Jewish News, Feb. 3, 2023

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Professor Rosalind Kabrhel spoke about “From Prison to Promise: Breaking the Cycle of Incarceration” on Jan. 9.

When it comes to unity, are local Jews talking about the same thing?

SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER

Dozens of hands shot up last Tuesday night the moment Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz opened the floor to audience questions. In person and on Zoom, roughly 100 people attended Valley Beit Midrash’s (VBM) panel “Can the Phoenix/Scottsdale Community be United?”

With so many raised hands, Yanklowitz resorted to asking for a rapid-fire round of questions before he had to cut them off, allowing the panelists a brief chance to answer before making a final statement.

By that point, the panel — charged with talking about what divides Jews and what, if anything, can be done — had lasted nearly two hours, but it was clear that people had more to say. Three decades after the famed English Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks called the notion of Jewish unity “deceptively simple” and suggested the idea was more “a myth, perhaps, rather than a reality,” in his book “One People? Tradition, Modernity, and Jewish Unity,” the possibility of unifying Jews still draws a crowd.

Between those who attended the event and the people who have since watched the recording on VBM’s YouTube and other social media channels, Jews are expressing a hunger to hear more on this topic, which was VBM’s main goal.

In 1993, Sacks wrote specifically about schisms in Judaism brought on by modernity, between Reform and Orthodox, religious and secular, Israel and the Diaspora.

Yanklowitz, VBM’s president and dean, suggested

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Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff talks with ASU Hillel students about antisemitism

Douglas Emhoff, the Second Gentleman of the United States, made a brief visit to the offices of Hillel Jewish Student Center at Arizona State University to speak directly to college students about antisemitism on Thursday, Jan. 18.

Emhoff joined 10 students, Hillel at ASU Executive Director Debbie Yunker Kail and Hillel at ASU Assistant Director Taylor Silverman, for a 50-minute round table discussion, during which Emhoff invited students to share their personal experiences and how the current climate around antisemitism is impacting them as leaders.

ASU senior and Hillel at ASU Student President Zachary Bell was impressed by Emhoff’s ability to listen to each student’s experience and refer back to what they related when he offered his own comments.

“He made it clear that he heard and respected the experiences of

everyone in the room,” Bell told Jewish News.

Bell said several students told Emhoff about how they sometimes feel unwelcome in certain studentled multicultural coalitions and initiatives. Emhoff told them it wasn’t the first time he’d heard

similar stories and didn’t think it would be the last.

“It was clear that this is an issue he’s passionate about and that he will take concrete steps to make the global climate better,” Bell said.

Yunker Kail learned of the visit through an email sent to her by a

Get the popcorn ready

Second Gentleman Douglass Emhoff poses with Hillel at Arizona State University students

SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER

a few more issues that divide Jews today, including political leanings, financial competition, physical distance, perspectives on Israel, moral priorities, visions for a Jewish future, even food choices. “And sometimes, perhaps, our egos,” he added.

For the first in what Yanklowitz hopes will be a series of conversations, he brought together four community leaders, representing the three main branches of Judaism and the leader of the Center for Jewish Philanthropy of Greater Phoenix (CJP).

Richard Kasper, CJP’s CEO, Orthodox Rabbi Pinchas Allouche of Scottsdale’s Congregation Beth Tefillah, Conservative Rabbi Nitzan Stein Kokin of Phoenix’s Beth El Congregation and Reform Rabbi John Linder of Paradise Valley’s Temple Solel sat on the dais together — from left to right — to kick off a discussion about fractures in the Jewish community and possible solutions.

CJP’s focus is on supporting the community rather than unifying it, Kasper offered in response to Yanklowitz’s query regarding whether unity should even be a goal.

While unity is something to aim for, it is important to set the community’s sights on something achievable, Kasper said.

“We want everyone to have an opportunity to live a meaningful Jewish life in our community; however they define that,” he said.

All of the panelists at some point highlighted diversity as a strength of the Jewish community and something to be embraced.

Allouche started by defining Judaism as a large and diverse family.

“Maybe the goal should not be unity,

but should be harmony, almost like a symphony, where I’ll play the violin, and another the piano and someone else the drums and we can play together and recognize that there is indeed beauty in diversity.”

