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.
Notice to Our Readers
| As a public service during this pandemic, the Jewish News is providing free, unlimited access to all articles. Jewish News is a nonprofit publication that is owned by the community and relies on community support. Donate Now |
Fredric M. London has a two-car garage and a two-car carport at his Gilbert house. All of those spots are reserved for Brass Era cars and other classics that catch his eye.
Diane Targovnik just set the date for her son’s bar mitzvah in 2023. He’s only 11, but she wanted to get it on the books. When he was born, she and her husband decided against circumcision. Since then, they have lost Jewish community over their decision. Part of that loss includes cutting ti…
Khylie Gardner liked it when her dad came along to synagogue services while she was growing up. But he didn’t really know what was going on.
I was always taught that a sanctuary had to have a window in it so we could see outside. Only then would we be able to understand our Judaism in the context of greater creation.
A group of adventurers arrived at Morgur’s Mound, an archaeological site ringed with dragon bones. They found a treasure, scooped it up and made a run for it — but suddenly the ground began to shake.
I am a Jewish educator at Pardes Jewish Day School, and my husband, Seth, is the cantor at Congregation Beth Israel. If you were to drive by our house during the month of Kislev, two things would become apparent: We’re the only Jews in our neighborhood and we really like large Chanukah decor…
Rabbi Dean Shapiro has always been interested in justice and making the world a better place. That’s why he became a rabbi in 2008.
Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church, Arizona’s largest African-American Baptist church, located in downtown Phoenix, will be opening its doors to members of Paradise Valley’s Congregation Beth Israel for its High Holiday services. The large, airy 2,500-seat church easily can accommodate the synagogu…
A focus on failing to live up to expectations combined with reciting confessions of sins, leaves people with a lot to feel bad about during the High Holiday season.
Beth Ami Temple of Paradise Valley is expected to reopen for the High Holidays in September after months of virtual services during the pandemic. Leadership labored over the decision given that the congregation is mostly geared towards seniors.
Seating arrangements and other requirements may be new at High Holiday services this year, especially compared to 2019, but security will look similar to what it’s been at many Greater Phoenix congregations during previous High Holidays. But that doesn’t mean security hasn’t been ramped up a…
Temple Chai Cantor Ross Wolman received a sweet surprise on June 30, as he was preparing to leave for a stint at Camp Newman in Santa Rosa, California, with his family.
What would Maimonedes, Rashi or other iconic Jewish scholars have thought of social media?
When Rabbi Ariel Shoshan and his wife, Ayala, moved to Phoenix from Baltimore in July 2002, he can only recall a handful of kosher restaurants, four daily minyanim and one K-8 school.
Robin Meyerson displays some of the Haggadot she is donating to community members.
Robin Meyerson spends her free time delivering mezuzot to those who need one, helping other Jewish women learn how to bake challah and teaching Torah.
Rabbis Mendel Slonim and Berel Marozov are spending two weeks in rural Arizona this summer finding and connecting with rural Jews.
If not for his wife, Larry Cohen probably wouldn’t participate in Jewish life much, if at all. But Cindi Cohen, who isn’t Jewish, was adamant about prioritizing Judaism in their lives from the get-go. She incorporated Jewish elements in their wedding, raised a Jewish child and became an acti…
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…
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.
Over the past decade, Rabbi Dean Shapiro of Temple Emanuel of Tempe has always shown up for the people who needed him.
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.
Karolyn Benger has a social media network — and she’s not afraid to use it. Benger, who is “deeply concerned about justice and women in Judaism,” said one positive application for the platforms is helping Jewish women finalize long-awaited divorces.
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.
Last Purim, a mask was just a costume and not a medical device.
The day plays out much the same way every year, around when summer transitions into fall.
Long commutes are nothing new for those living in Los Angeles, but Rabbi Allison Lawton’s commute may look a little different than most.
The United Kingdom’s Prince William laid a wreath at the Yad Vashem Hall of Remembrance on Tuesday, signing the guestbook during his first official tour of the state of Israel.
