Arizona Jewish Post 8.11.2017

August 11, 2017 19 Av 5777 Volume 73, Issue 15

S O U T H E R N A R I Z O N A ’ S A WA R D - W I N N I N G J E W I S H N E W S PA P E R

Spirituality at heart of Congregation Or Chadash Israel trip

Gala Event Calendar ...14-16

KORENE CHARNOFSKY COHEN

Arts & Culture ...................18, 19

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Commentary ..........................6 Community Calendar...........24 In Focus.................................26 First Person.............................7 Israel .................................13, 21 Local ............3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 18, 19 National ............................17, 21 Obituaries .............................22 Our Town ..............................27 Reflections............................23 Synagogue Directory........... 18 World .................................... 17

riday, close to sunset in Jerusalem, a siren sounds heralding the start of the Sabbath. The Muslim call to prayer and Christian church bells echo across the city. Rabbi Thomas Louchheim, his wife, Marcia, and members of their family, along with members of Congregation Or Chadash, were awed by the enchantment of a Shabbat service conducted on a balcony overlooking Jerusalem.

“There is nothing more incredible than being in Jerusalem on the Sabbath,” says Joan Morris, who participated in the trip along with her husband, Keith Trantow. “We were invited by Hebrew Union College to par-

The Congregation Or Chadash group at the Mount of Olives June 21. Front row (L-R): Alex Putnam, Jacob Louchheim, Alan Kalmikoff; second row: Joan Morris, Marcia Louchheim, Marcia Katz, Pam Drell, Ashley David, David Hazan, Rabbi Thomas Louchheim, Arlene Kutoroff; third row: Elliot Framan, Andrea Davis, Daniel Louchheim, Grace Kolack, Soozie Hazan, Benny Louchheim, Katie Louchheim, Evan Adelstein, Renee Adelstein, Keith Trantow

ticipate in this service, and while the service was similar to the ones we have at Or Chadash, it took on a spiritual meaning I

never felt before.”

“I have been to other places around the world, but Israel is not just another piece of geogra-

phy,” says Trantow. “The trip was the most remarkable experience, especially the mystical, spiritual See Spirituality, page 2

New Israeli ‘shinshinim’ bring youthful energy to Tucson KAYE PATCHETT Special to the AJP

T

Photo courtesy Tamir Shecory

Classifieds ............................ 20

Special to the AJP

Photo courtesy Congregation Or Chadash

INSIDE

azjewishpost.com

Chen Dinatzi (left) and Tamir Shecory

he Tucson Jewish community’s new shinshinim arrived July 31, and the two teen emissaries from Israel couldn’t be more excited.

Chen Dinatzi and Tamir Shecory, both 18, were among 115 Israeli high school graduates, out of more than 2,000 applicants, selected for the Jewish Agency for Israel’s Shinshinim Young Ambassadors program.

The teens are sent to countries worldwide for one year, to act as “living bridges” between international Jews and Israel.

Oshrat Barel, vice president of community engagement for the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona and director of the

CANDLELIGHTING TIMES:

August 11 ... 6:54 p.m.

•

Weintraub Israel Center, organized the Tucson initiative, now in its second year. Leah Avuno and Bar Alkaher, Tucson’s first shinshinim, returned to Israel on Aug. 6.

The program is a partnership between the Tucson Jewish Community Center, Tucson Hebrew Academy, Congregation Anshei Israel, Temple EmanuEl, Congregations Chaverim, Bet Shalom and Or Chadash, and the Weintraub Israel Center.

The teen emissaries stay with host families, and work in Jewish schools, synagogues and other partner organizations. Dinatzi will be hosted by Jeff and Sarah Artzi, and later by Stephanie and Lance Evic, while Shecory will be welcomed into the home of Tedd and Melissa Goldfinger.

August 18 ... 6:47 p.m.

•

Chen Dinatzi “I’m beyond excited,” says Dinatzi. She and Shecory spoke via Skype with various community leaders and their host families before leaving Israel. “The people seem so warm. The fact that families who don’t even know us are willing to open their homes to us with such generosity and warmth is amazing.”

Dinatzi comes from Shoham, a small town near Tel Aviv. Her parents are first-generation Israelis whose families came from Italy and Morocco. She loves dancing, music and cooking, all of which she hopes to integrate into her work in Tucson. A longtime girl scout, she has worked as a counselor for three years.

After teaching fourth-grade boys See Shinshinim, page 4

August 25 ... 6:38 p.m.

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ARIZONA JEWISH POST, August 11, 2017

feeling of this Shabbat service in Jerusalem.”

On the trip, which took place from June 14-26, the group of 21 people visited historic and religious sites and museums, explored different cultures and shopped in an artisans’ market. This was the congregation’s second trip to Israel, and participants ranged in age from their 20s to their 70s.

“I like traveling with members of the congregation because this is a way to interact with them on a personal level and get to better know what Judaism means to them,” says Louchheim. “I try to help them with the meaning of the history, religion and culture that we experience on the trip, so they can gain a better understanding of Judaism and its relationship to Israel.”

Louchheim has been to Israel four times, including living there while studying at Hebrew Union College, where he met Marcia, who also was studying at the seminary. The Louchheim’s four children, Katie, Jacob, Daniel (and his fiancée Grace Kolack) and Benjamin also had been to Israel before this trip, traveling with Tucson Hebrew Academy, Birthright Israel or the March of the Living.

“Going to Israel with Rabbi Louchheim and his family and the group from our congregation was extraspecial,” says Morris. “We all became one family within one day.”

Soozie Hazan says it enhanced the experience to have young adults on the trip. “It was wonderful to see the faces of my son and his wife who had not been to Israel before,” she says. “The rabbi answered my son David’s questions and it helped him to connect to Judaism and have a deep connection to Israel.”

The trip took them from 6,000-year-old cities to the skyscrapers of modern Israel. Participants say it was impressive to walk among archaeological sites connected to events in the Torah and also enjoy modern technology, including a spectacular sound and light show at the Tower of David. “This is a land filled with thousands of years of history, and yet modernity is all around you,” says Morris. “The Israelis keep on achieving in education, science and the arts.”

“It is amazing to walk on stones laid down 2,000 years ago and see remains of buildings, aqueducts and irrigation systems that have stood the test of time,” Louchheim says, marveling that ancient engineering has provided the basis for modern construction. Visiting ancient sites also provides connections to other religions and cultures, which he believes is important for Jews to see. One of the sites, Meggido, dating back 6,000 years, is important to Christians who believe, as stated in the Book of Revelation, that this is where Armageddon (the final battle leading to the end of the world) will take place. The Or Chadash group also visited Beit Shean, which has more than 20 layers of remains dating back 6,000 years. Inhabitants included the Egyptians, Romans, Crusaders, Ottomans and British; now, modern Israelis live in the area.

“One of the things that impressed me the most was the amount of development and modernization that has happened in Israel since I was there 10 years ago,” says Elliot Framan, who helped plan the trip. His wife, Andrea Davis, was even more impressed since she had not been to Israel since 1960. “Tel Aviv and other cities have developed high-end communities balanced by parks,” he says. “I see this industriousness as the Israelis’ determination to survive and show that they are

Photo courtesy Congregation Or Chadash

continued from page 1

(L-R) Katie Louchheim, Jacob Louchheim, Daniel Louchheim and Benny Louchheim at Caesarea on the Congregation Or Chadash Israel trip, June 17

there to stay.”

Lunch in the home of a Druze family provided the group with a look at another culture as a grandmother prepared the meal and talked about life in a Druze village. “Visiting with the Druze provided us with this wonderful connection to a minority group that is successfully living in Israel,” says Louchheim. The Druze follow a monotheistic religion based on Judaism, Christianity and Islam, which also incorporates elements of other religions. The Druze hold positions in Israeli politics and also serve in the Israel Defense Forces.

Surprisingly, it was a Michigan-born actor who introduced the group to Bedouin life as they ate dinner in a tent. They also had fun riding camels. “The bus driver said ‘Joan, you are going to do this,’ and he lifted me up on the camel,” says Morris, citing one of the times she was able to participate in an activity through the kindness of others. She has trouble walking and because some parts of the trip require long walks or climbing, she relied on the guides to tell her what she would be able to do. “I was motivated by the sheer desire to see everything on the trip, and the group helped me in difficult areas,” she says.

For Reform Jews, visiting the Western Wall right now evokes complex feelings. “Although I and Marcia have been to the Wall, we did not go this year,” says Louchheim. “We remained at a nearby plaza as a protest to the lack of an egalitarian section. This isn’t just an ordinary wall, it is the holiest place on Earth for Jews.”

Arlene Kutoroff felt that she needed to pray at the Wall, but agrees that women and men should be able to pray together at the Wall. She wonders, “Why can’t we learn to honor and respect differences in belief and find a compromise?” Despite mixed feelings about the Wall and issues relating to peace in the Middle East, Kutoroff says it is magical to be in Israel surrounded by so many Jewish people. “Where else can your group sit in a corner of a hotel lobby and do a Shabbat service and no one thinks you’re crazy?” She was with Or Chadash on the 2014 trip to Israel, but this trip was especially meaningful because her 30-year-old son, Alex, accompanied her.

Everyone expressed a desire to go back to Israel.

“People say that when you go to Israel you feel like that’s your homeland,” says Framan. “I’ve traveled all over the world, but haven’t had that feeling anywhere else.” Morris says that for her and her husband, the trip was “beyond anything we had imagined” and they need to “see this miracle nation again.” Maybe she will be wearing her “I climbed Masada” T-shirt.

Korene Charnofsky Cohen is a freelance writer and editor in Tucson.

LOCAL Tucson J hosts naturalization ceremony

ExpEriEncE MattErs Live Your Dreams ...

Jim Jacobs

ASSOCIATE BROKER

Photo courtesyTucson Jewish Community Center

520-444-1444

New citizens take the oath of allegiance at the Tucson Jewish Community Center July 26.

PHYLLIS BRAUN

AJP Executive Editor

F

amily and friends packed the Tucson Jewish Community Center ballroom on Wednesday, July 26 as 99 new U.S. citizens from 17 different countries took the oath of allegiance.

“Having the honor to host this ceremony at the J is very meaningful,” Todd Rockoff, president and CEO of the Tucson J, told the crowd.“The JCC movement has a long history of being a place that is welcoming. The first Jewish Community Centers were founded more than a century ago to teach Jews, newly arrived as immigrants, how to become good Americans. We succeeded in that mission, and we have served this land proudly through the decades … As people continue to flock to our country today, seeking opportunity, safety, education and a chance to dream and better themselves within the American framework, the J remains an open and welcoming place.”

Judge Scott Gan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona presided over the naturalization ceremony, which included heartfelt and often tearful remarks from new citizens, family and friends. Pride and gratitude, opportunity and diversity were recurring themes.

One woman said she’d come to the United States with her husband to build “a better life for ourselves and our children and now for my grandchildren. …

This country has been the best thing that has happened to me in my life.”

It was in Tucson, said one man, that he’d learned the words “’being kind’: being kind to others, seeing everybody as human beings, as brothers …as one.”

A son said, “My dad studied literally every single day” for the citizenship

exam. “He dedicated his life for this.”

A daughter thanked her mother for allowing her to bring her children to the ceremony, so they could understand “that there is so much opportunity.”

Congratulating the new citizens, Gan said, “We are a country of immigrants.

Each of you has traveled a different path and endured many hardships to reach not only this country but this point in your lives. Collectively, you are from many different backgrounds. You’ve successfully melted into one great nation with one predominant language and a common way of governing ourselves.

But it continues to be our individuality that makes our nation such a great one. … I hope that each of you will hold onto your individual cultures, your beautiful languages, and your religious beliefs and celebrations.”

Gan added that citizenship affords two important rights and responsibilities. The first is to vote. “It’s the way you express your beliefs … and ensure that honest people become our leaders,” he explained. The second is to participate in the jury system, because “if you are ever involved in a situation where you are in court, you want someone like you to sit in judgment.”

“I want to thank each and every one of you for the vast richness that you bring to this country,” Gan concluded.

After the ceremony, Julie M. Hashimoto, Tucson field office director with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, told the AJP the USCIS was glad to have such a large venue for the ceremony.

In recent months, she says, there has been a huge influx of citizenship applications. In 2017, Tucson has been averaging 400 new citizens sworn in per month, double the See Naturalization, page 10

ı Jim@JimJacobs.com ı JimJacobs.com

Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Seeks PROGRAM DIRECTOR, Hebrew High & Community Engagement

Be part of a dynamic new Community Engagement Department of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona. Provide leadership to a community Hebrew High program while contributing to department efforts through the Weintraub Israel Center, Jewish Community Relations Council and Coalition for Jewish Education.

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ARIZONA JEWISH POST, August 11, 2017

SHINSHINIM continued from page 1

for a year, she says, “I started a group for special needs children. It was the most empowering experience I’ve ever had.”

Dinatzi hopes to have the opportunity to interact with special needs children in the Tucson Jewish community.

She’ll teach Hebrew in Tucson Jewish schools, and says she plans to make lessons practical and fun. “I’ll teach them how to order ice cream in Tel Aviv.”

Telling the students about their daily lives in Israel is a major component of the Shinshinim program. “The purpose of our work is to is to educate through personal connections,” says Dinatzi. I want to inspire children to be the best they can be. We want to enrich them with activities, be a model for them and bring them our perception of Israel … the people, the history, and the life of an Israeli person.” And, she says, “I’d like to emphasize that Israel is not a war zone … overall, it’s a very nice place to live in.

I feel very safe.”

