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Peoria Mayor Jason Beck visits Israel during some of its darkest days
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Greater Phoenix Jews part of ‘one large extended family’ at D.C. rally MALA BLOMQUIST | MANAGING EDITOR
MALA BLOMQUIST | MANAGING EDITOR
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n the evening of Nov. 15, 120 people gathered in the social hall of the Ina Levine Jewish Community Campus in Scottsdale to hear the stories of Lidar Eini, Aya Margalit and Nadav Eylon, Jewish Agency for Israel’s (JAFI) shlichim (emissaries), in a joint program presented by the Center for Jewish Philanthropy of Greater Phoenix (CJP) and JAFI. Placed in schools, synagogues, Jewish community centers, camps, universities and federations worldwide, JAFI’s shlichim provide a connection to Israel by promoting Israeli experiences, facilitating Jewish social activism and speaking about faith and culture. In the United States, there are currently more than 360 shlichim varying in age from 18 to 40 plus. Rachel Hoffer, board chair for the CJP and board chair of the Jewish Agency for Israel – North American Council, moderated the event. “Recognizing that by being here, you’re not in Israel. We know that’s probably incredibly difficult. We appreciate you being here and we know that you are absolutely crucial to the work we are doing,” Hoffer addressed the three before the discussion began. Margalit, a senior shlicha to Temple Emanuel in Dallas, Texas, explained that she is a mother of three, ages 14, 12 and 4, and came to the U.S. three months ago. Before that, she lived in Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak, two miles from the Gaza border. “My biggest dream was to become a long-term shlicha,” she said. “It took 22 years and then it happened. I couldn’t know that it would save my family.” Eylon, JAFI’s regional director to the West Coast, is also a major in the Israel Defense Forces and a Magen David Adom (MDA) EMT. His home in Israel, which he shares with his wife and three children, SEE SURVIVAL, PAGE 3
Part of the Arizona delegation at the Washington D.C. “March for Israel” rally are, from left, Donna Troisi, Richard Kasper, Neil Farber, Lori Weintraub, Eva Flaster, Rabbi Andy Green and his 7-year old son, Beck. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CENTER FOR JEWISH PHILANTHROPY OF GREATER PHOENIX
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ore than 100 Greater Phoenix residents were among the crowd of 290,000 people who attended the “March for Israel” rally at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 14. It was one of the largest gatherings of Jews in U.S. history and an additional 250,000 people watched the event through a live stream. The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and the Jewish Federations of North America organized the march. SEE RALLY, PAGE 2
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“As most of the civilized world seems seized by a case of laryngitis and rendered voiceless, the Jews are left to amplify theirs,” said Rabbi John Linder of Paradise Valley’s Temple Solel. “On America’s sacred ground, the National Mall, that’s what we did. The unified refrain throughout the largest-ever single turnout of American Jews, was ‘Bring them home!’” The focus on bringing the hostages home was prominent, and families of those held captive spoke about their family members kidnapped by Hamas. “The entire world should be demanding the safe return of these civilians, and it is our job to make sure that every single day we are sharing their stories, showing their photos and demanding their safe release,” said Rachel Hoffer, board chair for the Center for Jewish Philanthropy of Greater Phoenix (CJP). She said that since Oct. 7 there have been moments of unspeakable sadness and overwhelming hopelessness, but there were no such sentiments on the National Mall that day. “There was dancing, singing, waving of both Israeli and American flags, partnership, infinite support and resolve in focusing on what’s important, on who we are and the values we hold deep,” she said. “The rally enabled me to experience the most joy I’ve felt since Oct. 6,” said Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz, president and dean of Valley Beit Midrash in Scottsdale. “Being surrounded by hundreds of thousands of Jews singing psalms, hugging and showing solidarity warmed my heart and deepened my resilience to keep serving and advocating for Am I saw *BestYisrael. of Magazine hundreds of my students, local community Directory members, colleagues **Annual and friends from my elementary school years through my rabbinical school years and beyond. It was theWWW.JEWISHAZ.COM reunion I needed to feel some healing from the traumas of the past weeks.”
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Richard Kasper, CJP CEO, said that SOPHIE STERN even though the gathering was for a CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 terrible reason, it was a joyous occasion. saidhim, Jon Meyers, director ADDPC. For the rally made himoffeel physically “Our hope is to create and promote different. opportunities for people embraced, “I had not been awaretoofbethe tension become the community find that had part beenof building up inside and me over equitable opportunities wherever they the prior month and a half, not just with might live,” heinsaid. the situation Israel but what we’re Meyers first came toofknow Stern seeing with public displays antisemitism through Amy on Silverman, and someher ofmother, the activity college who and read her personal essays about school campuses,” he said. “Butraising on thata daughter with Down syndrome on KJZZ, one day, being surrounded by people like me, who Public feel theRadio’s way I Phoenix do, thereaffiliate was a National certain station.lightness that I was aware of as I leftMeyers to return Asby I headed to wasto soPhoenix. captivated the essays the I noticed I physically thatairport, he reached out tothat Silverman, and felt the better than I friends. had in quite some time.” two became The event lasted more three hours, That’s how Stern firstthan learned of the during which seat, speeches were made by a open council but there’s no doubt range of politicians, actors, musicians, she earned her position, Meyers said. activists and U.S. collegemember, students Stern who To become a council presented a strong front in support Israel had to apply and demonstrate thatof she had and spoke about thetorise of antisemitism something valuable contribute, he said. around theon world Hamas’ attacksshe on “She’s thesince council because Oct. 7 andtoIsrael’s war in deserves be onsubsequent the council,” heGaza. said. Scottsdale’s Congregation Or Tzion Stern is creating a life and career as a Rabbi Andy Green talked about themakes pain member of her community, which of referencing a death threat herantisemitism, a great addition. heStern received via email Nov. 3. graduated on from McClintock “Sometimes it can feel lonely to be High School in Tempe last year and nowa Jew,” he said. “Many of us have recently attends Glendale Community College, felt sting equivocations and with the a focus on of dance. She is a regular indifference in the wake of the Hamas performer at Detour Company Theatre, attacks and kidnappings of Oct. 7, the a Scottsdale theatre company forand adults ensuing war.” with intellectual, developmental and Green disabilities. attended the rally with his wife physical and sons, ages 7Stern and attended 10, because In fact, when her “we first want them to remember the feeling of council meeting in January, she couldn’t being part of something so much bigger wait to tell people of her involvement with than ourselves, to be proud as members Detour and share information about its of the Jewish family, to be proud as lovers upcoming shows. of “There’s Israel.” no question that she is going The crowdMeyers was a mix young very and to thrive,” said.of“She’s old, with a large proportion of Orthodox gregarious and passionate about the attendees, part a reflection things thatinmatter to her.” of the decision byStern Jewish day schools universities to looks forward and to sharing insights
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cancel classes and with bus her students, and in about her Judaism fellow council some cases their families, to Washington. members and speaking out for her rights Clusters of men gathered outside the event and beliefs. before it started for prayers. at She already hasafternoon some practice “The rally was full of loving chants while advocating for herself. groups of minyans would randomly form,” “One time, I was in class and someone said Chavez Calderon, calledEddie me the R-word and I toldcampaign him not director at Arizona Jews for hallway Justice. “As to. The teacher was in the and teens chanted onrepeated stage tothe notword,” be afraid another student she of being Jewish campus, there were said. Rather than on letting the situation go, collective groups tefillin. she told her theaterwrapping teacher, who was In ablea time when it feels lonely to be Jewish, to intervene. it “If was someone incrediblehas to see hundredssaying of us a disability, standing for each other.” the R-word is like saying the F-word,” Republicans Iowa Senator Joni Ernst Stern said. and House Speaker Johnson, in While performingMike in the musical addition to New York Democrats Senate “Hairspray,” she had another occasion Majority Leader and to tangle with the Chuck offensiveSchumer word, which House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, appears in the script. made speeches and more “That’s reallyfrom bad the andstage my friend said politicians walked among the crowd. it on stage. I was not OK with that, so I EvatoFlaster, Phoenix Holocaust went the director and told her it was Association vice president, met and a bad word for people with disabilities, took photographs with Democrats but she wouldn’t take it out,” Stern said. Representative Adam Schiff Senator She let her mother knowand about the John Fetterman. She said it was important conflict and they were able to convince to so manyofpolitical officeholders thesee director the need to removethere the to show solidarity with Israel and the many word from the script. Jewish represented. “My communities friend Al was next to me when “I met people from I told the director andallheover gavethe meU.S. the who were there to send this call of support biggest hug ever and said that he loved and to much,” stand upStern for Israel, its Al people, me so said. and Sadly, died at a time when the need is great,” she said. in a car crash on Oct. 24, 2021. Politically, to reflect “That was attendees hard; it’s seemed very hard to get the broad pro-Israel tent that the emotions out and I was very, very upset,” organizers had hoped for, with right-wing she said. demonstrators standing in theof same crowd On the recent anniversary his death, as a “Peace Bloc” organized by progressive Stern made a cake and took it to the Jewish groups. Signs mostly declared crash site. broad support forhow Israel, opposition to “I don’t know I did it without antisemitism, a call to free the hostages crying. I’m so proud of myself,” she said. or Amy condemnation Hamas. director Many held Hummell,ofexecutive of the hostage posters that have become Gesher Disability Resources, agreed thata common across thebecause world, Stern is asight goodinfitcities for ADDPC with more strewn in spots across the Mall. of her ability to self-advocate. Temple Chai Cantor Ross Wolman Hummell co-hosted a book event shared a brief description people who with Meyers a few yearsfor ago for “My
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Sophie Stern at her high school graduation in 2022 COURTESY OF SOPHIE STERN
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. Additionally, helping people with disabilities find jobs was one of the reasons for acquiring the bureau. Unemployment in the disability community is upwards *Best of Magazine of 75% and of that percentage, 75% are ready, willing and able to work — but **Annual Directory haven’t been given the opportunity, Hummell said. “People have it in them to speak up but WWW.JEWISHAZ.COM don’t know how, and often they’re not cheered on. Sophie has family support
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ages 10, 8 and 5, is less than a quarter mile from the Jordanian border. “Our entire being changed overnight and we are telling the stories of our communities, who we are and our family,” he said. “A lot of my American friends ask every morning, ‘How are you doing?’ It’s a question that is very hard to answer. The next question is, ‘Is your family safe?’ Are we safe as a community? Are we safe as a Jewish people?” Eini said that his fellow students are not feeling safe on campus and many are afraid to show their Judaism publicly. He attends classes at California Polytechnic State University and is a JAFI Israel Fellow at San Luis Obispo Hillel. He is from Ness Ziona, in central Israel. “Last Sunday, we had a Hillel event on campus, two Israelis coming to speak with the students, and before the event, we got to the room on campus and it was full of antisemitic flyers. A group saw we were having an event, so they targeted us,” he said. He shared that the school’s administration has not been supportive and that there’s no space on campus for Jewish students to gather. After the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, all Eini wanted to do was go back to Israel. “I felt like I had to be there to do something. I had a friend who was kidnapped with his whole family,” he said. “They came from Russia and don’t have any other family in Israel. His name is Sasha. The father got killed and he, his girlfriend, his mom and grandmother were all taken to Gaza.” He found strength gathering with students and they organized a vigil and programming to help support each other. “To be there for them, with them, gives me strength,” said Eini. “Seeing how they care gives me purpose, even though I’m here and not in Israel. I am still doing something for Israel, even though I am not there.” Eylon waited a week after Oct. 7 before returning to Israel and his 25 fellow IDF reservists in a special forces team specializing in counter terrorism. “I’ve been serving for 22 years; never in my life would I have imagined I would walk inside Israel through a scene like you are on a Universal Studios tour and see a car that’s on fire or a bomb goes off and you feel the heat from the fire, and you keep on going, and at the end you get to the gift shop, only there wasn’t a gift shop,” he said Initially, they were looking for any terrorists remaining inside Israel and then his team would cover units retrieving bodies from the Gaza border. He said he would go through towns seeing homes completely burned with nothing left next to a home
