Jewish News, June 14, 2024

Meet the first Phoenix City Council member to put up a mezuzah

‘TEKHELET’ MAKES ITS DEBUT

CBI members learn about adding the blue thread to their tzitzit

Greater Phoenix enlists billboard campaign to highlight antisemitism

MALA BLOMQUIST | MANAGING EDITOR

Hot-pink and white billboards with slogans such as, “Can a billboard end antisemitism? No. But you’re not a billboard.” and “We’re just 78 years since the gas chambers. So no, a billboard calling out Jew hate is not an overreaction.” can now be seen along major thoroughfares and freeways throughout Greater Phoenix thanks to a partnership between the Center for Jewish Philanthropy of Greater Phoenix (CJP) and JewBelong, a national nonprofit that hopes to fight antisemitism, encourages Jewish pride, and provides information for those curious about Jewish identity, religion and culture.

Archie Gottesman, the co-founder of JewBelong, created billboards to engage unaffiliated Jews when the company began. In 2021, in response to reports of increased antisemitism following an outbreak of violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, JewBelong switched the focus of its messaging from promoting Judaism to fighting antisemitism.

“Billboards are seen by everybody, no matter your point of view,” Gottesman told Jewish News when she was the keynote speaker at CJP’s Lighting the Spark Breakfast on March 7. Thus, using billboards is more effective in her view to convey messaging than targeted advertising based on algorithms formed by online behavior.

Richard Kasper, CJP’s CEO, sees the billboards serving more

SEE BILLBOARDS, PAGE 2

Arizona’s Jewish women leaders welcome

new head as they bid fond farewell to ‘beloved’ founder

From time to time, Rabbi Elana Kanter contemplates the life of Beruriah, a female sage in the Talmud, much admired for her breadth of knowledge of Jewish law and wisdom. Yet, as a woman of her time, Beruriah “had no place or context in which to offer her Torah,” Kanter wrote in Jewish News at the end of 2021.

Kanter, on the other hand, has built a reputation in Greater Phoenix as someone deeply invested in providing Torah education to women. In service to her ideals, she created the Women’s Jewish Learning Center (WJLC) in 2010 and added the Women’s Leadership Institute (WLI), a complimentary leadership cohort program, five years later.

“The most important part is the network of women we’ve created. Each individual can be a change agent but collectively we can do so much more, and that is where the power of the network lies,” Kanter told Jewish News.

The learning center’s classes have grown in size over the last decade, as has the number of leadership cohort applicants. Next fall, the ninth cohort will be the biggest yet.

Still, change comes even to the most successful programs and in January, Kanter wrote to participants with the news that she will step down as executive director in June. Rabbi Emily Langowitz “will be taking the reins of the organization, offering her wisdom, vision and talent to the WLI as it moves forward.” Additionally, the WJLC and WLI will become simply the Women’s Leadership Institute of Arizona (WLIA)

On Tuesday, May 7, the WLIA held a “Celebration of Achievement” at the Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center. In addition to recognizing

SEE LEADERS, PAGE 3

Juneteenth poem on display

The Children’s Museum of Phoenix will feature the poetry of a 13-year-old Black and Jewish girl this month. See page 9.

SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER

Rabbi Elana Kanter

Rabbi Emily Langowitz

said Jon Meyers, director of ADDPC.

“Our hope is to create and promote opportunities for people to be embraced, become part of the community and find equitable opportunities wherever they might live,” he said.

Meyers first came to know Stern through her mother, Amy Silverman, who read her personal essays about raising a daughter with Down syndrome on KJZZ, National Public Radio’s Phoenix affiliate station.

BILLBOARDS

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

than one purpose. “It’s not just about putting anti-Jewish hate in front of the community at large,” he said. “The idea is to put it in the faces of people who are not Jewish, and ought to be thinking about it, but also to send a message to people who are feeling frightened by what they see and hear — that there is a community around them to support them in this fight.”

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Rachel Hoffer, CJP’s board chair, hopes that the bright billboards, with their provocative phrases, will increase awareness about antisemitism and start conversations. “I also hope people who are Jewish see them and feel comfort that they are out there and that allies will see them and speak up, even more than they already have,” she said.

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Funded by a small group of local donors in collaboration with the CJP, there will be seven to 10 JewBelong billboards rotating from now until the end of 2024. In addition, there will be two billboards in partnership with Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s organization.

In March 2023, Kraft’s foundation launched the #StandUpToJewishHate campaign, which featured its signature symbol: a hashtag inside a solid blue

square. The company also ran ads during the 2024 Super Bowl and the NBA playoff games.

Meyers was so captivated by the essays that he reached out to Silverman, and the two became friends.

The billboards will have a clear message: “Stand up to Jewish hate. Stand up to all hate.”

That’s how Stern first learned of the open council seat, but there’s no doubt she earned her position, Meyers said.

about her Judaism with her fellow council members and speaking out for her rights and beliefs.

She already has some practice at advocating for herself.

“One time, I was in class and someone called me the R-word and I told him not to. The teacher was in the hallway and another student repeated the word,” she said. Rather than letting the situation go, she told her theater teacher, who was able to intervene.

“If someone has a disability, saying the R-word is like saying the F-word,” Stern said.

While performing in the musical “Hairspray,” she had another occasion to tangle with the offensive word, which appears in the script.

One of the billboards addresses the perpetrators of the Oct. 7 attack. “Let’s be clear: Hamas is your problem too.” will be on display in the month of July at I-10 and Miller Road in Buckeye, west of Phoenix.

To become a council member, Stern had to apply and demonstrate that she had something valuable to contribute, he said.

“She’s on the council because she deserves to be on the council,” he said.

The JewBelong billboards will be mainly static to allow the driver to read the entire message, unlike digital billboards that rotate. Since the messaging is shorter on the Kraft billboards, the electronic format works well for them.

“That’s really bad and my friend said it on stage. I was not OK with that, so I went to the director and told her it was a bad word for people with disabilities, but she wouldn’t take it out,” Stern said.

The billboards are strategically located to target heavy traffic patterns and different demographic areas. “We want to make sure that a large number of people see them and because they’re static, people are actually taking the time to look at them and read what they say,” said Hoffer.

Stern is creating a life and career as a member of her community, which makes her a great addition.

Stern graduated from McClintock High School in Tempe last year and now attends Glendale Community College, with a focus on dance. She is a regular performer at Detour Company Theatre, a Scottsdale theatre company for adults with intellectual, developmental and physical disabilities.

In the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, antisemitic incidents increased nationally by 360%, according to the AntiDefamation League (ADL). Arizona is not immune to this increase and a variety of incidents have occurred in the state, from antisemitic graffiti to a death threat emailed to a rabbi.

In fact, when Stern attended her first council meeting in January, she couldn’t wait to tell people of her involvement with Detour and share information about its upcoming shows.

Gottesman said she felt that message was important for non-Jews to see “because Hamas is a terrorist organization and they’re not just after the Jewish community, they’re after the Western World, and we need to be able to say that and be very clear about it,” she said.

She let her mother know about the conflict and they were able to convince the director of the need to remove the word from the script.

Gottesman said she knows the billboards are effective because of the responses she receives from Jews and non-Jews on social media and an increase in traffic to the JewBelong website.

“My friend Al was next to me when I told the director and he gave me the biggest hug ever and said that he loved me so much,” Stern said. Sadly, Al died in a car crash on Oct. 24, 2021.

Kasper said that he has seen mostly positive feedback on social media but occasionally there are negative comments.

“That was hard; it’s very hard to get emotions out and I was very, very upset,” she said.

Heart Can’t Even Believe It: A Story of Science, Love and Down Syndrome,” Silverman’s book about her daughter. When Gesher’s speakers’ bureau, Damon Brooks & Associates, was asked to find a speaker about Down syndrome for an event this spring, Hummell first asked Silverman to speak, thinking Stern might be too young.

They decided instead that Stern should tell her own story; it’s a real bonus that she is not afraid of public speaking.

“It’s not the same when someone tries to tell a person’s story for them,” Hummell said.

“There’s no question that she is going to thrive,” Meyers said. “She’s very gregarious and passionate about the things that matter to her.”

Stern looks forward to sharing insights

“This campaign will continue to remind people about what is happening in Israel and to highlight the very visible increase in antisemitic behavior — both in person, online and in media — which has erupted after Israel was attacked,” said Kasper.

“I don’t like seeing it, but it’s why we’re doing this in the first place,” he said. “It only highlights the fact that we have work to do.”

On the recent anniversary of his death, Stern made a cake and took it to the crash site.

“I don’t know how I did it without crying. I’m so proud of myself,” she said.

Amy Hummell, executive director of Gesher Disability Resources, agreed that Stern is a good fit for ADDPC because of her ability to self-advocate.

Hoffer said people have shared with her that they find the messages “powerful” and one friend who saw the “Does your church need armed guards? ‘Cause our synagogue does.” billboard, told her, “Wow, I’ve never thought of it that way.”

Additionally, helping people with disabilities find jobs was one of the reasons for acquiring the bureau. Unemployment in the disability community is upwards of 75% and of that percentage, 75% are ready, willing and able to work — but haven’t been given the opportunity, Hummell said.

“These are making people think. These are opening people’s eyes to what

Hummell co-hosted a book event with Meyers a few years ago for “My

“People have it in them to speak up but don’t know how, and often they’re not cheered on. Sophie has family support

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Sophie Stern at her

A billboard with a message from the #StandUpToJewishHate campaign from the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism. COURTESY OF CENTER FOR JEWISH PHILANTHROPY OF GREATER PHOENIX

A JewBelong billboard along the I-10 in Greater Phoenix. COURTESY OF CENTER FOR JEWISH PHILANTHROPY OF GREATER PHOENIX

the work of various members, it was a chance to bid an official farewell to Kanter and welcome Langowitz. More than 100 women attended.

“Tuesday night was a wonderful way to finish,” Kanter said.

Her words about Beruriah were part of a collection of local women rabbis’ reflections on the 50th anniversary of the ordination of Rabbi Sally Priesand, the first publicly ordained female rabbi in the United States. Kanter wrote at the time that she appreciated the progress that has been made but understood there is still work to be done on behalf of Jewish women, many of whom have struggled to make their voices heard.

“There are whole areas of Jewish scholarship that have only been opened up because of women scholars and rabbis. Parts of the arts, music, literature and other forms of creativity concerning women’s experiences have only been made possible because of the presence of women rabbis, artists and teachers. Women’s leadership has added immeasurably to the richness of Jewish life and experience around the world,” she wrote.

Kanter’s certainty that women’s participation and leadership enhance Jewish learning is the driving force behind her organizations.

Initially, she built a place for Jewish women to study Torah and to see the culture through a Jewish lens. Kanter taught five classes — “art, music, literature and everything related to Judaism” — in the fall and five in the spring. As far as it went, “all was well and good but it had a limited audience,” she told Jewish News.

Thus, she started WLI, where women in small and tight-knit groups might examine an article on business leadership, for example, with ideas about learning from failure and then look at a Hasidic text on the topic and compare and contrast.

“It was leadership skill development through Jewish textual analysis,” Kanter said.

While that idea still plays a huge role, Kanter quickly discovered that the relationships that grew and the connections made between individual women in the programs had a much more profound and lasting impact.

Early on, those relationships were left to chance, developed as a mere byproduct of learning. Kanter’s biggest regret is that she didn’t appreciate earlier that “the curriculum was secondary to the relationships and not the other way around,” she said.