Two audience members, however, challenged the panelists on the idea that the entire Jewish community valued diversity. One raised the exclusive policies of Israel’s new government toward LGBTQ Jews and asked how she, someone who had lived in Israel and considered it her home, could still view it as such when her own gay child was no longer welcome.

Allouche said it’s a “travesty that Israel is relating to the gay community as it is at this stage.”

Addressing her concerns, he recounted visits to France, his home country, saying he often feels unwelcome there because of being visibly Jewish but that he would not consider himself any less French than any other French citizen.

“My connection with France is deeper than that. And I would even dare say that my connection with Israel is even deeper than that. Hopefully, that brings

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a perspective that can give you comfort.”

Another audience member identified as a gay Jew of color, who finds his Judaism continually questioned in Jewish spaces said, “We don’t all look the same.”

The panelists all acknowledged these were troubling realities. Linder called it “a mountain of an issue.” Kasper stressed the need “to create a climate where people feel welcome,” and Stein Kokin said it should be a priority to “honor the dignity of our fellow human beings.”

Israel kept popping up as something dividing Jews, especially since new government players there, such as Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, have made it clear that the Orthodox interpretation of Jewishness is the only legitimate one.

Linder called it “the most complicated issue that pushed the envelope for the Jewish people,” and pointed to the recent protests against Israel’s new government that drew an estimated 80,000 Israelis to the streets.

Stein Kokin intends to keep “knocking on (Israel’s) door” to fight these policies and called recognizing women as fully legitimate prayer partners her “red line.”

Still, whatever the political happenings

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From left, Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz, Rabbi Pinchas Allouche, Rabbi Nitzan Stein Kokin, Richard Kasper and Rabbi John Linder. COURTESY OF VALLEY BEIT

in Israel, “as a Jew, I need to grapple with it and educate myself, and we need to talk to each other and not just walk away, but really engage this issue, even though it can be painful,” she said.

“Israel is the spiritual home of the Jewish people,” Allouche said, arguing that it “belongs to every Jew. We have to divorce the politics from the home, which is ours. I agree that everyone should find some way of a connection to Israel in their own way.”

One audience member raised two points specific to the local Jewish community: There should be a single rabbinic board and a single Jewish communal high school.

Greater Phoenix has two rabbinic boards, the Orthodox Rabbinical Council of Greater Phoenix for the Orthodox and the Board of Rabbis of Greater Phoenix for Conservative, Reform and community rabbis.

As a representative of the latter board, Linder invited Allouche to a meeting as a first step to resolving the schism. Allouche said that while there are strong personalities on both sides, he would do his best to show up and bring others to the table.

He said that labels are the enemy of unity and welcomed “the day in which we, as Jews, move past the denominational labels that exist because a Jew is a Jew.”

In putting together the panel, Yanklowitz said it was important to have

an Orthodox representative but that it is challenging to find Orthodox rabbis who will sit down formally with non-Orthodox rabbis.

There are two Jewish communal high schools in Scottsdale, Nishmat Adin High School and The Oasis School.

Allouche clarified that Nishmat Adin is a community-wide school open to all denominations and said it is not Modern Orthodox. He was surprised by the question and told Jewish News that it “was based on rumors.”

The panelists put forward proposals about specific steps to be taken towards unity: creating more Jewish communal spaces, more Hebrew education, financial support to overcome costly barriers of entry to Jewish life and possibly replicating the model developed by Rabbi Elana Kanter’s Women’s Leadership Institute to foster Jewish leaders.

Yanklowitz admired the willingness of all the panelists to take part, especially since many people ascribe to the theory that it’s dangerous “to rock the boat and talk about Israel and distrust and politics,” he said.

“But unity has to be worked towards with hard work and public conversations and that means we stay in the room together even when hard conversations are happening.” The challenge is with those who are not willing to show up to the conversation at all, he said.

A follow-up to this event could include

rabbis, community leaders and lay people “to find out what might be needed and start putting something new in place as a pluralistic communal effort,” Stein Kokin told Jewish News.

A few younger people in the audience told Jewish News that the panel provided an opportunity they couldn’t pass up to voice their concerns on the idea of unity, though they thought their age cohort was underrepresented. Yanklowitz agreed and planned to set up a panel specifically for Jews in their 20s and 30s.

