pri-tal 30 years ago what his retirement would look like, he never would have imagined it would include making glass art.

The school year comes to a close

More than a decade ago, Ettie Zilber set out to tell her mother’s story of surviving the Holocaust.

As Rabbi Tracee Rosen was unloading boxes after arriving in Arizona in 2010, her new neighbor informed her that a local Reform congregation, Temple Gan Elohim, was looking for a rabbi. She and her family had relocated to Greater Phoenix to be closer to her mother-in-law, moving from Salt Lak…

Several synagogues across Greater Phoenix are ready to introduce new clergy to their congregations this summer.

Tucked between a dance school and a 60’s retro lounge on a quiet street in Tucson, sits a small Middle Eastern and African foods store. But Al Basha Grocery isn’t just a place to get kosher meats and hard-to-find ingredients.

Candice Gimbel has a lot to say about Israel, but she isn’t offering many thoughts on social media or in large gatherings these days.

Ellen Tuckman is currently gathering items for Cactus ORT’s auction on June 6. Among them are a set of luggage, a Waterford decanter, a one-week stay at a Caribbean hotel, restaurant and museum certificates and jewelry. The money raised at the Zoom auction will be sent directly to ORT Americ…

What do you do with 50ish unused yarmulkes from a wedding 25 years ago?

Daniel Stein Kokin was excited to experience firsthand the heavy winds, flash flooding and afternoon and evening thunderstorms, which define the monsoon season, when he moved to Phoenix in the summer of 2019.

Jewish groups from across the religious and political spectrum in the United States and Israel are voicing concerns about the ongoing conflict in Israel and the Gaza Strip. Synagogues and organizations in Greater Phoenix followed their lead in addressing the situation with statements offerin…

In its first survey of the American Jewish community since 2013, the Pew Research Center found a host of similarities with the 2019 Maricopa County Jewish Community Survey conducted by Arizona State University.

Laura Drachler had to hustle to finish one last task before she could drop off her kids at Congregation Beth Israel’s Camp Stein for the summer. On May 14, both Max, 14, and Zoe, 12, received a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and by the time they arrive at camp, they will be fully protected.

Over the past decade, Rabbi Dean Shapiro of Temple Emanuel of Tempe has always shown up for the people who needed him.

Jacob Ollanik began dating a Jewish woman he met online last February. But a week after the lockdown started he found himself single again.

Blake Gailen, center fielder for Team Israel, is a little superstitious. If he has a really good game one night, for example, he’ll probably eat the same lunch again before his next game. That type of ritualistic behavior is not unusual for baseball players, he joked, adding that some are ev…

In a show of support for Israel, dozens of people gathered behind Menachem Mendel Academy in Scottsdale on Wednesday, May 12. Organized by the Israeli American Council, the “Stand with Israel” rally was one of 19 held in cities across the United States following days of escalating violence i…

HMA Public Relations, a Phoenix-based public relations and marketing communications agency, launched “Copper State of Mind,” a podcast focused on public relations and marketing communications strategies. The first episode was March 15.

Tim Eckstein is set to become the board chair for the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Phoenix. He takes the place of Adam Goodman, who will remain on the 2021-2022 executive committee. Goodman is joined on the committee by Rabbi Bonnie Sharfman as vice-chair, Vicki Cabot as tre…

George Kalman combats antisemitism where he can.

Susan Finks had such a great family vacation during the COVID-19 pandemic that she’s planning another one for next month.

Morgan Singer wasn’t planning to be a stay-at-home mom.

By the time Neal Bendesky had his bar mitzvah, he knew that as much as he loved sports, he was better suited to sports management than as an athlete on the field of play. And while that saved him from the injuries prone to athletes, decades of working in a high-profile career in marketing an…

Even though Arizona is the 14th largest state by population, it’s one of Sonovia’s top states for sales of its face masks.

In a normal year, celebrating Shavuot meant gathering with fellow Jews to study Torah late into the night, maybe with some singing and late-night snacks.

When Barbara Silverman, 77, moved to Arizona several years ago, she wanted to find other Jewish women. But that task turned out to be harder than she expected since she didn’t know where they were. She resolved to become systematic in her search.

The East Valley Jewish Community Center launched its “Conversation with the Rabbi” podcast March 30.