Tamir Shecory Shecory’s home is Kfar HaRif, a moshav, or village, in south-central Israel, with around 800 residents. “I know almost everyone,” he says. He was born to Moroccan parents in Portland, Ore., when his father, an engineer for Intel, was transferred from their home in Israel. “I was there for only eight months,” Shecory says, “but we relocated again for a year when I was in second grade.

I remember Portland well.” He recently contacted two old school friends and hopes to visit Portland for a few days while he’s in Tucson.

Like Dinatzi, he looks forward to teaching Hebrew, using some Israeli children’s books he packed in his luggage. He also wants to share his love of art, music and volleyball. He hopes to start a volleyball team in Tucson and to create a community art project.

“Art is a big part of my life,” he says.

“Drawing is a way to express myself, and make people think. My dream is to have a big wall that the community will make with me.” Two years ago, he visited a small Jewish community in Pennsylvania with a 10th-grade delegation, to work as a counselor at a JCC camp.

“We had a blank wall that we made into a comic book, with a story about Israel and its culture, to make people smile,” he says. “I drew the main character and the campers helped paint it. I’d like to do something similar. An artist [in Tucson] has already said he’s willing to work with us.”

In telling American Jews about Israel, Shecory wants to emphasize the spirit of unity that characterizes the country.

“Sometimes the media show a different picture from what we see in Israel,” he says. Living near the Gaza Strip meant he was sometimes close to conflict, and he recalls having to miss school for three months due to danger from missiles. Children and teens were sent to the south, where they were hosted by families, he says. “The media didn’t show how people were caring about the soldiers and each other … sometimes it seems in war we’re more united – we help each other.”

Music is a great medium for bringing people together, he says, and he’s brought his guitar as a teaching tool.

“Sitting round a table or fire and singing an Israeli or Jewish song connects everyone.”

Building bridges Before leaving for Tucson, Shecory and Dinatzi were surprised to receive an email from Rabbi Samuel Cohon of Temple Emanu-El, who had just returned from India, inviting them for lunch at a restaurant near Jerusalem.

“He was so inspiring and interesting,” says Dinatzi. “Rabbis in Israel are more distant.”

After their meal, a woman recognized Cohon and approached them, says Shecory. “She’d lived in Tucson 10 years ago with her husband. She was a community shlicha [ambassador from Israel], and told him how much his music had inspired her.” The woman was Yael Hess, wife of Yizhar Hess, Tucson’s second community shaliach. In Israel, synagogues function as places of prayer, but don’t have the community opportunities, youth groups, schools and events that American shuls offer, says Shecory.

“It impressed me how much impact a shlicha  or shinshin  can have.”

As well as teaching, the shinshinim are eager to learn from their host community. “I’m interested to see how people act in their daily life, and how they define themselves as Jews,” says Shecory.

“In Portland, we had to do things to show we were Jews, to keep kosher, or not eat bread at Passover. Being a Jew in Israel, a big part is just living here, and loving and serving the country. You’re proud of being a Jew, but you don’t have to prove it.”

On their return to Israel, both Shecory and Dinatzi will fulfill their military obligations before starting college  Shecory to study architecture, and Dinatzi to pursue her dream of becoming a biochemical researcher and discovering more about the human brain.

“The shinshinim program in Tucson is proven to be the most effective bridge builders between Tucson and Israel,” says Barel, “and we are seeing the results every day.”

Kaye Patchett is a freelance writer and editor in Tucson.

LOCAL In Tucson, JAFI partnership director discusses new P2G programs, Jewish unity PHYLLIS BRAUN

AJP Executive Editor

Photo: Oshrat Barel/JFSA

T

he Tucson/Kiryat Malachi/Hof Ashkelon partnership “is amazing,” says Andrea Arbel, director of the partnership unit at the Jewish Agency for Israel. “It has grown and developed over the past five years in ways, I would say, that I never dreamed of.”

Arbel spent a day in Tucson last month meeting with members of Tucson’s Partnership2Gether committee and other Jewish community leaders.

School twinning is perhaps the “most stellar” of the local partnership’s programs, last year linking students in 18 Tucson classrooms with their counterparts in Israel, and doing so “with breadth and depth,” she says.

Locally, the program includes congregational schools, Tucson Hebrew Academy and the Tucson Jewish Community Center.

Arbel credits local professionals, in particular Oshrat Barel, director of the Weintraub Israel Center and Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona vice president of community engagement, and Stuart Mellan, JFSA president and CEO, with “seeing the potential of the partnership as a platform for the Tucson community to engage with Israel and with Israelis.”

Along with people-to-people programs such as school twinning, Arbel notes, Tucson continues its more traditional investment, via program grants, in Kiryat Malachi/Hof Ashkelon.

(L-R) Andrea Arbel, partnership director at the Jewish Agency for Israel; Stuart Mellan, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona; and Shelly Silverman, JFSA chair, at a lunch meeting in Tucson July 19

Arbel, who was born in Manhattan and grew up in New Jersey, made aliyah 31 years ago. She oversees 47 partnerships that connect Israeli communities with Jewish communities all over the world, including South Africa, Australia and Mexico, encompassing a total of 450 communities.

During her July 19 visit, she briefed Tucson leaders on three new programs that are in the pilot stage in oth-

er communities and could be adopted here.

The first is school twinning highlighting STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education, for both Jewish day schools and public schools with a significant population of Jewish students.

The Jewish Agency can’t reach out to public schools with a Jewish identity program, Arbel explains, but it can with STEM education. “The rationale is that Israel is the ‘start-up nation’” and even those who don’t know much about the country are aware of its tech prowess.

It is great, she adds, that non-Jewish public school students will be involved and may end the year “with something intelligent and positive to say about Israel.”

The second program is known as “G2: The Global Intergenerational Initiative.” It is a response to the trend of grandparents living longer, staying healthier, and helping to build their grandchildren’s identity. Arbel points out that 60 percent of day school tuitions are paid by grandparents.

G2 also builds on a recent Brandeis University survey that found that what college students do Jewishly is often rooted in what they did with their grandparents.

That is especially true for children raised in interfaith families, Arbel says.

People in twinned G2 communities hold monthly meetings via Skype. In between meetings, “we’re asking grandparents to do fun stuff ” with their grandchildren, such as identifying a Jewish object in their home See Partnership, page 11

August 11, 2017, ARIZONA JEWISH POST

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COMMENTARY Transgender naval nuclear engineer, now rabbi, not happy with Trump tweets ANNA SELMAN JTA

WASHINGTON

Photos courtesy Rona Matlow

O

n July 26, in our offices near this city’s Dupont Circle, the staff at Jewish War Veterans of the U.S.A. were opening the mail when a request came in from a veteran asking that we change her first name on our records from Jaron to Rona.

“I just immediately did it without a second thought,” said Lauren Hellendall, a membership team member, said Thursday. “Then I thought about the significance of it because of the president’s announcement yesterday. I found out after doing some research that Rona Matlow was a Life Member of Jewish War Veterans of the U.S.A., and I thought it would be invaluable to share her story as a dedicated Jewish veteran.”

On the morning of July 26, President Donald Trump tweeted that transgender individuals would no longer be allowed

Rona Matlow, seen at left as Jaron, served in the Navy for 22 years before leaving to become what she calls ‘the only nuclear-qualified, transgender rabbi.’

to enlist or serve in the military, surprising both service members and Pentagon leaders.

“I went upstairs to our public relations department, and they just took it from there,” Hellendall said.

Rona served 22 years in the Navy as both enlisted and as an officer in its nu-

clear power program — in submarines, nuclear cruisers, frigates and a destroyer.

She retired with the rank of lieutenant commander when she decided that the Navy had taken too much of a toll on her.

After leaving the Navy, Rona was ordained as a rabbi by the Academy for Jewish Religion and started volunteering

as a chaplain for the veteran community.

In 2015, she started to address her gender dysphoria and begin her transition.

I asked Rona, who lives in the Greater Seattle area, how she felt about the president’s announcement.

“I was absolutely devastated and furious,” she answered. “Immediately I was very worried about the 15,000 active duty trans personnel that are currently serving in the military. I have talked to service members with 19-plus years of service who would be kicked out of the military without a pension.”

Rona also told me that since the announcement, she has been reaching out to people in the Jewish and transgender community — making sure that their needs are met. She says she is available to anyone in the transgender community who needs support right now.

“It costs well over a million dollars to train a pilot. Kicking these people out is incredibly more costly than keeping See Transgender, page 12

Intersectionality excludes and includes. Jews must learn the difference.

DAVID BERNSTEIN JTA

L

ast year, I wrote an opinion piece for JTA about a term and a trend few Jews over the age of 30 had ever heard of: intersectionality. Coined in the late 1980s, intersectionality posits that various forms of oppression — racism, sexism, classism, ableism and homophobia — are all interconnected.

According to the theory, a black fe-

male is doubly marginalized by racism and sexism, for example. As a result, it is necessary for activists to connect these multiple forms of oppression in their advocacy.

Rising in popularity in the wake of the protests in Ferguson, Missouri, over the fatal shooting of a black man by a white officer, intersectionality, I pointed out, made it easier for Israel’s detractors to connect the dots between their cause and other causes — to blame, somehow, the

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ARIZONA JEWISH POST, August 11, 2017

behavior of Missouri police on the example of the Israeli military, or to reduce the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to a clash between whites and “people of color.”

I argued that to counter this growing problem, supporters of Israel must do more to join the conversation and engage other groups susceptible to outreach from anti-Israel groups.

The op-ed generated a firestorm. Numerous proponents of intersectionality spoke out against the article, arguing that I simplified an important theoretical framework for understanding prejudice and exploited it for advocacy purposes. Others were shocked by what they considered yet another manifestation of anti-Israelism.

Since that time, I’ve delved deeper into the doctrine and observed its various manifestations. In its original form, intersectionality is a perfectly legitimate way to understand discrimination and power, and can bring people together. I call this “inclusionary intersectionality.”

In its more malevolent form, however, it is used to purge social justice causes of anyone who doesn’t agree with the entire package of ideologically extreme views. I call this “exclusionary intersectionality.”

It’s critical that we know the difference.

Many college students, including young Jews, embrace inclusionary intersectionality. Think not of a raucous

rally but of a dorm room discussion.

The intersectional conversation allows students to map themselves with other students onto a Venn diagram reflecting their multiple identities. In their discussions, they recognize both overlapping and divergent experiences. A college student intern in my office told me that “thinking intersectionally means appreciating our association with diverse identities. It allows us to recognize the potential for empathy beneath surfacelevel differences and develop greater opportunities for cooperation.”

These concepts should not be all that alien to us. The Jewish community relations field, which for decades has been building bridges to other minority communities in order to create a more just society, operates under what could be considered a form of inclusionary intersectionality.

Increasingly, however, a more exclusionary discourse has been used to divide people and target, in particular, Jews and supporters of Israel. The detractors use the same framework of interconnected identities to limit, not expand, the scope of human empathy.

In June, for example, three Jewish women were ejected from the Chicago Dyke March because they were carrying a rainbow flag with a Jewish star on it. One of the women said she was told by a march organizer “your flag looks too See Intersectionality, page 12

FIRST PERSON / LOCAL

Photo courtesy Ronnie Sebold

Mission to Ukraine, Israel shows power of JFSA giving

Bella Lozhechnik, a homebound Jew in Kiev, Ukraine, talks with visitors from the Jewish Federations of North America July 11, as her husband, Viktor, looks on.

RONNIE SEBOLD Special to the AJP

A

few months ago, I accepted the daunting responsibility to chair the 2018 campaign for the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona. I have been a staunch supporter of the Federation since I moved to Tucson 37 years ago, and having recently retired from Tucson Hebrew Academy as their director of admissions, I knew it was the right time to volunteer my efforts to a cause I hold dear to my heart.

Stu Mellan, JFSA president and CEO, suggested I attend the annual mission offered by Jewish Federations of North America to witness firsthand how our dollars are spent for overseas needs.

The trip was short but intensive — two days in Kiev, Ukraine, and three days in Israel. I had visited Israel before, three of those times on Federation missions, so I assumed I was knowledgeable about the various programs that Federation funds. I was about to be truly educated.

First stop was Kiev. I have a personal connection to the area as my grandparents were from a shtetl (small Jewish town) named Pokitilivo, located midway between Odessa and Kiev.

But Kiev is no shtetl — it’s a beautiful, bustling city. I strolled the promenade and visited the 130 year-old Brodsky Synagogue, wondering if my grandparents had ever done the same. I questioned why Federation dollars would be needed in such a beautiful place. I soon found out.

Kiev is the sight of the infamous Babi Yar Massacre.

During the Holocaust, hundreds of thousands of Jews from this area were murdered. The most vulnerable were left behind with no family and no support system. They were disenfranchised, unaffiliated, and not allowed to practice their religion.

Now, 70 years later, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, known as JDC, is working hard to revitalize Jewish life in the former Soviet Union. There are estimated to be more than one million Jews in the FSU who know very little about what it means to be a Jew. With the help of Federation dollars, they are rediscovering their Jewish heritage and culture or, in many

cases, being introduced to it for the first time. If no action was taken, Russian Jewish life could have disappeared within a single generation.

The JDC is a lifeline for Ukraine’s most vulnerable Jews. An estimated 110,000 of these Jews receive JDC aid of some kind, in the form of food packages, food cards, bankcards, or medicine. About 27,000 are elderly and homebound. We visited one sweet 83-year-old woman, Bella, who recalled celebrating Hanukkah as a child. She lost a daughter who was shot during military duty in Israel, and now she waits eagerly for the JDC caretaker to visit, help her with the housework, provide companionship and bring her groceries to bolster her $70/month pension. In her twilight years, we are there to give her the dignity she deserves, the loving companionship she needs and the Jewish compassion she craves.