asked about his experience at the rally. “Imagine being at a concert with your favorite band with 290,000 others. The sense of belonging, euphoria and resilience was wonderful and affirming,” he said. JEWISHAZ.COM
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From left: Rachel Hoffer, Aya Margalit, Lidar Eini and Nadav Eylon. COURTESY OF THE CENTER FOR JEWISH PHILANTHROPY OF GREATER PHOENIX
untouched with chairs and a bicycle still outside. He even saw one house that the terrorist drove a tank through, trying to get to the residents inside. “You think this is a scene from a movie, this can’t be real,” he said. “The smell of death is everywhere.” Eylon also noticed the absence of stray cats and dogs that usually roam the streets. He also realized no birds were singing in the morning. When he returned to his moshav, where he knew most people, he didn’t recognize anyone. “My regional council has 4,000 citizens in it; 3,000 more came in overnight. We were hosting them and cooking for them,” said Eylon. “One guy asked, ‘Why are you helping us?’ and I said, ‘What do you mean? You would have done the same for us.’ This is the strength of Israeli society; this is the strength of us as people. Being there for one another.” Margalit echoed Eylon’s statement that she knew everyone in her kibbutz, although much smaller than Eylon’s moshav, at almost 700 people. She was at Temple Emanuel the night before the Hamas attack. “Oct. 6 was Simchat Torah and we were all together in Dallas celebrating this beautiful event, it truly felt like heaven on earth,” she said. “It was amazing to be with Jews on the other side of the world. Within hours, heaven turned into hell.” She is still part of a WhatsApp chat group of families with young kids and late on the night of Oct. 6, her phone started buzzing. “Messages of people saying they hear shots, saying they hear Arabic, saying they hear them coming, breaking the windows, breaking the doors and shooting the doors,” she said. “You need to understand that I know every single person writing a message.” When she was in Israel three months ago, she was a teacher and kept in touch with her former students through a WhatsApp group called “Aya’s Beloved.” These kids started sending messages that the terrorists were coming and they were scared. “One of the girls wrote, ‘They’re burning
our house. We’re going to die’ and it’s all happening in front of me,” said Margalit through tears. “I am trying to calm them and I text, ‘My sweet kids remember what we do in class. Remember how you need to breathe. Remember, we have the strongest army in the world and they’re coming, don’t worry.’” Out of the more than 230 hostages, Margalit knows 23 of them. One of her kidnapped students turned 12 two weeks ago as a captive. “I had to tell my kids that some of their friends died, some of their friends were kidnapped, that their beloved counselor was murdered and I had to tell my kids that one of our best friends is dead. This changed our life forever,” she said. She also shared that her son volunteers with horses and had he not been with her in Dallas, he would have been in the kibbutz's barn on the morning of Oct. 7. “They came through the barn. He’s 14. I don’t know why I’m here now but if I am, I’m going to do my best,” she said. “We will make this our mission to share this story,” said Hoffer. “I saw you yesterday at the rally (in Washington, D.C.) and it’s been 41 days and you continue to go to work every single day. How do you do that?” “Honestly, there’s nothing that I want to do more than go back to Israel but the only thing I could do is sit down with my friends and family and grieve,” said Margalit. “The opportunity I have here as a shlicha, to tell our community’s story is, by far, more meaningful than anything I could do in Israel. “I think the biggest thing people of Israel have seen throughout these days is we are truly one people,” she continued. “When one of us is hurting, all of us are hurting. And the bond that we can show and present to the people of Israel and to the Jewish people of the world makes me feel like this is my mission in life.” JN
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rotesters outside Memorial Union shut down Arizona State University’s (ASU) Undergraduate Student Government-Tempe (USG) meeting early on Tuesday evening Nov. 14. Dozens of people yelled and chanted loudly enough to be heard by those inside the meeting room, while unidentified people threw rocks at the windows but did not break them. Feeling unsafe, Jewish students were escorted out by campus police officers after the meeting was abruptly adjourned. During the USG’s “Call to Audience” session, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), along with other student groups, introduced a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) resolution. Jewish students representing Alpha Epsilon Pi, Alpha Epsilon Phi, Hillel at ASU, Chabad at ASU and Olami ASU (all Jewish organizations on campus) spoke against the resolution that would have ASU break financial ties with Israel by removing Israeli-manufactured products from
Protesters gathered outside of Memorial Union ahead of Arizona State University’s Undergraduate Student Government-Tempe meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 14. COURTESY OF TAYLOR SILVERMAN
campus shelves, divesting from companies that support Israel and disallowing study abroad programs in Israel. In October, these same five Jewish organizations shared a petition
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Jewish students and others sit inside a crowded meeting room to discuss BDS resolution at ASU. COURTESY OF TAYLOR SILVERMAN
Jewish students spoke about being afraid to identify openly as Jewish on campus in the last month, since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas. Protests on campus and social media posts have made them feel under siege. Hillel at ASU Executive Director Debbie Yunker Kail has seen a significant uptick in students seeking support from Hillel since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. “Hillel has supported students through antisemitic and anti-Israel issues through the last month,” she told Jewish News. “Some of the pro-BDS groups say they’re not antisemitic but Jewish students feel singled out because the Jewish state is being singled out.” She told her staff that while she didn’t get into this work to fight antisemitism and anti-Zionism, she did want to support students, “and this is what they’re facing. This is our job and we want to provide our students with Jewish values to process the sometimes beautiful, sometimes challenging, gray vs. black-and-white world we live in.” Emily Fox-Million, chair of Hillel on the ASU Downtown campus, hoped to speak at the meeting but didn’t get the chance. Feeling unsafe on campus recently, she walked to the Memorial Union with other Hillel and Chabad students even though she was there to represent herself and her unique viewpoint as a Jewish journalist. Fox-Million went to the meeting to plead with her fellow students to listen to the personal narratives of those impacted by the conflict. “When discussing something as personal as the Israel-Palestine conflict, it’s the only way we’ll have enough empathy and hear each other,” she told Jewish News. She’s feeling the pressure of being a Jewish journalist on campus, where tensions on this issue are running high. “How can I be a proud journalist, proudly Jewish and unbiased at the same time? It’s hard to navigate it all,” she said. She has some experience writing about the issue. For a class project about challenging one’s beliefs, she covered an SJP event. JEWISHAZ.COM
“I wanted to learn but nobody who was personally affected would give me their name and I couldn’t share their story without a name,” she said. She did talk to Finn Howe, SJP’s president at ASU, who has said many times, including at last night’s meeting, that SJP is not antisemitic and is supportive of Jewish students. Fox-Million appreciated that message but also articulated that lately, it rings hollow. She has experienced antisemitism on campus before but after last night, she was so on edge that she decided to work from home and is even nervous about walking to class. Howe might not want Jewish students to be afraid, but “he doesn’t get to define antisemitism for me or tell me how safe I feel. That’s not how that works,” FoxMillion said. “I started to tear up quite a bit near the end of the meeting. For the first time, I realized no matter what I do, I will always be met with a little bit of disrespect because I am Jewish. That was a hard realization,” she said. At a Jewish-sponsored event two weeks ago, two ASU students told Jewish News that SJP should be banned from campus. Some universities have suspended or banned SJP in the last few weeks. Fox-Million doesn’t want that. “We all have the right to gather and protest — it’s the only way to learn from each other,” she said. She’s most concerned that the students who don’t know where they stand or even what to think about such a complicated issue have access to educational resources. She and her fellow Hillel leaders are trying to find ways of meeting with students “who come into our space and say, ‘I don’t know,’” she said. That goes for Jews, Christians, Muslims or any student who is ready to have “difficult conversations and ask difficult questions.” Last night’s meeting concluded early and without an answer. Ultimately, USG President Morgann Kelly and Tempe Senate President William Hanson told meeting participants they could not advise the university on this issue. JN
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DECEMBER 1, 2023
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HEADLINES LOCAL
Peoria mayor visits Israel during some of its darkest days SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER
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eoria Mayor Jason Beck started planning his trip to Israel almost as soon as he learned of Hamas’ gruesome attack on Oct. 7. The 10-day trip would be his sixth to the country and his second in 2023. “I have a very, very deep love for the country of Israel,” Beck told Jewish News. The mayor feels deeply connected to Israel due to his Christian faith. In his travels there, he usually spends time visiting those sites most sacred to Christians. “I believe that all of our faiths begin and end in Israel,” he said. His Oct. 28-Nov. 5 trip, however, had little to do with his “from the (Western) Wall to the (Holy) Sepulchre” mantra. This trip revolved around helping Israel and its soldiers, partly by donating bulletproof vests. Beck heads TYR Tactical, a tactical gear company he started in 2010 that provides bulletproof vests, shields and equipment
for American police departments and global military forces, including the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Over the course of his travels to Israel, Beck has made close friendships and some of those friends let him know their sons were being called up in reserve units and did not have body armor. Beck and his wife put together 350 vests, which he carried in person and donated last month. He was also able to help some of the young soldiers in a way he hadn’t expected: shaving beards. Many of the IDF soldiers he met had begun shaving everything but their mustaches, modeling the look of soldiers in 1967’s Six-Day War. “I see this one kid shaving his beard and doing a horrible job. I said, ‘Hey, do you mind if I help you with that?’ Then I turned around and there’s like 100 kids lined up behind me wanting my help,” Beck said before adding with a smile, “Half these kids can’t grow any facial hair anyway!”
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Peoria Mayor Jason Beck records footage of devastation of Oct. 7 Hamas attack during his 10day trip to Israel. COURTESY OF JASON BECK
Peoria Mayor Jason Beck shaves the beards of young Israeli soldiers. COURTESY OF JASON BECK
“I’ve always stood up to bullies and I’m not worried about being ‘canceled.’ What I care about is my soul and what happens if I don’t stand up for the Jewish people,” he said. From the number of supportive texts and emails he’s received after he shared the details of his trip on social media, he feels certain that the majority of his constituents in Peoria share his support of Israel. While other elected officials have made official trips to Israel to conduct highlevel meetings since the Hamas attack, Beck believes they would be better served by talking to soldiers and visiting the places where the attacks took place. “It’s more important that they show the Jewish people that they’re actually standing up for them,” he said. JN
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To help with new Israeli connections, before he left for Israel, he reached out to Scottsdale’s Congregation Beth Tefillah Rabbi Pinchas Allouche, who put him in touch with Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch in charge of the Western Wall and other Jewish holy sites. Allouche also introduced Beck to Colel Chabad, an organization caring for civilian evacuees from Israeli towns near Gaza, as well as injured soldiers. Colel Chabad included Beck in a day-long trip to an amusement park it arranged for 1,000 children living along the Gaza border, none of whom have experienced much joy since Oct. 7. Allouche, whose son is an IDF soldier currently engaged in battle, appreciated Beck’s interest and offers of help. “The mayor and I hadn’t spoken before this and now we’re friends,” Allouche told Jewish News. “He’s a doer, which I like.” With the help of Colel Chabad, Beck also visited kibbutz Be’eri, one of the first places Hamas attacked, an experience he posted about on his Instagram account by sharing videos of the damage he saw firsthand and talking to some of the residents. “I felt called as a Christian to help Israel,” Beck said. “Hamas did not care if the people they killed were Jews, Christians or Arabs. They cared that they were Israeli. That’s why the Jewish people have to stand up and Christians have to stand up, to protect Israel and democracy.” Beck’s trip was not on behalf of the city of Peoria, nor did any city officials accompany him. He paid for the trip from his personal funds. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps for three years, has experienced conflict zones in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia while running his business, and had no fear of being close to combat. The mayor is also concerned about antisemitism, which he called “disgusting.” At Beck’s request, Chabad of the West Valley Rabbi Sholom Lew offered the opening prayer for Peoria’s Oct. 11 council meeting. Beck put up an Israeli flag outside of his office after the Hamas attack that generated a bit of controversy.
