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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Chabad of Arizona is opening two new high schools in August.
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 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…
Emma Lammersen, 15, is one of two Arizonans who are part of a relatively new national Jewish teen group called Sababa Society.
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.
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.
What do you do with 50ish unused yarmulkes from a wedding 25 years ago?
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.
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.
Morgan Singer wasn’t planning to be a stay-at-home mom.
The East Valley Jewish Community Center launched its “Conversation with the Rabbi” podcast March 30.
Six-year-old “A” (name withheld upon request) was growing up plagued with anxiety. Living in a community in central Israel, his mother “S” told JNS that her now ex-husband, the boy’s father, was both physically and mentally abusive towards his son.
Lani Harrison of Scottsdale is risk averse when it comes to her kids. But when she learned Moderna would be starting a trial for a children’s vaccine against COVID-19 in Phoenix, she didn’t hesitate to try and enroll her children, ages 8, 6 and 4.
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…
Benjamin Doherty liked the small, intimate pod system that Shemesh Camp at Martin Pear Jewish Community Center created last summer as a measure of protection against COVID-19. As a kid who can get easily overwhelmed by the chaos of large groups, the camp’s shift away from bigger cohorts work…
B’nai mitzvah ceremonies have transformed during the COVID-19 pandemic from crowded affairs to limited gatherings of friends and family. Over the past year people have become used to watching a Haftorah reading via Zoom instead of inside a sanctuary.
Eva Markowitz, 11, hugged her grandparents for the first time in over a year the week before Passover.
Liza Golden knows how to throw a party. She threw a bash for about 130 people for her daughter’s bat mitzvah in 2014 and again for her son’s bar mitzvah in 2017.
By the time Marlie Nochomovitz finally got her driver’s license, there was nowhere to go.
My grandchildren get excited by the Passover story.
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.
Zoom call for NFTY Southwest team at NFTY’s convention
After Saturday night’s Havdalah service at NC21, NFTY’s 2021 convention, Dan Nichols, a famous Jewish rock musician, performed a digital concert while NFTYites waved the glow sticks they received in their merch packages. They were celebrating community and music together.
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…
It's still March, but camp directors and other Jewish professionals are thinking about June's archery, kayaks and rope climbing. With summer camp slated to begin in approximately three months, staff are feverishly preparing for the challenge of operating during a pandemic.
With about three months to go until summer, most Jewish overnight camps are planning to open for the season. They also, however, cherished hopes well into the pandemic that they would be able to do the same last year.
Last Purim, a mask was just a costume and not a medical device.
Born and raised in a country that adores soccer over most other sports, Israeli educator and sports coach Erez Lustig fell in love with American football from a young age. His improbable love for the game can be traced to his family in the United States, watching the sport on television, as …
Like any American high-schooler, Riva Weiss started the school year off with a flurry of activity, albeit with a new development she has been mulling over since late spring. That’s the start of the Association of Jewish Students, a Jewish club at Niles North High School in Skokie, Illinois, …
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.
With any luck, the newly launched iGen Parenting education series will make it easier for parents to help their tweens navigate those transitional years.
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.
There are not many Jews in Warren, Pennsylvania, probably fewer than 10.
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.
Follow these easy back-to-school tips and weekly routines to make staying organized this school year feel like a breeze!
“I’ve tried everything. Nothing works. Sticker charts don’t work. Besides, I don’t think I should have to bribe my child. I don’t want to reward him for something that he should be doing already.”
College is pressure cooker for many young adults, a time when they face isolation, depression, anxiety and other mental health and wellness challenges.
It’s tough to be a teenager. On top of academic pressure and the usual dose of teen drama, it’s become expected to be part of extracurricular groups. Luckily, the Jewish community has multiple organizations that teens can get involved with, from youth groups to travel programs. But where doe…
Faith Kessler was the only person from Arizona who went on the BBYO Spain Discovery high school youth group trip this summer. Spain Discovery is a two-week cultural travel opportunity for teens to explore Spanish cities and meet the Jewish communities there. Kessler, a senior at Arizona Agri…
Every summer, Bruce and Barbara Goldberg of Phoenix escape the city’s oppressive heat by retreating to their Flagstaff vacation home. They love having their grandchildren visit for the summer, and are thrilled to give them the special treat of attending Northern Arizona’s only Jewish day cam…
It’s back-to-school time for Valley Jewish students, which means it’s also time to reconnect with various Jewish youth groups around the Valley.
When the new website Mitzvah Hub, a partnership between Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix and Jewish Family and Children’s Service, launches this fall, it will become much easier to find volunteer opportunities within the Jewish community.
Rachel Kaplan dreamed of having a fur baby since she was in preschool at Temple Kol Ami. In her second book, “The Adventures of Smokey,” she recounts the tale of adopting and learning to care for her first dog.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines food insecurity as “a household-level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food.”
A yad skimming over the black letters of the Torah during a bar mitzvah is an image you probably want to always treasure.