For those who are not homebound, there is a beautiful Chesed Center (aptly named, since “chesed” means kindness) for the elderly where they celebrate the Jewish holidays together and rekindle their connection to Judaism. They sing and dance to Israeli and Jewish music and socialize with their peers. Our dollars provide this much needed interaction.

Day 3 of my mission abroad brought me to Eretz Israel. So many good things are happening in Israel! They are building a high-speed train from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv; the travel time will be 27 minutes. It will tunnel under the territories and provide bomb shelter capabilities to thousands. Ben Gurion airport, with its state-of-theart security, is a model for the world. There are new office buildings, apartment buildings, shopping malls and new archeological digs uncovering thousands of years of Jewish history. Although I marveled at the modern growth of Israel, Federation dollars are not a part of this progress. Federation dollars are used exclusively for social and educational services for Jews who are at risk or in need. Not for government, not for military, not for infrastructure — only for helping our fellow Jews in need.

During Operations Moses in 1984 and Solomon 1991, the world witnessed a miracle as more than 25,000 Ethiopian Jews were airlifted to Israel, saving them from the ravages of drought and famine. Since then, a trickle of Ethiopian aliyah has continued. Adjustment to modern society is a challenge, and the majority of Ethiopian immigrant families live in low-income areas. The Ethiopian National Project’s School Performance and Community Empowerment program helps students who are immigrants or children of immigrants overcome cultural and socio-economic barriers and achieve their full potential.

The focus is on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education. After successfully completing this program, high school graduates are appointed to excellent commissions in the Israel Defense Forces. A meaningful IDF service is a ticket to success in Israeli society. At the Ben Shemen Youth Village we met with some Ethiopian teenage participants, who shared with us their dreams: to become doctors, lawyers, and teachers. These ambitions are a far cry from life in the impoverished villages from which they’d come.

Our Federation dollars accomplish remarkable things throughout our global community, including in the former Soviet Union (which also encompasses See Mission, page 11

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August 11, 2017, ARIZONA JEWISH POST

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LOCAL Tucsonans enjoy unforgettable Israel experience at Maccabiah Games PHYLLIS BRAUN

AJP Executive Editor

Photo courtesy Sam Beskind

W

The Maccabi USA Youth Men’s Basketball team display their gold medals at the 2017 Maccabiah Games in Israel.

Front row (L-R): Tucsonan Sam Beskind, Caleb Milobsky, Jackson Blaufeld, Max Leibowitz, Griffin Levine, Coach Brian Seitz; back row: Coach Jeff Klein, Amitai Afenjar, Gabriel Ravetz, Casey Ring, Bryan Knapp, Daniel Schlakman, Abraham Rosow, Ben Lubarsky, Coach Howard Fisher

Photo courtesy Brett Miller

hether they made it to the medals podium or not, six participants with Tucson ties who went to Israel last month for the 20th Maccabiah Games, known as “the Jewish Olympics,” say the experience was priceless.

“Softball is why I came to Israel, but Israel really came to me and made me connect more with my Jewish roots culturally,” says Tamara (“T”) Statman, 20, a member of the University of Arizona Wildcats softball team.

“During the one week Israel Connect program I had the opportunity to see snippets of the country that I had only heard of and got to participate in the b’nai mitzvah ceremony,” says Statman, who was among the Maccabiah participants who’d never celebrated a bar/bat mitzvah and never visited Israel. ”Going up on stage and reading the prayer for the ceremony with AmericanJewish athletes who were in the same situation as me was so incredibly special. Not only because I got to share the memory with my Maccabiah teammates but other USA athletes, and the IDF soldiers that were traveling with us as well,” she says, adding that after getting to know Jewish athletes from all over the world, she can truly attest to the Maccabiah theme of “80 Countries, One Heart.”

The U.S. women’s softball team lost its first game to Canada. “However, the sad tale was halted in its tracks after that game,” Statman says, and the team went on to beat Canada and Israel in the next

Members of the Maccabi USA Open Mens and Women’s Gymnastic teams at the 2017 Maccabiah Games in Israel (L-R): Max Soifer, Evelyn Micco, Matthew Leon, Sarah Weisberg, Sarah Buchner, Evan Hymanson, Tucsonan Brett Miller, Veronica Binstock, Skylar Kabatsky, Keith Kohn, Katherine Margolin, Cobey Pava

six games, winning the gold medal.

Brett Miller, 20, a gymnast and student at Pima Community College, also loved

the Israel Connect experience. “We visited so many beautiful places including my favorite, the Dead Sea,” he says.

The opening and closing ceremonies were “one of kind experiences,” Miller says. “Walking out into a huge crowd that is chanting U.S.A. is an indescribable feeling.”

He was also impressed by the sportsmanship at the Games. “Every team there was cheering for everyone. The amount of energy in the room was unbelievable and it was so much fun being able to compete alongside my new teammates.”

Joseph Schwartz, 32, a UA graduate who grew up in Tucson and now lives in Phoenix, returned for his second Maccabiah Games after helping the Open Men’s Softball team take gold in 2013 (see azjewishpost.com/2013/israels-maccabiah-games-warm-hearts-of-tucson-hall-offamers-competitors) .

“I got the chance to revisit historic sites such as the Western Wall and Masada, as well as the Holocaust museum known as Yad Vashem, with an entirely new group of people. When you experience these powerful places with people you just met, you become closer than you could ever imagine almost instantly,” he says.

The U.S. men’s softball team came close to repeating their gold-medal victory, but had to settle for silver after a black cat ran across the field in the final match against Canada, halting play for several minutes.

Although disappointed after winning gold in 2013 and at the Pan American Games in Brazil in 2011, Schwartz says “the experience was unforgettable, and I don’t regret a thing.”

Rachel Meyer, 21, a UA student, also returned for her second Maccabiah Games, competing in Taekwondo.

“This trip was quite different from my

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watched his daughter helping to carry the banner and lead the U.S. team into the arena at the opening ceremonies.

For Sam Beskind, a 17-year-old who plays on the Catalina Foothills High School varsity basketball team, the Maccabiah Games were “one of the most memorable experiences of my life.”

“First of all, it was absolutely amazing to see how beautiful, historic yet modern, and different Israel is, in comparison to how it’s portrayed in the media. Through the Israel Connect program I was able to see what a thriving country they have built.

“Next, the games were so much fun. There were parties, trips to the beach, and excursions to see more of the country. By the end of the day I was absolutely exhausted, but couldn’t wait to wake up early and do it all over again. Each and every day I had the opportunity to meet new people from all over the world, play the game I love, and become closer and closer with my teammates. It is incredible how just three weeks can make strangers feel like brothers,” he says.

Finally, he says, the U.S. Youth Men’s Basketball team won the gold medal, “quite the way to cap off the trip. I can’t wait to go back.”

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Together” Wednesdays, Aug. 23, 30 & Sept. 6 • 7-8pm

Photo courtesy Joseph Schwartz

Tucsonan Scott Meyer coaches his daughter, Rachel Meyer, before a Taekwondo match at the 2017 Maccabiah Games in Israel.

Former Tucsonan Joseph Schwartz looks for the throw as Les Bernstein of Canada rounds first base in the Open Men’s Softball final July 16 at the 2017 Maccabiah Games in Israel.

Photo courtesy Rachel Meyer

last, as I had a whole new team and my dad was the head coach, but it was still an amazing and fun experience! To my surprise, I was also selected along with seven other athletes to be a banner bearer during opening ceremonies. I was quite humbled by the selection and was proud to lead the U.S. delegation on stage in front of thousands of fellow Jews cheering for Team USA,” she says.

Although Meyer brought home bronze instead of gold this year after what she considers “a few rough calls” from the referees, “I am still happy to have won a medal while representing the USA,” she says.

“We had an amazing time in Israel,” says Scott Meyer, who coached the U.S. Taekwondo team.

“The Israel Connect program was great, taking us to the Old City [of Jerusalem], to the Old Port of Jaffa, to the Dead Sea, to Masada, and the beach at Herzliya. I was amazed both at the old and the new, and felt tremendous pride in seeing how our people turned a land of rock and dirt into forests and agricultural fields, modern cities and infrastructure,” he says.

But the coach feels it would be better to move the program to after the competition, as all the walking “took the legs out of my players.”

Nevertheless, “the week ended on a high note” as he

Photo courtesy Scott Meyer

Photo courtesy T Statman

Members of the Maccabi USA Open Women’s Softball team at the 2017 Maccabiah Games in Israel (L-R): Cori Coleman, Coach Emily Bliss, Jenny Goldsher, Ellen Goldstein, Tucsonan T Statman

Maccabi USA team members lead the U.S. delegation into the opening ceremonies at the 2017 Maccabiah Games in Israel July 6 (L-R): Adam Moyerman (judo), Zack Test (flag bearer/rugby), Tucsonan Rachel Meyer (Taekwondo), BJ Johnson (swimming), Kevin Swiryn (rugby)

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3-week series $18 PLUS donation for the Community Food Bank ~ RSVP by 8/21 at caiaz.org or call 745-5550.

Don’t forget to stop delivery of the AJP while you’re out of town!

At least a week before you leave, please call 647-8441 and leave a message that includes your name, address with zip code, telephone number and the dates you will be away or click the “subscribe” button on azjewishpost.com to fill out the “delivery stops” form.

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LOCAL Women to speak on matriarchs at Hadassah Hadassah Southern Arizona will present “Shhh ... Our Matriarchs Are Speaking II” with panelists Rabbi Helen Cohn and Rebbetzin Esther Becker on Thursday, Sept. 7 at 1:30 p.m. in the Tucson Jewish Community Center.

The rabbi and rebbetzin will discuss the matriarchs who inspire them.

Cohn is the spiritual leader of Congregation M’kor Hayim. She was ordained at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1994 and came to Tucson 11 years ago, after serving a congregation in San Francisco. Cohn is also a spiritual director and an active participant in Tucson’s interfaith community.

Becker was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. She and her husband, Rabbi Israel Becker, came to Tucson in 1979 to found Congregation Chofetz Chayim. With more than four decades of experience in Jewish education, Becker conducts classes for the Women’s Academy of Jewish Studies and is a teacher and administrator at Darkaynu Jewish Montessori.

Hadassah Southern Arizona intro-

NATURALIZATION continued from page 3

number last year.

In February, the Jewish History Museum also hosted a naturalization ceremony (see azjewishpost.com/2017/ at-jewish-history-museum-26-take-oathof-citizenship/), which Hashimoto said was very helpful because of limited parking near the courthouse during Tucson’s annual gem show.

Rockoff noted that one of the first family members to offer remarks at the

Rabbi Helen Cohn

duced the “Our Matriarchs Are Speaking” program last year; presenters included Rabbis Batsheva Appel and Stephanie Aaron.

Coffee, cake, and a silent auction of handmade crafts created by Jewish women will round out the afternoon.

Hadassah Southern Arizona is seeking additional craft donations; contact event chair Rochelle Roth at rdr823@aol.com or 403-6619 for more information.

The cost of the event is $36 ($18 tax deductible). RSVP by Aug. 29 by mailing a check payable to Hadassah to Rochelle Roth, 4325 N. Sunset Cliff Road; Tucson, AZ 85750.

J, a man who had been naturalized many years ago “talked about being involved in the community and being a responsible citizen.” He surprised Rockoff by speaking “a lot about the J, and what the J is in the community by being open to all … it was beautiful, because it was so authentic.”

Each of the new citizens sworn in July 26 received a free guest pass to the J. Rockoff said he is “very open” to the J providing space for a naturalization ceremony at least once a year. “Absolutely.

We would look forward to the next opportunity.”

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ARIZONA JEWISH POST, August 11, 2017

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PARTNERSHIP continued from page 5

— Shabbat candlesticks, for example — then going to Google Maps to find the village the great-grandparents brought those candlesticks from. At the end of the year, all the G2 groups will go to Israel at the same time for a global Israel experience.

The third program, “248: The Community Action Network,” is based on the idea that there are 248 “doing” mitzvot (versus commandments that say “don’t do” this or that). The program pairs young professionals who have completed a Federation leadership development or similar program with their cohorts in Israel. It features an Israel trip early in the year.

“Leading up to that trip,” says Arbel, “we want to raise their consciousness to the power of the collective, meaning that we can do more together than we can do on our own … and do that within the context of the big challenges of world Jewry.”

In Israel, participants meet some of the country’s top social entrepreneurs. They also convene for a hackathon to explore challenges to the Jewish polity “with a network mentality” and learn “ideas of doing that don’t demand infrastructure,” Arbel says. One example is “Zikaron BaSalon,” or “Memories in My Living Room,” where Holocaust survivors tell their stories in an intimate atmosphere.

Started in Israel, it is now a global program.

“These new initiatives are a reflection of the reality that innovative engagement with the people of Israel is one of the most exciting aspects of our work. Just as our twinning program is now powerfully connecting over 700 young people in Tucson and Israel, these new initiatives have the potential to take our work to a new level,” says Mellan.

Before she entered the Partnership2Gether realm, Arbel served as advisor to the Jewish Agency’s director general

of aliyah and absorption. Prior to that, she worked at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, a think-tank where she published numerous articles and books, including “Riding the Wave: The Jewish Agency’s Role in the Mass Aliyah of Soviet and Ethiopian Jewry to Israel.”

Her July 19 Tucson visit came just weeks after two Israeli government decisions that outraged many Jews around the world: to suspend plans for an egalitarian prayer area at the Western Wall and to give Israel’s Chief Rabbinate sole authority over official Jewish conversions performed in the country.

“The whole issue of the Kotel and conversion actually broke out during the Jewish Agency’s board of governors meeting,” says Arbel, who is proud that the agency responded by cancelling a June 26 dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Within days, the agency also launched a Partnership2Gether social media campaign, “#One Wall, One People.”