DECEMBER 1, 2023
JASON BECK
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Work, community and completing the ‘full circle’ MALA BLOMQUIST | MANAGING EDITOR
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fter celebrating her 30th anniversary with HMA Public Relations this summer, Abbie S. Fink was promoted to president, following the announcement that Scott Hanson, the agency’s current president, will retire at the end of the year. She will be only the third president in the firm’s 40-plus-year history. “My parents instilled a work ethic in me,” she said. “My dad stayed in a job for 35-plus years, my sister’s been in her job 30-plus years and my mom worked in retail for that long.” But it wasn’t a clear career path in the beginning. When Fink was a freshman at Arizona State University, struggling in her business and economics classes, she quickly realized that track was not a good fit. Her parents encouraged her to find something she was good at and would enjoy doing as an occupation. She liked English and was a good writer and eventually discovered the journalism program. Journalism classes fell under the College of Public Programs. Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, the journalism school at ASU today, had not yet been created. Her options were to focus on editorial, public relations or photojournalism. Since she wasn’t very good at taking pictures and her knowledge of news writing came from the television show “60 Minutes,” she figured she’d be better off choosing the public relations route. “I realized that was what I had been doing for most of my life, and what I enjoyed doing,” said Fink. “I was in B’nai B’rith Youth all through high school and I was planning events, sending newsletters and organizing and writing speeches — I didn’t know that could be a career.” After she graduated from ASU, she began an internship at the then-The Pointe Resorts which led to her next job splitting her time between a public relations agency and promotion work at the Fiesta Bowl. It was when she began working full time for the Fiesta Bowl that she met Hanson. Hanson worked at the public relations agency Ed Moser and Associates and was also a part-time sportscaster at KPHO-TV, then an independent news station. Fink pitched him stories and the two became friends. “When I was let go from the Fiesta Bowl, I called Scott before I called my parents,” said Fink. She told Hanson she would need to JEWISHAZ.COM
Abbie Fink
COURTESY OF ABBIE FINK
find work and he arranged a lunch the next day with himself and the agency’s vice president, Mark Stanton (current CEO of the Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce). By the following Monday, the Fiesta Bowl invited her back as a contract worker and she also started doing some project work for the agency. Hanson became owner and president in 1991, changing the name to Hanson, Moser & Associates. The firm rebranded in 2000 to HMA Public Relations. “As I kept working more and more on some clients for Scott, he said, ‘Why don’t you just come and join me full time?’ That was July of 1993.” She didn’t know it then, but the more she worked with Hanson, the team they had and the clients they brought in together — the more she began to see herself there for the long term. Not that she wasn’t offered other jobs, but she stayed because of the way, culturally, they ran the agency together. “We want to be kind to our employees; we want to give them opportunities to grow and expand,” said Fink. “We feel strongly about being a partner with our clients, not just in doing what we’ve been hired to do but understanding more and being connected to them; that just resonated with me.” As time passed, she and Hanson discussed what the future looked like,
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including Fink taking over the role as president. “The more serious conversations have happened over the last handful of years,” she said. “He wanted to step away while he was in good health and his wife was in good health and the grandkids are doing all sorts of activities that he can be a part of and do some other things.” Hanson will remain a member of the account team, serving as senior consultant. Fink’s professional and personal lives have blended as she assisted many organizations in the Jewish community with their public relations needs. After her bat mitzvah at Congregation Beth Israel in Scottsdale she always practiced her faith but was not an active member until “an amazing trip” to Israel in 2008. “I really wanted to reconnect and make my synagogue and my clergy part of my life,” she said. “I made an effort to go to services, interact with the clergy and be a participant in the Jewish community.” Fink feels a commitment to the Jewish community, and the community at large, and wants to build on that over the next phase of her professional life.
She is a past board member for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Scottsdale and Florence Crittenton Services of Arizona. She is a graduate and past president of Scottsdale Leadership Class XVII and is past member of the organization’s advisory board. She’s held numerous positions on the board of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and received the Phoenix chapter’s highest honor, the Percy Award, for her commitment to the industry. In the 30 years that Hanson and Fink have led the team at HMA, their work has had an impact locally and nationally. HMA, along with a team of tribal law attorneys, was instrumental in working with Arizona’s Native American communities to get the first gaming compacts signed with the state of Arizona. The agency also advocates for equal rights and equal access for individuals with disabilities. “I think the work that we do for nonprofit organizations, or social service community support, where the awareness is about extending beyond the organization and helping the community, is where we can truly see a difference in the type of work we do,” said Fink. “When I can help our corporate clients
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“I REALLY WANTED TO RECONNECT AND MAKE MY SYNAGOGUE AND MY CLERGY PART OF MY LIFE, I MADE AN EFFORT TO GO TO SERVICES, INTERACT WITH THE CLERGY AND BE A PARTICIPANT IN THE JEWISH COMMUNITY.” ABBIE FINK
expand their community outreach and their social impact and help them find a place to support the community, it’s kind of a full circle.” Fink admits that the public relations field continues to change with the technology and resources available and she is excited to lead the organization into the future. “We have a lot of history and equity behind us and although I might be doing the same work, how we do it has changed dramatically,” she said. “I can take the solid foundation that we have and grow it, make positive changes and make a difference in our company and the work that we do,” she said.
She also appreciates that she will still have Hanson around “being a cheerleader” and guiding her. Although she and Hanson are only a few years apart, as long as she is energized to get up every day and do the work, retirement is not in her near future. She even hosts two podcasts, Copper State of Mind and PRGN Presents, for executives and directors in the field who want to increase the effectiveness of their public relations and marketing campaigns. “As long as I’m enjoying it and there are still opportunities for me to learn, grow and provide my knowledge, expertise and counsel, then I’m going to keep doing it,” she said. JN
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Liberal parents, far-left teens: When Jewish families fight over Israel RABBI DANIEL S. BRENNER | JTA
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ost of my friends in Jewish circles are parents of teens or college students. We are liberal, tolerant, openhearted folks, who jokingly call ourselves “NPR Jews.” We have Israeli friends, and we are watching in hor r or at a world in which it is once again Rabbi Daniel S. Brenner COURTESY OF RABBI DANIEL S. BRENNER VIA JTA fashionable, in liberal circles and on college campuses, to justify the murder and kidnapping of Jewish children — this time, because they were born in Israel. This new wave joins the rise of Jew-hate/ Israel-hate in MAGA circles and the white supremacist anti-Jewish tropes parroted by celebrities like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Elon Musk. While we lament the bloodshed of all people, we sympathize instinctually with our fellow Jews in Israel. We continue to advocate for a peaceful, long-term solution for both Israelis and Palestinians, but we know that Israel sometimes has to fight for its security. And while we ourselves have been critical of the Israeli government, at times deeply, we see too many others crossing the line from harsh criticism to double standards to outright demonization and antisemitism. Our kids, meanwhile, are absorbing other messages. Yes, they see bad actors spreading misinformation and influencers fawning over the words of Osama bin Laden. But they also see images that activate the very values we helped instill in them: tolerance, inclusion and compassion. Daily footage of Palestinians, often children, who are caught in the crossfire of this war, demands their compassion. Clips of Israeli leaders who speak about Palestinians as “animals” or “Amalekites” provoke their outrage. Their parents’ laments about Jewish vulnerability are hard to square with hourly evidence of Israeli military power. So, these last weeks have brought new questions: When a teen tells us that we should stop worrying about antisemitism, how should we react? Should we push back and criticize them for not taking this seriously, or let them blissfully pretend that we are not living during a surge of hate? What if teens are actively promoting, from a place of compassion and solidarity,
only arguments that are anti-Israel or proPalestinian? How do we make sure that they are hearing Israeli voices on these issues and that they balance their critique with some clarity about the challenge of taking sides with those who wish to destroy us? And what if our teens are justifying the terror of Hamas as a righteous form of armed resistance, as some Jewish students are doing on college campuses? Just as the Passover seder calls on us to differentiate how we are to answer four types of children, these questions present us with a multi-layered pedagogic challenge. I had the opportunity last week to speak with a New York-based therapist
can slow down together. Even if this is an obvious point, it is worth repeating. 2. “Don’t assume that your teen understands your connection to Israel.” This is something that I am learning every day. When I think of my own connection to Israel, I recall the personal stories of those who found refuge in Israel after the displacement of millions of Jews after World War II and after the rise of Arab nationalist movements. I remember my first trip to Israel as a teen, connecting with my extended family there, and studying and living there during my college years. I met incredible Israelis and Palestinians working side by side to build a future based on coexistence and
HELP YOUR TEENS TO SEE THAT THERE ARE DOZENS OF WAYS TO CARE FOR ISRAELIS, FOR THE JEWISH PEOPLE AS A WHOLE, AND FOR PALESTINIANS. and parent coach, Dr. Julie Hirschfeld, about these questions in preparation for a webinar we hosted for parents of teens at Moving Traditions. Here are five of her insights (in bold) and my own reflections on why these insights are important right now for parents of teens. 1. “Be aware of how the war is putting a strain on your relationships.” This may seem obvious, but as a parent, I know that it is easy to overlook how stress outside of the home manifests as stress in the home. The more time I take reading and watching coverage of the war and the antisemitism perpetrated in its wake, the less present I am to my family. If your teen resists talking with you about the war, it may be because they feel that the crisis is a threat to your ability to care for, nurture and protect them. To counter this, parents can pay attention to their teen’s well-being and find time to do things that they enjoy doing together. Hirschfeld talked about “finding time for normalcy” and connecting through Shabbat rituals or other ways that you
respect. And I remember former Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres and their visions of peace. Indeed, many of the hostages being held in Hamas tunnels are people who devoted their lives to those visions. But our teens and young adults have come of age at a very different time. Israel has been labeled by their peers as a colonizer and white-supremacist oppressor. And since Rabin’s assassination, openly racist political and religious leaders within Israel have energized a Jewish supremacist vision, one that has a platform within the current government. Since we cannot assume that our teens understand our connection to Israel, this crisis is a good moment to make time for you and your teen to share a walk, a meal or a drive — a time when you can give your teen some context that will help them understand why you care. Note: This is not the same as telling them why they should care. But it is important to share why you care, and what it means to you right now as you absorb the news and think about your connection to it. Even
if your teen has a different set of feelings than you right now about Israel, you can ask your teen to have empathy for the emotions that you are feeling. 3. “Keep in mind that this is an unsettling time for teens because they are seeing some of their peers sharing anti-Israel, and in some cases, anti-Jewish hate, and this is disrupting their social connections.” Even well-educated, college-bound teens are more likely to read the political opinions of a select group of models, athletes, actors and cultural commentators than they are to follow journalists, political scientists or writers. Some people in your teens’ network are likely sharing propaganda and conspiracy theories posted by their favorite influencers. But while teens today are seeing vehemently anti-Israel posts and anti-Jewish posts, most do not want to make waves about them. Whether these posts are shared by someone in their class, on their sports team, or from their summer camp, most teens would rather not confront the person or comment on the post. Also, when teens see posts that call for peace, a ceasefire or humanitarian aid, they don’t necessarily view them as anti-Israel or antisemitic, but simply as “pro-peace.” If your teen is willing to talk with you about what they are seeing on social media, you can help support their decision-making as they navigate what posts to ignore, when to reach out and when to speak up. You can help them find information about the crisis that they can trust, help them understand the continued threats that Hamas and Islamic Jihad pose in Gaza and in the region, and help them figure out what role they can play in challenging hate of any kind. 4. “If your teen is truly obsessed with the war, seeing everything through the lens of this crisis, and using this issue as a way to distance themselves from you, then you may need to speak with someone who can mediate the situation.” There are times when a teen will latch on to an extreme political position because it sends a message to the parent that they seek independence or detachment. In more extreme cases, the teen can begin to see the world through the lens of a political battle and place the parents as the enemy. If that is your case right now, you may want to seek support from a friend, clergy person or therapist. SEE FAMILIES, PAGE 10
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RELIGIOUS LIFE TORAH STUDY
SHABBAT CANDLE LIGHTING DECEMBER 1 - 5:01 P.M. DECEMBER 8 - 5:02 P.M.