Often, the women applying to be in a

is happening and what many of their Jewish friends, or they specifically, are experiencing,” said Hoffer.

“It shouldn’t be scary to be openly Jewish in America but for so many of us across the country that is our reality right

cohort would tell her that they were either new to Greater Phoenix and wanted to be involved in the Jewish community or were involved in their synagogue but didn’t know anyone outside of it.

“Then they become embedded in the larger community or are suddenly very involved in organizations they didn’t previously know existed,” Kanter said.

Jessielyn Hirschl, WLIA’s incoming board chair, credits the program for “much of my personal and professional success,” and said that Kanter has “a magic about her. People can be caring, but there’s something about her presence and the way she listens and leads that’s unique.”

In choosing Langowitz as her successor, Kanter found someone who also believes deeply in the power of fostering relationships. The ultimate goal is “increasing the presence of women in leadership in general, but more specifically, the presence of women in places where they can have greater input into Jewish communal decision-making.”

Langowitz is a familiar face, having arrived in Arizona in 2017 as the associate rabbi of Temple Solel in Paradise Valley. One of the first people to welcome her to the community was Kanter. The two have stayed close and Langowitz taught classes for Kanter’s learning center and participated in WLI celebrations. Until being approached by Kanter about taking her place, Langowitz was working remotely as the Jewish engagement and learning manager for the Union of Reform Judaism (URJ).

“I have been an admirer of the work Rabbi Kanter does for the last seven years,” Langowitz told Jewish News.

One attraction to the role for Langowitz is being able to work in service of the local community and teach in person again. She left Solel at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and resorted to Zoom calls to say her goodbyes; she stood in the parking

now,” said Gottesman. “Antisemitism is on the rise, but we can’t be afraid to speak up and fight back. We need allies.

Sparking the conversation is just the beginning.” JN

lot while congregants drove by and said farewell through car windows. Her work for the URJ was for a national audience and almost exclusively online. The classes she taught there allowed her only so much time, a few weeks, to get to know students.

Heading the WLIA will allow Langowitz once again “to have sustained relationships with people and be a part of their lives,” she said.

She credited Kanter with building something that allows women to make lasting connections, so much so that “if someone experiences a loss, the WLI alumni show up, just as if someone is celebrating something, people are excited for them. In that way, it almost feels like a teeny tiny synagogue,” she said.

Hirschl got involved with the organization “in a very difficult time in my life,” she told Jewish News. “I was welcomed into a family of strong women who wanted to lift me up.”

The organizational model is not exclusively about leadership skills or Jewish texts, though that’s part of it, “but there’s also mentorship and a sense of camaraderie,” Langowitz said. “My hope is that we continue to build that.”

The transition started in March, allowing Langowitz time to get “to know how the ins and outs of things work,” and she has no big changes to make in the first year.

“I don’t want to mess with a good thing. Elana is deeply beloved and I want to try to learn, get to know people, build relationships and keep moving forward.”

Kanter is stepping back completely for the first year, at least. She’s looking forward to making space for new projects as well as continuing her work at the New Shul.

“I’m not committing to anything else for the next year. I’ll figure out what the path looks like and go from there,” she said. JN

For more information, visit womenlearning.org.

For more information, contact info@phoenixcjp. org or visit jewbelong.com.

Jewish News is published by the Jewish Community

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On Tuesday, May 7, the Women’s Leadership Institute of Arizona held a “Celebration of Achievement.” It was a chance to bid farewell to its founder and welcome a new leader. COURTESY OF JESSIELYN HIRSCHL

Jewish leaders add their voices opposing border bill

SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER

Arizona’s Republican state legislators have succeeded in putting a divisive bill on the November ballot that would enlist the state’s police officers to arrest migrants and its judges to deport them. A number of the Valley’s Jewish leaders added their voices to a coalition of groups lined up against the “Secure the Border Act,” which, if enacted, would be one of the strictest immigration laws in the country.

Arizona Jews for Justice founder Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz and Temple Solel Senior Rabbi John Linder both spoke publicly last month against the ballot referral in front of the state capitol building at press conferences led by the American Business Immigration Coalition (ABIC).

On Wednesday, May 8, Yanklowitz told reporters that Jews have had a long history of living as refugees and asylum seekers without legal protections and understood on a gut level migrants’ fears.

“This is not a partisan or political issue; it’s a faith issue — to see the humanity of every person and stand up for their dignity and rights,” he said.

All people should be able to agree that

“a country based on fear mongering and anxiety is bad for everyone,” Yanklowitz said. For people to look over their shoulder as they go to work or to worship “creates a very unhealthy society.”

Two weeks later, on behalf of the Arizona Interfaith Network, Linder warned those gathered that should the legislation pass, it “would be devastating to our economy, drive the undocumented, our neighbors, into the shadows, once again tarnishing the very soul of our state.”

ABIC Intermountain State Director J. Enrique Sanchez believes that by incorporating religious voices alongside those of business leaders, the coalition will be strengthened because it “showcases the diversity of opposition to the legislation. It’s not limited to a single sector,” Sanchez told Jewish News.

Just hours after Linder spoke, Republicans in the Arizona Senate passed the legislation on a party-line vote. It passed after an amendment was added by Prescott Republican Senator Ken Bennett that got rid of one of the bill’s provisions targeting Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients.

The amendment also requires state troopers to witness, in person, someone crossing the southern border illegally or provide video or some other form of proof of an illegal crossing before there is probable cause for an arrest. The measure passed the State House on June 4 again with a party-line vote. A day later, the activist group Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA) filed suit to block it from the ballot.

Even with the amended language, the act empowers local police to stop and arrest any undocumented person they believe entered the state “from a foreign nation at any location other than a lawful point of entry.” Making such a crossing would become a state crime — a misdemeanor on the first offense and a felony on the second.

ABIC and other detractors of the legislation recall the difficulties Arizona faced after the 2010 passage of SB 1070, what colloquially came to be known as the “show-me-your-papers” law and led to lawsuits over allegations of racial profiling.

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ABIC sent a letter to the governor and state legislators, co-signed by Jewish business and organization leaders, calling the legislation a “turbo-charged version” of SB 1070, which “undermined Arizonans’ public safety, destroyed our reputation and deteriorated our economy as businesses and conventions boycotted the state for its anti-immigrant climate.”

The letter also listed the economic and cultural benefits brought to the state by immigration overall, as well as underlining the dangers to both business and the larger society of “election-year scapegoating” of immigrants.

“Arizona has seen this ‘movie’ before, and it did not end well,” according to the letter.

The letter was signed by Paul Rockower, Jewish Community Relations Council of Phoenix’s executive director; Civia Tamarkin, National Council of Jewish Women Arizona’s president; Temple Solel’s Rabbi Debbie Stiel; and Linder.

Jewish business leaders also signed the letter, including Goodmans CEO Adam Goodman, a prominent Jewish businessman and philanthropist. Goodman also released his own statement, which was read out at an ABIC press conference.

“It’s rare to find a policy proposal that has as much wrong with it as HCR 2060 (Secure the Border Act),” Goodman wrote and listed how various groups — businesspeople, libertarians, advocates for criminal justice reform and immigration reform — would find the law problematic for doing damage to the state’s economy, exploding the prison population, overburdening citizens and asking local law enforcement to do the work of the federal government.

Though every Republican senator voted for it, Goodman posited that “fiscal conservatives won’t like the unfunded mandates imposed on our corrections system.” Where the money comes from is one question that has not been answered. The ballot referral offers no cost estimates, though the Grand Canyon Institute, a non-partisan think tank, released a report estimating that the legislation will likely cost Arizonans at least $325 million per year, according to The Arizona Mirror. The state currently faces a budget shortfall of $1.3 billion.

Passing HCR 2060 as a ballot referral allowed Republicans to sidestep Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs’ earlier vetoes of border policies they put forward during the legislative session and send them to voters directly.

Sanchez said now that the legislation has been referred to November’s ballot, ABIC is planning a grassroots campaign to mobilize voters against it. He hopes to enlist more Jewish leaders to be part of that effort.

“Religious leaders can often mobilize their communities in ways others can’t, so we hope to expand our coalition and bring more Jewish community members in,” he said. JN

Arizona Jews for Justice founder Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz spoke publicly against HCR 2060 at the state capitol on Wednesday, May 8. COURTESY OF ARIZONA JEWS FOR JUSTICE

Mezuzah now adorns the office doorpost of a Phoenix city council member

SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER

On a Friday afternoon in late May, not quite two months after Carlos Galindo-Elvira was appointed to the Phoenix City Council, a few of his District 7 Jewish constituents and well wishers gathered to watch Chabad Rabbi Levi Levertov affix a mezuzah to the councilman’s office door in City Hall and offer a blessing.

Galindo-Elvira asked for Levertov’s assistance for a few reasons. The rabbi is a chaplain for the Phoenix Police Department and “is a person of high integrity.” Also, Levertov gave the invocation at GalindoElvira’s first city council meeting.

“That’s a very happy coincidence, and I felt it would be a nice bookend to that moment,” he said.

City council members have the opportunity to decorate their offices, and GalindoElvira selected several pieces of art that he felt represented the people in his district, as well as his personality. The mezuzah, a public sign of his Judaism, was the finishing touch.

He searched for a mezuzah cover that would “speak to me,” he said. Additionally, its background is blue, Galindo-Elvira’s favorite color, so “it stands out to me every day and stands out as people pass by, not to promote religion but to let them know it’s observed here.”

Levertov brought along a kosher scroll that fit perfectly inside the cover and explained where it should be positioned based on whether someone is Sephardic or Ashkenazi, straight up and down or at an angle.

As he put the scroll with its handwritten verses on parchment inside its cover, Levertov explained, “This has the holiness for you and will bless your office, your entire district and, God willing, it’s a reminder every day —”

“Of the work that needs to be done,” Galindo-Elvira interjected.

“Exactly,” Levertov concurred.

The metal doorpost required the use of silicon and invisible double-sided tape, which a city hall maintenance employee provided. As he did his work, GalindoElvira went to look for a yarmulke he usually keeps in his office. When he couldn’t find it, Levertov lent him his and held a hand over his own head in its place while together they said a blessing for affixing a mezuzah, first in Hebrew and then in English.

As the handful of people congratulated Galindo-Elvira on the events of the day, they wondered aloud if any other council member had ever put a mezuzah on their door. Levertov asked Mo (the maintenance employee) whether he knew. Mo responded that in 24 years on the job, this was his first experience with it and that he had not seen one on another office door.

Beth El Phoenix congregant Barbara Lewkowitz, who spent decades working with Phoenix’s city government, explained that decades ago, when her father and uncle were council members, they didn’t have offices in City Hall. Moreover, until recently, city regulations didn’t allow most personal items, including mezuzahs, crosses or other religious imagery.

Fern Ward and Jordan Ellel, both residents of District 7, were happy to receive the invitation and enjoyed the novelty of seeing a mezuzah on a council member’s office door.

Ellel said he’s lived in the district for years, but there aren’t a lot of Jews in his neighborhood. “We’re both here!” Ward chimed in with a laugh.

Amanda Garcia, Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Phoenix’s associate director, joined the group because

she’s “proud to be here for my friend and former JCRC board member. I’m really excited for him.”