“The message was that [we] in P2G that work day and night to strengthen Jewish unity … are frustrated, concerned and denounce [these decisions],” she says.

The campaign went viral.

“And I’ll tell you this,” Arbel says. “In my world of partnership, the Israelis were up in arms over these decisions because they thought anything that will weaken the Jewish unity of the Jewish people, is not good. It’s simply not good.”

She emphasizes that despite its unprecedented criticism of the government, the Jewish Agency is not against the state of Israel.

“I love the state of Israel,” she says. “I may be mad as hell at the government of Israel right now … but that does not mean that you turn your back on your country, that does not mean that you turn your back on your family. You work to make change. So I’m going to work hard with my partners, in Israel, in overseas, to say as loudly as possible what we believe in.

“You stick it out and you fight for what you believe in,” she says. “And you try to effect change.”

MISSION war-torn eastern Ukraine), Israel, and right here in Tucson. As I take on the charge of campaign chair for the upcoming year, I am empowered by the needs I witnessed. Please join me in raising the necessary funds to help Jews in need.

Consider these stories when making your pledge to the 2018 campaign. If you could see how your Federation dollars transform Jewish lives every day, you would be compelled to care. Let’s make this world a better place!

Photo courtesy Ronnie Sebold

continued from page 7

Incoming Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Campaign Chair Ronnie Sebold with Sonia, a teenage Ethiopian immigrant, at the Ben Shemen Youth Village in Israel on July 13 August 11, 2017, ARIZONA JEWISH POST

11

TRANSGENDER continued from page 6

them in,” she said. “Even if [the military] paid $30,000 for the surgery, they would have to pay a million dollars training a new pilot. That’s absurd.”

“I was also happy to see that Dunford and Mattis are supporting our service members,” said Rona, referencing the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Gen. Joe Dunford, and Secretary of Defense James Mattis.

INTERSECTIONALITY continued from page 6

much like Israeli flags because of the star, and that it is triggering to people and it makes them feel unsafe.”

Organizers of the Chicago Dyke March themselves tweeted, “QUEER AND TRANS ANTI-ZIONIST JEWISH FOLKS ARE WELCOME HERE,” a clear example of exclusionary intersectionality. The tweet makes it explicit that you can only be part of the cause if you agree with the organizers on every issue. Those with a different perspective need not apply.

On too many college campuses, political activists embrace exclusionary intersectionality. Jewish students have reported feeling unwelcome in certain social justice coalitions. In such instances, anti-Israel students have become gatekeepers for campus coalitions, citing intersectionality in excluding Jewish students. For example, Students for Justice in Palestine at Brown University managed to get transgender activist Janet Mock

Immediately after the president tweeted about the ban, Dunford said there has been no change in policy “until the President’s direction has been received by the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary has issued implementation guidance. In the meantime, we will continue to treat all of our personnel with respect.”

Mattis, who was on vacation and caught off guard by the president’s tweets, reportedly was “appalled” by Trump’s call for a ban.

“These tweets are ill-informed, ill-advised, and they were made without the backing or consultation of the Chiefs of Staff or Congress – such a policy has to be

made with both of them,” said Rona.

Rona is right. Tweets are not the way to make policy.

We urge the president to sit down with his Joint Chiefs of Staff and defense secretary to develop a policy with the backing of research as well as regard and respect for the individuals who have served our nation with honor.

Until then, Rona will proudly tell anyone that she is “the only nuclear-qualified, transgender rabbi,” and we’re proud to have her.

to cancel her scheduled speech at Hillel. Drawing on the intersectional vocabulary, they argued that “Brown/ RISD Hillel, through its association with Hillel International, has a clear policy of supporting … Israel’s racist and colonial policies. ... Indeed, queerness does not lie in

Faced with such hostile exclusion, some in the Jewish community would just as soon condemn all intersectionality and be done with it. But not all uses of intersectionality are equal: The Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ rights organization, responded to the incident at the Chicago Dyke March by tweeting, “Marches should be safe spaces to celebrate our diversity and our pride. This is not right.”

Indeed, the LGBTQ rights group took aim at the march organizers for excluding the Jewish marchers, thereby practicing inclusionary intersectionality.

Diaspora Jews must learn, not shun, intersectional discourse in all its forms and be part of the discussion while not being afraid to challenge instances of exclusionary intersectionality. Condemning all intersectionality won’t make it go away. We  and the larger society  have a major stake in the more inclusionary form winning out.

Faced with such hostile exclusion, some in the Jewish community would just as soon condemn all intersectionality and be done with it. isolation from other forms of identity; rather, it explicitly interacts with other identities including race, gender, class and ability.”

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ISRAEL The scandals plaguing Benjamin Netanyahu, explained BEN SALES

2017 chasing rainbows

JTA

Netanyahu is under investigation for receiving gifts and taking bribes.

The two main corruption scandals involving Netanyahu both concern allegations of illicit dealings with rich and powerful men. In the first, called “Case 1000,” Netanyahu is accused of receiving expensive gifts from billionaires and then taking action on their behalf. In the second, called “Case 2000,” he is accused of striking an illicit deal with a newspaper publisher.

In Case 1000, Netanyahu is alleged to have received tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of gifts from Arnon Milchan, an Israeli Hollywood producer, and James Packer, an Australian casino mogul. The gifts include champagne, cigars, flights and hotel rooms.

In return, Netanyahu supposedly helped Milchan obtain a U.S. visa and Packer secure a residency permit in Israel. Netanyahu has acknowledged receiving the gifts but denies they were illegal or constituted bribes.

In Case 2000, Netanyahu is accused of conspiring with Arnon Mozes, the owner of the Israeli daily Yediot Acharonot, to advance legislation hobbling the free and pro-Netanyahu tabloid Israel Hayom bankrolled

by American billionaire Sheldon Adelson. Yediot, which has historically criticized Netanyahu, was to cover him more favorably in return. Although recordings of the conversations exist, Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing.

He’s mixed up in two other corruption scandals — and his wife and son are in trouble, too.

Here’s some info on Cases 3000 and 4000, targeting Netanyahu’s associates, plus another scandal involving his wife and another his son.

Here’s a rundown: “Case 3000” involves alleged corruption in the sale of German submarines to Israel. Police have accused businessman Michael Ganor of bribing government officials to become the negotiating agent for ThyssenKrupp, the

Gala

Photo: Amos Ben Gershom/Israeli Government Press Office/Flash90

H

e has a firm grip on the government, but a mounting political scandal might bring him down. Officials from his own party have begun to distance themselves from him, but he remains defiant.

Oh, and his son is in trouble, too.

Just one more thing Benjamin Netanyahu has in common with President Donald Trump.

Except there’s a difference: While Trump faces one sprawling scandal, the Russia affair, Israel’s prime minister is embroiled in at least two. Police are conducting two additional corruption investigations that indirectly involve him. His wife, Sara, will probably be indicted soon in a separate case. And a left-wing NGO just sued his son, Yair.

Netanyahu appeared to be in increasing peril as of last week, when Ari Harow, his American-born former chief of staff, became a state witness. Despite it all, Netanyahu has remained confident. He has accused the Israeli media of peddling “fake news” about the scandals. On Monday, responding to an article predicting his ouster, Netanyahu tweeted two words: “Won’t happen.”

But will it happen? After winning four Israeli elections, will Netanyahu be done in by his own misdeeds (or is it prosecutorial overreach)? Here’s a primer on the string of scandals and what they mean for the prime minister.

fox tucson theatre foundation’s

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and wife Sara on their way to Greece for a two-day state official visit, June 14.

German company that built the subs. In addition, Netanyahu’s personal lawyer, David Shimron, was simultaneously acting as Ganor’s representative during the negotiations over the sale.

In “Case 4000,” the director-general of Israel’s Communications Ministry, Shlomo Filber, is accused of illicitly allowing Bezeq, the national telephone company, to buy shares of YES, a satellite cable provider. Filber was appointed by Netanyahu, who also serves as communications minister.

Meanwhile, Sara Netanyahu is likely to be indicted for misusing public funds at the couple’s official residences. The Israeli first lady is accused of using government money to pay for private chefs at family events, a caregiver for her father and weekend electrical work at the couple’s home in the tony coastal town of Caesarea.

The allegations have long dogged Sara Netanyahu, who sometimes comes off in the Israeli media as the country’s Marie Antoinette.

Finally Molad, a left-wing Israeli think tank, has sued Yair Netanyahu for libel. Yair, the eldest son of the Netanyahus at 26, wrote a Facebook post last week calling the group a “radical, anti-Zionist organization funded by the Fund for Israel’s Destruction” (a reference to the New Israel Fund, a left-wing NGO and bête noire of the Israeli right). Earlier that day, Molad had posted a listicle criticizing Yair Netanyahu’s political views and use of public funds.

Netanyahu could be nearing indictment — but might still stay in office.

So what does this all mean for the prime minister, who has governed Israel since the beginning of the Obama administration in his second go-round as prime minister. It depends on two factors: Whether he is indicted, and whether that creates enough pressure to force him to resign.

The fact that police are now working with Ari Harow, a confidant of the prime minister’s, means that he may provide information leading to an indictment. The recordings of Netanyahu’s conversations with Mozes, for example, were found on Harow’s phone.

Harow served two terms as Netanyahu’s chief of staff, and founded a consulting company between the two stints. Police have accused him of using his government position to advance his business interests. In return for becoming a state witness, Harow agreed to a plea deal in See Netanyahu, page 20

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August 2017 26th 6:00pm Angel Charity

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26th 6:00pm The ALS Association Arizona Chapter

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ARIZONA JEWISH POST, August 11, 2017

9th Annual

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3rd 7:00pm The Center for Neurosciences Foundation

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February 2018 3rd 6:00pm Intergrative Touch for Kids 10th Annual Butterfly

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17th 6:30pm UofA Hillel Foundation

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8th 5:30pm Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Southern Arizona

18th 11:30am Women’s Foundation of Southern Arizona

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March 2018 2nd 6:00pm Gootter Foundation

24th 5:00pm Tucson Museum of Art & Historic Block

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26th 10:30am Emerge!

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ARIZONA JEWISH POST, August 11, 2017

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NATIONAL / WORLD A Jewish professor reflects on teaching at a Catholic school in a Muslim country RON KAMPEAS JTA

WASHINGTON ear the end of his first year teaching American studies at the Georgetown University campus in Qatar, Gary Wasserman introduced a dozen Israelis to a dozen undergraduates from across the Middle East.

Then he left the room so the students could have an unfiltered discussion.

The one-hour meeting was part of what Wasserman calls his “liberal quest” to overcome biases — grounded, he said, in part by his Jewish upbringing.

But the encounter wasn’t exactly a success. Afterward, a Lebanese student came to his room, tears in her eyes.

An Israeli had asked her during the encounter, “You hate us, don’t you?”

In his forthcoming book “The Doha Experiment,” about his gig directing the Georgetown American studies program in Qatar from 2006 to 2014, Wasserman uses the incident to identify a duality that was typical of his time on campus: the quest for connections outside of one’s comfort zone, on the one hand, combined with intense fears of people raised in radically different cultures.

“We were part of a university that provided a place to think and talk,” Wasserman said he told the Lebanese student, who had been trapped at her aunt’s house during the 2006 Lebanon War. “And while this didn’t seem like much now, it was really all we had to offer. I felt inadequate and sad.”

Wasserman’s initial mission — shared by Georgetown and the Qatari government — was to bring an Americanstyle free exchange of thought to the deeply traditionalist

Photo : Georgetown University-Qatar

N

Gary Wasserman, left, strolls through a corridor on the Georgetown campus in Qatar with his students in 2012.

Gulf state.

But that expectation soon tamped down into a more limited one: that young people get a decent education and get along with folks from vastly different political cultures.

“There’s a liberal, missionary impulse that you are bringing pluralism, globalization and tolerance to a part of the world that needs it,” Wasserman, who is now retired, told JTA recently.

Within months, Wasserman wrote, his original idealism had abated — but then, so had his own fears about being a Jew in Qatar.

“I began my journey both apprehensive and idealistic,” he wrote. “I ended it less apprehensive and also less idealistic.”

About the apprehension: Wasserman, the author of

a popular political science textbook who had taught at Columbia and Georgetown, appalled friends and family when he decided to go to Qatar. With the memory of the 9/11 terrorist attacks still fresh, many in his circle questioned the rationality of a Jew moving to what seemed like the belly of the beast at the time.

Their pleadings had an effect, and he consulted with a psychologist who happened to be a European Jew about how to deal with his anxieties. His sessions had a surprising denouement.

“You’re not crazy to be scared,” Wasserman quoted the psychologist as saying in their final session. “You’re crazy to go. Haven’t you been watching the news? These people hate Jews. They’re anti-Semites. I’ve dealt with these f’kakta Nazis all my life. Stay away from them. They’ll never change.”

“This went on for a while,” Wasserman wrote. “(He was being paid by the hour.)”

Nonetheless, in Qatar, Wasserman encountered barely any personal animosity because of his Jewishness. In one poignant passage, he described his concerns after his identity became common knowledge on campus — a staffer had let it slip.

“It was too easy to imagine their unspoken responses: ‘Y’know, he’s Jewish.’ ‘Yeah, I could tell.’ Or, ‘So that’s what those horns are.’ Or, ‘No wonder he flunked me,’” Wasserman wrote. “I might have overthought this. One student later said to me, after she had graduated, that the only student discussion she recalls about my religion was the worry that I might feel isolated and out of place.”

Instead, the hostility toward Jews — and Israel — was expressed in more generalized settings, particularly the conspiracy theories that proliferate in Arab countries.