Learning from history RABBI DOVBER DECHTER PARSHAH VAYISHLACH: GENESIS 32:4 - 36:43
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round our Shabbat table this past week, the conversation turned to gribenes. Rabbi Dovber Dechter Gribenes is a deliCOURTESY RABBI DOVBER DECHTER cacy that holds a special place in Jewish cuisine. This traditional dish is made by rendering chicken skin and fat until it becomes crispy and golden brown. In Jewish culinary traditions, gribenes has been cherished for generations, particularly during festive occasions and holiday celebrations. Which got me thinking. As a people, we hold on to much history and tradition. This is good because history has a way of being repetitive and there is a lot to learn from the way we dealt with events in the past. Like the time that all we wanted was to live in peace. And as we turned and looked to the world around us, expecting friendly faces, we found that it was in an offensive mode. Warriors trained from youth in the business of war and disregard for human life were ready to devour us. There didn’t seem to be any safe path forward.
So, we prepared to protect our own and try to ride the wave of hate. This is the story of Jacob as he prepares to meet his brother Esau. The 400 brutes were out for blood. Looking around him, Jacob realized he was on his own. His expectation that perhaps others would see the injustice in this was sadly wrong. All that was missing was social media. The message of him being an aggressor would have ridden the waves of popularity like wildfire. He prepares for battle, worried he may be killed, and terrified he may have to kill. Because Jacob is not in the business of war, it is forced on him and he stands up for his family expertly. He sends a message to his brother. I have sojourned with Lavan, the crookedest of them all and survived, even thrived. The Holy tongue has a funny way of being flexible. Rearrange the Hebrew word sojourned, garti, and you’ll get taryag, which stands for 613. The 613 mitzvos. The message he sent his brother was “I fear nothing. Because I have been faithful to the Mitzvos.” His message of strength is not “I am you. Another version of the same.” Rather “I am a Jew. And I am faithful to my heritage. Even when in a foreign
land, I held tight to my identity.” That is strength. That is survival. That is the recipe to thrive. The world has gone meshuga (crazy). Good and bad, right and wrong are not words many can identify easily and with moral clarity. The message we send to the world is we are proud Jews. We are identifiable as Jews. We look like Jews, we talk like Jews, we eat like Jews and we behave like Jews. The feeling of discomfort many feel, is because the quiet part has been said out loud. We don’t get to protect ourselves like any other nation. We don’t get understanding for very long. So, we do what our forefathers did. We start being more Jewish, behaving more Jewishly and more proudly. Share it with the world as Jacob did. That’s what got him safety in the end. The respect for him being strong, connected on high. The opposition faded away from him in quiet shame. This Shabbat is the 19th of Kislev, the anniversary of the freedom of the first Chabad Rebbe in 1798. The trumpedup charges in the Czarist judicial system stood no chance against his focus and unwavering connection to G-d and His Torah. Chassidic teachings emphasize the eternal soul that is us. When that
To help your teen expand their circle of empathy, you might share the various ways that Israelis are working with Palestinians to express solidarity, or tell them about joint efforts to provide humanitarian relief, like World Central Kitchen, which seek to help all non-combatants evacuees and families impacted by the escalating conflict in the region. Help your teens to see that there are dozens of ways to care for Israelis, for the Jewish people as a whole, and for Palestinians. Share the story of the late Vivian Silver, the Israeli peace activist murdered by Hamas. Give them hope that coexistence is still possible. I deeply appreciated Hirschfeld’s insights, and since hearing them I, as a parent and a rabbi, have been trying my best to be in dialogue across the generations, which includes my children
and their peers. I know that for some of my own peers, this has been one of the most challenging times in their parenting journey. The arguments that they are having with their teens are enormously difficult and require a great deal of patience. I hope that in the coming months, we as a Jewish community can support all parents of teens as we navigate through this crisis and help bridge some of the generational and other divides that are tearing us apart. JN
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soul feels left out of the world around us, it screams, “I am a holy soul! A part of G-d entrusted with a divine mission. And when threatened I will dig deep and allow that flame to fill me. To be truer to myself and allow my spiritual soul to live in harmony with my earthy body. Live more Jewishly.” The awakening that I and my fellow Rabbis have been seeing is unprecedented. Let us not allow the moment to slip by. Know of another Jew? Let them know they are not alone. Help them with their tefillin, mezuzot, tzedakah, lighting Shabbat candles and Torah study. Help them do Jewish prouder and louder. That is how we get safety and respect. That is how we build and retain an everlasting and eternal people. Connected on high will protect us down below. Am Yisroel Chai! JN Rabbi Dovber Dechter is the co-director of Chabad of Downtown Phoenix.
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5. “It is natural for teens to differentiate their views from parents, and they often use their peers as a reference group.” If your teens are in a school where peers are one-sided in their solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, and indifferent when it comes to the continued attacks on Israeli citizens by Hamas rockets, the welfare of the hostages being held by Hamas or acts of antisemitism here and around the world, then your teens may feel that fitting into their peer group requires that they express only proPalestinian sentiment or suppress their pro-Israel leanings. They might need to hear from parents the message that their hearts can have room for both the Palestinians suffering in Gaza and for the millions of Israelis who are in mourning, displaced, hiding in bomb shelters or awaiting news about the captives.
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.
Correction In “Cornell professor and Arizona superintendent discuss the ‘campus antisemitism crisis’” Nov. 17, 2023, the article stated incorrectly the incident occurred at Shadow Mountain High School. The correct high school is Desert Mountain High School. The Jewish News regrets the error.
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We are a diverse community. The views expressed in these opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the views of the officers and boards of the Jewish Community Foundation, Center for Jewish Philanthropy, Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix, Cleveland Jewish Publication Company or the staff of the Jewish News. Letters must respond to content published by the Jewish News and should be a maximum of 200 words. They may be edited for space and clarity. Unsigned letters will not be published. Letters and op-ed submissions should be sent to editor@jewishaz.com
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Eva Flaster, Phoenix Holocaust Association vice president, met up with Congressman Adam Schiff at the "March for Israel" rally in Washington D.C. on Nov. 14. COURTESY OF PHOENIX HOLOCAUST ASSOCIATION.
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Jewish-owned hospice in Phoenix offers patients and their families holistic support SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER
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hirli Regev is bringing her vision and years of experience as a chaplain, spiritual mentor and life coach to the recentlyopened Spiritual Care Hospice in Greater Phoenix. The Jewish-owned hospice has been operating since March and hopes to accommodate all of its patient needs — familial, spiritual, mental and emotional — in a holistic manner. Dr. Shirli Regev COURTESY OF SHIRLI REGEV Regev sees her role, and that of her staff, as guides for people on an endof-life journey. “You do the walk; we just hold the flashlight,” she said. She has doctorates in both holistic and psychological counseling and with her husband, Rabbi Dr. Gil Tivon, has authored seven books focusing on mindfulness and metaphysics. Tivon is the hospice’s spiritual director and bereavement coordinator. Regev began working in hospice care in 2020, after she witnessed the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic. She wanted to put her skills to use in a place where so many people needed counseling and guidance. But she didn’t mesh well with the traditional hospice structure and decided to leave the field. Thanks to Abe Majer and Yitz Katz, two Scottsdale residents who believed in Regev’s vision, she stayed. They bought out Elite Hospice in Phoenix and turned the daily run of the business over to Regev and Tivon. “The hand of God pretty much put us together with the right person to open this hospice,” Regev said. She said the main difference between Spiritual Care Hospice and other hospices she’s experienced is that “here we say what we do and we do what we say.” That goes for the patient’s expectation and the staff’s. Regev took the role of building a team very seriously. Burnout was something she witnessed personally and was determined to create a working environment that would foster teamwork while making a work/life balance more than just a
catchphrase. “My mentality is ‘growing into work’ — if you grow at work, you’re not working, you’re enjoying your day and you have a purpose, a mission,” she said. Some of the nursing applicants had been in jobs where they were asked to see up to 60 patients in a week, which she said is “insane” and makes meaningful care impossible. Regev wants the entire staff at Spiritual Care Hospice to be on the same page, consult with one another and have space to be themselves. “I always say a great hospice is the people,” she said. She intends to provide the highest quality care and counseling from the first day of admission. One of her go-to examples is that of an anxious wife, struggling to cope after her husband of 60 years moves to a care facility. Spiritual Care Hospice will offer a support team to assist her “mentally, emotionally and spiritually” and get her through this very challenging period of her life, Regev said. Regev grew up a secular Jew in Israel, enlisted in the army and competed in Judo internationally. Later in life, she embarked on a spiritual quest and embraced Orthodox Judaism. Her spiritual ideals pervade everything she does, especially in terms of her work. The holistic perspective with which the hospice staff approach their patients is meant to meet them “wherever they are at in their own spiritual quest,” she said. “They want someone who is knowledgeable and helps them feel safe in this transition.” She described three pillars necessary for what she termed “a healing environment.” A person needs “to be seen, to be known and to be heard.” That is why she emphasizes the importance of her staff working together and learning from one another. Only then can they provide the kind of standard of care she envisions. Keeping the communication lines between all departments open, and letting everyone know they can contribute to the conversation and not just feel like a number, will help them to provide the necessary care from day one, she said. She wants her ideals to be more than just a slogan in a brochure. Though Regev’s not the owner of the SEE HOSPICE, PAGE B5
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Retired entertainment attorney shares his love of television through teaching MALA BLOMQUIST | MANAGING EDITOR
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hen Steve Katz graduated from law school, he chose the entertainment industry to practice in because he decided he might as well pick a field that interested him. “As a kid, other than playing sports, all I ever did was watch TV and go to the movies,” he said. “So, when I got out of law school, I went out of my way to find a firm that practiced entertainment law.” Katz worked as an attorney in Los Angeles for 30 years and represented writers, directors, producers, actors and entertainers, including Dick Clark, Cher, Donald Sutherland and Michael Crichton. However, he admits some of his favorite clients were not ones that anyone would recognize. But he did have one famous favorite — actor Danny DeVito. He said he was one of the sweetest people he ever
worked with. “Officially, he was a client of a senior partner. I was the secondary lawyer, but he and I used to socialize and hang out,” said Katz. “He was really one of the nicest guys in the business.” In 2005, after he retired, Katz moved to Arizona and began taking classes at Grand Learning for residents living in The Grand (formerly Sun City Grand). After he attended many courses, he decided he wanted to teach. His first entertainmentrelated class was on the history of standup comedy. After that, he started teaching film classes. “I did a class on the history of film in the 60s, which is the decade where everything in the film industry changed,” said Katz. “I did a class on the history of film music, specific genres of film, conspiracy movies and then I decided to do
Steve Katz
COURTESY OF STEVE KATZ
one exploring the earliest days of television, through 1960.” On Sunday, Jan. 21, 2024, Katz will present “The Golden Age of Television” at 2 p.m. at Temple Beth Shalom of the West Valley (TBS-WV) in Sun City, where
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he is a long-time member. Katz said putting together the television class kept him sane during the COVID-19 lockdown. He spent between five to eight SEE TELEVISION, PAGE B5
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The story of a kindertransport survivor, a surprising friendship and happy coincidences SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER
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rthur Kern wanted to see his family’s old apartment in Vienna, Austria, where he and his family lived before his parents helped him escape on the kindertransport, an act that ultimately saved his life. The organized rescue effort mainly took Jewish children from Nazi-controlled territory to the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Sweden and Switzerland during a nine-month period between 1938 and 1939. It saved an estimated 10,000 children and Kern was one. He was the only member of his family to survive. His decision to see his family home 65 years later, in 2003, started a chain of events he could never have anticipated. Lilly Maier, the 11-year-old girl who answered his knock at the door — only a year older than he was when he was rescued — would become his pen pal, his friend, his biographer and a historian of the Holocaust. Maier is currently touring the United
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States with “Arthur and Lilly,” her biography of Kern and their lifelong friendship, the English translation of which was published in October. The book covers Kern’s life but also describes Maier’s travels to the places along his escape route to France, the people she met and the conversations she had with Kern, who died in 2015. On Friday, Dec. 1, Maier will be in person at Temple Solel in Paradise Valley during its erev Shabbat service to talk about her book. Dec. 2 marks the 85th anniversary of the first kindertransport. “It is remarkable how one person’s life can influence another’s,” said Solel Rabbi Debbie Stiel. While Maier was growing up in the same apartment Kern had grown up in six decades earlier, Kern left his Los Angeles home and went to see the last connection to the family he had lost. “It was very emotionally important for him to be able to see this apartment,” Maier
told Jewish News. That day, he met Maier and her journalist mother, who thought her daughter should learn more about a dark chapter in the country’s history. She signed Lilly up for a student history project investigating the biographies of Austrian Holocaust victims. Lilly researched Frieda, Kern’s mother. Because of the unusual encounter between Kern and Maier, her story was published in a daily newspaper, along with a photo of Maier holding a photograph of Frieda. That’s when the story grows even more astounding. A woman recognized Frieda and still had something she left behind 60 years ago. In 1941, Kern’s parents put their personal documents, passports and insurance policies in a package and asked a friend to hold onto it until their return, or to send it to Arthur should they not return. However, the friend was half-Jewish and feared he would be deported and passed the package to his
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Lilly Maier is pictured with her book “Arthur and Lilly.” PHOTO COURTESY OF VERONIKA BONDARENKO
18-year-old non-Jewish cousin, the woman who recognized the photo and kept calling the newspaper until the editor relayed the message on to Maier’s mother. Maier gave the package to Kern, who had
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lived his life with almost nothing from his parents but memories. Now, he had all their personal documents, including a Swiss life insurance policy he was able to cash. “The emotional significance of it was much more valuable and it’s why Arthur and I became so close,” Maier said. Kern even called Maier his Austrian granddaughter. Maier is not Jewish and before meeting Kern did not know any Jewish people, but the encounter sparked a deep interest in Maier and directed her course of study. She received a master’s degree in Jewish history from the University of Munich and another in journalism from New York University, where she was a Fulbright scholar. Most of her stops in the U.S. are at synagogues and Jewish community centers and draw a mainly senior crowd. One thing she loves to share with them is that Kern was one of the happiest people she ever met. Even after all he lost, by the time Kern was
a young adult, he knew the hatred he felt was unproductive. “The Germans don’t know that he hates them, and the Austrians don’t know he hates them and some Nazis somewhere in Argentina don’t know that he hates them. The only person who knows of this hate was himself. The only person suffering from this hate was himself. So he made a very conscious decision to stop hating and became a very peaceful and happy man,” Maier said. The start of Maier’s book tour coincided with the Israel-Hamas war. Kern’s message has resonated with her audiences, who have been talking non-stop about the war. “People talk to me afterward to say my talk felt like a short break from the war and it gave them a little bit of peace, which they didn’t expect from someone talking about the Holocaust,” Maier said. JN For more information, visit lillymaier.wordpress. com/2023/03/30/us-book-tour-lilly-maier/
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hospice, she feels like “it’s her baby” sometimes. She has a business degree and understands the reality of sales but isn’t worried about competing with the roughly 300 other hospices in the metropolitan area.
“I don’t care about competition, I care about serving. When you come with the right intentions, you’ll find the people,” she said. JN To learn more, visit spirtualcarehospice.com.
hours a day, over a year, researching and putting it together. “It’s very time consuming trying to figure out which shows you’re going to do, how to organize them, what to say about them and what clips are representative to make your point,” he said. “It’s so much fun to go back into all that nostalgia. I love seeing the people’s reactions to either what I’m saying or what they’re seeing.” He said he has many favorite shows fr om that era, “You watch ’The Honeymooners’ and it makes you laugh, no matter how many times you’ve seen it.” But his top pick is “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.” “I was an early teen at the end of the ‘50s and, at the time, it just struck a chord and I connected with that show,” said Katz. After more than a dozen years teaching at The Grand, Katz began teaching his first class this past September through Rio Salado College’s RISE Learning for Life program, which offers non-credit, interest-based classes. “My classes are very detailed and long,” he said. “The TV class, there’s three semesters. Each semester is 10 sessions and each session is three hours. So, you’re talking about a 90-hour class. It’s a lot of information.”
The event at TBS-WV will be an abbreviated version of his course. In his class, he works his way through almost every show on television in the 1950s, he said. With each series, he provides background history, sometimes including business practices or legal issues. “I Love Lucy” may be a 30-minute lecture “because of all the groundbreaking things about that series,” where a lesser-known show may only need a few minutes to cover. “I’ll have little quizzes at the beginning, before they’ve seen or heard the stuff I’m going to talk about to see if they remember,” he said. “As I’m going through my lecture and I get to something that’s a trivia question that people might know, I’ll stop and everybody chimes in with the answer. Now and then, nobody knows the answer but a lot of times, everybody knows the answer.” He also plays theme songs from a TV series and asks the students to identify it, or he’ll ask questions about certain commercials from the 50s. “I want to make it as much of a fun nostalgic experience as an educational experience,” said Katz. JN For more information, visit tbsaz.org.
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Jon Aries COURTESY OF JON ARIES
PHOTO COURTESY DMITRY - STOCK.ADOBE.COM
Medicare dates (and events) to remember JON ARIES | SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
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here are two kinds of election periods that generate a flood of advertising: Medicare’s annual election period (AEP) that happens every year and the runup to our governmental elections (at least only every other year). Advertising for the annual election period will quiet down on Dec. 7 when the official signup for 2024 Advantage Plans — and Prescription Drug Plans — closes. While this is the time when you have the most flexibility in changing what your healthcare benefits and costs will be, there are other times of the year when changes are available, especially if there are changes in your life. Here is a summary of terminology and important dates from now until the next Medicare advertising deluge.
Simple Explanation of Terms (exceptions for certain circumstances):
›› Original Medicare Part A hospitalization pays for a portion, but not all, of inpatient care in hospitals, skilled nursing facility care, hospice care and home health care. Part B doctors and outpatient pays for a portion, but not all, of services from doctors and other health care providers, outpatient care, home health care, durable medical equipment (DME) like wheelchairs, hospital beds, etc. and many preventative services like yearly wellness visits, screenings and vaccines. B6
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›› Advantage Plans Part C Medicare pays an insurance carrier to administer A&B within a network of providers and hospitals, etc. and often includes drug coverage and ancillary benefits. Each year a client’s needs and priorities may change, so it is important to see if the plan they are on is the best for the coming year. The insurance carrier makes a one-year commitment for benefits including costs for medications, and can consolidate or terminate a plan. ›› Medicare Supplement Insurance — Medigap Private insurance that pays what Medicar e does not (of Medicar e approved costs). There is no network — any provider and hospital that accepts Medicare will accept Medigap for copays. The coverage of a Medigap plan does not change, however, as a client ages, their cost indexes within brackets, and once a year (typically not January), each insurance company can adjust their rates. Medigap plans are typically purchased with a Part D plan. ›› Prescription Drug Plan (PDP) Part D Insurance is for prescription medications taken at home.
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ADVERTISING FOR THE ANNUAL ELECTION PERIOD WILL QUIET DOWN ON DEC. 7 WHEN THE OFFICIAL SIGNUP FOR 2024 ADVANTAGE PLANS — AND PRESCRIPTION DRUG PLANS — CLOSES. OCTOBER 15 TO DECEMBER 7:
JANUARY 1 TO MARCH 31:
If you have an Advantage Plan: You can change to another Advantage Plan effective Jan. 1. You can adjust your decision any number of times with the last choice being what you will be using for the next year. Remember, with an Advantage Plan your acceptance is subject to what county you reside in and the insurers network of providers. You can also change to a Medigap Plan. Remember, you may be subject to a medical review by the Medigap insurer and subject to different rates — or turned down. An exception is if your Advantage Plan was cancelled by the insurance company, an important consideration is to get a Prescription Drug Plan for January. If you have a Medigap Plan: You can change from one Medigap Plan to another — or from one insurer to another at any time — subject to a medical review which can impact your rate or acceptance. What is important is to select a Prescription Drug Plan. During AEP you can change this any number of times up through Dec. 7, but the last change received cannot be changed until the next AEP. (Note: You can change from a Medigap to an Advantage Plan at this time and within one year go back to the same Medigap Plan — with the same insurance company — with no penalty, if it is still available.) Your Prescription Drug Plan, which is a one-year commitment from the insurance company, and plan costs can change significantly, or you may have different medications than a year ago and even the selection of a pharmacy can impact costs significantly.
If you have an Advantage Plan, you can make one change to a different Advantage Plan, even to a plan with a different insurance company. Often, this can be the result of a provider changing which networks they accept or the cost of a medication changing from the prior year. You can also choose to go back to Original Medicare (A&B). When you make this change, understand that it is typically a good idea to get a Prescription Drug Plan for the balance of the calendar year — and then review this every year during Annual Enrollment Period. If you want to add a Medigap policy, it will involve the medical review described above unless your Advantage Plan was cancelled by the insurer. If the lapse in a drug plan exceeds 63 days, there will be a penalty that is small at first but accumulates and impacts your monthly costs.
Annual Enrollment Period (AEP)
Open Enrollment Period (OEP)
APRIL 1 AND BEYOND:
(until next AEP): Initial Enrollment and Special Enrollment (SEP) There are a number of reasons during the remainder of the year where establishing or changing coverage is available: Turning 65, retiring from an employer’s plan, change with a spouse’s coverage, specific changes in your health or economic condition. JN Jon Aries is principal of Arizona Healthplan Advisors LLC and can be reached at jon@ azhealthplanadvisors.com or 602-400-2632.
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‘Empower’-ing Israelis with free therapy SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER
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illions of dollars have been raised in the past month for Israel and the victims of Hamas’ brutal attack on Oct. 7. However, money isn’t the only thing being given. Yisroel Loeb, psychologist and CEO of Empower Mental Health (EmpowerMH) in Phoenix, and his team are donating their time and free counseling, a much-needed service for people coping with extreme stress. “We’re psychologists and we looked at how we can help,” Loeb told Jewish News. The day after the attack, “after we caught our breath,” Loeb’s first thought was to offer his team’s expertise to those in desperate need of figuring out how to navigate daily life in the midst of a war. “We want to help people cope with the day-to-day trauma of the devastating tragedy that took place on Oct. 7 and the ongoing war. At this point it is not about healing since the trauma is still ongoing. We are focused on helping people manage presently so later they can heal,” Loeb said. Managing relationships and mental health will be key for people trying to get through this very difficult period.
