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.
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Steve Goode doesn’t usually visit Arizona in the summer.
A few years back, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, was invited to debate one of the candidates for Chief Rabbi of Israel in the Knesset.
Chabad of Arizona is opening two new high schools in August.
Holocaust survivor Oskar Knoblauch has touched thousands of lives, sharing his survival story and its lessons. And despite being 95, he will continue his work for decades to come with the high-tech help of Phoenix’s future Holocaust education center.
The Phoenix Hebrew Academy is teaming up with Gesher Disability Resources to combat the “summer slump,” the gap of time between students’ last day of school in the early summer and when they start again the next fall. The leaders of Gesher and PHA suspect it might be more dramatic this year …
For Rachell 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 pu…
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.
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 …
Rebecca Wolf remembers when she first learned about the Holocaust. She was about 8 or 9 years old and in Hebrew school.
More than a decade ago, Ettie Zilber set out to tell her mother’s story of surviving the Holocaust.
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?
Eden Levi doesn’t think of herself as a writer, and she’s not planning to make it a career. But last month, the 17-year-old junior at Shearim Torah High School for Girls published a book and is selling it on Amazon.
The East Valley Jewish Community Center launched its “Conversation with the Rabbi” podcast March 30.
The world looks different now than in 2019 — the year Arizona State University published the first study of the local Jewish community since 2002. Still, its findings have major implications for Jewish organizations and synagogues looking to engage more of the community.
University of Arizona Hillel welcomes new executive director
When Shearim Torah High School for Girls opens next fall it will be in a new building. The school is set to purchase a site that is three times that of its current location. Conveniently, it’s also across the street.
A new Jewish high school in Scottsdale is offering full scholarships for its fall 2021 incoming class.
Temple Beth Shalom is the only Reform congregation in the West Valley, and we have a multi-generational and egalitarian membership. We are proud of our history of inclusivity and that we are able to offer a full range of educational programming, community and social functions and religious s…
On a blustery day in late January, Holocaust survivor Sami Steigmann, 81, made his debut on Clubhouse — the buzzy, audio-based, social-media platform that launched in the venture capital and Hollywood communities last spring and now connects millions of “regular” folk with celebrities for sp…
Time for D.C. statehood
In the last year, Asian Americans have suffered at least 3,795 hate incidents. The upsurge in this disturbing trend seems to stem from some level of “blame” associated with the coronavirus outbreak in China, and the taunting finger-pointing and name-calling that was shared widely as the drea…
One week after Israel’s fourth national election in two years, the country remains in political gridlock. As in previous rounds, in addition to the traditional political, religious and national allegiance issues that divide them, Israelis are profoundly divided over whether Prime Minister
Kvetch. Mensch. Mazel tov. Schmooze.
George Kalman was 9 years old when he was shoved into a cattle car to be deported to a concentration camp. He was 10 years old when a Russian soldier entered his forced labor camp and liberated him on April 2, 1945.
Mary Hirschfeld, 89, only recently began thinking about her title of Holocaust survivor.
Andrew Gibbs is ready to chat about Israel any time.
A Jewish story doesn’t have to center on obvious themes like the Holocaust or weddings and b’nai mitzvah, according to Linda Burt Pressman. Stories about raising children or divorce can be Jewish stories too, when viewed through a Jewish lens, she said.
By the time Marlie Nochomovitz finally got her driver’s license, there was nowhere to go.
Passover is a great opportunity for young children to get involved with the planning and preparation of the seder. While we’re still dealing with Zoom seders, here are some ideas to make the holiday fun for the whole family.
Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz is fighting climate change one vegan meal at a time.
Often synonymous with Jewish life on campus, Hillel has been a gathering point for Jewish students across hundreds of campuses in the United States for decades. The past year tested the organization like never before, as it confronted challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic along with a ri…
Isabell Kondkhorov, 16, loved her CTeen chapter in Newton, Massachusetts. She even decided to stay as a member once she had moved across the country to Phoenix. Now a sophomore at Pinnacle High School, Kondkhorov is part of three chapters: Newton, Gilbert and the newly-formed Phoenix chapter…
Rabbi Aviva Funke misses the sound of other people humming and singing along to her music.
Aileen Becker’s 27-year-old daughter was in the first class of Shearim Torah High School for Girls in 2007. “They’ve produced a lot of bright girls who have done very well academically,” she said. But it isn't the right fit for her 15-year-old daughter.
Maybe it’s the fact that the wave of insider accounts of the Trump administration seems to have finally crested. Maybe everyone had a lot of time for high-yield contemplation during 2020. Maybe the entire publishing industry wanted to create some difficult choices for me, personally.
In an attempt to keep up with its expanding student population, Torah Day School of Phoenix is adding five modular buildings to its campus.
Menachem Mendel Academy hosted a community-wide event at the beginning of September to celebrate the school’s new campus — which includes a Beis Hamedrash, gymnasium, woodwork room, science lab, art room, library and extra classrooms. With over 250 people in attendance, the different worksho…
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.
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 …
Around the same time that the pumpkin-flavored coffee drinks appear in your local coffee shop, another annual event will take place that may send you reeling like a triple shot of espresso. Yes, it’s almost that time of year: parent-teacher conferences. Your child means the world to you, so …
As a former Jewish summer camper, Moving Traditions CEO Deborah Meyer said camp was a place where she developed long-lasting friendships and an intense connection to Jewish life. But it was also a place where she remembers some inappropriate behavior between counselors.
For generations, children have spent their summers climbing trees, escaping on small adventures and meeting new friends. In addition to pure summer fun, these activities provided children with hands-on ways to develop life skills.
Nick Enquist | Staff Writer
On Monday, the Arizona Jewish Historical Society held the public opening for “Israel at 70: The Diverse Faces of Israel,” a solo exhibit of photography by Joel Zolondek, a Jewish News contributor. Marty Haberer, CEO of Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix, and Vicki Cabot, a former Jewish Ne…
A Valley native and product of the Arizona public school system, Republican Jonathan Gelbart is one of two Jewish candidates vying to become Arizona’s next Superintendent of Public Instruction.