See Professor, page 20

RON WEST

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AJP

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CONSERVATIVE

Congregation anshei israel

5550 E. Fifth St., Tucson, AZ 85711 • (520) 745-5550 Rabbi Robert Eisen, Cantorial Soloist Nichole Chorny • www.caiaz.org Daily minyan: Mon.-Thurs., 7:30 a.m. & 5:30 p.m.; Fri., 7:30 a.m.; Sun. & legal holidays, 8 a.m. & 5:30 p.m. / Mincha: Fri., 5:45 p.m. / Shabbat services: Sat., 9 a.m., followed by Kiddush; Tot Shabbat, 1st Fri., 5:45 p.m.; Family Service, 3rd Friday, 5:45 p.m.; Holiday services may differ, call or visit website. / Torah study: every Shabbat one hour before Mincha (call or visit website for times) / Talmud on Tuesday, 6 p.m. / Weekday Torah study group, Wed., 11 a.m. beverages and dessert provided.

Congregation Bet shalom 3881 E. River Road, Tucson, AZ 85718 • (520) 577-1171 Hazzan Avraham Alpert • www.cbsaz.org Services: Fri., 5:30 p.m. (followed by monthly dinners — call for info); Sat., 9:30 a.m.-noon, Shabbat Experience includes free break-out sessions for children and adults, followed by Kiddush lunch and discussion led

by Rabbi Dr. Howard Schwartz and Dr. David Graizbord 12:30-1:30 p.m. / Daily services: Mon.-Fri. 8:15 a.m.; Sundays and legal holidays, 9 a.m.; Hagim 9:30 a.m.

ORTHODOX

Congregation ChoFetz Chayim/southwest torah institute 5150 E. Fifth St., Tucson, AZ 85711 • (520) 747-7780 Rabbi Israel Becker • www.tucsontorah.org Shabbat services: Fri., Kabbalat Shabbat 15 minutes before sunset; Sat. 9 a.m. followed by Kiddush. / Mincha: Fri., 1 p.m.; Sat., 25 minutes before sunset, followed by Shalosh Seudas, Maariv and Havdallah. Services: Sun., 8 a.m.; Mon. & Thurs., 6:50 a.m.; Tues., Wed., Fri., 7 a.m.; daily, 15 minutes before sunset. / Weekday Rosh Chodesh services: 6:45 a.m.

Congregation young israel/ChaBad oF tuCson 2443 E. Fourth St., Tucson, AZ 85719 • (520) 881-7956 Rabbi Yossie Shemtov, Rabbi Yudi Ceitlin • www.chabadoftucson.com Daily minyan: Sun. & legal holidays, 8:30 a.m.; Mon. & Thurs., 6:30 p.m.; Tues., Wed., Fri., 6:45 a.m. / Mincha & Maariv, 5:15 p.m. / Shabbat services: Fri. at candlelighting; Sat. 9:30 a.m. followed by Kiddush.

Mincha, Maariv and Havdallah TBA.

ChaBad on river 3916 E. Ft. Lowell Road • (520) 661-9350 Rabbi Ram Bigelman • www.chabadonriver.com Shabbat services: Fri., Mincha at candlelighting time, followed by Maariv. / Sat., Shacharit service, 9:30 a.m. / Torah study: women, Tues., 10 a.m.; men, Thurs., 7 p.m.

ChaBad oro valley 1217 W. Faldo Drive, Oro Valley, AZ 85755 • (520) 477-8672 Rabbi Ephraim Zimmerman • www.jewishorovalley.com Shabbat services: 3rd Fri., 5 p.m., Oct.-Feb., 6 p.m. March-Sept., all followed by dinner / Sat. Torah study followed by services, 10 a.m. Shabbat morning minyan, 1st Sat., 10 a.m., followed by Kiddush.

ChaBad sierra vista 401 Suffolk Drive, Sierra Vista, AZ 85635 • (520) 820-6256 Rabbi Benzion Shemtov • www.jewishsierravista.com Shabbat services: Sat., 10:30 a.m., bimonthly, followed by class explaining prayers. Visit website or call for dates.

REFORM CONGREGATION CHAVERIM 5901 E. Second St., Tucson, AZ 85711 • (520) 320-1015 Rabbi Stephanie Aaron • www.chaverim.net Shabbat services: Fri., 7 p.m. (no service on 5th Fri.); Family Shabbat, 1st Fri., 6 p.m. / Torah study: 2nd Sat., 9 a.m., followed by contemplative service,10 a.m.

REFORM

Congregation Kol simChah

(Renewal) 4625 E. River Road, Tucson, AZ 85718 Mailing Address: 2732 S. Gwain Place, Tucson, AZ 85713 • (520) 296-0818 Shabbat services: 1st and 3rd Fri., 7:15 p.m.

Congregation m’Kor hayim 3888 E. River Road, Tucson, AZ 85718 (Tucson Hebrew Academy) Mailing Address: P.O. Box 31806, Tucson, AZ 85751 • (520) 904-1881 Rabbi Helen Cohn • www.mkorhayim.org Shabbat services: 2nd and 4th Fri., 7 p.m. / Torah study, 2nd and 4th Sat., 9:30 a.m.

Congregation or Chadash 3939 N. Alvernon, Tucson, AZ 85718 • (520) 512-8500 Rabbi Thomas Louchheim, Cantor Janece Cohen www.orchadash-tucson.org Shabbat services: Fri., 6:30 p.m.; 1st Fri., Friday Night LIVE (Oct.-May); 2nd Friday, Tot Shabbat (Oct.-June), 6 p.m.; Sat., 10 a.m. / Torah study: Sat.,8:30 a.m.

the institute For JudaiC serviCes and studies Mailing Address: 36789 S. Golf Course Drive, Saddlebrooke, AZ 85739 (520) 825-8175 • Rabbi Sanford Seltzer Shabbat services: Oct.-April, one Friday per month at 7 p.m. — call for details.

temple emanu-el 225 N. Country Club Road, Tucson, AZ 85716 • (520) 327-4501 Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon, Rabbi Batsheva Appel • www.tetucson.org Shabbat services: Fri., 5:45 p.m., with 5 p.m. pre-oneg, through August; Sat., 10 a.m. / Torah study: Sat., 8:30 a.m. except when there is a Rabbi’s Tish.

temple Kol hamidBar 228 N. Canyon Drive, Sierra Vista • (520) 458-8637 http://kolhamidbar.tripod.com Mailing address: P.O. Box 908, Sierra Vista, AZ 85636 Shabbat services: Fri., 7:30 p.m.

OTHER

Beth shalom temple Center

1751 N. Rio Mayo (P.O. Box 884), Green Valley, AZ 85622 (520) 648-6690 • www.bstc.us Shabbat services: 1st and 3rd Fri., 7 p.m. / Torah study: Sat., 10 a.m.

Congregation etz Chaim (Modern Orthodox) 686 Harshaw Road, Patagonia, AZ 85624 • (520) 394-2520 www.etzchaimcongregation.org • Rabbi Gabriel Cousens Shabbat services: Fri., 18 minutes before sunset / Torah study: Sat., 9:30 a.m. handmaKer resident synagogue

2221 N. Rosemont Blvd., Tucson, AZ 85712 • (520) 881-2323 www.handmaker.com Shabbat services: Fri., 4:30 p.m., led by Lindsey O’Shea, followed by Shabbat dinner; Sat., 9:30 a.m., led by Mel Cohen and Dan Asia, followed by light Kiddush lunch.

seCular humanist Jewish CirCle www.secularhumanistjewishcircle.org Call Cathleen at 730-0401 for meeting or other information.

university oF arizona hillel Foundation 1245 E. 2nd St. Tucson, AZ 85719 • 624-6561 • www.arizona.hillel.org Shabbat services: Reform, Conservative, Orthodox and alternative services two Fridays each month when school is in session. Dinner follows (guests, $8; RSVP by preceding Thurs.). Call for dates/times.

Photo: Maria Gawne

A reA C ongregAtions

Dennis Tamblyn as Max Bialystock, Matt Holter as Leo Bloom and Liz Cracchiolo as Ulla.

KORENE CHARNOFSKY COHEN Special to the AJP

I

f the woes of our country and the world are getting you down, perhaps you need a dose of something downright silly. Arizona Onstage Productions will provide the remedy with their production of Mel Brooks’ classic comedy, “The Producers,” which will be performed Aug. 19, 20, 26 and 27 at the Berger Performing Arts Center.

Annette Hillman, who will be directing this production, says AOP founder Kevin Johnson contacted her in January, saying that people need a really funny show because the mood in the country is so dark. “He ran it by a couple of rabbis too, in case it wasn’t appropriate for the time and he wanted to be respectful,” says Hillman, who is Jewish. “They all gave him the thumbs up.”

“I usually gravitate toward dark shows such as “Les Miserables” and “Sweeney Todd,” and seldom towards silly,” says Johnson. “Given the last several months of goings on in the world; the tensions, fears, and concerns — I need to laugh. We need to laugh and laughter can heal.”

The story line for “The Producers” follows Max Bialystock, a smarmy Broadway producer, and Leo Bloom, his mild-mannered accountant, who have come up with a sure-fire scheme to make millions. First, they sweet talk some little old ladies into giving them their life’s savings. Then, they find a script — the most notorious flop in history, “Springtime for Hitler,” guaranteed to close after the first performance. Only one thing could go wrong: the show becomes a smash hit! The 2001 Broadway version of “The Producers,” adapted from Brooks’ 1968 film, won 12 Tony Awards, more than any other musical, including “Hamilton.”

Brooks and others have been criticized for the humor in the production, but Hillman says that on a recent PBS “Independent Lens” show, Brooks, Rob Reiner, Sarah Silverman, Gilbert Gottfried and survivors explored humor and the Holocaust. Those interviewed for the show, she says, came to a “general agreement that there is a line, but with Hitler, the general feeling is that if you shine a light on hate, like germs, it dissipates that hate. And humor is a weapon.” She quotes Brooks as saying, “How do See Producers, page 19

18

ARIZONA JEWISH POST, August 11, 2017

ARTS / LOCAL ‘Balcony’ film avows a woman’s place is in the shul the congregation.

But everyone inSpecial to the AJP terprets the Torah a little differently, et among a don’t they? congregation Rabbi David of observant issues instrucJews in a quiet tions for dressneighborhood in ing modestly in the Old City, “The public that are an Women’s Balcony” affront to some begins with a bar of the women, mitzvah and ends while others are with a wedding. fine with the new But there’s discipline. This plenty of tsuris A scene from ‘The Women’s Balcony’ fi ssure between (trouble) between longtime friends adds a dramatic subplot whose stronthe celebrations, triggered by a structural collapse just before the haftorah that shutters the shul and threatens gest aspect is that it allows us to observe the lives of religious women when the men aren’t around. (An the foundation of the affable community.

Things fall apart and, happily, fall back together interview with screenwriter Shlomit Nehama: jpost. stronger than ever in this skillfully constructed, crowd- com/Israel-News/Culture/View-from-The-Womenspleasing saga of reasonableness fending off extremism, Balcony-474340) The prevailing dynamic between husbands and and humanism triumphing over ideology.

Emil Ben Shimon’s spirited film, from Shlomit Ne- wives is also challenged by Rabbi David’s teachings, hama’s warm, wise screenplay, pays unusual homage to of course. Zion (Igal Naor) and Ettie (Evelin Hagoel), the autonomy and power of women in Jewish religious middle-aged and deeply in love, are the main couple patriarchies. The Women’s Balcony both honors and we get to know in “The Wedding Balcony,” and the acpokes fun at traditional roles and relationships, but it is cretion of details depicting their steady, solid relationunambiguous in its critique of an adherence to scripture ship imbues the film with texture and heart.

The movie’s attention to Ettie and Zion (and their felthat overrules fundamental values of compassion and understanding. low congregants, to a lesser degree) subtly reminds us “The Women’s Balcony” opens today at the Loft. that the real problem with authoritarian philosophies With their aged spiritual leader sidelined by shock and dogmatic policies is the way they impact individuand grief — the rebbetzin was injured when the bal- als on an everyday level. cony gave way, and the rabbi remains riveted to her Meanwhile, the community is grateful for Rabbi Dabedside — the small congregation struggles to navigate vid’s energy and plans for repairing and renovating the the way forward. synagogue. Every successive pronouncement and act, The status quo is further disrupted by an ultra-Or- however, excludes the women from the decision process thodox man who chances to be walking by one morn- and pushes them to the margins of their own shul. ing when the men are struggling to make a minyan. In Rabbi David is indifferent to the idea that he has a calculated twist of fate, this helpful fellow turns out to planted the seeds of a resistance, and he underestimates be a rabbi, and he notes the congregation’s leadership the women’s resolve — and their ability to strategize. void and shrewdly moves to fill it.

“The Women’s Balcony” deepens as it goes, smoothSmartly, “The Women’s Balcony” doesn’t position ly combining a humanistic worldview with a timely Rabbi David (Aviv Alush) as a total opportunist and political undercurrent. It delivers witty, intelligent and villain (even if he wears a black hat). Sure, his sermons emotionally satisfying entertainment, along with a reare more conservative than his adopted flock is used to tort to Israel’s powerful religious conservatives. hearing, and his attitude that a women’s place is in the “The Women’s Balcony” is in Hebrew with English home is contrary to the ethos that defines and binds subtitles, 96 minutes, unrated.

MICHAEL FOX

Go to jewishtucson.org.

Photo courtesy Menemsha Films

S

SIGN UP FOR PJ LIBRARY and each month your Jewish child age 6 months to 8 years will get a FREE Jewish book or CD in the mail.

