(JTA) — An illustrated book about an inspiring Holocaust survivor and two works of fantasy featuring dybbuks and Jewish demons have won this year’s top prizes in Jewish children’s literature.
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The United States incarcerates more people than any other country in the world. According to the Prison Policy Initiative, one out of every 100 people in the U.S. is in a prison or jail. Nearly half (47%) of the approximately 1.25 million people in state prisons are parents of minor children…
In 2020, JScreen, a national non-profit public health initiative dedicated to preventing genetic diseases, initiated the first annual Jewish Genetic Screening Awareness Week (JGSAW). This year, JGSAW is Feb. 5-11.
Douglas Emhoff, the Second Gentleman of the United States, made a brief visit to the offices of Hillel Jewish Student Center at Arizona State University to speak directly to college students about antisemitism on Thursday, Jan. 18.
Dozens of hands shot up last Tuesday night the moment Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz opened the floor to audience questions. In person and on Zoom, roughly 100 people attended Valley Beit Midrash’s (VBM) panel “Can the Phoenix/Scottsdale Community be United?”
On the second day of a 10-day November trip to Israel, Pastor Terry E. Mackey of Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church in Phoenix, stepped into the Jordan River to baptize his flock.
Anyone with a TikTok account might have seen a recent video by Congregation Beth Israel Cantor Seth Ettinger on the final night of Chanukah 2022. Dressed in his by-now-famous, Chanukah-themed blue suit and wearing a large hat shaped like a Chanukah menorah with all nine candles ablaze, Ettin…
Zillah al-Kahiya is already bringing a sense of humor to her work with the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Phoenix (JCRC) as its latest communications and public diplomacy fellow.
The East Valley Jewish Community Center (EVJCC) in Chandler opened its Early Learning Center (ELC) in 1971 and currently has children anywhere from 6 weeks to 5 years enrolled. Next year, it will add a kindergarten class for the 2023-24 school year.
Rabbi Efraim and Bracha Leviyev moved to Greater Phoenix from New York seven years ago because they saw a great opportunity to assist the youth of the nation’s second-largest Bukharian Jewish community.
Human remains, skeletal and naked, are among the first images of “Auschwitz Virtual Live Tour.” Russians captured the gruesome scenes as they liberated Auschwitz, the largest of six Nazi death camps, in January 1945. Jerzy Wójcik, the tour’s creator and only guide, begins with them precisely…
Letty Cottin Pogrebin, journalist, social activist, Emmy winner and author of 12 books, will be giving this year’s Hammerman Family Lecture, hosted by Valley Beit Midrash (VBM), a global center for learning and action.
Shira Shecter knew she would only go to a college with a Hillel on campus. It was her biggest dealbreaker. She regularly attends her synagogue outside of Seattle and wouldn’t risk losing her connection to Jewish community — no matter where she ended up.
When Nancy Eisenberg began her career in 1977, there were relatively few women doing research in developmental psychology. Throughout her 44-year career, she’s watched women increase in number until they reached parity and even a majority of professionals in the field.
Salamone Rossi composed modern dances, sonatas and Italian love songs for the entertainment of Francesco IV Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, Italy, in the early 17th century. Rossi’s music was well-known and well-loved. Several of his 313 compositions were so popular they had to be reprinted.
People often drop phrases such as “God willing,” “God forbid” or “Thank God” into their daily conversation without a second thought. But who is God and what does God want? This month, several Chabads in Arizona are going to explore these complicated questions with what they call “an eye-open…
Jews in every community across the country are being pummeled daily by news of antisemitism in politics, in pop culture and in recent memory — Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life massacre just marked its fourth anniversary on Oct. 27.
On Nov. 2, the Tax & Legal Seminar, Arizona’s premier estate-planning event, will take place at the Arizona Biltmore. After attending virtually the last two years, the state’s CPAs, estate planning attorneys, financial planners and many more will meet in person once again.
Running, tripping over dead bodies and an overwhelming sense of fear are the things that Marion Weinzweig remembers most from her childhood in Poland. She was one of only a few family members to survive the Holocaust.
Tom Horne, the Republican and Jewish candidate for Arizona’s superintendent of public instruction, repeatedly said he wanted to talk about test scores in his debate with Kathy Hoffman, the Democratic candidate and current superintendent.
A flyer for Chaparral Theatre Company’s production of “I Never Saw Another Butterfly”
Last month, 16 Chaparral High School students brought “I Never Saw Another Butterfly” to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, one of the world’s biggest and best-known art and media events held annually in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was the fourth group of student actors and crew that Ed Como, Chapar…
On July 25, a new website launched to unite all of Phoenix’s Jewish voices in one cohesive space. JewishPhoenix.com is a site where visitors can easily connect to community organizations, find upcoming events, discover volunteer opportunities, enjoy lifestyle content and much more.