Liza Oz-Golden also came to witness the blessing. She works for the City of Phoenix in planning and development and met Galindo-Elvira by happenstance. He saw her Israeli flag sticker, which led to an impromptu acquaintanceship. Two of Galindo-Elvira’s staffers also attended. The whole process took only a few minutes, but they were filled with joy, laughter and appreciation of an important Jewish symbolic moment. Galindo-Elvira couldn’t linger as he had another meeting to attend.

“When I first started, it was like a firehose of things happening and now it’s down to a garden-hose amount of stuff,” he laughed. He said he had been a bit overwhelmed with the amount of information he had to learn starting the day of his appointment and is grateful for “the professionalism and dedication from our city staff” who have helped him navigate it all.

That Friday was special for two reasons, Galindo-Elvira explained. The mezuzah was put up and he got to keep one of his promises to the city. He does not intend to run for the full term of the council seat in the next regular election and while he’s there, he is reinvesting his entire salary into the district’s nonprofit organizations.

On his desk was a map of the district and Leila Gamiz, the district chief of staff, pointed to the addresses of Unlimited Potential, Harvest Compassion Center, and St. Vincent de Paul, all longstanding charitable organizations in Phoenix which will receive Galindo-Elvira’s first three checks. Going forward, one check will go to a different organization every two weeks.

“Tzedakah is important to me,” he said. JN

Carlos Galindo-Elvira puts up his mezuzah while saying the blessing with Rabbi Levi Levertov. COURTESY OF JEWISH NEWS

Who

is this man in a white hat with the two flags?

In 1945, when this man’s father was 10 years old, he said to his father, “I’m glad that couldn’t happen in America.” He was referring to the antisemitism growing in Germany in the 1920s and 30s ultimately leading to the Holocaust. The man in the white hat grandfather’s response to his father was “that’s what the Jews in Germany thought”. Now it’s coming to a neighborhood near you. This is evidenced by the regular Pro Hamas protests along Scottsdale Road.

During the past several weeks, the man in the white hat and his good friend along with a growing number of Israeli supporters have been peacefully counter protesting the nearly daily Pro Hamas protesters along Scottsdale Road. Amplified with a megaphone, the chants of “River to the Sea”., “October 7th is not the date. It’s 1948.” Being called a Nazi and asked how many babies have they killed today is what the peaceful protestors endure. However, they are encouraged as local support is beginning to grow. In recent days, other volunteers have joined their cause. Additionally, passersby enthusiastically shout out “We support Israel” and “Am Yisreal Chai” which energizes the Pro Israel

counter protestors. Two weeks ago the 65 year old man in the white hat’s 88 year old father, at 5’ 3” holding himself up with a cane, joined the counter protest engaging in debate with the Pro Hamas Protestor. The son asked his father, “Why did you join our counter protest in your physical condition?”

The 88 year old father said, “As children, my father was called a dirty Jew, I was called a dirty Jew, you were called a dirty Jew, and I don’t want our grandchildren to experience the same thing.”

The man in the white hat goes on to say “throughout history Jews have been persecuted and expelled from nearly every county they have resided. If we only talk, but not act, this new wave of antisemitism will only grow. The grandfather was right. It could happen in this country.

For this cause, they are not asking for your money. Just more volunteers for the peaceful counter protests in hope the positive presence will overshadow the anti-Israel ugliness being heard in our community.

For more information, contact Martin Battock at mosheyitzchak18@gmail.com.

Temple Kol Ami rabbi celebrates ‘second bar mitzvah’ with a new Torah

SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER

Temple Kol Ami (TKA) Rabbi

Jeremy Schneider is celebrating a unique and quintessentially Jewish milestone this year. This summer, he marks the anniversary of his 13th year as leader of the Scottsdale synagogue (18 years in the rabbinate), and for the second time in his life, he is becoming a bar mitzvah, at least symbolically. The synagogue is sealing the milestone with the commission of a new Torah scroll.

“Only about once in a generation does a synagogue get the opportunity to commission a new Torah, and the board really loved the idea,” Schneider told Jewish News.

All the legwork involved, including hiring a Sofer, or Torah scribe, started more than a year ago. However, just before TKA was to host the first event in which congregants would help write the Torah “letter by letter,” Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7.

“We had put a lot of energy and effort into launching the Torah in honor of my

13th year and then the world changed,” Schneider said.

TKA immediately paused the Torah

Steve Casares

project, which, apart from being “a momentous occasion,” also serves as a fundraiser, and asked congregants to support Israel financially instead.

A few months ago, in February, the Sofer arrived from Miami to renew work on the Torah. The first morning he arrived began with a party that included TKA’s religious school, families and parents. Schneider had the honor of writing the first letter in the Torah.

“It was like a bar mitzvah party, but without reading from the Torah,” Schneider laughed.

The TKA board presented Schneider with a mezuzah, as they do for every b’nai mitzvah, and launched a year-long process of writing a new Torah. May 19 is the next event when those interested can sign up to spend 10 minutes writing a letter in the Torah with the scribe’s assistance, accommodating up to six families an hour.

“In a perfect world, we would have launched the process right after the last High Holidays and at the next High Holidays we would have unveiled our new Torah for the congregation. But life changed,” Schneider said.

Since Oct. 7, Schneider has observed that his congregation is “a place where our families can find a safe haven to share and grieve and celebrate and support each other,” he said. He’s proud of the growth of strong bonds between members of the synagogue, with the wider Jewish community of Greater Phoenix and with Israel.

Part of what drew him to TKA in the first place, was the synagogue’s small size (about 100 families), which allowed him to build close relationships with the

membership. Since then, the synagogue has quadrupled to just over 400 families. Its preschool as well as several grades in the religious school are nearing capacity; some grades even had to turn kids away for lack of space.

“I never wanted our congregation to grow larger than the ability of one rabbi to serve,” Schneider said. “We still think of ourselves as small, but actually we’re a small ‘big’ synagogue.”

His fear is getting so big that he won’t be able to serve everyone. Bringing on Cantor Noa Shaashua in 2022, another full-time clergy member, was an important step to contend with the growth. Schneider called her “the missing piece of the puzzle” and a wonderful partner and collaborator.

Reflecting on his 13-year tenure, Schneider noted that launching an online Hebrew school a dozen years ago, when some in the congregation had to be “dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century,” was a real highlight. Others embraced the concept immediately as “the greatest thing since sliced bread. They really understood my vision of a 21st-century synagogue, which maintained that it wouldn’t survive if it operated like it did in the 20th century.”

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, TKA’s pivot was a bit easier than some others because people had grown used to meeting virtually for some things. It’s now typical for synagogues to conduct hybrid services but “I like that we were there as a congregation community years before,” Schneider said.

“It’s hard to imagine and plan for the future. You throw lots of ideas up there and you never know what’s going to work, but I felt in my kishkes that it was the right thing to do.”

One of his favorite things about his bar mitzvah year is that the kids who are now becoming bar and bat mitzvah are the same kids whose baby naming ceremonies he oversaw. His first b’nai mitzvah are now adults, and one of his first students has recently reached out to him to officiate at his wedding.

Courtney Beyer, the synagogue’s immediate past president, appreciates that longevity. She sat on the search committee that hired Schneider while she was expecting her second child. She remembers thinking, “This is the rabbi who will bar mitzvah my children and be with them as they grow up.”

Beyer told Jewish News she felt instantly

Temple Kol Ami Rabbi Jeremy Schneider aids a Sofer in writing the first letter of a Torah scroll commissioned to celebrate his 13th year as the synagogue’s rabbi. COURTESY OF GEOFF KANE

Phoenix museum to display ‘passionate’ poetry of Black and Jewish girl

SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER

The Children’s Museum of Phoenix will feature the poetry of a 13-yearold Black and Jewish girl from Las Vegas this month. Arianna Shaprow, a recent bat mitzvah, is honored and excited to see a few of her poems on public display in Phoenix and other cities this summer.

“I wrote a poem that resonated with me and my feelings, emotions, my family’s experiences, and then I reached out to the museum and they wanted to have my poem featured. It was such an honor, honestly,” she told Jewish News.

The young poet’s “Juneteenth” will be displayed in the Children’s Museum of Phoenix during the month of June in honor of the federal holiday on June 19. Juneteenth commemorates the day in 1865, when some 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas, and announced that the more than 250,000 enslaved black people in the state were free by executive decree.

Shaprow’s poem was inspired, in part, by her own heritage. She explained that her ancestors were enslaved in Holly Springs, Mississippi, and in the early part of the 20th century, during the “Great Migration” — a historic period named for the large number of Black southerners moving to northern and midwestern cities — Shaprow’s relatives relocated to Chicago in search of a better life.

The fourth and fifth stanzas of her poem allude to what she imagines was the optimism of her family members and others uprooting their lives: “For so long/ we dreamed/ to be free/ And now/ we realized it was our destiny/Dreamed of transforming our lives/ our country/ Now we could strive/ for absolute equality/ Equity/ and property.”

Though her youthful optimism buoys the poem, Shaprow also explores the darker themes of white supremacy, exploitation and continued racism.

“It’s also so important, and I highlighted this in the poem, that even though they were freed, there was still racism and discrimination, injustice and inequality that we had to fight for, and we’re still fighting for more than 150 years later,” Shaprow said.

Ultimately, the poem strikes a hopeful note about the holiday and the freedom it represents. Though it hits home the need to be constantly vigilant and “keep striving” for “equality and equity,” it ends with the image of “A sky full of bright stars” and opportunities that are

“Endless/ Infinite …”

Perhaps tellingly, Shaprow’s punctuation is limited almost exclusively to ellipsis, three dots that usually indicate something is being left unsaid.

She started writing poetry in the third grade but only became serious about it in the last year. She now appreciates the art form because of its accessibility. “It’s a way to express your feelings and emotions and to talk about a topic you want to raise awareness about — that’s why it’s so powerful,” she said.

Working on poetry with both personal and broad themes, Shaprow took a stab at getting them in front of a wider audience and decided to reach out to various museums, even filming herself reading the poems.

“I thought a museum could be a perfect way to get it out to the public,” she said. She also knew there was a good chance it wouldn’t work but wasn’t intimidated by rejection.

“You have to keep trying and emailing to finally get a chance,” she said. Her persistence paid off and besides “Juneteenth,” she has two other poems that will be displayed at the Children’s Museum of Phoenix, one in August and one in November. Another poem about hate will be displayed at the Hip Hop Museum in Miami and the Discovery Children’s Museum in Las Vegas on June 18, the International Day for Countering Hate Speech. In the future, she hopes to put all her poetry in a booklet “to get it out to even more people, which would be cool.”

POETRY, PAGE 10

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Arianna Shaprow in Antelope Canyon

COURTESY OF JACQUELINE SHAPROW

JEWISH EDUCATION

TORAH CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

connected to the rabbi and valued his dynamism and his sense of humor.

“His humor is very endearing,” she said.

Beyer praised Schneider’s educational efforts, his connection with the children at TKA and his inclusiveness.

“His desire to grow and be a positive force hasn’t waned after 13 years. In fact, it’s even stronger now,” she said.

Beyer and her family will be among those writing a letter in the new Torah when the Sofer returns.

“I love the work that I do because I get to be in relationships with people and be a part of their lives,” he said.

The Sofer will return in the fall and the Torah’s completion and presentation will happen in early 2025, instead of at the High Holidays. Ultimately, the postponement is not important because once the Torah arrives it will be part of

POETRY

the synagogue and its legacy through the decades.