PRODUCERS continued from page 18

you get even with the man? You bring him down with ridicule. It’s been one of my lifelong jobs — to make the world laugh at Adolph Hitler.”

Hillman, who has degrees in theater from California State University at Long Beach and Purdue University, has directed twice for AOP: “Jewtopia” and “Gutenberg: The Musical.”

“Both of these were some of the happiest experiences in my theater career,” she says. “Kevin always picks interesting projects.” She also works full time for the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at the UA. Asked how she manages to have time and energy for

theater, she replies, “I’m nuts and am a big fan of Monster drink. But truthfully, I’m no different than most of the cast and crew in this show. We all do it because we love it and have a blast. It’s an incredibly collaborative form. You have dancers, musicians, choreographers, designers, crew and actors. Plus, in Tucson there are not many opportunities to do a big musical, which we all kind of get our ‘geek’ on.

“This production has some of the finest voices in Tucson, beautiful showgirls, dancing little old ladies, singing accountants — we’ve got it all. Plus, I staged about four Easter eggs (an inside joke hidden in a work) from other Broadway musicals in it. See if you can find them.”

For ticket information, visit arizonaonstage.org or call 882-6574.

August 11, 2017, ARIZONA JEWISH POST

19

DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun “DeGrazia’s Fun and Games” Playful children, adults, and angels are featured in this selection of paintings and drawings that span several stylistic eras and more than forty years of Tucson artist Ted DeGrazia’s career.

An opening reception for the exhibit will be held from 5:00 to 7:00 pm on Friday, September 1st, at the Gallery in the Sun. 520.299.9191 | www.degrazia.org | 800.545.2185

6300 North Swan Tucson Arizona 85718

NETANYAHU continued from page 13

which he will perform community service and pay a fine rather than serve a prison time.

But even with Harow’s testimony, the going will still be slow. According to a handy explainer in Haaretz, police are not expected to issue their recommendation until after the High Holidays late next month. If police recommend an indictment, it could still take several months until the attorney general formally indicts Netanyahu. Even then, he isn’t legally required to resign.

Which is why the prime minister’s fate may come down to pressure from fellow politicians and the pub-

PROFESSOR continued from page 17

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Wasserman said his favorite anecdote in the book is the student who told him that another teacher had said that “the Mossad was behind 9/11, and also that 9/11 was not a bad idea.”

He asked the student how both ideas could coexist in one person’s head. The student “looked at me for a moment, resigned that yet another naïve foreigner failed to appreciate how holding two contradictory opinions at the same time was consistent with the political views permeating the region,” Wasserman wrote.

Another student, Ella, graduated at the top of the class.

Shortly after, Wasserman saw an interview with Ella in a local newspaper in which she was asked for her impressions of the 2012 U.S. election. Her “depressing” answer, as he put it: “It really didn’t matter because the Zionists controlled the banks, the media, and both political parties and wouldn’t let anything change in America.”

Perhaps Wasserman’s most foolhardy quest was to teach the students about how the pro-Israel lobby functioned as a curative to the overly expansive description of its influence in the 2007 book by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, “The Israel Lobby.” (Disclosure: This reporter and Wasserman collaborated for a period in the late 2000s on a book on the pro-Israel lobby. It found no buyers.)

“In my lecture, I tried to leave the class with a simple point: the power of the pro-Israel lobby had been inflated by supporters and opponents alike for their own reasons,” he wrote. “Although clearly a powerful player in foreign policy, AIPAC was only narrowly influential and constrained by other public and political interests.”

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ARIZONA JEWISH POST, August 11, 2017

Did the students get the message? Not quite. Later in the book, Wasserman related that he often found that the students bought into myths of Jewish influence — but with admiration, not contempt.

Wasserman, alongside other faculty on campus, came to accept that they were not the vanguard of progressive values in Qatar. Instead, they set more modest ambitions, such as one-to-one opportunities to lend a hand to those seeking a way out of a society that was stifling, especially to women.

He wrote about a student wearing an abaya — the robe-like dress worn by some women in parts of the Muslim world — entering his office and asking him to write a letter recommending her for graduate studies in England. He was happy to — she had good grades — but she could not articulate what exactly she wanted to study, making it a challenge for him to tailor the letter to specifics that would help her.

“I don’t really want to go to graduate school,” she told him, “but if I stay in Doha, my family will make me get married. Going to London for grad school is acceptable to them. For me, it means I can put off getting married and not have to confront my parents.”

It was encounters like these that left Wasserman hopeful about bridging divides, he told JTA. “The problem is you don’t want encounters conducted on the basis of Jew and Muslim, Christian and Buddhist, because it isolates one identity and sets up a polarity,” he said.

Bring Israelis over for a semester, not just an afternoon, he said, so they would have the time to find other commonalities with their Arab and Muslim counterparts.

“They will share things like a harsh father or questions about devotion or career goals,” he said.

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lic. A poll by Israel’s Channel 10 found that 66 percent of Israelis believe Netanyahu should resign if indicted.

There is intrigue within Netanyahu’s Likud party as well, with some ministers openly backing him while another, speaking anonymously, said he should resign if indicted.

(Un)fortunately, there’s a precedent for this decision: Nine years ago, facing multiple corruption scandals, centrist Prime Minister Ehud Olmert resigned even before police recommended an indictment. But stepping down didn’t help him, as Olmert was sentenced to prison in 2015 and served 16 months before going free in July.

Nor did resigning help Olmert’s Kadima party. His successor, Tzipi Livni, lost the subsequent election in 2009 — to Benjamin Netanyahu.

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(JTA) A bipartisan array of former top national security officials urged President Donald Trump to stick to the Iran nuclear deal, saying that war with Iran is “more imaginable” today than it has been in five years.

The statement was published Tuesday on the website of the magazine of The National Interest, a conservative think tank. It was responding to reports that Trump may refuse to certify Iran’s compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which trades sanctions relief for a rollback of Iran’s nuclear program, when the next assessment period comes around in October.

“The international agreement with Iran continues to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. No American national security objective would be served by withdrawing from it as long as Iran is meeting the agreement’s requirements,” read the statement. signed by nearly 50 men and women who are either former senior officials of the U.S. government or prominent national security leaders who have not held senior government positions.

“To the contrary,” the letter continues, “given continuing assurance by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that Iran is in compliance with

Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

NATIONAL / ISRAEL Former top national security officials urge Trump to stick to Iran nuclear deal

President Donald Trump, left, and Stephen Bannon at the swearing-in of senior staff at the White House, Jan. 22.

the agreement, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), such a unilateral act would have grave long term political and security consequences for the United States.”

The signers recommend a “comprehensive policy toward Iran that furthers U.S. national security interests,” including American leadership in the JCPOA; a follow-up agreement that would extend terms of the deal farther into the future; and an additional consultative

body on major disputes in the area.

The letter also suggests establishing a regular channel of communication at a senior level between the U.S. and Iran, and regular consultations among U.S. allies and partners in the region to share information and coordinate strategies.

They warn that a U.S. rejection of the JCPOA could push Iran to return to its pre-agreement nuclear enrichment program under far weaker international monitoring.

Trump last month recertified Iran’s adherence to the 2015 deal brokered by President Barack Obama. But he did so reluctantly, at the urging of his national security adviser, H.R. McMaster; his defense secretary, James Mattis; and his secretary of state, Rex Tillerson. They argued that decertification would alienate U.S. allies because Iran is indeed complying with the deal’s strictures.

However, within days of giving the go-ahead to recertify, Trump reportedly tasked a separate team, led by his top strategic adviser, Stephen Bannon, to come up with a reason to decertify Iran at the next 90-day assessment in October.

The signers include: Morton Abramowitz, former assistant secretary of state for Intelligence and Research; Robert Einhorn, former assistant secretary for nonproliferation and secretary of state’s special adviser for nonproliferation and arms control; Morton Halperin, former director of policy planning at the State Department; Daniel Kurtzer, former ambassador to both Israel and Egypt; Carl Levin, former U.S. senator and chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services; and Barnett Rubin, former senior adviser to the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

FBI: Israeli-American teen who threatened JCCs sold his bomb threat services (JTA) The Israeli-American teenager accused of making hundreds of threats against Jewish community centers in the United States sold his bomb threat services.

(The Tucson Jewish Community Center was among the facilities threatened, with one incident in February and another in March.)

Michael Kadar, 19, from Ashkelon in southern Israel, also offered to frame others for the threats for a higher fee, the FBI reportedly alleges in newly unsealed court documents reported Tuesday by The Atlantic and The Daily Beast.

The teen sold his services on Alpha-

Bay, a “dark web” marketplace website selling illegal goods and services that was closed by U.S. authorities in July.

He reportedly sold his services from $30 for a single threat to $90 for “emailed bomb threat to a school districts\multiple schools + framing someone for it.”

Kadar also wrote in his online advertisement under the screen name Darknet Legend: “there is a no guarantee that the police will question or arrest the framed person. I just add the persons name to the email. In addition in my experience of doing bomb threats putting someones name in the emailed threat will reduce the chance of the threat being successful.

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But it’s up to you if you would like me to frame someone.”

The messages were found on a flash drive confiscated by the Israel Police during a raid on the teen’s bedroom earlier this year. Police reportedly identified an individual in California who is believed to have ordered and paid for Kadar’s threats.

He was charged in district court in Israel in April with thousands of counts on offenses that also include publishing false information, causing panic, computer hacking and money laundering.

He was arrested in Israel in March in a joint operation with the FBI.

According to the indictment Kadar, who has dual U.S. and Israeli citizenship, made threats to 2,000 institutions around the world, including the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., and other Israeli diplomatic missions, schools, malls, police stations, hospitals and airlines.

Threats to three airlines, including Israel’s national carrier El Al, led to planes making emergency landings, dumping fuel and requiring military escorts, according to the indictment.

The teen’s parents and attorney have said Kadar has a benign brain tumor that affects his behavior, as well as a very low IQ.

Robin Sue

Tucson’s #1 Realtor for 12 Years August 11, 2017, ARIZONA JEWISH POST

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ARIZONA JEWISH POST, August 11, 2017

A. Steven Ulin, M.D., died July 7, 2017, just two weeks shy of his 100th birthday.

Dr. Ulin was born in Philadelphia and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and University of Pennsylvania Medical School. After his service with the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II, he began his medical practice in Chattanooga, Tenn., in 1946. During his 50 years in Chattanooga, he served as president of the Jewish Community Center and as a board member of the Jewish Federation and B’nai Zion Synagogue. He also served on the board of the Chattanooga Diabetes Association.

Dr. Ulin was pre-deceased by his brothers, Dr. Alex Ulin of Philadelphia and Dr. Louis Ulin of Chattanooga.

Survivors include his wife of 75 years, Eleanor; his children, Joy (Paul) Greenberg of Tucson, Rosalind (John) Mellen of Seattle and David (Nancy) Ulin of Maui, Hawaii; seven grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren; and sister-in-law, Adele Baras of Birmingham, Ala. Graveside services were held at Evergreen Cemetery with Rabbi Batsheva Appel of Temple Emanu-El officiating.

Memorial contributions may be made to Temple Emanu-El, 225 N. Country Club Road, Tucson, AZ 85716, or B’nai Zion Congregation in Chattanooga.

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Carolyn Rosen Kippur Hein, 84, died July 30, 2017.

Mrs. Hein was born in Denver and was active in the Jewish community there, including organizing the first ORT chapter, volunteering for BMH/BJ (a modern Orthodox synagogue), and fundraising for Yeshiva Toras Chayim.

Mrs. Hein was predeceased by her son Bruce and his widow, Merrie. Survivors include her sons, Steve Kippur and Gary (Tandy) Kippur, both of Tucson; brother, Harold (Marjory) Rosen; seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Services and interment were in Colorado.

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REFLECTIONS An email unlocks a treasure chest of family history, new possibilities AMY HIRSHBERG LEDERMAN Special to the AJP

Photo courtesy Amy Hirshberg Lederman

I

t all began in 2001 with my mother’s insatiable desire to discover more about her background and family. I had heard stories since I was a young girl about her parents who had tragically died within a month of each other, leaving my mother an orphan before her third birthday. I had seen pictures of Jamilla Danino, my mother’s paternal grandmother, who raised my mother and her sister in a small apartment in Long Beach, N.Y., after their parents died. And I knew that the gold bracelets my mother gave me on my wedding night had once belonged to Jamilla. They were part of her bride price when she was married at the age of 12 to a man three times her age to become his second wife. Those same bracelets were on her wrists when Jamilla left her home in Alexandria, Egypt, and sailed to Palestine, where she gave birth to my mother’s father soon after her 13th birthday.

Because of resources like Ancestry. com, I was able to research my family history in the privacy of my home when most people, including my family, were asleep. I spent hours in what felt like an endless maze, attempting to create a family tree. But after a while, I felt like I was on a family treasure hunt, looking for clues to connect names, dates, marriages and secret trysts, as I scoured reams of national public records, data banks, ship archives and religious documents that might help answer some of my mother’s questions. And what I found was a treasure chest of our family history.

Where was the half-uncle who disappeared? Was it a suicide or illness that killed a third cousin? Was her great-grand-

Family members in Paris in April 2017 (L-R): Lauren Lederman, Amy Lederman, Ema Nachmani, Bella Bernard and Mariyam Nachmani

father Moshe Franco really the Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Palestine in 1911?

More than 10 years into my research, I received an email from a woman who found me searching for a connection on her family tree. It took only one phone call for us to establish that Faride, who lived in Toronto, was one of eight surviving half-cousins that my mother had never met. From that moment on, my mother went from feeling like a “motherless child” to a woman surrounded by the family she had yearned to know for more than 80 years.

