August 17, 2018 6 Elul 5778 Volume 74, Issue 15
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INSIDE Fall Arts Preview ...... S1-16 Charity Events Calendar.................10-15 Classifieds ...............................4 Commentary ..........................6 Community Calendar.......... 20 First Person.............................7 Israel ......................................17 Local .......................... 2, 3, 7, 9 Our Town ........................22, 23 Synagogue Directory.............4
AJP SCHEDULE We are back from our summer hiatus and will continue our biweekly publication through 2018
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Mitzvah Magic celebrating 10th anniversary PHYLLIS BRAUN AJP Executive Editor
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itzvah Magic, a program that provides baskets of Jewish holiday goods and everyday basics three times a year for local Jewish families in need, is a win-win, says longtime volunteer Iris Posin, who is co-chairing the program this year with Andra Karnofsky. Not only do families receive items that are hand-picked just for them — with an emphasis on children’s needs in families with kids — but volunteers get a chance to meet other Jewish women while giving back to the community in a tangible way. Now in its 10th year, Mitzvah Magic, a program of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Women’s Philanthropy and Jewish Family & Children’s Services, brings together teams of volunteers (called “circles”), which are paired with families selected by JFCS. The families remain anonymous — the circles receive information about the number of people in a family and the ages of any children, along with a checklist outlining the family’s specific needs. The circles assemble baskets for Rosh Hashanah, Hanukkah and Passover, with the Rosh Hashanah basket also emphasizing back-to-school needs for families with children. Grocery store gift cards are a basket staple. Volunteers See Magic, page 4
The Jewish History Museum reopens Aug. 31 with a new core exhibit, ‘Meanings Not Yet Imagined.’ See page S-3 in the Fall Arts Preview section.
New shinshiniyot bring love of song, theater PHYLLIS BRAUN AJP Executive Editor
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ecent Israeli high school graduate Ron Benacot’s get-to-know-you video for the Tucson Jewish community is rich with sight gags: see her jump up and down as she plays fetch with her impassive dog, or step up to hefty barbells only to lift the lighter weights they conceal (see www.bit.ly/ronvid). Ron and fellow graduate Rotem Rappaport arrived in Tucson on Aug. 1 as the newest set of teen emissaries from the Jewish Agency for Israel’s Shinshinim Youth Ambassadors Program, coordinated locally by the Weintraub Israel Center. Tucsonans familiar with the Hebrew term “shinshinim” will need to get used to a new variation, “shinshiniyot,” the plural form for females in the yearlong program. Rotem’s introductory video brims with enthusiasm for her high school drama and social science classes, her youth group, family, and friends, and her small
CANDLELIGHTING TIMES:
Aug. 17 ... 6:48 p.m.
Photo courtesy Weintraub Israel Center
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Tucson host family members greet new shinshiniyot (Israeli teen emissaries) at Tucson International Airport. From left, Joel and Rachel Black, shinshinyot Rotem Rappaport and Ron Benacot, and Marla Handler; front row: Rebecca Black and Amir Eden, director of the Weintraub Israel Center
moshav (cooperative village), Netiv Ha’asara, on the border with Gaza (see www.bit.ly/rotemvideo). Tucsonans may know Netiv Ha’asara as the site of the Path to Peace mosaic wall. Both Ron and Rotem come from Tucson’s Partnership2Gether region in Israel and attended the same high school, where Ron majored in computer science. She
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Aug. 24 ... 6:40 p.m.
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grew up on Kibbutz Nitzanim until her family moved to Moshav Mavki’im, near the city of Ashkelon. Now in its third year in Tucson, the shinshinim program “recruits the best of Israel’s youth,” says Amir Eden, WIC director, and the military grants them a one-year deferment of their military service. See Shinshiniyot, page 8
Aug. 31 ... 6:31 p.m.