Schneider signed a lifetime contract with TKA in 2020, promising to spend his entire rabbinic career with the congregation and the Torah is a symbolic reminder of that covenant.

“I had the same rabbi for my entire childhood, and my kids have always known Rabbi Schneider,” Beyer said.

As his congregants become b’nai mitzvah, get married or celebrate any of the myriad lifecycle events, they will read from this Torah with Schneider standing at their side.

“Our families know that I’ll be there for these meaningful experiences, for their children and even their grandchildren. I won’t be around for hundreds of years like the scroll will, but I am going to be here for a long time,” Schneider said. JN

To learn more about Temple Kol Ami’s new Torah, go to templekolami.org/torahproject.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9

“Arianna writes with passion, maturity and candor that I find refreshing in such a young person. My hope is that Arianna’s work will help to foster and encourage future artists and wordsmiths, regardless of age,” said Holly Garner, Children’s Museum of Phoenix’s program manager.

In “Your Hate,” Shaprow’s poem about the dangers of hate speech, her verses are clearly from personal experience. She uses a first-person point of view and talks about being afraid. “I know you’re just trying to drive me mad/ But trust me/ It will be hard to do that after the life I’ve had.”

Shaprow said she has often struggled with her Black and Jewish identities “because people say I’m this, or I’m not that. I really wanted to incorporate that emotion into the poem,” she said.

She wrote the poem to call out any form of discrimination and “closedminded views” and to inspire people “to come together as a community and to teach love instead of hate to your children.”

Though she likes the idea of people reading her poetry, she is not too involved with social media, which has been identified as a driver of hate speech. She tries to take a nuanced approach, calling the platforms a place “to hear other people’s perspectives,” while still recognizing them as a place that “can be a big breeding ground for hate.” Thus, she wants “to stay kind of small right now because I’m not very old. I’m just 13, and I’m not ready for that.”

Her other poems, which will be displayed at the Children’s Museum of Phoenix later in the year, are inspired by

her visit to Northern Arizona’s Antelope Canyon and the Indigenous people and traditions she learned about; and a poem about music. Her great-grandfather was a jazz musician and played with William James “Count” Basie, who formed the Count Basie Orchestra in the 1930s. Shaprow, who will be an eighth-grader at Las Vegas’ Henderson International School next fall, has also used her poetry to help people with Alzheimer’s and dementia. She even created “Take Time to Remember,” a website for those interested in her work.

Working with the residents of the Silverado Red Rock Memory Care Community in Las Vegas, Shaprow uses the stories they tell her to write poems. She’s noticed that hearing their own words read back to them in new ways seems to help them remember more details.

“It’s just super nice to hear about their experiences, especially since they’re so wise and it’s so important not to take those experiences for granted, because they could really teach you a lot,” she said. JN

For more information, visit childrensmuseumofphoenix. org.

Arianna Shaprow celebrated her bat mitzvah in May. COURTESY OF JACQUELINE SHAPROW

JNF-USA recognizes ‘unstoppable’ women who still ‘believe in tomorrow’

MALA BLOMQUIST | MANAGING EDITOR

Photos of women and children still being held hostage in Gaza by Hamas were on display for attendees to see as they entered The Clayton House in Scottsdale on April 11. The Jewish National Fund-USA (JNF-USA) Women for Israel Luncheon “recognized the heroes, memorialized those we tragically lost and honored the unstoppable women of Israel.”

On each table was a photo of an “unstoppable” woman. Michelle Kort, co-chair of the event, shared the story of one. “Basma Hino is a Druze woman. The Druze are an Arab ethno-religious group. Her husband was injured in a previous war and passed away, never meeting his son. Basma opened her own restaurant and became an entrepreneur,” she said.

Kort explained that after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, there were no visitors to Hino’s restaurant, and she wanted to do something to support the soldiers. But she soon realized that half the soldiers couldn’t eat her food because it wasn’t kosher.

So Hino did something unheard of in her community — she became fully kosher. Today, she serves hundreds of soldiers a week and JNF-USA is working with her to provide the food and volunteers.

Emily Leva, also a co-chair of the event, shared the story of Dana Cohen, whose husband and the security team of their community were murdered by terrorists after they answered an S.O.S. call from a neighboring kibbutz. Cohen and three other widows are now raising 15 children as single parents.

“Oct. 7 changed the world, changed Israel and changed Jewish women forever,” she said. “As I look around the room today, I see women who hold many roles: mother, daughter, colleague, sister, friend and caretaker. I see strong, powerful women who refuse to remain silent in the face of heinous atrocities committed against Israeli women.”

“We are disappointed and disgusted at the failure of leading women’s rights and feminist organizations who have not condemned these atrocities nor shown solidarity with Israeli women,” said Kim Kotzin, Women for Israel’s national president and member of the Desert States board of directors.

“The women who suffer these atrocities are not abstract names, numbers, faces and bodies. They are our mothers, daughters, sisters and best friends. Some of them are still being held hostage in the darkness of Gaza, together with many others,” she said.

A short video with strong graphic images of women hostages, one with visible blood staining the back of her pants, was shown before the keynote speaker took the stage.

Keynote speaker Michal Uziyahu, development officer at JNF-USA in Israel, shared that she used to wonder how people could live in an area and raise their children in harm’s way. Then, in 2005, when Israel disengaged from Gaza and Hamas took control, she found herself living in one such area with her family. She lives in a moshav, a cooperative farming community, nine miles from the Gaza Strip.

She explained that they awoke to a new reality, the “15 second” reality. “Whenever someone shoots rockets towards our communities, we have 15 seconds to run for our lives. Can you imagine? 15 seconds — go! Try to imagine you’re taking a shower, and your toddler daughter is playing in the living room; 15 seconds — go! This is all (the time) that you have,” she said.

She said that sometimes it can be five rockets, 50 rockets or 150 rockets and sometimes it can be day after day of beautiful, sunny days. “I always say, it’s 95% heaven and 5% hell. And we insist on looking at the 95% and appreciate every good moment that we have in our lives,” she said.

SEE WOMEN, PAGE 12

“OCT. 7 CHANGED THE WORLD, CHANGED ISRAEL AND CHANGED JEWISH WOMEN FOREVER.”

DEMOCRAT FROM THE DISTRICT

My immigrant journey from Ireland and my wife’s escape from an extremist regime during the Iranian revolution shaped our reverence for American democracy.

This very district gave me and my family the opportunity to seek and achieve the American Dream, a dream we must deliver for future generations.

For almost 20 years, this was her routine, and she said her number one concern was never rockets but everyday things like “how to lose weight and how not to eat too many sufganiyot at Chanukah.”

“Nothing prepared us for Oct. 7,” she said. She woke up at 6:29 a.m. to a rush of rockets like she’d never heard before. Her family was hiding in the shelter when her son showed her a photo of one of his 17-year-old friends, who he was supposed to be with but changed his mind, being taken hostage into Gaza with a rifle aimed at his head.

“People are asking on WhatsApp, where is the Air Force? Why can’t we see the Army? Thirty minutes passed, then an hour, and another hour, and another hour … and no one came,” said Uziyahu.

Out of her community of 17,000 residents, 235 men, women and children were murdered and 128 were kidnapped. There are still 54 people she “loves and knows personally” in Gaza.

“They murdered us. They burned families alive. They raped and hurt us in the most sadistic ways you can imagine,” she said. “Genital mutilation, sexual torture, rape and not only to young women but also elderly women, men and children. Those that were raped, some were then

shot or burned alive.”

She shared the statistic that one in three women is subjected to sexual violence in their lifetime and she urged everyone to look around the room. “Maybe it’s the woman on your left? Maybe it’s the women to your right. Maybe it’s you?” said Uziyahu. “I was attacked sexually in my life. We feel helpless. We feel alone. We feel that no one will believe us. And

for years, we were trying to educate the world to believe women that were raped.”

She continued, “This was an act of terror and yet, it took the U.N. almost six months to admit that there is some evidence that we can recognize.”

She recounted when she was in the shelter, she told her children that they needed to survive, to believe that tomorrow would come. She refuses to let

what happened on Oct. 7 define her.

“We choose life. We believe in tomorrow. We are not victims,” she said. “They may have hurt us physically, but they did not, and they will not, break our spirit. I know I will never be like before Oct. 7, but I’m determined to become better and stronger.” JN

For more information, visit jnf.org.

From left, Emily Leva, event co-chair; Helen Locke, Desert States Women for Israel chair; Michelle Kort, event co-chair; and Kim Kotzin, president, JNF National Women for Israel board.

G-d’s muted voice

SHABBAT ENDS

JUNE 15 - 8:23 P.M. JUNE 22 - 8:25 P.M. RABBI MOSHE LEVERTOV

This week, during the holiday of Shavuos, we read the Torah portion of the giving of Ten Commandments at Sinai.

Our sages tell us that the entire world stood still when G-d revealed Himself and spoke. There was complete silence in all corners of the world — there wasn’t even the sound of echoes.

If you recall, the voice of G-d is what He used to create the world. The words G-d spoke blew life into every created being. With it, G-d put Himself — His essence — into the creation.

After thousands of years of separation between the spiritual and physical worlds, G-d decided that it was time to merge the two. It was time for the Creator to be felt by, and be known to, the created.

It wasn’t enough for G-d’s energy and life force to bring everything into existence. Rather, He wanted every created and

physical being to absorb His presence. To recognize that G-d, the source of all life, is their true essence and their entire existence.

And yet, after the giving of the Torah, G-d went back to the Heavens! When the shofar sounded, life on Earth went back to normal. The very voice that permeated everything on Earth to the core — strong, powerful and never-ending — stopped, too.

From that point forward, G-d reserved His voice for Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses). As we read in this week’s Parshah Nasso, G-d spoke to Moshe from the Holy of Holies (in the Mishkan/Tabernacle), teaching him Torah and passing on instructions to share with Am Yisrael.

Interestingly, though, this great and awesome voice of G-d — the one that couldn’t be stopped by the strongest steel and the thickest stone — was only heard by Moshe. And even then, only when he was in the Ohel Moed, the Tent of Meeting.

And it wasn’t because he had greater hearing than others or because G-d spoke to him in a low voice. Even when he was with his brother Aharon, the High Priest, only Moshe heard it.

Why did G-d limit His voice to a specific

time and place, when the whole point of using it was to merge and unite the Heavens and Earth, the spiritual and physical? Why was He muting His voice?

The whole point of the creation of the universe was to fulfill a deep desire and craving that G-d has.

That craving was that the lowest of the low — the furthest one can get from G-d — should welcome and recognize His greatness. So, He created a mundane, physical and coarse world, one where the true existence and nature aren’t recognized by each created being. And He “paid a visit” at Sinai and in the Tabernacle to tell us of His desire and show us how we can help Him get what He wants.

In giving the Torah and the commandments, He showed us the blueprints of how to fill our lives with meaning, imbue it with holiness and welcome G-d in. Doing so elevates our surroundings and makes the lowest of the low the most welcome place for G-d.

And this could only be done by G-d removing Himself. If He “stuck around,” if His voice had stayed and remained strong, the transformation wouldn’t be real. By

at JewishAZ.com, where you can also find our 2024 Community Directory.

Him interfering, it wouldn’t be coming from us.

That’s not how He wants it.

We’re at a point that many of us recognize as one of the most difficult in history. The world is confused. Humanity is at its most advanced point in history, yet many can’t see the difference between good or evil, righteous or immoral. And for us as a nation, just when it seemed things are OK, we find the world turning against the Jewish People.