Ever since he was a small child, Jacob Cohen, who is on the autism spectrum, has loved art. “We always have a jar of colored pencils on the desk,” said his mother, Teri Cohen. “He has always liked to draw pictures since he was very young. Mostly Disney characters and if you look at his handw…
When Matthew Maledon was in middle school, he studied the Holocaust. He read textbooks and memoirs, in addition to visiting the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., on a family trip. Fast forward a few years and 17-year-old Maledon is one of the three Arizona high sch…
The school year is wrapping up and summer is almost here. As vacation inches closer, many parents are struggling to find productive things for kids to do other than spending hours on their smart phone. One activity that should be on all to-do lists this summer is joining the summer reading p…
Pictured clockwise from top left: Rabbi Alica Magal, Rabbi Aviva Funke, Rabbi Bonnie Koppell, Rabbi Bonnie Sharfman, Rabbi Debbie Stiel, Rabbi Elana Kanter, Rabbi Suzy Stone, Rabbi Sara Mason-Barkin, Rabbi Nitzan Stein Kokin, Rabbi Nina Perlmutter, Rabbi Mindie Snyder and Rabbi Julie Kozlow
The S.H. and Helen R. Scheuer Chapel on the Cincinnati campus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
When Temple Chai Rabbi Bonnie Koppell arrived in Arizona in 1987, people were shocked that she was a rabbi. She was the first woman rabbi in the state. Many times, she heard the words, “I didn’t know that women could be rabbis,” she told Jewish News.
John Pregulman was in Phoenix the weekend of Dec. 11 to see some old friends from BBYO. While in town, he sought out Holocaust survivors living in the area.
Gesher Disability Resources, which serves children and adults affected by a disability through inclusion assistance in the classroom, resource referral, residential support and social groups, celebrated its annual gala on Nov. 6, 2021.
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.”
Change is in the air at Temple Emanuel of Tempe. Rabbi Cookie Lea Olshein and Jessie Rubenstein, religious school director, both came aboard last summer ready to put their stamp on the community. Additionally, a new managing director might be in place early next month. In short, temple leade…
Marcy Lewis has known about Momentum for years.
As 2022 approaches, Arizona State University’s Jewish organizations are examining their goals for the coming year to better serve Jewish students.
Chabad at Arizona State University hosted its annual Chanukah Extravaganza on Tuesday, Nov. 30. Attendees called it a success.
As part of our alumni association leadership panel series, the Women’s Leadership Institute (WLI) recently sponsored an educational panel called the Founder’s Club. The panel was moderated by Jennifer Rogers of the WLI, and featured Becca Hornstein and Andi Minkoff, founders of two of our co…
Roberta Harmon has always been drawn to working with people with special needs.
Dr. Robert Ziltzer, 58, could have spent his entire medical career running his successful primary care practice in Scottsdale. It was his plan when he went to medical school in New York, where he was also born and bar mitzvahed. He even stayed in school an extra year in order to become board…
Twins Eli and Brian Hemmert of North Scottsdale weren’t sure what they wanted to do for their b’nai mitzvah project — until Aug. 27.
Emery Kutz knows all too well how food can bring people together---and keep them apart.
It’s admirable to support the community; it’s a mitzvah when your support perpetuates Jewish tradition.
Five-year-old Levi Miller has been asking to go to the Children’s Museum of Phoenix for a year.
On Nov. 1, antisemitic flyers were found on the Tempe campus of Arizona State University for the third time in three years. Despite the chilling effect this may have had on some Jewish students, the university boasts a wide variety of Jewish organizations, which try to include all students l…
Jewish students at Arizona State University held a “Jewish and Proud” rally on the Tempe campus last Thursday, Nov. 4, in response to several antisemitic flyers found around the school a few days earlier on Nov. 1.
After a year and a half without an on-the-ground presence in Arizona, the Anti-Defamation League is back in action locally.
When news spread that antisemitic flyers, accusing Jews of controlling the world through banks, media, big business and pornography, had been posted around Arizona State University’s Tempe campus on Nov. 1, the school’s Jewish organizations, as well as its Jewish students, reacted quickly.
Oasis High School in Scottsdale is making progress toward welcoming its first class of students next fall.
Several Jewish organizations are praising the Chandler Unified School District for its handling of antisemitic remarks made during a governing board meeting on Oct. 27.
Chaparral High School is presenting “I Never Saw Another Butterfly” for four days starting Tuesday, Nov. 9.