What followed is nothing short of miraculous. Six months after that lifechanging email, newly discovered cousins from Toronto, Montreal, Paris and Corsica arrived at my parents’ home in New Jersey to meet my mother. And since that October day in 2012, my mother has spoken weekly with at least one of her “new” cousins as they continue to share stories and relate family narratives — one story, one memory, one photo at a time.

Perhaps it was her love for my mother that inspired my daughter, Lauren, to delve further into our family history, or

her need to dig deeper into her family roots to ground herself after the death of her father in 2015. Or maybe it was the article she read about the Spanish law passed in June 2015, granting Spanish citizenship to Sephardic Jews who could prove their ancestors were expelled from Spain in the 15th century. Any one of these, worthy motivations to be sure.

In the fall of 2016, Lauren began the arduous task of trying to establish her claim of Spanish ancestry and become a citizen of Spain. For more than half a year, she ran her own kind of family “inquisition,” which included spending hours on the couch with my mother, poring over old family photos, handwritten letters and legal documents written in Aramaic, French and Spanish. Their time together was priceless, giving my mother an opportunity to visit her memories and share childhood stories, a gift that enabled them to become more intimate with each other.

When Lauren announced that she had decided to fly to Madrid in February 2017, it was no surprise. She left with a tiny overnight bag but a huge purpose

 to live in Spain and provide the government with the myriad documents required to prove her claim to citizenship.

This included notarized letters in Spanish from Sephardic rabbis in New York, birth certificates, ketubot dating back to the mid-1800s, and other documents she discovered doing archival research. She spent weeks studying for the Spanish citizenship exam, taken in Spanish. When she received her notice from the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain that she had succeeded in establishing her Sephardic origins, she was beyond thrilled. And when the notice came that she had passed the Spanish citizenship test, we all let out a cheer. The final hurdle in this journey is a passing grade on the Spanish equivalency exam that she took in July and receipt of confirmation from the Spanish government that she can become a dual citizen of Spain and the United States.

Lauren’s story is not just about a personal success; it is about a familial one as well. The yearning to know more about our background often increases with age.

It can lead us to discover relationships, truths, stories and insights that enrich and guide us. When we know about our family history, we become like leaves that are part of a tree. We are connected to something substantially larger than our own lives, with roots that sink deep into our family’s soil. And just as in nature, we may find that the deeper the roots, the stronger the tree.

Amy Hirshberg Lederman is an author, Jewish educator, public speaker and attorney who lives in Tucson. Her columns in the AJP have won awards from the American Jewish Press Association, the Arizona Newspapers Association and the Arizona Press Club for excellence in commentary. Visit her website at amyhirshberglederman.com.

August 11, 2017, ARIZONA JEWISH POST

23

COMMUNITY CALENDAR The calendar deadline is Tuesday, 10 days before the issue date. Our next issue will be published August 25, 2017. Events may be emailed to localnews@azjewishpost.com, faxed to 319-1118, or mailed to the AJP at 3822 E. River Road, #300, Tucson, AZ 85718. For more information, call 319-1112. See Area Congregations on page 18 for additional synagogue events.

Men’s Mishnah club with Rabbi Israel Becker at Cong. Chofetz Chayim. Sundays, 7:15 a.m.; Monday-Friday, 6:15 a.m.; Saturdays, 8:15 a.m. 747-7780 or yzbecker@me.com.

Chabad of Sierra Vista men’s tefillin club with Rabbi Benzion Shemtov, first Sundays, 9 a.m., at 401 Suffolk Drive. 820-6256 or jewishsierravista.com.

“Too Jewish” radio show with Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon on KVOI 1030 AM (also KAPR and KJAA), Sundays at 9 a.m.

Beth Shalom Temple Center of Green Valley bagel breakfast and Yiddish club, first Sundays, 9:30 a.m. Members, $7; nonmembers, $10. 648-6690 or 399-3474.

Southern Arizona Jewish Genealogy Society, second Sundays, 1-3 p.m. at the Tucson J. Contact Barbara Stern Mannlein at 731-0300 or the J at 299-3000.

Cong. Anshei Israel parent-tot class for children up to 24 months with new facilitator, Amanda Stark. Mondays, 9-11 a.m. Free. Mandatory vaccination policy. Call Lynne FalkowStrauss at 745-5550, ext. 229.

Cong. Bet Shalom yoga. Mondays, 9 a.m. and 4:30-5:30 p.m. Also Wednesdays, 9 a.m. $5.

577-1171.

Temple Emanu-El mah jongg, Mondays at 10 a.m. 327-4501.

Jewish Federation-Northwest chair yoga

Saturday / August 12 11 AM - 1 PM: Cong. Bet Shalom "Camp Shabbat" for children ages 6-10, led by Israeli teens.

Lunch Included. Free, no RSVP required. Continues weekly. 577-1171.

Sunday / August 13 9 AM: Cong. Anshei Israel Religious School first day, for Jewish children kindergarten through eighth grade. Call Rabbi Ruven Barkan at 7455550, ext. 227, or visit caiaz.org.

10:30 AM: Cong. Or Chadash Brotherhood baseball trip to Phoenix to see Diamondbacks vs. Cubs. Bus leaves from 3750 W. Orange Grove. $40; includes bus and ticket. RSVP to Scott Krasner at skrasner.kmc@gmail.com.

11 AM: Temple Emanu-El Kurn Religious School pizza party and registration. 327-4501.

NOON-2 PM: Cong. Anshei Israel Kadima USY youth group first day, for children grades 4-6; meets twice monthly. Call Rabbi Ruven Barkan at 745-5550, ext. 227 or visit caiaz.org.

2-4 PM: Temple Emanu-El presents "A Taste of Judaism," with Rabbis Samuel M. Cohon and Batsheva Appel, at the Tucson J. A three-part introduction to the basics of Jewish spirituality, values and community; continues Aug. 20 and 27.

Free; registration required at 327-4501 or temple@ tetucson.org.

3:30-5:30 PM: Cong. Anshei Israel adult educa-

24

ARIZONA JEWISH POST, August 11, 2017

ONGOING with a Jewish flair taught by Bonnie Golden.

Mondays, 10-11 a.m., except for Sept. 4 and Dec. 25. $7 per class or $25 for four. 505-4161 or northwestjewish@jfsa.org.

and teachings. Tuesdays, 10:30-11:30 a.m.

Free. Email Brian Yosef Schachter-Brooks at byosef@torahofawakening.com or visit torahofawakening.com.

Cong. Anshei Israel mah jongg, Mondays, 10 a.m.-noon All levels, men and women. Contact Evelyn at 885-4102 or esigafus@aol.com.

Tucson J social bridge. Tuesdays and Thursdays, noon-3 p.m., year round. Drop-ins welcome. Meets in library on second floor. 2993000.

Northwest Knitters create hand-stitched items for donation in the Jewish community.

Meets at Jewish Federation Northwest Tuesdays, 1-3 p.m. RSVP to judithgfeldman@gmail. com or 505-4161.

Tucson J current events discussion, Mondays, noon-1:30 p.m. Members, $1; nonmembers, $2. Lunch, bring or buy, 11:30 a.m. 2993000, ext. 147.

Jewish sobriety support group meets Mondays, 6:30-8 p.m. at Cong. Bet Shalom. dcmack1952@gmail.com.

“Along the Talmudic Trail” for men (18-40), with Rabbi Israel Becker of Cong. Chofetz Chayim. Includes free dinner. Mondays, 7 p.m. Call for address. 747-7780 or yzbecker@ me.com.

Spouse Bereavement Group, cosponsored

by Widowed to Widowed, Inc. at the Tucson J, Tuesdays, 10 a.m. Contact Marvin at 885-2005 or Tanya at 299-3000, ext. 147.

JFCS Holocaust Survivors group meets Tuesdays, 10 a.m.-noon. Contact Raisa Moroz at 795-0300.

Jewish Federation-Northwest mah jongg, Tuesdays, 5:30 p.m., except for Aug. 8, Sept.

12, Oct. 24 and Nov. 14, and Wednesdays, 12:30 to 3:30 p.m., except for Sept. 6. 5054161.

Cong. Anshei Israel Talmud on Tuesday with Rabbi Robert Eisen, Tuesdays, 6 p.m. 7455550.

Tucson J Israeli folk dance classes. Tuesdays. Beginners, 7:30 p.m.; intermediate, 8:15 p.m.; advanced, 9 p.m. Taught by Lisa Goldberg. Members, $5; nonmembers, $6. 2993000.

ext. 241, or concierge@jewishtucson.org.

Cong. Anshei Israel gentle chair yoga with Lois Graham, Wednesdays, 9:30-10:30 a.m.

Members of Women’s League, $6 per class; nonmembers, $8 per class. Contact Evelyn at 885-4102 or esigafus@aol.com.

Chabad of Sierra Vista women’s class with Rabbi Benzion Shemtov, last Wednesdays, noon-2 p.m., 401 Suffolk Drive. 820-6256 or jewishsierravista.com.

Chabad Tucson lunch and learn with Rabbi Yehuda Ceitlin, Wednesdays, 12:15 p.m. at Eli’s Deli. info@ChabadTucson.com.

Jewish mothers/grandmothers special needs support group for those with children/ grandchildren, young or adult, with special needs, third Wednesdays at 7-8:30 p.m. at Tucson J. Contact Joyce Stuehringer at 299-5920.

Tucson J canasta group. Players wanted.

Thursdays, noon. Instruction available and a beginners’ table every week. Call Debbie Wiener at 440-5515.

“Biblical Breakthroughs with Rabbi Becker” at the Southwest Torah Institute. Fridays, noon, for men and women. 747-7780 or yzbecker@ me.com.

Cong. Bet Shalom Integral Jewish Meditation, with Jewish chanting, meditation

Shalom Tucson business networking group, second Wednesday of month, 7:30-9 a.m., at the Tucson J. Contact Ori Parnaby at 299-3000,

Tucson J art exhibit, "Wings of the Desert"

by Ric Nielsen, explores nature through photography, focusing on entomology; through Aug. 23. Call 299-3000 or email bfenig@ tucsonjcc.org.

tion program: "The History of Israel/Palestine from 1900 to the Present," with Ken Miller. Program continues Aug. 20 and 27. For pricing, call Tamara at 745-5550, ext. 225.

the Tucson J, for ages 7-15. USAT members, $27.25; nonmembers, $37.25 includes USAT registration. To register, visit tucsonjcc.org/event/ usat-splash-dash or call Amy Dowe at 299-3000.

on the patio, including blowing the shofar, to mark the first day of Elul, the month preceding Rosh Hashanah. Everyone is encouraged to bring their own shofar. Light refreshments follow. 745-5550.

10 AM-NOON: Cong. Chaverim open house.

Meet Rabbi Stephanie Aaron, cantorial soloist Diana Povolotskaya, education director and teachers. Enjoy the rabbi’s chocolate chip pancakes.

320-1015.

7-8 PM: Cong. Anshei Israel adult education kollel: "Living Y/Our High Holy Days …

Together" begins with Rabbi Robert Eisen on “Bound to Wonder! The Binding of Isaac as Told by Josephus.” Series continues Aug. 30, with cantorial soloist Nichole Chorny: "Hineni: Here I Am, But Am I Here?" and Sept. 6, with Rabbi Ruven Barkan: "This Is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared," discussion of book by Rabbi Alan Lew. $18 per person for three-week series, plus food donation for the Community Food Bank. RSVP by Aug. 21 to Tamara at 7455550, ext. 225.

Monday / August 14 6-8 PM: Temple Emanu-El presents "A Taste of Judaism," with Rabbis Samuel Cohon and Batsheva Appel, at Nanini Library, 7300 N. Shannon Rd. (at Ina Road). A three-part introduction to the basics of Jewish spirituality, values and community; continues Aug. 21 and 28. Free; registration required at 327-4501 or temple@ tetucson.org.

Friday / August 18 5 PM: Temple Emanu-El Chardonnay Shabbat pre-oneg with wine, cheese, fruit and crackers.

Followed at 5:45 p.m. by Chardonnay Shabbat Rocks! service with 9th grade, and at 7:15 p.m.

by Monsoon Membership Madness family Shabbat dinner: Adults, $12; children 12 and under, free. RSVP for dinner at 327-4501.

5:45 PM: Cong. Anshei Israel Family Shabbat Experience service and dinner. Dinner follows service at 7 p.m., then open lounge with games.

Dinner: $25 per family (2 adults and up to 4 children); $10 adults (13+). RSVP by Aug. 14 at 7455550 or caiaz.org.

Sunday / August 20 7-11 AM: USA Triathlon Splash and Dash at

12:45-6:45 PM: Tucson J youth basketball league K-8 tryouts. Times vary according to age.

Visit tucsonjcc.org or call 299-3000, ext. 191.

4-6 PM: Cong. Or Chadash Mini Jewish Food Festival, featuring Klezmerkaba. Meet and greet with Rabbi Thomas Louchheim and Cantor Janece Cohen. Chopped liver, latkes and more.

Free. Call Eileen Cook at 512-8500.

Tuesday / August 22 NOON-2 PM: Temple Emanu-El presents "A Taste of Judaism," with Rabbis Samuel Cohon and Batsheva Appel, at Beth Shalom Temple Center, 1751 North Rio Mayo, Green Valley. A three-part introduction to the basics of Jewish spirituality, values and community; continues Aug. 29 and Sept. 5. Free; registration required.

RSVP at 327-4501 or temple@tetucson.org.

Wednesday / August 23 6:30 AM: Cong. Anshei Israel "Sunrise" minyan

Thursday / August 24 11:45-1 PM. Temple Emanu-El "The Zohar: Soul-Text of Kabbalah," with Rabbi Samuel Cohon. Class meets on Thursdays, and explores the Zohar using the new translation by Danny Matt.