It seems like the Word of G-d has stopped speaking. It seems like we’ve reached the darkest point. We’re finally at the “lowest of lows.”

So, after all these years of being faithful to G-d, following His commandments and keeping our faith, we turn to Him and say: Don’t you think it’s time to let the world hear your voice again? JN

The Jewish problem with Trump supporters saying his guilty verdict was ‘rigged’

RABBI AVI SHAFRAN | JTA

When the guilty verdicts in former President Donald Trump’s recent New York trial were handed down, Trump and his supporters rejected the decree, saying that the legal system had been rigged against him.

What came to my mind was a passage from the Talmud that describes how the losing party in a case should feel and behave.

Much in Western legal systems like our own owes itself to millennia-old Jewish jurisprudence. American law drew extensively from ideas of courts, witnesses and evidence rooted in the Torah. Concepts central to the areas of crime and torts, property and economics, charity and education, labor and other legal realms likewise have origins in the Jewish religious tradition.

But there is much, too, in American law that stands in stark contrast to Judaism’s view. Incarceration isn’t an option for punishment in Torah. Where, for example, “rights” reign supreme in our legal system, in Judaism, while things like property rights exist, the greater emphasis is not on rights but rather on doing right. American

constitutional law speaks of the right to pursue interests; Jewish law’s stress is on obligations and responsibility.

Then there is the idea of appealing a decision. While Jewish law, at least in the past, included a “Supreme Court,” the Great Sanhedrin, its function was essentially to sit on capital cases, and to resolve questions of law that were in doubt or the subject of dispute. There is no Jewish jurisprudential option for a disgruntled defendant to simply appeal any court’s rendered judgment to another court.

And, in fact, there’s no option in Judaism even for disgruntlement — which was the essence of the passage that floated into my head after the Trump trial verdict. Even when the very cloak on someone’s back was seized, the Talmud (in Sanhedrin 7a) says, since the court ruled that it belonged to the other litigant, the loser of the case should “sing a song and go happily on his way.” He has, after all, the commentaries explain, been relieved of the burden of possessing something that really, legally, wasn’t his.

Not quite the reaction we routinely

should be a maximum of 200 words. They may be edited for space and clarity. Unsigned

witness in our famously litigious world, and recently witnessed from Trump and much of his supportive mediaverse, where not only the verdict was derided as unfair or “rigged,” but where some overheated pundits and politicians, with scant basis other than their own disappointment, derided the entire judicial system as hopelessly corrupt.

That latter reaction — the attempt to undermine a law-based society’s courts — is not only wrongheaded but dangerous.

To be sure, there are courts in some countries that are inherently untrustworthy. And even an “international” court can prove itself beholden to particular interests and hence unworthy of respect. But the American legal system is inherently sound. Over its almost 250 years, it has experienced its ups and downs, even errors and reversals, but it has proven itself to be as self-correcting and sound as could be expected of any human system of law. The appeals process has proved a valuable tool to reverse unsound judgments.

There are legitimate reasons, by my lights, for Jews concerned with Israeli security to

want to see Trump back in the White House (and many tell pollsters they do). And there are equally legitimate reasons for Jews to want a second term for President Joe Biden. I don’t mean to address the election here, only to make a vital point.

Namely, that delegitimizing American courts out of personal or partisan sentiment is pulling not just the rug but the very floor out from under the republic. Just as the results of elections — whoever wins — must be respected by the citizenry, the decisions of courts, especially when there is the option of appealing to higher courts for proper redress, are, or should be, sacrosanct.

It might be too much to ask of any of us to not feel upset at losing a court case. The Talmud asking a losing litigant to sing happily is describing only an ideal, after all. But disappointment in any particular verdict is mere bathwater. It’s essential to hold the baby tight. JN

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.

Rabbi Moshe Levertov directs the Jewish Care Network in Phoenix.

Find area congregations

Rabbi Moshe Levertov COURTESY OF RABBI MOSHE LEVERTOV

With blue tzitzit, ‘tekhelet’ makes its debut at CBI

SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER

Soon, Jews all over the world will be reminded of the mitzvah of affixing tzitzit to the four corners of their tallit when they learn the lesson of Parsha Shelach, the Torah portion to be read during the final Shabbat of June.

In Shelach (Numbers 15:38-40), God tells Moses to instruct the Israelites to “make for themselves fringes on the corners of their garments, throughout their generations, and that they shall affix a thread of sky-blue [wool] on the fringe of each corner.” The knotted strings serve as a visual reminder for Jews to perform all 613 mitzvot and “not wander after your hearts and after your eyes after which you are going astray.”

While not all Jews wear tzitzit, most know what they are. However, the allusion to the blue-colored dye, or tekhelet, is less familiar and for good reason: Over the last 2,000 years, knowledge of the dye’s source and its production were lost. Still, some Jewish scholars and rabbis believe they have uncovered the mystery. While that belief is not universally accepted, an Israeli organization called P’til Tekhelet was created 30 years ago to produce and distribute tekhelet threads and educate people about the history and dying process.

Congregation Beth Israel (CBI) member Steve Goldston, 81, first heard about tekhelet by chance. However, once he started investigating, he was hooked and determined to incorporate the blue threads into two of his own tallit. He ordered a kit from Ptil Tekhelet and tracked down someone who knew how to tie the tzitzit.

Goldston was so enamored that he enlisted his friend and fellow CBI member, Steve Riter, to rally others to learn about tekhelet in time for the reading of Shelach on Shabbat June 29. The two introduced the concept to CBI’s Mensch Club, a social group of roughly 40 men who get together for dinner and charitable projects, which is sponsoring the project for anyone in the congregation interested in ordering the kits. Goldston and Riter held a few workshops in April and May to walk people through the intricate process of restringing their tallit. About 20 men and women, young and old, have participated.

“It’s just an incredible way to bring you back to Judaism,” Goldston told Jewish News. The educational element is attractive. He wants people to look at their tallit, consider its significance and ask themselves how this garment ties into 3,500 years of Jewish tradition.

“When you wear your tallit with these strings, you can say, ‘I did that. I have a

connection to those strings,’ and that reminds me of God’s commandments,” he said.

The fact that it’s literally a hands-on experience, one that requires skill and concentration, appealed to Riter, 84.

“For a lot of Judaism, you just show up, sit down, stand up and you might get called up for a blessing. This is an opportunity to really connect, and it makes the experience a lot more meaningful,” he told Jewish News.

According to the Talmud, tekhelet came from a marine creature called the Hillazon. The destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 C.E. seems to be the beginning of the end of Jewish know-how of \procuring and processing the dye. Thus, with a few exceptions, most tzitzit became white and still are. Jewish scholars have debated the identity of the Hillazon and methods of recreating the blue dye through the centuries and there is no general consensus. Ptil Tekhelet was founded with the help of Rabbi Eliyahu Tavger, who believed strongly that he had authenticated that the sea snail Hexaplex trunculus is the Hillazon.

The workshops have been challenging for most, and the task takes about an hour to complete. While the two leaders are admittedly not experts, “we’re more expert than anyone we know,” Goldston laughed.

It took some time for Goldston and Riter to learn the tricks and they advised that nobody should try to do it alone. It’s really a team effort because one person needs to hold the threads taught while another ties and knots them.

The kits ordered from Israel include blue and white threads, four for each of the tallit’s four corners, three white and one blue. Two people working together tie the threads to the tallit in a series of loops and knots employing a pattern of colors.

“There’s a dozen different ways to tie these strings that have come down through the centuries,” Goldston said. “There’s all combinations of strings — blue strings, white strings, thick white strings, thin blue strings, how to tie them, which type of knots — there’s an infinite variety.”

Ptil Tekhelet recommended the pattern Goldston used for his own tallit and in the workshops.

“To be quite honest, I thought we would just string them together,” Riter said. “It may well be that we’re older than average and our

finger dexterity is not quite what we would have liked it to be.”

Goldston noted that some people have brought their own tallit to the workshop and some have purchased one just for this project, which he finds exciting. One person brought a 110-year-old tallit that his grandfather gave him. He used it for his bar mitzvah and has put it aside for his own grandson.

“It’s the human connection to the commandments and to the ancient sequence of life,” Riter said.

“When they march the Torah around in the synagogue, some people will touch it with their blue strings. I think that’s powerful. It’s a wholly powerful message,” Goldston said. JN

For more information, visit cbiaz.org.

A woman at a CBI workshop learned how to knot blue tzitzit on her tallit. COURTESY OF STEVE GOLDSTON

Workshop on tekhelet at CBI. COURTESY OF STEVE GOLDSTON

Steve Goldston, right, and Steve Riter, left, demonstrate tying blue tzitzit on a tallit. COURTESY OF JEWISH NEWS

Partners threading the blue tzitzit at CBI. COURTESY OF STEVE GOLDSON

Local company has been providing care at home for three decades

MALA BLOMQUIST | MANAGING EDITOR

B

ob Roth, his father, Sheldon, and brothers Joe and Jonathan didn’t know anything about the home care industry when they were thrust into the role of caregivers after tragedy struck their family on Jan. 2, 1985.

Roth’s mother, Joan, had a massive heart attack at 48, and after 18 days in a drug-induced coma, time in the intensive care unit and almost two months in the hospital, she was finally able to return home.

“She was a very different person. Nearly two-thirds of her heart died; only a third of it was working,” said Roth. “But we were blessed, and we had a chance to have her for almost 18 years after this devastating health event. She saw her three boys get married and saw her nine grandkids.”

Joan and Sheldon Roth eventually moved to Arizona from Baltimore in 1987 and became members of Congregation Beth Israel in Scottsdale, where Bob Roth is still a member. In 1994, the family started Cypress HomeCare Solutions to provide in-home supportive care to other

individuals, as they had done for Joan for years.

“When we started, there were 10 home care companies here in the Valley and they’re all gone. They either were bought up or went out of business,” said Roth, managing partner. Cypress is Arizona’s longest-standing family-owned and operated in-home supportive care provider. Roth’s brother Joe ran the business from 1994 to 2003, and Roth took over in December 2003.

“It’s hard to believe that I’ve been running this company for 20 years,” said Roth. “I love what I do and you know the old adage, ‘If you love what you do, you never work a day in your life.’ I really believe that.”

Despite the pleasure he takes in his work, Roth does have a concern. “I think the biggest problem to solve for our generation is how are we going to care for the elderly, infirmed and disabled? How will we provide them with meaningful, respectful and dignified care as they age?”

The Cypress HomeCare Solutions team from left to right, Dan Weecks, David Sax, Tracy Swanson, Susie Roth, Jasmine Plett, Renee Rizzo, Laurie Fox and Adela Giancola; seated on top, Bob Roth. Spencer Roth is not pictured. COURTESY OF PICASA/BOB ROTH

According to the Population Reference Bureau, the number of Americans aged 65 and older is projected to increase from 58 million in 2022 to 82 million by 2050, which is a 47% increase. This age group’s share of the total population is also expected to rise from 17% to 23%.

“For us to be a sustainable population, every child-bearing female in our country needs to have 2.1 kids and we are at 1.7, declining to 1.6. So, we don’t have enough people behind us to take care of the people that are ahead of us, and that’s a problem,” said Roth.

Roth added that American culture is predisposed to put older adults in assisted living facilities where other people care for them, but with the upcoming statistics he believes that we’re going to embrace intergenerational living.