The team at EmpowerMH had already begun work on a way to provide 24/7 access to counselors by recruiting clinicians throughout the United States and Israel. Though it wasn’t live yet, many aspects of it were ready to go, such as the electronic medical record system. Most importantly, there were already a number of clinicians prepared to go online. On Oct. 8, Loeb sent an email asking if anyone would be willing to provide 90 days of therapy to Israel’s people. EmpowerMH is paying the clinicians for this service.“If we ask people to give free hours, they could only give maybe two or three a week because this is how they make their living,” Loeb said. “Long story short, we decided we’re going to go forward with this clinic and we’ll worry later about fundraising.” Within a week, 75 patients signed up for the free counseling service. The clinic now serves nearly 100 patients, most virtually. That was the easy part, according to Loeb. “I let a couple of my friends know in the mental health field and then it spread like wildfire. In Israel, you just need to put information on a couple of WhatsApp
EmpowerMH clinicians at its company party in March 2023 held at the World Baseball Classic. Pictured at left is Matthew Milstein, a psychologist who moved to Israel a few months ago and the clinical director of EmpowerMH’s Israel clinic. Standing next to him is Yisroel Loeb. COURTESY OF EMPOWER MENTAL HEALTH
threads. Jews don’t have six degrees of separation (or six degrees of Kevin Bacon for that matter); we only have two,” he laughed. EmpowerMH committed $25,000 to the clinic and using CauseMatch, partnered with Zichron Tzvi Elimelech, a charitable agency, to raise the rest of the funds needed. Loeb is clear on one point above all: “No profit will be made. All money raised is going to pay the providers and sustain a responsible, HIPAA-compliant platform for services.” Loeb is Orthodox, attends Congregation Beth Joseph in Phoenix and has always been interested in psychology. “I experienced some trauma but it’s also what I’m interested in, and I was always the kid who got along with everybody but was never part of any clique,” he said. He also liked the academic side of things and wanted his PhD. He ended up in Phoenix for residency, and during his
postdoc fellowship, he was introduced to working with veterans helping them navigate mental health programs. “I loved it. My dream was always to be in the military and this was the next best thing. It was meaningful, impactful and interesting work,” Loeb said. He traveled all over Arizona, meeting with veterans wherever they were, even in prison. He would evaluate close to 1,000 people a year and saw how difficult it was for people without means to get needed treatment. He taught people to navigate the various programs open to them. “There are so many different programs, but whether people have access to them or not is a different question,” he said. His experience in the field led him to begin EmpowerMH in 2020. “Our biggest focus and our biggest passion is our work with veterans,” Loeb said. Additionally, one of his hopes with his SEE THERAPY, PAGE 22
“When I say my dog is family, it’s because he is the only ly family that e and reminds has shown my son what a healthy relationship looks like urt someone.” him that love should never be a bartering tool used to hurt mpact - Survivor of domestic violence discussing the impact of Sojourner Center’s Pet-Friendly Shelter
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New campaign supports the arts in Tucson PHYLLIS BRAUN | CONTRIBUTING WRITER
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n spring 2022, the Tucson Jewish Community Center (Tucson JCC) launched a new fundraising campaign, the Patron of the Arts Society. Fran Katz, who joined the Tucson JCC staff in 2021 as chief development officer, said her inspiration for the arts society was twofold: to raise community awareness of the many arts and culture activities taking place at the Tucson JCC, and to begin combining solicitations instead of approaching people separately for programs such as the Tucson International Jewish Film Festival and the Sculpture Garden. “It gets them involved in the Tucson J in many different ways,” said Katz, who hoped to acquire 18 patrons in the society’s first year. To date, there are 25 patrons spanning a range of six giving levels, from $1,000 to $10,000. The Patron of the Arts Society allows the Tucson JCC to increase its arts and culture activities while reducing fees for those programs, Katz said. Todd Rockoff, the Tucson JCC’s president and CEO, agrees it is essential to provide arts and culture experiences
“without a huge cost barrier.” “You don’t want really fantastic programming that just isn’t affordable,” Rockoff said. Arts and culture and Jewish life and engagement programs are “foundational to what we do,” Rockoff said, and bringing them together under one philanthropic umbrella “has helped us to have more agility and depth.” The underwriting has helped the center increase its infrastructure, with new hires in arts and culture and engagement. With the Tucson JCC now taking the lead on the Weintraub Israel Center (a joint program of the Tucson JCC and Jewish Philanthropies of Southern Arizona), the support also helps create programs such as a recent “Humans of Israel” photography exhibit at the center. Signature events for the 2023-24 season have included appearances by Dara Horn, award-winning author of “People Love Dead Jews”; Zioness founder Amanda Berman, whose topic was “Can You Be Zionist and Progressive? (Of Course!)”; and Ladino singer/ songwriter Sarah Aroeste, along with the
annual Celebration of Sculpture event, which featured 60 sculptures displayed in the garden that included nine juried selections, more sculptures inside the Fine Arts Gallery, artist talks, music and youth activities. The film festival, which will run for three weeks in January, and a conversation about intermarriage with educator-activist Keren McGinty in February will round out the season. “The arts are essential to a healthy, whole life,” said Anne Maley-Schaffner, an arts patron who has renewed her gift for a second year. “What the Tucson J is doing with the arts, expanding that part of their mission in a very real way — not just talking about it — is really impressive,” she said, emphasizing that programs are open and accessible to the whole community. Many are free, such as the Celebration of Sculpture and all the shows in the gallery. “I’m not Jewish, but my values are aligned with the Jewish community,” Maley-Schaffner said, adding, “I believe the J is a community for the whole community. It’s inclusive.” Jennifer Selco, the Tucson JCC’s senior
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Fran Katz
COURTESY OF TUCSON JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER
director of Jewish living and engagement, said that “through the generosity of the Patron of the Arts participants, we’ve been able to think more holistically about the series of programming that we want to offer.” “Our intent is for arts, culture, and community programming to be designed in a way that is both mirrors and windows,” she said. Mirrors allow the community to see themselves reflected in the programs presented, Selco explained, while windows offer an opportunity to learn something new, from a different perspective. With the 2023-24 season well underway, Selco is starting to map out the 2024-25 program. To ensure the Patron of the Arts Society doesn’t detract from the center’s general fundraising, Katz has specifically reached out to people in the community who are interested in the arts. The Tucson JCC has always had a broad membership base, not limited to the Jewish community, and the arts society is another way to reach out to the broader community. As part of that outreach, Katz has arranged programs with other local arts organizations, such as a free event at the Philabaum Glass Gallery in October. She also invites patrons to gatherings at the Tucson JCC, which may include special receptions for the Patron of the Arts Society and the Stars of Giving donors. Creating the Patron of the Arts Society has been a good way for the J to reach new people as well as those who have not been involved for a while, Katz said. “We’re very proud to have this,” Rockoff said. “We look forward to yearover-year expanding the investment so that we can expand the return for our community.” JN For more information, visit tucsonjcc.org. Phyllis Braun is a freelance writer and editor based in Tucson.
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American Jews are giving mightily to Israel. Is there enough left to go around? ANDREW SILOW-CARROLL | JTA
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oving Traditions is a small Jewish organization with an unusual name and a mission that can be hard to describe on one foot. Working through synagogues, Hebrew schools and its own programs and curricula, it helps Jewish kids navigate their teen years in healthy, safe, appropriate and socially conscious ways. When the Hamas attacks in Israel on Oct. 7 threw the Jewish world into crisis, Moving Traditions created curricula to help teachers and teens talk about the conflict. And its CEO, Shuli Karkowsky, ordered up a “worst-case scenario” plan in case some of her reliable funders decided to direct more money to Israel. “We need to be humble and realize that we are an organization that serves North American teams. And so I don’t think we can put ourselves out there as the people who are going to be solving the Middle East crisis,” she said. To her relief, at a time when the Jewish philanthropic community is mobilizing around the war, her funders said they are
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going to “make the pie bigger”— that is, continue supporting groups like hers and expanding their giving in Israel. As they have during previous crises in Israel, American Jews are pouring dollars into Israel to support people displaced by the war, to bolster nonprofits whose employees are headed to the front and, in a newish twist, to defend both Israel in the court of public opinion and Jews abroad who are seeing an uptick in antisemitism. Jewish Federations of North America has raised $638 million among its network of local Jewish community chests. Israel Bonds said it sold more than $200 million worth of bonds in the week following the Hamas attacks. Jewish nonprofit execs celebrate this outpouring but are quietly anxious. As priorities shift to the defense of and support for Israel, what will happen to the bottom line of the schools, social services agencies, cultural centers and other Jewish institutions that don’t have an obvious Israel portfolio? “What irks me particularly is an emergency campaign now when they’re not
related to the crisis,” said Andres Spokoiny, the president and CEO of the Jewish Funders Network, speaking generally. “If you’re a school that is not affected by the crisis, just tell the truth that despite the crisis, you need to continue operating, and that having a strong community means that institutions and organizations like yours need to be strong and healthy.” Spokoiny, whose organization’s “How You Can Help” Israel page lists “trusted agencies and nonprofits,” has been recommending to the private foundations and philanthropists under his organization’s umbrella that they give “above and beyond,” supporting their traditional grantees as well as the emergency campaigns for Israel. “Otherwise,” he said, “you’re robbing Peter to pay Paul.” Spokoiny also knows that the pot of funds allocated for Jewish giving is not bottomless. He is hoping the current crisis serves as a “wake-up call to the many Jewish donors that give, you know, token gifts to the Jewish community and huge gifts to their alma mater or to the hospital to give
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more to Jewish and Israeli causes.” Barry Finestone, president and CEO of the Jim Joseph Foundation, recommended a similar approach in a recent essay in eJewish Philanthropy. Finestone prefers “yes, and” to “above and beyond,” and he also calls on Jewish donors to divert more of their secular giving to Jewish causes. “Yes, we absolutely need to support Israel and Israelis. We need to contribute mightily to the multitude of needs Israel has,” he writes. “But unless philanthropy steps up in the U.S. as well, there is a genuine chance that much of the organizational structure we have spent generations building will be stretched to its limits.” Normally, the San Francisco-based Jim Joseph Foundation funds Jewish education in the United States. (70 Faces Media, JTA’s parent company, has been a grantee.) In an interview, Finestone said he wrote the article partly in response to colleagues and friends who called him in recent weeks unclear where to send their donations. “They ran the risk of being forgotten,” SEE GIVING, PAGE 22
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he said of the Jewish organizations that don’t directly serve Israel. “And please God when this is over, and we know there’s going to be a long tail both literally and psychologically, we’re going to turn back to our camps, and to our synagogues, and to our JCCs and we’ve got to make sure that they’re there, or else the fabric of Jewish life that we’ve built over the years has the potential to crumble.” Yehuda Kurtzer, president of the Shalom Hartman Institute, says the outpouring for Israel has been inspiring, but also worries that the shift toward what he calls, in a Facebook post, “defensive, protective, and supportive” causes will come at the expense of “foundational” and “constructive” philanthropy. Foundational giving, he said in an interview, is about “keeping the lights on in the synagogues and Jewish institutions that do the core work of Jewish life. Deeply unsexy.” As an example, he points to the flood of giving that is expected in response to the pro-Palestinian and antisemitic activism on college campuses. “Jewish students feel vulnerable on college campuses, so dollars are going to go to, quote, unquote, fighting antisemitism on campus,” said Kurtzer. “But there’s another set of dollars that Hillels need right now: They have record turnout for students coming to Shabbat