Fees per session: Members, $45; nonmembers, $60. RSVP at 327-4501.

6-8 PM: Temple Emanu-El presents "A Taste of Judaism," with Rabbis Samuel Cohon and Batsheva Appel, at Temple Emanu-El. A three-part introduction to the basics of Jewish spirituality, values and community. Continues Aug. 31 and Sept.

7. Free; registration required. RSVP at 327-4501 or temple@tetucson.org.

FRIDAY / AUGUST 25 5 PM: Jewish Federation-Northwest Tot Shabbat, with Rabbi Batsheva Appel of Temple EmanuEl, at Jewish Federation-Northwest. RSVP at 5054161 or northwestjewish@jfsa.org.

5 PM: Temple Emanu-El Chardonnay Shabbat pre-oneg with wine, cheese, fruit and crackers, followed by Kabbalistic Shabbat service at 5:45 p.m. 327-4501.

6 PM: Temple Emanu-El Northwest Shabbat dinner and service with Rabbi Batsheva Appel, at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, 7650 N. Paseo Del Norte. Kosher chicken dinner (vegetarian upon request) followed by Shabbat service at 7 p.m.

Dinner: Members, $12; nonmembers, $14; children 12 and under, free. RSVP at 327-4501.

6:30 PM: Cong. Or Chadash 7th and 8th grade family Shabbat service, followed by ice cream oneg. 512-8500.

9:30 PM: Temple Emanu-El Downtown Shabbat at Jewish History Museum, 564 S. Stone Ave., with the Armon Bizman band and Rabbi Samuel Cohon; oneg follows. 327-4501.

SATURDAY / AUGUST 26 2-4 PM: Secular Humanist Jewish Circle salon for members and prospective members will discuss: "What experiences am I likely to share with other Jews?" Bring finger food to share.

For directions, RSVP to Becky at 296-3762 or schulmb@aol.com, or to Susan at 577-7718 or srubinaz@comcast.net. Information at SHJCaz.org.

5:45 PM: Cong. Anshei Israel Havdallah Happening. Includes socializing, a Shabbat story and light meal, and an orientation to the rituals of Havdallah. Service follows at 7:20 p.m. Geared to children 3 years old to third grade. Call Rabbi Ruven Barkan at 745-5550, ext. 227.

9:15-10:45 AM: Cong. Anshei Israel Chai Mitzvah adult education Initiative. Monthly, Sundays through April 22, 2018, culminating with a Shabbat service and dinner on Friday, May 11, 2018.

Includes study, ritual and social action. In honor of each participant, a tree will be planted in Israel at the end of the program. Course fee: Members, $36; guests, $50. RSVP to Rabbi Robert Eisen at 745-5550, ext. 230 or rabbi@caiaz.org.

SUNDAY / AUGUST 27 11 AM: Cong. Or Chadash Hebrew and basic Judaism class orientation. Classes start Sept.

10. All levels welcome. Contact Rabbi Thomas Louchheim at thomas@octucson.org.

10:30 AM-NOON: Jewish Tucson Shalom Baby welcome event at the Tucson J. Bring your baby/ toddler through age 3, collect a gift bag from local synagogues and Jewish agencies, and meet other families. Refreshments. Contact Ori Parnaby at 299-3000, ext.241.

1-5 PM: Temple Emanu-El Hebrew Marathon with cantorial soloist Marjorie Hochberg. Learn to read Hebrew in two fun sessions. Continues Aug. 28, 6-9 p.m. Members, $45; nonmembers, $60. Call JoAnne Naef at 327-4501 to register.

UPCOMING MONDAY / AUGUST 28

5 PM: Jewish Federation-Northwest and Hadassah Southern Arizona book club discusses "Love and Treasure" by Ayelet Waldman. Refreshments. 505-4161.

THURSDAY / SEPTEMBER 7

1:30 PM: Hadassah Southern Arizona presents "Shhh … Our Matriarchs Are Speaking II," with Rabbi Helen Cohn of Congregation M'kor Hayim and Rebbetzin Esther Becker of Congregation Chofetz Chayim. Includes coffee, cake and a silent auction of arts, crafts and baked goods created by Jewish women. Donated items welcomed. Contact Rochelle at 403-6619 or rdr823@aol.com. $36 ($18 is tax deductible). Mail check, payable to Hadassah, to Rochelle Roth, 4325 N. Sunset Cliff Road, Tucson 85750.

SUNDAY / SEPTEMBER 10

10:45 AM: Women’s Academy of Jewish Studies summer reading and brunch with Esther Becker, at Cong. Chofetz Chayim. $36; includes copy of “Cracks in the Wall,” a novel by Uri Raskin. Call Becker at 747-7780 to arrange to pick up book.

MONDAY / SEPTEMBER 18

Tucson J elder rehab program for ambulatory seniors with mild to moderate memory loss, ages 50+, pairs each participant with a University of Arizona intern or volunteer for physical and cognitive-linguistic exercises and games.10-12 weeks, twice weekly at the J. Times vary. $275, plus nonrefundable $60 physical assessment fee. Contact Sharon Arkin, retired UA research scientist, at 6032912 or arkinaz@earthlink.net.

August 11, 2017, ARIZONA JEWISH POST

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IN FOCUS

1 =4 DISTRIBUTED MEALS

$

PROJECT ISAIAH

Tucson’s Annual High Holy Days Hunger Project Benefiting the Community Food Bank

To schedule a volunteer date at the Community Food Bank for your organization, please call the volunteer office at 882-3292. Friends and families welcome. ❏ I/We would like to support Project Isaiah with a donation in the amount of $_______ Name(s) Address City/State/Zip Phone e-mail ❏ Check enclosed (payable to JCRC) ❏ Visa ❏ MC ❏ Amex Acct.

Exp.______ Billing Zip_______ Signature

canned meats & vegetables, canned soups, cereal & granola bars, peanut butter, rice & pasta, beans, canned tomato products and fruit.

Coordinated by the

Israeli scouts entertain

Jewish Federation

More than 200 people enjoyed a performance by the Israel Scouts, part of the annual Tzofim Friendship Caravan U.S. tour, at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on Thursday, June 29. The scouts dance and sing songs in Hebrew and English. Founded in 1973, the first Caravan came to the United States to bring a message of hope and peace for Israel.

OF SOUTHERN ARIZONA

Info: Contact Ori Parnaby at the JCRC, 299-3000 x241 or visit www.jfsa.org

Photo: Itsik Roytman / JLI

Fax to 577-0734, or mail to JCRC, Attn. Ori Parnaby, 3822 E. River Rd., Tucson, AZ 85718

Most needed foods include:

Marty Johnston, courtesy Weintraub Israel Center

Please drop off bagged donations between September 1–October 2, 2017 at your synagogue or agency. Monetary donations, payable to the JCRC, also welcomed. 100% of funds will be given to the Community Food Bank.

Chabad rabbi addresses educators

Rabbi Yehuda Ceitlin, outreach director of Chabad Tucson, was a featured presenter at the annual educators’ conference of the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute at Grand Prospect Hall in Brooklyn, N.Y. on Monday, June 26. “If you are passionate about what you teach, students will connect their passion to yours, and the result is wonderful,” he told the 500 participants.

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Be sure to let them know the Arizona 26

ARIZONA JEWISH POST, August 11, 2017

Jewish Post sent you.

OUR TOWN B’nai mitzvah Erica Amara Bickart, daughter of Erin Bickart, will celebrate becoming a bat mitzvah on Saturday, Aug. 19, 2017 at Temple Emanu-El. She is the granddaughter of Fran and Jeff Bickart of Tucson.

Erica attends Marana Middle School where she is on the honor roll and the volleyball team.

She enjoys playing soccer and volleyball and horseback riding.

For her mitzvah project, Erica is collecting pet supplies to donate to the Humane Society of Southern Arizona.

Jake Ashton Centuori, son of Kim Paskal and Steve Centuori, will become a bar mitzvah on Saturday, Aug. 19, 2017 at Congregation Or Chadash.

He is the grandson of the late Herbert Paskal and the late Evelyn McNeill, both of Tucson.

Jake attends Orange Grove

Middle School.

He enjoys video gaming, cooking, and singing in his band.

For his mitzvah project, Jake is volunteering at Integrative Touch for Kids, an organization that provides integrative wellness services to families with children with special needs.

Business briefs The JEWISH FEDERATION OF SOUTHERN ARIZONA has hired CLAUDIA LOPEZDIAZ as the new office assistant.

LopezDiaz will have a variety of administrative duties in addition to serving as receptionist. She earned a Bachelor of Science in physiotherapy at the University of Cape Town and is currently completing her dissertation for her master’s degree in public health through the University of Liverpool. Born in Cape Town, South Africa, she moved in 2012 to Bahrain to work as a cardiac physiotherapist at the BDF Hospital. She moved to Tucson in 2016 with her husband, a U.S. Navy recruiter.

The JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SOUTHERN ARIZONA has hired HOLLY FLETCHER as executive assistant. Fletcher worked previously with Habitat for Humanity Tucson, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs and The Aspen Institute Berlin. Fletcher, who was born in India to parents in the Foreign Service, holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and religious studies from the University of Arizona.

JENNIFER SELCO has been named director of Jewish life and learning at the TUCSON JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER, a new position. She will also JOEL BRESLER, a resident oversee arts and cultural proof Oro Valley, has published a gramming with Barbara Fenig, new comedic novel, “The Moswho was hired several months kowitz Code” (Tasfil Publishing, ago as arts and culture director.

LLC), in which Mike Moskowitz finds his life turned “tush- Selco grew up in the Los Angeles area and earned a over-teakettle” when his doctor Bachelor of Arts in Jewish studies from UCLA and a makes a typo in his medical re- Master of Arts in education and a Master of Business cord. Bresler’s previous books Administration from American Jewish University. She include “Sunderwynde Revisited” and “Letters to be moved from L.A. to Tulsa, Okla., where she was direcRead in a Heavily British Accent,” a finalist for both tor of education and programming at Temple Israel. the USA Book News and Indie Book Awards in the humor category.

People in the news

MARK RUBIN is one of six new members of the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona board of trustees. Rubin has been practicing law in Tucson for 35 years and currently serves as general counsel at Pima Medical Institute. Rubin served on and chaired the steering committee for B’nai Tzedek, a Jewish teen philanthropy group in Tucson, and the Tocqueville Society of the United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona. He is a founding partner of Social Venture Partners Tucson.

ELIZABETH PARSONS, a partner at FARHANG & MEDCOFF, was named one of the top 100 attorneys in Arizona

by AZ Business magazine. Parsons joined the firm in 2013 and was named a partner in March 2016. In addition to her professional duties she has been active as a board member for organizations serving youth, women, education, community leadership and economic development. She received her law degree from Georgetown University and holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science from James Madison University.

COREY CRAVENS joined the TUCSON JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER’s children, youth and camping services department as associate director.

Cravens has 15 years of experience in youth development. He received his bachelor’s degree in recreation from Missouri State and started his career with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Kansas City as director of Sports and Aquatics, a position he held for five years. Relocating to Tucson, he opened the Jim and Vicki Click Clubhouse with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Tucson and served as clubhouse director, and then worked with the Southern AZ YMCA’s.

Most recently, he worked with homeless and runaway teens at Our Family Services.

HOTEL CONGRESS, which has supported local nonprofits through in-kind giving and cash donations for many years, has added a $10,000 annual grant program to its philanthropic program. The deadline for the first round of grants is Sept. 30; see hotelcongress.com/ giving for more information.

JENNIFER FELIX is the new assistant director of aquatics at the TUCSON JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER, where she’ll help coordinate swim lessons for the J-Rays Swim School and serve as assistant coach of the Stingrays swim team. Felix, who earned her bachelor’s degree at the University of Arizona swam competitively throughout her youth and started lifeguarding and teaching swim lessons when she was 15.

At Congregation Anshei Israel, We’re Living Our Judaism Together!

How do I live my Judaism?

As a little girl, I would run up on the bimah during Shabbat services and jump in my father’s lap. When I recently celebrated becoming a bat mitzvah, I found myself standing on the same bimah, in front of the same congregation.

It reminded me that the congregation has…

To read more of Charlotte’s reflections on becoming a bat mitzvah at Anshei Israel, visit CAIAZ.org/Charlotte.

Congregation Israel Congregation Anshei Anshei Israel 5550 E.E.5th AZ85711 85711 5550 5thSt., St., Tucson, Tucson, AZ 745-5550 745-5550 •• caiaz.org caiaz.org

August 11, 2017, ARIZONA JEWISH POST

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PLAN FOR THE HOLY DAYS DEADLINE FOR GREETINGS IS TUESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2017 The Arizona Jewish Post will again observe Rosh Hashanah with a beautiful special edition.

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Don’t leave for vacation and return too late to place your personal holiday greeting in the Arizona Jewish Post.

For your convenience, we will accept your greeting now for the September 8 Rosh Hashanah issue!

A - $45

a L’Shan Tova u Tikatev

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ish ev eryone in the Jewish comm uni Happy ty a very & He a New Y lthy ear

YOU

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(or y

May the New Year Be Ever Joyous for You and Your Family

ME

B1 - $30

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B2 - $30

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55

(or your personal message) YOUR NAME

E

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this May ear be a y ce a of pe ll for a

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Please run my greeting in your holiday issue. I would like ad (circle one) A, B1, B2, C, D, E Name & Address ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ City, Zip & Phone______________________________________________________________________________________________________ The name(s) on the message should read: ___________________________________________________________________________________ I am enclosing a check for $________________. (All greetings must be paid for in advance.)

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ARIZONA JEWISH POST, August 11, 2017