“That’s how a lot of populations live. We don’t do that here,” he said. “I’ve been doing home care for 20 years of our 30-year existence and I can name on one hand how many Hispanic clients we’ve had, and I think I’ve probably had at least 1,000, if not 2,000, Hispanic caregivers over that time. And the reason is they care for their own; they don’t get outside help; the family does it.”

Cost is another factor that may drive

more people into intergenerational living. Roth said that between 2019 and 2024, his employees’ wages and the cost of care across the board went up 40%-50%. Even though nine out of 10 older adults would rather remain in their home, and it was once more affordable to live at home and receive outside care, residing in an assisted living facility is now the cheaper option.

He said he disappoints at least half the people who call for services because everyone thinks that Medicare or a Medicare supplement pays for home care, which it doesn’t. Roth explained payment comes from four sources: private funds, long-term care insurance, Medicaid or veterans’ benefits.

In September 2023, Cypress received the American Rescue Plan Program Award from Arizona’s Medicaid system, the Arizona Healthcare Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) and was awarded funding to continue its mission of finding solutions to bring care to the Medicaid population.

To help Cypress further reimagine the way it delivers care, Roth has entered into collaborative partnerships with organizations utilizing innovation to provide wrap-around services. Using these products, Cypress can personalize care plans, monitor health metrics and proactively anticipate potential health

issues.

He partners with Sens.ai, an Israelbased company, using auditory virtualcare devices in the home that can discern changes and patterns; Roth said he is excited because he was just appointed to their advisory board. Another partner company is Nevvon, a global healthcare education company with an advanced e-training platform designed to simplify training for caregivers; and PocketRN, an online telehealth solution, giving patients, families and caregivers the ability to video chat with a nurse. Nevvon and PocketRN also received funding to work with Cypress on the Medicaid program.

“Sens.ai, Nevvon and PocketRN are pivotal in terms of delivering care. It’s nice to provide wrap-around services to further safeguard the family’s loved one,” said Roth. “I believe we must embrace technology. I have been using a saying rather frequently lately, ‘technology makes things possible, but humans make things happen,’ and we’re embracing artificial intelligence on the workflow side.”

In addition to running the business, Roth engages with the community through a monthly column for Jewish News, a radio show/podcasts, working on government initiatives and partnering with local organizations including, Banner Alzheimer’s Institute, ASU Edson

School of Nursing and Innovation ASU’s Health Entrepreneurship Accelerator Lab (HEALab), Duet Partners in Health and Aging and the Elderly and Physically Disabled Provider Alliance (EPDPA). Roth said he has many friends his age who are retired or plan to retire soon. “I don’t think I could ever retire. I love what I do. We get to be a part of the final chapter of someone’s life and that is a blessing. I like to refer to a line from ‘Hamilton’ that the Schuyler sister says: ‘Look around, look around at how lucky we are to be alive right now.’ Personally, I think it’s a great time to be alive.” JN

For more information, visit cypresshomecare.com.

The late Sheldon Roth, left, with Bob Roth at Cypress HomeCare Solutions’ 25th anniversary. COURTESY OF COURTESY OF LORI KRENZEN PHOTOGRAPHY/BOB ROTH

senior challenges others to

awe

A Palestinian and his Jewish friend co-founded company transporting seniors with compassion

SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER

K.C. Kanaan and Andy Beran founded Envoy America in response to the reality that they, along with so many others, face when caring for aging parents. Their transportation company, which specializes in and caters to older adults, began in 2015 in Greater Phoenix with the help of the local Jewish community and has now expanded to 300 cities across the nation.

Hebron and Beran is an American Jew with family in Israel.

Barry and Susan Brooks are pictured celebrating their daughter, Rachel’s, 50th birthday.

The idea for Envoy started during the course of conversations between the two friends who met more than 20 years ago while working at Intel’s headquarters in Northern California. Their close friendship might surprise some, given that Kanaan is a Palestinian Muslim from

habits, experience school company, husband 2010. her following Ted aging. metaphor up the people,” and a entrepreneurs After difficult an her from Jennifer Brauner, director of CSE CA. After meeting in one of Brauner’s programs, the two struck up a conversation and brainstormed some ideas for a new series. This is the first year Brooks has built a class around her ideas.

“We’re all the same,” Kanaan told Jewish News. “We all get along as long as we show respect to each other and listen to each other. We just look at the other person as a human being who wants the same thing that everybody wants, which is to live a dignified life and enjoy the fruits of their labor.”

Even after each man went his own way, taking new jobs in different cities, they stayed in touch and realized they were going through some of the same issues with their parents, who could no longer drive and were struggling to find reliable

“Susan is a very poised woman with great self-confidence and a vibrancy about her that is almost electric,” Brauner told Jewish News. “She just gives off this spark that is so inviting, and it’s easy to see why

SEE FIERCE, PAGE 14

SEE COMPANY, PAGE 18

and safe transportation options.

Like many seniors in the same situation, Kanaan and Beran’s parents found themselves reduced to relying on friends for rides or on their children when they visited from out of town; they took taxis and even tried Uber and Lyft, but nothing seemed to be working and there were always complaints.

“We heard the same stories: Mom is complaining or Dad is unhappy; the drivers are late; the drivers are not helping them. We both realized that this is bigger than the Kanaan family and the Beran family,” Kanaan told Jewish News. “This problem is bigger than us.”

At this point, Beran was living in the Valley and Kanaan was in Boston; when they decided to tackle the issue by founding their own company, Kanaan and his family relocated to Arizona. Envoy was created on the idea that transportation is pivotal when it comes to promoting independence, well-being and quality of life for seniors.

The partners were also determined to create a system that would help seniors beyond picking them up and delivering them to a destination. After all, taxis and

ride shares already exist. They wanted the people who used their cars to feel safe and comfortable and their drivers to offer personalized assistance to their passengers.

In February 2016, Alan and Randi

At Summit, we partner with retirement communities and healthcare professionals to provide individualized healthcare to our aging population that empowers them to live a longer, healthier life.

At Summit, we partner with retirement communities and healthcare professionals to provide individualized healthcare to our aging population that empowers them to live a longer, healthier life.

Jablin, both active in Greater Phoenix’s Jewish community, established the Friedel Family Foundation Senior Transportation Fund administered by Smile on Seniors and employed Envoy to offer ride services for seniors, picking them up at

their door, assisting them to the car and accompanying them throughout the trip and back home again.

Seniors who use the service regularly get to know their drivers, who often go into the grocery store with them, help push the cart, read the food labels, carry the bags and help stow wheelchairs and walkers.

“It’s more than just ‘pick me up and drop me off,’ it’s what you and I would do for our family member,” Kanaan said.

It’s a company philosophy based on respect and dignity, both concepts that Kanaan and his partner live by that have helped them navigate a tense time globally between Jews and Palestinians. Kanaan headed a team at Intel that integrated an Israeli company into the company and spent time in Tel Aviv and Haifa, thus getting to know Israeli Jews personally.

“Once people realize that, ‘OK, you’re just like me; you work hard and try to do the right thing,’ then nationality and where you were born doesn’t really come into play at all. At least, that’s been my experience,” Kanaan said.

He pointed to the example of his oldest son, who works in Los Angeles and reports to a Jewish supervisor. After Oct. 7, his son’s boss called to check on him and make sure he and his family were OK.

“His boss didn’t have to do this, but

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Our transitional care management services are mindfully designed to guide patients and residents through their entire healthcare journey. Summit offers the following services Living Well, Private Home Care, Therapy, Home Health, Palliative and Hospice.

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get a taste of our celebrated hospitality with delicious appetizers and refreshments, inspired by Europe’s diverse cultures. Take a tour of our community, meet our chef, and learn about our impressive menus & culinary events.

Andy Beran, left, and K.C. Kanaan in 2015 when they started Envoy America.

COURTESY OF K.C. KANAAN

kids admitting, locked basketball stand, uses, will members activities. synagogues, The will field, craft community paramount asset entire explaining place is building a Jews

just a intention now what on,”

love mouthpieces.” She told people to look around the room and ask themselves who is missing. Fundraising is critical but advocacy is too.

“We cannot grow if people don’t know what we’re doing,” she said.

K.C. Kanaan

Some at the breakfast were Gesher’s most enduring supporters, including Schaefer, who first became involved because of her son, Lucas, who was born with 18p deletion syndrome, a chromosomal condition that causes physical and intellectual disabilities. Schaefer described it as “such a rare syndrome it doesn’t even get a cool name.”

he’s a decent human being,” Kanaan said. “I called my Jewish friends, some of whom have family members in Israel, and checked on them, too. The way I look at it is we’re all human beings. We all suffer and as long as we keep an open mind, we’ll be fine.”

When Lucas was born, Schaefer was told by doctors that the syndrome meant he would never be able to walk or talk. Happily, he will graduate from New Way Academy in Phoenix on May 24, and plans to attend Beacon College in Leesburg, Florida, next fall.

Kanaan, now 60 and technically a senior, believes Envoy is the perfect illustration of respecting the dignity of aging people. Within a few months of the company’s partnership with the Jablins, the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix, which had learned from a community survey that transportation was one of seniors’ greatest needs, joined in, eventually taking the program over completely.

Schaefer said that Gesher and the New Way faculty, some of whom were at the gathering, have been invaluable to her son’s success. She told the crowd that even though her son is moving on, she has no plans on going anywhere. “Gesher can’t get rid of me!”

Several seniors who used the service said that it changed their lives. For

Ed Katz held a similar sentiment. He has been involved with Gesher since 1988

intellectual and developmental disabilities.

when his son, Jared, was only 5. Although Jared recently passed away, Katz intends to stay involved with the organization.

“I told Amy she’s not done with us!” he told Jewish News.

example, a trip to the doctor’s office used to be a six- to seven-hour ordeal, between waiting for Dial-a-Ride — which does not go across city lines — and bus rides, whereas Envoy provided a direct route. The program is now called Senior Rides and is administered by the Center for Jewish Philanthropy of Greater Phoenix (CJP).

Though his son was not a candidate for independent living, he sometimes celebrated Jewish holidays at Keshet House. Katz appreciated that residents could celebrate their culture.

Kanaan was hosted by CJP’s Business & Professionals group for its “Summer Gathering” event on Wednesday, June 5, to speak about how Envoy has helped to change the landscape of senior care in Phoenix.

Hummell also emphasized that point.

“We’re not looking for one of two single homes that stay on their own. We’re looking to build the whole community — these are Jewish homes.

That’s the faith that keeps us together.” JN

Affordability is one of the barriers to this kind of full-service transportation, and seniors pay only 25% while CJP SEE COMPANY, PAGE 20

For more information, visit gesherdr.org

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Amy Hummell, left, Scott Weiss and Nora Schaefer at the Gesher Disability Resources breakfast in April. The organization plans to buy new residential homes for individuals with

covers the rest of the cost. Jewish seniors meeting certain guidelines, including being over 65, residing in Maricopa County and being ambulatory or able to transfer from a wheelchair to a car, can call Envoy (the company communicates with seniors via telephone) to learn more and receive a welcome packet. Some seniors seek out Envoy and some are referred by Jewish Family & Children’s Service, a synagogue or CJP.

Envoy has partnered with other Jewish Federations, including in Tucson, as well as other corporations and each has its own rules about participation, usage and how much of the ride is covered. Envoy has about 100 drivers in the Valley, all of whom are independent contractors.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the business was forced to change course and shifted to partnerships with health care organizations, providing rides for life-sustaining treatments such as kidney dialysis. Now the business is evenly divided between senior rides and health care.