Elijah Kaplan, Yanklowitz’s brotherin-law from New Jersey, told Jewish News that he was not surprised by any of the topics raised on Tuesday night, and suspected they were all very similar to what Jews in New Jersey are thinking about.

Alan Silberman loved what he heard but was “shocked” by how few people turned out.

“I would have expected 250 people here because it’s such an interesting topic, but there’s a lot of apathy out there,” he said, echoing another audience member’s comment that came up during the Q&A.

“The problem is not that we are not united — the problem is that nobody is showing up.” JN

member of Emhoff’s staff on Tuesday afternoon and set about organizing what was intended to be an intimate conversation between Emhoff and a few students.

“His visit was very exciting and we were honored to be selected to facilitate this conversation,” she told Jewish News. “It means a lot that antisemitism is a priority for him, and it means even more that he wants to hear from college students about it and that he chose to visit ASU and hear from the amazing student leaders that I get to work with every day.”

Yunker Kail has been dedicating more of her time recently to providing proactive education about antisemitism. She has added a session in each of Hillel’s classes during which she teaches the history of antisemitism, lets students process their personal experiences and trains them to report incidents.

In addition to an on-campus reporting system, there is ReportCampusHate.org, an online portal to report antisemitic and/or bias incidents targeting Jewish community members on North American college campuses, created through the partnership of Hillel International, the Anti-Defamation League and the Secure Community Network.

“Often, students don’t know that we

can help them report incidents, and we want them to know they can come to us no matter how small it is. We want to give them all the resources they need,” she said.

Bell told Emhoff how Hillel works with ASU’s administration to address antisemitic incidents and that students can meet with various deans and administrators to report and discuss any issue.

“I have not had any meetings with deans personally, but I know some students have and during the meeting, I mentioned that I’d like to see those resources be more publicized and utilized — so we can try to make things better,” Bell said.

Yunker Kail hears about incidents in which students know something uncomfortable or inappropriate has happened but can’t quite explain why it upset them. These microaggressions might happen in unguarded moments, such as a conversation between friends. Hillel leaders want to help students understand the experience and coach them on how to follow up with the person who made the inappropriate or offensive comment, or know how to speak up should something similar happen again.

Three separate times in the last few years, antisemitic flyers were posted on ASU’s campus. Each of those incidents were reported immediately to the police, as well as the ASU administration.

However, that’s not representative of

daily life at ASU, she said.

“There’s so much to be proud of at ASU and there’s never been a better time to be a Jew on campus. We have wonderful future Jewish leaders, who are very proud of their strong Jewish identity,” she said.

“Antisemitism is a real facet of life, but it’s not the only one, and I don’t want people to end up with a lopsided picture of what it’s like for students on ASU’s campus.”

Emhoff was in town with his wife, Vice President Kamala Harris, who made her first official visit to the state since assuming the vice presidency to attend the groundbreaking of the 125-mile-long Ten West Link transmission line, which will help transport wind and solar energy to the Phoenix area and Southern California.

Emhoff’s meeting at Hillel was closed to the media, but a White House official told Jewish News on background that “Emhoff talked about the importance of living openly as a Jew and the administration’s all-of-government approach to combating antisemitism.” It was Emhoff’s second time meeting with Hillel students after holding an interfaith roundtable at the vice president’s residence last year.

Hillel students and staff were not allowed to announce the visit until the next day’s press release.

Ahwatukee welcomes new shluchim

SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER

efore they even met and married, Rabbi Levi Minsky and his wife, Chaya, shared one all-encompassing life ambition: They both wanted to run their own Chabad center one day.

Chaya Minsky grew up in Chandler’s Chabad center — her father is Rabbi Mendy Deitsch, leader of Chabad of the East Valley. Levi Minsky, on the other hand, grew up in New York, where Chabad is headquartered.

“We had a dream to move out and open our own center,” he told Jewish News.

“In my student years, I went to different communities in Europe, Asia and the United States. Chaya grew up here in Arizona, so when there was an opportunity in Ahwatukee, we wanted it.”

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A couple of months ago, not long before Chanukah, their shared dream became a reality. Just before the Jewish festival of lights, the new shluchim, or emissaries, arrived in Ahwatukee, a small city in the East Valley, which sits at the southernmost point of Greater Phoenix.