A historic archaeological discovery near Jerusalem’s Temple Mount may be proof of the life of the biblical prophet Isaiah, according to an article in the Biblical Archaeology Review. A broken, eighth-century BCE clay seal impression, or bulla, appears to be inscribed with the words “Belongin…
What happens when a Christian minister and an Orthodox Jew wrestle with the most sensitive subjects, while 100,000 people eavesdrop? They discover that their faith traditions have a lot in common.
Just one week after passing a controversial law criminalizing phrases indicating Polish responsibility for crimes against Jews during the Holocaust, Poland’s ruling party has sponsored a new bill including a clause that would criminalize kosher meat slaughter. If the law is passed, anyone fo…
A crowd of more than 30 people milled about under an awning at the Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch in Gilbert last Saturday afternoon. Volunteers with Temple Emanuel of Tempe’s hiking club carefully laid out a veritable cornucopia of snacks and drinks as kids ran around.
After many long hours of fundraising and more than a year of construction work, the Phoenix Mikvah held its grand opening this past weekend. Members of the greater Phoenix community were able to tour the new state-of-the-art facility and learn more about it. Guests in attendance — most of th…
For Tu B’Shevat, the Jewish new year for trees, more than 100 Christian Zionists raised over $10,000 to plant dozens of trees in Israel’s biblical heartland. The fundraising campaign, which was spearheaded by Rabbi Tuly Weisz, founder and CEO of Israel365, organized the planting of olive tre…
Most of Israel’s neighbors, including Egypt, Jordan, Syria and the Palestinian territories, are among the most dangerous places in the world for Christians, a new report by the Christian charity group Open Doors has found.
Congregation Beth Israel in Scottsdale has hired Rabbi Sara Mason-Barkin to become its new associate rabbi starting on July 1.
The Masorti (Conservative) Movement in Israel, the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism, and the Women of the Wall prayer rights group brought a petition to Israel’s High Court of Justice in an effort to force the expansion of the existing egalitarian prayer section at the West…
A stamped piece of clay dating back to the First Temple period, whose inscription in ancient Hebrew states that it belonged to the “governor of the city” of Jerusalem, was recently discovered
A group of 196 North Americans landed in Israel this week on a flight chartered by the Nefesh B’Nefesh (NBN) aliyah agency, bringing the total number of immigrants to the Jewish state from that continent to 3,633 this year.
Rabbi Reuven Mann’s new book, “Eternally Yours: God’s Greatest Gift To Mankind,” explores the meaning — psychological and spiritual — embedded in the second book of the Pentateuch, Exodus or Shemot.
The ruins of a 1,500-year-old church and monastery have been unearthed near the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh in an excavation led by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).
Two archaeological discoveries with highly symbolic value dating back to the ancient Jewish kingdoms of Israel were revealed just before the start of Chanukah.
A planned cable car system linking key landmarks in Jerusalem “will be yet another boost to tourism” in the capital city, Israeli Tourism Minister Yariv Levin said.
A new survey has found that millennial evangelical Christians support Israel less than older generations, a possible troubling new trend for one of Israel’s strongest and most vocal support groups in the U.S.
A total of 162 members from the Bnei Menashe Jewish community of northeast India arrived in Israel last week, marking the latest wave of so-called “lost” Jews to immigrate to the Jewish state.
Chasidic Jewish researchers claim that they have discovered the meditation cave of Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov, who founded the broader Chasidic movement.
A Russian-Muslim billionaire is funding an Israeli project that will digitize Jewish manuscripts that were seized by the Soviet Union a century ago and are held in the Russian State Library.
One of Jerusalem’s most iconic tourist sites is deploying futuristic technology to blend the past and the present, placing it at the vanguard of a revolution in museum experiences.
Israeli archaeologists have unveiled the results of large-scale excavations that lend unprecedented insight into the transformation of Jerusalem around the time of its destruction during the Second Temple period more than 2,000 years ago.