Kanaan noted that Phoenix’s Federation was ahead of the game in recognizing the health benefits for seniors in organizing transportation. Health plans only started

covering transportation for seniors three years ago.

“Kudos to the Federation for being ahead of everybody else and realizing that this is how people stay connected,” he said.

He’s also proud of his company for meeting the needs of older adults who are beginning to have memory issues or hearing loss, are using walkers and wheelchairs and might not be very tech savvy.

“These people need somebody to do more than drive them. They need someone who knows them, their routine, their likes and dislikes and that’s what we do. That’s what our drivers do every day,” he said. JN

For more information, contact Envoy America at 480-584-5894 or visit envoyamerica.com.

Jewish News is published by the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Phoenix, a component of the Center for Jewish Philanthropy of Greater Phoenix.

K.C. Kanaan with an Envoy client. COURTESY OF K.C. KANAAN

Partnership for the future

On Tuesday May 7, Arizona Jews for Justice (AJJ) dined with leaders of the Hopi Tribe to further a partnership between AJJ and local Native communities to bring humanitarian relief, inspire civic engagement, register voters, learn about one another and celebrate together. AJJ received a grant from The Center for Jewish Philanthropy of Greater Phoenix for the partnership.

Food delivery

Volunteers for the Arizona Kosher Pantry delivered products from Blue Sky Organic Farms, an independent, family-run farm in Arizona, to seniors who have a hard time getting out and about.

COURTESY OF BARBARA LEWKOWITZ

in the desert

May 3,

Local Holocaust survivor, Oskar Knoblauch, received an honorary diploma from Chandler High School, thanks to the efforts of Arizona Jewish Historical Society Education Committee member, Amy Drake.

Celebrating veterans

Jewish War Veterans Copper State Post 619 honored two of its World War II veterans last month at its 30th anniversary celebration luncheon. Bob Stone, 101, served under General Dwight Eisenhower; and Bernie Domsky, 98, served in the Pacific.

OF JEWISH

This COMMUNITY page features photos of community members around the Valley and the world. Submit photos and details each week to editor@jewishaz.com by 10 a.m. Monday.

619

COURTESY OF

Shabbat

On

2024, 150 young professionals gathered at Scottsdale Hangar One for Jewish National FundUSA’s annual JNFuture Shabbat in the Desert. Pictured from left are Rachel Presant, Staci Lipsitz and Michele Kalin as they light the Shabbat candles.

COURTESY OF ARIZONA JEWS FOR JUSTICE

Featured Event

MONDAY, JUNE 24

NowGen Night Out:

6:30-8:30 p.m. Bowlero, 9027 E. Via Linda, Scottsdale. Join NowGen for an evening of bowling. In support of Arizona Kosher Pantry, please bring nonperishable food items and water bottles to donate. Cost: $25 per person; RSVP required. For more information, visit phoenixcjp.regfox.com/nowgenout2024.

Events

WEDNESDAY-SUNDAY, THROUGH JULY 7

“Fiddler on the Roof”: Times vary. The Phoenix Theatre Company, 1825 N. Central Ave., Phoenix. Join Phoenix Theatre for the classic musical about a traditional milkman facing the duty of marrying off his five daughters. Cost: $55 & up. For more information, visit phoenixtheatre.com.

SATURDAY, THROUGH AUG. 31

Summer Camp for Adults: Times and addresses vary; some classes available online. Join Brandeis National Committee Phoenix Chapter for activities and classes throughout the summer. For more information, visit brandeisphoenix.org/summer-camp.

FRIDAY-SUNDAY, JUNE 14-16

Documentary Film Screening. Online. Join the Arizona Jewish Historical Society for a screening of “Jerry Lewis: The Man Behind the Clown.” Cost: Free; registration required. For more information, visit azjhs.org/jerry-lewis.

TUESDAY, JUNE 18

Moving from Welcoming to Belonging Presented by 18Doors. 10-11:30 a.m. Online via Zoom. Join 18Doors and the Center for Jewish Philanthropy of Greater Phoenix for the first in a professional development series tailored for professionals and lay leaders working within the Jewish community. Together, we will learn how we can be more welcoming within our organizations and within the greater community. Cost: Free. For more information, visit phoenixcjp.org/inclusionpd1.

THURSDAY, JUNE 20

Online Book Discussion: 2 p.m. Online. Join the Arizona Jewish Historical Society for a presentation by author Ellie Gesten about her book, “Hidden Star: Faith, Family Future.” Cost: Free. For more information, visit azjhs.org/ book-discussion-group.

SUNDAY, JUNE 23

JWV Post 619 Meeting: 9:30 a.m. Poolside building at Oakwood Country Club, 24218 S. Oakwood Blvd., Sun Lakes. Join the Jewish War Veterans Post 619 for a meet and greet with lox and bagels, coffee and doughnuts followed by speaker, JWV Commander of the Southwest Rochel Hayman. Cost: Free. For more information, contact Elliott Reiss at ElliottBarb@q.com or 480-802-3281.

Summer Splash: Hawaiian: 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center, 12701 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale. Join the Valley of the Sun JCC for fun poolside. Cost: Free; registration required. For more information, visit vosjcc.org/event/summer-splash-2024.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26

Ma’agal Yitzirah Craft Group: 6:30-8 p.m.

Beth El Congregation, 1118 W. Glendale Ave., Phoenix. Join Beth El to work on your own craft projects. Cost: Free. For more information, visit bethelphoenix.com/event/ maagal-yitzirah-craft-night.

THURSDAY, JUNE 27

The Envelope, Please: An Awards Ceremony Family/Friends: 10 a.m.-12 p.m. Congregation Beth Israel, 10460 N. 56th St., Scottsdale. Join CBI and the JFCS Center for Senior Enrichment & Creative Aging for a chance to honor your family and friends by creating categories for awards and then picking winners. Cost: $10 per adult. For more information, visit app.getoccasion.com/p/n/23FzGjTb.

A Night of Storytelling: 6-7 p.m. Address provided upon registration. Join Arizona Jews for Justice for an evening of storytelling where narratives of resilience and togetherness will be shared by both Native American and Jewish community members. Cost: Free. For more information, visit arizonajewsforjustice.org.

SUNDAYS

B.A.G.E.L.S: 9-11 a.m.; last Sunday of the month. Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center, 12701 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale. Grab a bagel and a cup of coffee at Bagels And Gabbing Every Last Sunday and enjoy some time with your friends and make new ones. You must register to attend. Bagels and coffee will be provided. Cost: Free for members, $5 for guests. For more information and to register, visit vosjcc.org.

THURSDAYS

Storytime at Modern Milk: 9:30 a.m. Modern Milk, 13802 N. Scottsdale Road, #163, Scottsdale. Storytime for babies, toddlers and preschoolers. Integrates children’s books and songs while giving parents new ideas for play. Cost: $5. For more information and to register, visit modernmilk.com/after-baby.

Meetings, Lectures & Classes

SUNDAYS

Chassidus Class: 9 a.m. Online. Learn about the Chasidic movement with Rabbi Yossi Friedman. Cost: Free. For more information, visit chabadaz.com.

Jewish War Veterans Post 210: 10 a.m. Online. Any active duty service member or veteran is welcome to join monthly meetings, every third Sunday. Cost: Free. For more information, email Michael Chambers at c365michael@yahoo. com.

Sundays are for the Family Weekly Feed: 3-5 p.m. Tempe Beach Park, 80 W. Rio Salado Pkwy., Tempe. Join Arizona Jews for Justice and AZ HUGS for the Houseless every Sunday to serve food to those in need. For more information and to RSVP, email Arizonajews4justice@gmail.com.

Anxiety in the Modern World: 6 p.m. Online. Learn the secrets of the Torah for living stressfree in the current environment with Rabbi Boruch of Chabad of Oro Valley. Cost: Free. Use this link: zoom.us/j/736434666. For more information, visit chabadaz.com.

MONDAYS

Ethics of Our Fathers: 7 p.m. Online. Learn with Rabbi Zalman Levertov. Use this link: bit. ly/2Y0wdgv. Cost: Free. For more information, visit chabadaz.com.

Quotable Quotes by our Sages: 7 p.m. Online. Learn with Rabbi Shlomy Levertov. Use this link: JewishParadiseValley.com/class. Cost: Free. For more information, visit chabadaz.com

Partners in Torah: 7:30 p.m. Online. Join a growing group of inspired learners with Project Inspire. Cost: Free. Use this link: us04web. zoom.us/j/3940479736#success, password is 613. For more information, email Robin Meyerson at robin@projectinspireaz.com.

Learning to Trust in God: 7:30 p.m. Online. Learn with Rabbi Yossi Friedman. Use this link: ChabadAZ.com/LiveClass. Cost: Free. For more information, visit chabadaz.com.

Torah & Tea: 7:30 p.m. Online. Learn with Rabbi Yossie Shemtov. Cost: Free. For more information, visit Facebook.com/ChabadTucson.

Single Parent Zoom: 8 p.m. First and third Monday of every month. Join The Bureau of Jewish Education’s Family University single parents’ group for those looking to form friendships and build their support system with likeminded people. For more information or to register, visit bjephoenix.org/family-university.

TUESDAYS

Let’s Knit: 1:30 p.m. Ina Levine Jewish Community Campus, 12701 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale. Share the pleasure of knitting, crocheting, etc. outside the social hall in the campus. Can’t knit? They will teach you! Every level welcome. Cost: Free. For more information, visit vosjcc.org.

Maintaining an Upbeat Attitude: 7 p.m. Online. A class exclusively for people in their 20s and 30s, learn how Jewish Mysticism can help with your attitude with Rabbi Shlomy Levertov. Cost: Free. Use this link: JewishParadiseValley.com/YJPclass. For more information, visit chabadaz.com.

WEDNESDAYS

History of the Jews: 11 a.m. Online. Learn the Jewish journey from Genesis to Moshiach with Rabbi Ephraim Zimmerman. Cost: Free. Use this link: zoom.us/j/736434666. For more information, visit chabadaz.com.

Torah Study with Temple Beth Shalom of the West Valley: 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Online. Weekly study group explores that week’s portion and studies different perspectives and debates the merits of various arguments. Intended for adults, Torah study is open to students of all levels. For more information, contact the TBS office at 623-977-3240.

Happiness Hour: 11:30 a.m. Online. Class taught by Rabbi Pinchas Allouche that delves into texts and references culled from our traditions to address a relevant topic. For more information or to join, visit cbtvirtualworld.com.

Torah Study with Chabad: 12 p.m. Online. Take a weekly journey of Torah with Rabbi Yossi Levertov. Cost: Free. For more information, visit chabadaz.com.

Lunch & Learn: 12:15 p.m. Online. Grab some food and learn with Rabbi Yehuda Ceitlin. Cost: Free. Get Zoom link by emailing info@ chabadtucson.com. For more information, visit chabadtucson.com.

The Thirteen Petalled Rose: 1 p.m. Online. Kabbalah class that studies “The Thirteen Petalled Rose” by Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz, focusing on the many concepts of Kaballah and Jewish Mysticism and applying them to everyday life. For more information or to join, visit cbtvirtualworld.com.

JACS: 7:30-8:30 p.m. Online. Zoom support group for Jewish alcoholics, addicts and their friends and family on the first and third Wednesdays of the month. Cost: Free. For more information, email jacsarizona@gmail. com or call 602-692-1004.