dinner over the past month. They’re looking for foundational dollars so they can support [that] or provide counseling services, whatever students need.” Past crises have shaped Jewish priorities for generations. In response to the Six-Day War in 1967, American Jews donated more than $100 million — close to $1 billion in today’s dollars — in a little over two weeks. Six years later, when the Yom Kippur War punctured Israel’s aura of invulnerability, American Jews contributed $700 million in aid, or $6.4 billion in today’s money. At the time, however, Israel was still viewed as a developing country, the historian Lila Corwin Berman points out. “For quite a while, Israel has been economically a fairly well-to-do nation and hasn’t needed American Jewish dollars in the same sort of fundamental way,” said Corwin Berman, the chair of American Jewish History at Temple University. Corwin Berman acknowledged that Israelis still have genuine needs — for example, those who lost their homes and loved ones in the Oct. 7 attacks. But she notes that money going into less material needs — like the fight against antisemitism — will ultimately shape Jewish priorities, perhaps in unexpected or unwelcome ways. UJA-Federation of New York is allocating $600,000 to responding to antisemitism on campus, normally a sizable allocation if only a fraction of the money raised for the
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JEWISH NEWS
emergency campaign. Mark Charendoff, the president of the Maimonides Fund, said the board of his grantmaking organization is also focusing on fighting antisemitism, along with what he calls the “internal refugee crisis” — Israelis displaced and traumatized by the war — and “strategic communications,” or advocating for Israel to politicians and the public. Charendoff said the Maimonides board does not intend to cut back on any of its current grant-making, which supports education and issues-oriented programs in North America and Israel, like Hadar Institute for Jewish learning, an L.A.-based organization that encourages Jewish filmmaking and the fund’s own journal of ideas, Sapir. But that they do intend to focus on “anything that we can do to respond to the current crisis. We should be looking for those options on both sides of the ocean. And this would be over and above our current budget,” he said. And yet he knows that pivoting to new priorities can come at a cost in attention to other needs. “Human beings only have so much bandwidth,” he said. “And on both sides of the ocean, our staff are single-mindedly focused on the current crisis, obviously. Which means that we’re not focused on new opportunities, new ways of engaging in the elements of our portfolio that are not related to or not affected by the war.” Karkowsky, at Moving Traditions, said her organization doesn’t intend to do significant fundraising around the emergency in Israel, but that doesn’t mean it has nothing to offer to a Jewish world in crisis. “I do think there’s an enormous need for work with North American Jewish teens right now who feel confused and lonely,” she said. “They’re not sure what their political opinions are, or they do and they feel abandoned by their friends, or they do and they disagree really strongly with their parents who are coming back and saying, ‘How do I connect with my kid who’s saying things I really don’t agree with?’ So I do think there’s a small role for us to play as part of the work we would be doing anyway.” JN THERAPY
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company is to serve a community of clinicians who sometimes are made to feel “like cogs in a wheel” in some companies. Nate Cohen, EmpowerMH’s new director of business development, moved to Greater Phoenix four months ago and he, too, attends Congregation Beth Joseph. He spent the past decade working with severely mentally ill clients in New Jersey. “One of my passions is helping the underserved and underprivileged people who have a hard time getting the care they need,” Cohen said. “It’s amazing to work for a company that wants to make a meaningful impact in the world.” JN To learn more, visit empowermh.co JEWISHAZ.COM
SPECIAL SECTION CHANUKAH
9 Things You Didn’t Know About Chanukah MY JEWISH LEARNING VIA JTA
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hanukah is one of the most widely celebrated Jewish holidays in the United States. But that doesn’t mean there is nothing new to learn about this eight-day festival. From the mysterious origins of gelt to an Apocryphal beheading to Marilyn Monroe, we’ve compiled an item for each candle (don’t forget the shammash!) on the Chanukah menorah. 1. Gelt as we know it is a relatively new tradition — and no one knows who invented it. While coins – “gelt” is Yiddish for coins, or money – have been part of Chanukah observance for centuries, chocolate gelt is considerably younger. In her book “On the Chocolate Trail,” Rabbi Deborah Prinz writes that “opinions differ” concerning the origins of chocolate gelt: Some credit America’s Loft candy company with creating it in the 1920s, while others suggest there were European versions earlier that inspired Israel’s Elite candy company. Prinz notes, as well, that chocolate gelt resembles a European Christmas tradition of exchanging gold-covered chocolate coins “commemorating the miracles of St. Nicholas.” 2. The first Chanukah celebration was actually a delayed Sukkot observance. The second book of Maccabees quotes from a letter sent circa 125 BCE from the Hasmoneans (the Macabees’ descendants) to the leaders of Egyptian Jewry, describing the holiday as “the festival of Sukkot celebrated in the month of Kislev rather than Tishrei.” Since the Jews were still in caves fighting as guerrillas on Tishrei, 164 BCE, they had been unable to honor the eightday holiday of Sukkot , which required visiting the Jerusalem Temple; hence it was postponed until after the recapture of Jerusalem and the rededication of
the Temple. Many scholars believe it is this connection to Sukkot – and not the Talmudic account of the cruse of oil that lasted eight days – that explains why Chanukah is eight days long. 3. The books of Maccabees, which tell the story of Chanukah, weren’t included in the Hebrew Bible – but they are in the Catholic Bible. There are different theories explaining why the first-centur y rabbis who canonized the scriptures omitted the Maccabees, ranging from the text’s relative newness at the time to fears of alienating the Roman leadership in control of Jerusalem at the time. 4. Marilyn Monroe owned a musicplaying Chanukah menorah (the Marilyn Monrorah?). When the Hollywood star converted to Judaism before marr ying Jewish playwright Arthur Miller, her future mother-in-law gave her a menorah as a conversion gift. The Chanukah lamp, which the menorah’s current owner says Mrs. Miller brought back from Jerusalem, has a wind-up music box in its base that plays “Hatikvah,” Israel’s national anthem. It’s featured in the Jewish Museum in New York City’s exhibit “Becoming Jewish: Warhol’s Liz and Marilyn,” but sadly you can’t wind it up. 5. The game of dreidel was inspired by a German game played at Christmastime, which is itself an imitation of an English and Irish one. Our Eastern European game of dreidel (including the letters nun, gimmel, hey, shin) is directly based on the German equivalent of the British totum game: N = Nichts = nothing; G = Ganz = all; H = Halb = half; and S = Stell ein = put in. In German, the spinning top was called a “torrel” or “trundl.”
Chanukah gelt
6. Oily food (think latkes and sufganiyot) isn’t Chanukah’s only culinary tradition. Traditionally, Chanukah has included foods with cheese in recognition of Judith, whose liberal use of the salty treat facilitated a victory for the Maccabees. 7. On Chanukah, we celebrate a grisly murder. The aforementioned Judith had an ulterior motive for plying Assyrian general Holofernes with salty cheese: making him thirsty so he would drink lots of wine and pass out, enabling her to chop off his head and bring it home with her. The beheading – particularly the fact that a woman carried it out – was said to have frightened Holofernes’ troops into fleeing the Maccabees. 8. The next “Thanksgivukkah” (sort of), is only 47 years away. In 2013, the convergence of Thanksgiving and Chanukah on Nov. 28 inspired everything from turkey-shaped menorahs to a giant dreidel float in the
COURTESY OF FLICKR/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. While experts say a full day of Chanukah won’t coincide with the fourth Thursday in November for thousands of years, the first night of Chanukah will fall in time for Thanksgiving dinner (assuming you have the meal at dinnertime rather than in the afternoon) on Nov. 27, 2070. 9. The largest menorah in the world, according to the Guinness Book of World Records is 32 feet high and weighs 4,000 pounds. The Shulchan Aruch stipulates that a menorah should be no taller than about 31 feet. Incidentally, Guinness lists at least three other Chanukah-related records: most dreidels spinning simultaneously for at least 10 seconds (820), most valuable dreidel ($14,000) most people simultaneously lighting menorahs (834) and largest display of lit menorahs (1,000). We’d like to know the most latkes ever eaten in one sitting. JN For more articles like this, visit MyJewishLearning.com.
Chanukkah Market Sunday, December 3 8:30 AM to 1:00 PM 4645 E. Marilyn Rd Phoenix, AZ 85032
Temple Chai Judaica Shop carries a complete line of Chanukkah items as well as home decor, jewelry and other Judaica, from traditional items to unique finds.
Shop online www.templechai.com/shop
Contact Joan Neer at jneer@templechai.com or 602-971-1234 JEWISHAZ.COM
JEWISH NEWS
DECEMBER 1, 2023
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SPECIAL SECTION CHANUKAH
Japanese-Style Latkes for Chanukah SONYA SANFORD | THE NOSHER VIA JTA
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he Japanese word “okonomiyaki” is derived from two words: okonomi (how you like it) and yaki (grill). Okonomiyaki is a customizable Japanese savory vegetable pancake. Like a latke, it gets cooked in oil in a fritter formation. Unlike a latke, it’s usually made into a large plate-sized pancake comprising mainly cabbage. Food historians have linked the rise in popularity of okonomiyaki in Japan to World War II, when rice was more scarce and this recipe offered a filling meal or snack with a wheat-based starch. Throughout Japan there are regional differences and countless variations of okonomiyaki, but the most common form of the dish involves a batter made of flour, a variety of mountain yam, eggs, shredded cabbage, green onion and dashi. It gets topped with its own tangy sweet sauce, Japanese mayonnaise and bonito flakes (katsuobushi). I first fell in love with okonomiyaki on a trip to Japan. You can find it there in restaurants that specialize in the dish, but it’s also something that is prepared in home kitchens. The cabbage gets slightly crisp, tender and sweet when seared in oil on a flattop or skillet, and then it gets generously slathered with an umami-rich sauce, along with a welcome drizzle of creamy mayo. The richness, sweetness and tanginess of these components all work perfectly together. A few months after I got back from Japan, I ended up eating at Brooklyn’s Japanese Jewish restaurant, Shalom Japan. I didn’t hesitate to order their Jewishinfluenced spin on okonomiyaki. They’re known to top it with pastrami or corned lamb tongue and sauerkraut. It became clear there that okonomiyaki, with its base of humble cabbage and onion, is a perfect fit on a Jewish table. The fried pancake part of it all called out “Chanukah.”
I am a fan of all pancakes and fritters, and I set out to modify the classic Japanese version for a recipe that didn’t require access to a specialty food store, and that could be made with kosher ingredients. Full disclosure: My version lacks authenticity. If you’re going for the real deal, you’ll need a batter made with an okonomiyaki flour mix, or nagaimo yam; this special kind of yam is added in powdered form to the flour mix, or gets grated fresh into the batter. The toppings should include bonito flakes, and the batter should be made with dashi. These ingredients can be found at most Japanese markets. Instead of nagaimo yam, my version uses a batter of flour and potato starch, and instead of dashi I use water. I’ve also included a r ecipe for homemade traditional okonomiyaki sauce that can be made simply with easy-to-find ingredients, but you can also buy a premade bottled sauce. You can make these pancakes large-sized and cut into wedges like the Japanese do, or slightly smaller à la a large latke. I wouldn’t go too small with this, as the vegetables tend to hold together better en masse. This recipe doesn’t need to be too exact, and it works as a blank canvas for additional vegetables like kale, mushrooms and/or daikon. In the spirit of Chanukah, these okonomiyaki get cooked in oil, but they’re not heavily fried. The oil used to fry the okonomiyaki gives a loving nod to the miracle of the oil glowing in the Temple for eight days instead of one, but the heap of vegetables and addictive sauce make this a nutritious and satisfying addition to any Chanukah meal.
Cha nuka h!
Japanese-style latkes
Ingredients For the pancakes: ¾ cup all-purpose flour or gluten-free all-purpose mix ¼ cup potato starch or cornstarch 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp kosher salt 2 large eggs ½-¾ cup water ½ shredded green cabbage, about 4 ½ packed cups 3 green onions, sliced thin, plus more for garnish if desired 1 carrot, peeled and shredded 4-5 inches daikon, peeled and shredded (optional) oil, as needed (sunflower, canola or peanut) sesame seeds, for topping (optional) mayonnaise, for topping (optional) For the okonomiyaki sauce: ½ cup ketchup ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce 2 Tbsp soy sauce 2 Tbsp honey or agave syrup, or to taste
Happy Hanukkah
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Winter visitor? Looking for a friendly congregation of active adults to celebrate Hanukkah? Join Beth Ami Temple for a special Hanukkah Shabbat Friday December 8th at 7:00 p.m. Bring your Menorah if you would like.