THURSDAYS

Jewish Family University: Postpartum Summer Series: 10-11:30 a.m. The New Shul, 7825 E. Paradise Lane, Scottsdale. Join the Bureau of Education of Greater Phoenix’s Family University for a workshop series (June 13, 20, 27, July 11 and 18) focusing on mothers’ and infants’ well being while providing education and exercises rooted in Jewish tenets. Cost: $100. For more information, visit bjephoenix.org/ famiy-university.

Personal Jewish Spirituality: 10-11 a.m. Temple Beth Shalom of the West Valley, 12202 N. 101st Ave., Sun City. TBSWV will present a four-part interfaith adult education course (June 6, 13, 20 and 27) to help participants understand their own sprituality and find ways to enrich

CALENDAR

their spiritual lives. Cost: $20 members; $35 nonmembers; registration deadline June 3. For more information, visit tbsaz.org.

Ladies Torah & Tea: 10:30 a.m. Online. Learn about the women of the Torah with Mrs. Leah Levertov. Cost: Free. Use this link: ourjewishcenter.com/virtual. For more information, visit chabadaz.com.

Talmud - Maakos: 11 a.m. Online. Learn with Rabbi Shlomy Levertov. Cost: Free. Use this link: JewishParadiseValley.com/YJPclass. For more information, visit chabadaz.com.

Mindfulness Gatherings: 12 p.m. Online. Hosted by Hospice of the Valley via Zoom. Cost: Free. To join by phone, dial 1-253-215-8782, meeting ID 486 920 2119#, to get the Zoom link or for further questions contact Gill Hamilton at ghamilton@hov.org or 602-748-3692.

Weekly Mahjong: 1-3 p.m. Temple Solel, 6805 E. McDonald Drive, Paradise Valley. Join Temple Solel each Thursday afternoon for mahjong. Lessons available for beginners. Cost: Free. RSVP via email to dottiebefore@gmail.com so they know how many tables to set up.

The Science of Everything: 4 p.m. Online. Explore the most fundamental work of Chassidut: the Tanya, with Rabbi Boruch. Cost: Free. Use this link: zoom.us/j/736434666. For more information, visit chabadaz.com.

Teen Discussions: 7-8:30 p.m. Online. Learn with Rabbi Tzvi Rimler. Cost: Free. Use this link: cteen.clickmeeting.com/east-valley. For more information, visit chabadaz.com.

SATURDAYS

Saturday Mindfulness Gatherings: 9:30 a.m. Online. Hosted by Hospice of the Valley. To join by phone, dial 1-253-215-8782, meeting ID 486 920 2119#. To get the Zoom link or for more information, contact Gill Hamilton at ghamilton@hov.org or 602-748-3692.

Book Discussion: 1:30-2:30 p.m. Online. Join Or Adam Congregation for Humanistic Judaism on the third Saturday of every month for a book discussion. For more information and to register, contact oradaminfo@gmail.com.

Shabbat

FRIDAYS

Shabbat in the Park: 10-11 a.m. Cactus Park, 7202 E. Cactus Road, Scottsdale. Join the Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater Phoenix monthly for music, parachute play, crafts and a family Shabbat experience. For more information, visit bjephoenix.org.

Welcome Shabbat: 11-11:30 a.m. Online. Celebrate Shabbat with the JFCS Virtual Center for Senior Enrichment. Each week a different guest host will lead the program with song and celebration. Cost: Free. For more information, visit jfcsaz.org/cse.

Shabbat at Beth El: 11-11:45 a.m. Beth El Phoenix, 1118 W. Glendale. Ave., Phoenix. Celebrate Shabbat with songs, blessings and teachings with Rabbi Stein Kokin the first Friday of every month. Special guests will be welcoming Shabbat during the remainder of the month. For more information or to join, visit bethelphoenix.com.

Erev Shabbat Service: 5:30 p.m. Online. Rabbi Alicia Magal will lead a service livestreamed for members of the Jewish Community of Sedona and the Verde Valley. Cost: Free. For more information and to obtain the Zoom link, visit jcsvv.org/contact.

Shabbat Services: 5:30 p.m. nosh, 6:15 p.m. service; morning service has varying dates and times. Temple Chai, 4645 E. Marilyn Road, Phoenix. For more information, contact Joan Neer at jneer@templechai.com.

Pre-Shabbat Kiddush Club: 6 p.m. Online. Say Kiddush with Rabbi Mendy Levertov. Cost: Free. Use this link: ourjewishcenter.com/virtual. For more information, visit chabadaz.com.

Shabbat Services: 6 p.m; 9:30 a.m. Congregation Or Tzion, 16415 N. 90th St., Scottsdale. Services are also live streamed at otaz.org/ livestream. For more information about services, events and membership, visit congregationortzion.org or call 480-342-8858.

Shabbat Services: 6:15 p.m; 10 a.m. Congregation Beth Israel, 10460 N. 56th St., Scottsdale. Services held in the Goldsmith Sanctuary. Participants must pre-register by Thursday at 5 p.m. Priority will be given to members first and then guests. If there are more requests than available seats a lottery system will be used. For more information or to make a reservation, visit cbiaz.org/shabbat-services.

Kabbalat Shabbat and/or Shabbat morning service: 6:30 p.m.; 10 a.m.; dates vary. Congregation Kehillah, 5858 E. Dynamite Blvd., Cave Creek. Join Rabbi Bonnie Sharfman and cantorial soloists Erica Erman and Scott Leader either in person or via Zoom. For safety reasons, please register ahead of time. For dates, visit congregationkehillah.org/event/. Register by emailing info@congregationkehillah.org.

Third Friday Shabbat: 7-9 p.m. Group meets at a North Scottsdale location. The Desert Foothills Jewish Community Association hosts a Shabbat service followed by a program. Contact 602-487-5718 for more information.

Shabbat Services with Sun Lakes: 7 p.m. Sun Lakes Chapel, 9240 E. Sun Lakes Blvd. North, Sun Lakes. Sun Lakes Jewish Congregation conducts services on the second Friday of the month. For more information, contact 480-612-4413.

Seniors

MONDAYS

Fitness Xpress Series with Zoe: 11-11:30 a.m. Online. Presented by JFCS Center for Senior Enrichment. Workout features weight and band exercises as well as yoga poses. Exercises will be demonstrated standing, but can also be done sitting in a chair. Cost: Free. For more information, visit jfcsaz.org/cse.

Sip & Schmooze: 11 a.m. milk + honey, 12701 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale. Sip on kosher coffee or tea, enjoy a pastry and schmooze every second Monday of the month. RSVP appreciated to chani@sosaz.org or 602-492-7670. For more information, visit sosaz.org.

Featured Presentation: 12:30 p.m. Online. Join Smile on Seniors Mondays and Wednesdays to learn from a variety of presenters about topical issues, like Q&As with medical professionals, entertainers and lectures. Cost: Free. For more information, visit sosaz.org/virtual or email Rabbi Levi Levertov at levi@sosaz.org.

TUESDAYS

Movie Discussion Group: 11 a.m. Online. Join Smile on Seniors on the third Tuesday of every month hosted by Issy Lifshitz. Cost: Free. For full details and the movie of the month visit sosaz.org/virtual or email Rabbi Levi Levertov at levi@sosaz.org.

WEDNESDAYS

Fitness Fun with Zoe: 10-10:45 a.m. Online. Presented by JFCS Center for Senior Enrichment. Workout features light chair exercises with optional weights. Cost: Free. For more information, visit jfcsaz.org/cse.

Chair Yoga with Zoe: 11-11:45 a.m. Online. Presented by JFCS Center for Senior Enrichment. 45-minute chair yoga class. No prior yoga experience required. Cost: Free. For more information, visit jfcsaz.org/cse.

THURSDAYS

Memory Cafe: 10-11 a.m. first Thursday; 1-2 p.m. third Thursday. Online. Presented by Jewish Family & Children’s Service. Program for those with changes in their thinking or memory, mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer’s disease or a related disorder, along with their care partners. For more information, visit jfcsaz.org/our-services/older-adult-services/ memory-cafe/.

In the Kitchen with Benita: 12:30 p.m. Join Smile on Seniors on the fourth Thursday of every month for some delicious cooking or baking fun! Cost: Free. For full details visit sosaz.org/virtual or email Rabbi Levi Levertov at levi@sosaz.org.

FRIDAYS

Welcome Shabbat: 11-11:30 a.m. Online. Celebrate Shabbat with the JFCS Virtual Center for Senior Enrichment. Each week a different guest host will lead the program with song and celebration. Cost: Free. For more information, visit jfcsaz.org/cse.

Sit or Stand Ballet Class: 12-12:45 p.m. Online. Presented by JFCS Center for Senior Enrichment. Jennifer Cafarella Betts and Friends from Ballet Theatre of Phoenix teach this class. Grab a chair or you can stand next to a chair or counter. Cost: Free. For more information, visit jfcsaz.org/cse.

Musical Friday: 12:30 p.m. Online. Join Smile on Seniors on the first Friday of every month for a musical presentation. Cost: Free. For full details visit sosaz.org/virtual or email Rabbi Levi Levertov at levi@sosaz.org. JN

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Linda (Cohen) Stephenson,

passed away on May 24, 2024. Linda would have been celebrating her 70th birthday this July.

Southern California was her home for nearly 61 years. She retired and moved to Arizona with her dog, Harley, to start her next chapter, but unfortunately, Alzheimer’s had already started the battle against her. A cancer diagnosis in February ultimately took her life.

Linda leaves behind her daughter, Ali; her sonin-law, Gus; and her granddaughter, Harper. She will be missed by her sister, Lori, and her niece, Lauren; brother, Jeff (Diana), and nephews Jacob (Stephanie) and Zachary (Madison); her childhood best friend, Zoe (and her three daughters); and her beloved dog, Harley.

Star Trek, the Road to Recovery and Reconciling with my Father

Thursday, September 5 @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm PT

Location: In-Person at Beth El Phoenix and Virtual

by Adam Nimoy

While the tabloids and fan publications portrayed the Nimoys as a “close family,” to his son Adam, Leonard Nimoy was a total stranger.

The actor was as inscrutable as the iconic half-Vulcan science o cer he portrayed on Star Trek, even to those close to him. Now, his son’s poignant memoir explores their complicated relationship and how it informed his views on marriage, parenting, and later, sobriety. Despite their di erences, both men ventured down parallel paths: marriages leading to divorce, battling addiction, and finding recovery. Most notably, both men struggled to take the ninth step in their AA journey: to make amends with each other.

Discover how the son of Spock learned to navigate this tumultuous relationship— from Shabbat dinners to basement AA meetings—and how he was finally able to reconcile with his father—and with himself.

Adam Nimoy is a graduate of UC Berkeley and Loyola Law School. After seven years in entertainment law, he left to pursue a directing career. Nimoy has directed over forty-five hours of network television, as well as directing the critically acclaimed documentary film about his father, For the Love of Spock (2016), which was an O cial Selection at the Tribeca Film Festival. He is the author of the memoir The Most Human: Reconciling with My Father, Leonard Nimoy (2024) and has been in 12-step recovery for twenty years. He lives in Los Angeles.

The in-person event will take place at: Beth El Phoenix • 1118 W Glendale Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85021 A hybrid event • (In-person & accessible virtually) • $18 or free for members Learn More at www.ValleyBeitMidrash.org