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Sanctuary located in Gloria Christi Church 3535 E. Lincoln Drive · (Corner of Lincoln and Palo Christi) Visit Beth Ami Temple for information and updates. Snowbird memberships available. Website: www.bethamitemple.org · Email: bethamitemple@hotmail.com · Phone: 602-9560805
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Instructions Start by making the batter. Whisk together the flour, starch, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs. Add the eggs and ½ cup of water to the flour mixture. Whisk until smooth. You want a fairly thin, crepe batter-like consistency. If you find it too thick, add another ¼ cup of water. Try not to over-mix; you do not want to overdevelop the gluten. Allow the batter to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour. While the batter is resting, prepare the vegetables. Remove the thick core from the cabbage half, then cut the halved cabbage in two. Thinly slice or shred the cabbage. Thinly slice the green onions. Grate the carrot and daikon if using. Make the okonomiyaki sauce: Combine the ketchup, Worcestershire, soy sauce and honey/agave in a bowl. Taste and adjust to your liking. The sauce should be tangy, savory and a little sweet. Combine the batter with the vegetable mixture. Heat a cast-iron skillet or a nonstick skillet with about 3 Tbsp oil over high heat. Once the oil is glistening and hot, lower the heat to medium low and add some of the cabbage mixture to the pan, gently nudging it into a circle shape. I like to make each pancake with about 2 cups of the mixture. For me, that makes an ideal-sized pancake that isn’t too hard to flip, and one that will hold together. Cover the skillet with a lid for 3-4 minutes. Carefully flip over the pancake, and cover it with a lid for an additional 3-4 minutes, or until browned on both sides and cooked through. Make sure not to cook on too high of a heat or the pancake might burn on the outside while remaining raw in the center. Serve hot topped with a generous spread of the okonomiyaki sauce, mayo if desired, sliced green onions and sesame seeds. Slice and serve! JN
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COMMUNITY
Welcoming new brothers The Omicron class of Jewish fraternity AEPi at Arizona State University was initiated the first week of November, becoming brothers at the Levenbaum Chabad House at ASU. “Mazal Tov to the new brothers!” said Rabbi Shmuel Tiechtel. COURTESY OF CHABAD AT ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY
Tikkun olam kickoff The new cohort of the Tikkun Olam Together mother-daughter service group had its first meeting last month with 20 families. The group assembled dried soups to be donated to and distributed by the AZ Kosher Food Pantry and wrote notes of support to teens in Israel. COURTESY OF ANDREA COHEN
Tax talk Center for Jewish Philanthropy of Greater Phoenix (CJP) and the Arizona Community Foundation’s (ACF) Annual Tax & Legal Seminar (T&L) hosted Sam Donaldson, Georgia State University law professor, on Friday, Nov. 9, 2023. Pictured from left: Richard Kasper, CJP CEO; TJ Ryan, T&L chair; Erin Itkoe, T&L vice chair; Sam Donaldson; Anna Maria Chavez, ACF CEO; Kimberly Kur, ACF vice president of philanthropy and Gail Baer, CJP vice president of philanthropy. COURTESY OF SARA WATERMAN
Here’s to many happy hours! Smile on Seniors puts on many events, like its Jama Happy Hour, starring some happy seniors! From left are Matt Benjamin, Susan Ference, Steve Ference, Livia Sklar and Marcia Benjamin. COURTESY OF SMILE ON SENIORS
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. JEWISHAZ.COM
BBQ for the IDF The Chabad Jewish Center of Gilbert sponsored a BBQ for the Israel Defense Forces the first week of November. “Thanks to (my friend) Rabbi Aaron Leaf for all the hard work he’s doing keeping the moral of our soldiers upbeat,” said Chabad Jewish Center of Gilbert Rabbi Shimi Ash. COURTESY OF CHABAD JEWISH CENTER OF GILBERT
JEWISH NEWS
DECEMBER 1, 2023
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CALENDAR
Featured Event DEC. 7-14 Chanukah in Carefree: 5:30-7 p.m. Sanderson Lincoln Pavilion, 101 Easy St., Carefree. Celebrate Chanukah with activities and programming each night hosted by different local Jewish organizations. Cost: Free. For more information, visit chanukahincarefree.com. COURTESY OF CHANUKAH IN CAREFREE
For an updated listing of events and resources for supporting Israel, visit JewishPhoenix.com Events SATURDAY, DEC. 2 Melave Malka-Farbrengen: 7:30 p.m. Chabad Center, 2110 E. Lincoln Drive, Phoenix. Join Chabad of Arizona for a community event celebrating 19 Kislev, the Day of Redemption of the first Chabad Rebbe and Rosh Hashana of Chassidism with special guest Rabbi Mendel Lerman of New York. Cost: Free. For more information, visit chabadaz.com. TUESDAY, DEC. 5 Silent Heroes: Little Known Women of Chanukah: 7:30-8:30 p.m. Online. Join East Valley Jewish Community Center and Karolyn Benger to learn about three women from the story of Chanukah who played pivotal roles in the Jewish people’s victory. Cost: Free. Pre-registration necessary to receive Zoom link. For more information, visit evjcc. org/event/silentheroes/. THURSDAY, DEC. 7 Finding Light in the Darkness: 1-2 p.m. Online. Join Valley Beit Midrash for a presentation by Melanie Gruenwald, executive director of Kabbalah Experience, and a conversation about light, darkness, hope, grief and resilience. Cost: $18; free for VBM members and Beth El Phoenix members. For more information, visit valleybeitmidrash.org. Hanukkah Celebration + Jewish Trivia: 5 p.m. Crescent Ballroom, 308 N. Second Ave., Phoenix. Featuring Chanukah music by Rick Naimark, menorah lighting, jelly donuts, latkes, brisket tacos and Jewish trivia. Cost: Free. For more information, visit crescentphx.com/tm-event/hanukkah/. Menorah Lighting in Tempe: 5:30-7:30 p.m. Ragsdale-MLK Park, 24 E. Sixth St., Tempe. Join ASU Chabad and Downtown Tempe for menorah lighting and activities. Cost: Free. For more information, visit downtowntempe.com. Menorah Lighting in Mesa: 6:30-7:30 p.m. The Post, 26 N. Macdonald, Mesa. Join Chabad Jewish Center of Mesa and the City of Mesa for menorah lighting, market with Jewish crafts (4-8 p.m.) and activities. Cost: Free. For more information, visit mesaaz.gov. FRIDAY, DEC. 8 Lights, Latkes and Laughter: 5:30-7 p.m. Temple Beth Shalom of the West Valley, 12202 N. 101st Ave., Sun City. Celebrate Chanukah with TBS-WV Cantor Baruch Koritan, a potluck dinner and menorah lighting. Cost: $5 per person, ages under 12 free; registration closes on Dec. 5. For more information call the temple’s office at 623-977-3240.
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DECEMBER 1, 2023
Hanukkah Dinner: 6:15 p.m. Shabbat service; 7:30 p.m. dinner. Temple Solel, 6805 E. McDonald Drive, Paradise Valley. Join Temple Solel for dinner and candle lighting. Cost: $5 per person, ages under 12 free. For more information, visit templesolel.org. SATURDAY, DEC. 9 Chanukah Sing-a-long: 5:30-8:30 p.m. Congregation Beth Israel, 10460 N. 56th St., Paradise Valley. Join cantors and soloists from Congregation Beth Israel, Temple Chai, Temple Kol Ami, Temple Solel and Congregation Or Tzion for a community signa-long. Cost: $36 adults. For more information, visit jewishphoenix.com/events/ phoenix-sings-chanukah-sing-a-long/. SUNDAY, DEC. 10 Chanukah on the Lawn: 4:30-6 p.m. Biltmore Fashion Park, 2502 E. Camelback Road, Phoenix. Join Chabad of Arizona for latkes, donuts, entertainment, menorah lighting and more. Cost: Free. For more information, visit chabadaz.com/lawn. 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 stress-free in the current environment with Rabbi Boruch of Chabad of Oro Valley. Cost: Free. Tune in using this link: zoom. us/j/736434666. For more information, visit chabadaz.com. MONDAYS Mahjong: 1:30-3:30 p.m. East Valley Jewish Community Center, 908 N. Alma School Road, Chandler. Come play mahjong each week. For all levels. Cost: Free; registration required at evjcc.org/mahjong/. Ethics of Our Fathers: 7 p.m. Online. Learn with Rabbi Zalman Levertov. Tune in at: 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. Tune in at: 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. Tune in at: 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. Tune in at: 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 like-minded 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.
JEWISH NEWS
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. Tune in at: 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. Tune in here: 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. Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center, 12701 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale. In person and via 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. Words & Whiskey: 8:30 p.m. Online. Learning session for men. Cost: Free. To RSVP, email rmollenaz@gmail.com or call/text 310-709-3901.
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CALENDAR THURSDAYS Ladies Torah & Tea: 10:30 a.m. Online. Learn about the women of the Torah with Mrs. Leah Levertov. Cost: Free. Tune in at: ourjewishcenter.com/virtual. For more information, visit chabadaz.com. Talmud - Maakos: 11 a.m. Online. Learn with Rabbi Shlomy Levertov. Cost: Free. Tune in at: 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 1-253-2158782, 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. The Science of Everything: 4 p.m. Online. Explore the most fundamental work of Chassidut: the Tanya, with Rabbi Boruch. Cost: Free. Tune in at: 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. Tune in at: 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 varying dates and times. Temple Chai, 4645 E. Marilyn Road, Phoenix. For more information, contact Joan Neer at jneer@templechai.com.
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Pre-Shabbat Kiddush Club: 6 p.m. Online. Say Kiddush with Rabbi Mendy Levertov. Cost: Free. Tune in here: 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 Andrea at 480-664-8847 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. Shabbat Services with Beth Ami Temple: 7 p.m. Gloria Christi Federated Church, 3535 E. Lincoln Dr., Paradise Valley. Rabbi Alison Lawton and Cantorial Soloist Michael Robbins lead Shabbat services twice a month. For more information, visit bethamitemple.org.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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MILESTONES OBITUARY MARK ALAN SPECTOR Mark Alan Spector of Phoenix died on Nov. 12, 2023. He was 77. Mark was born in Jersey City, New Jersey. Mark is survived by his former wife, Linda Heyman Spector; sister, Linda Smith; brother, Brian Spector; daughter, Caron Berkley (Cliff); son, Jay Spector (Bethany); and grandchildren Jordyn Spector, Micah Spector, Tess Berkley and Ira Berkley. Services provided by Sinai Mortuary. Donations in his name can be made to Magen David Adom (afmda.org). JN
Bonnie “Francine” Brozosky Bonnie “Francine” Brozosky (nee Schaefer), 82, beloved wife of Marty, passed away on Thursday, Nov. 16. Loving daughter of the late Anita and Max Schaefer; niece of the late Lillian and Max Tushner; Devoted mother of Heidi (Shayle) Patzik, Randi (Robert) Sobel and Stefanie (Scott) Kulberg; Cherished sister of Gayle Morgan; Dear sister-in-law of the late Herbert (late Muriel) Brosk, Lois (late Gene) Siegel and Betsy (Ted) Weisbach; Adoring grandmother of Bari, Lara, Michael, Ryan, Alex, Ellie, Cassidy and great-grandmother of Maya; Treasured aunt of the Morgan, Siegel, Brosk and Weisbach families. She will be deeply missed by many friends and family. Bonnie was laid to rest on Monday, Nov. 20 at Mt. Sinai Cemetery in Scottsdale. Shiva will be held on the evenings of Dec. 5 and Dec. 6 at the home of Stefanie and Scott Kulberg in Highland Park, Illinois from 6 to 9 p.m. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to The Bonnie Brozosky National MS Society fund.
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