The somewhat rural bedroom community began its development in 1970, and now has a steadily growing population that has started to include more Jewish residents.

Deitsch noticed several people coming to his Chabad center in Chandler from Ahwatukee not long ago.

“We realized more Jews were attending our programs and we saw a need for a center over there,” Deitsch said.

After his daughter and Minsky were married, and in consultation with Rabbi Zalman Levertov, director of Chabad of Arizona, Deitsch asked the young couple if they were interested in moving to Ahwatukee.

The answer was a no-brainer for the couple, even though their new home is a place where they still stand out from the crowd as visibly Jewish.

“People are surprised by me — but

happily surprised,” Minsky said. So far, everyone they’ve met has been very welcoming to the young couple and happy to have them in the community.

“People are interested anytime I go shopping. Anywhere I go, people say, ‘Hey, I have a friend who’s Jewish and I’d like them to meet you,’” Minsky said.

The first event the couple arranged was a public menorah lighting, and more than 80 people attended.

“People are excited and happy that there is Jewish activity here,” he said.

Without an official center, the couple, who are partners and co-directors, work out of rented venues and their home. They’re still learning the area but hope to find a place to build a center soon.

For the menorah lighting event, they put some local advertising up in shopping centers and people started reaching out. The couple goes to people’s homes to introduce themselves.

“We’ve been very busy building this from the ground up, from zero,” Minsky said.

So far, they have a weekly Jewish learning group for men and women, and Chaya Minsky is working on a women’s event for Tu B’Shevat, where she will teach women about the holiday by creating their own cutting boards. They’re also planning a Purim event for families and people of all ages.

The couple hopes to engage with Jews in the community and to be a resource in any way they can. Sometimes that will mean providing a Shabbat or holiday meal; sometimes it will mean teaching classes. They already deliver challahs to people’s homes before Shabbat. The needs of the community will shape their offerings, Minsky said.

“Our goal and outlook is to have a place for people to feel Jewish belonging in Ahwatukee because there is no other Jewish stuff going on. Everyone knows each other here and it’s a close-knit community, a great place to build a beautiful Jewish environment,” he said.

EMHOFF CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

Bell said that since they had less than 48 hours between finding out about his arrival and his actual departure, “it was a mad dash to get everything organized,” leaving the students with little time to consider the implications of the Second Gentleman coming to Hillel.

“I had a bunch of classes and the day was such a blur; I didn’t fully realize how cool and important it was until I saw the black Escalades pulling up in Hillel’s parking lot,” he said.

Even after Emhoff departed, the

Deitsch is confident his children will

“My son-in-law is a very good, welcoming and charming person and it will be wonderful to see the joy he brings to people’s lives,” he said.

“My daughter is like that, too,” he said, before laughing and adding that she’s also a great cook.

“Together, they have such warm and welcoming personalities that they’ll bring joy and happiness to their community.”

He acknowledged that logistics is always a challenge, and he wants to give them the space to figure things out on their own, but he also lets them know he’s always there when they need help.

“Nothing comes easy. This is a lot of hard work,” he said.

Chaya Minsky is extremely happy to be near her family and has a bit of an advantage having grown up near her new home. But her husband has visited Chandler many times, including in the summer, so they’re both prepared for desert living.

“This community is so amazing and we’re just excited to meet everyone,” said Chaya Minsky.

Her husband recounted that only a few days earlier he was contacted by someone who has lived in Ahwatukee since the 1980s. He invited the couple to his home and told them how excited he is to have a Chabad open nearby.

That was music to the couple’s ears.

“We’re on fire and we’re going for it,” Minsky said. JN

For more information, visit ChabadAhwatukee.com.

students kept talking.

“We were all so motivated and encouraged by our conversation, and even after he left, we sat and talked for another 45 minutes,” Bell said. He’s hopeful that Jewish student leaders can brainstorm more ways to build coalitions with other minority student groups to create a more unified front on “this epidemic of hate” that affects many minority communities.

While the students were somewhat impatient to tell friends and family about their meeting with the Second Gentleman, they did as instructed and kept it hushhush, Bell said.

“We just did what we had to do.”

Menorah lighting in Ahwatukee COURTESY OF CHABAD OF AHWATUKEE

Rabbi Levi and Chaya Minsky COURTESY OF DAVID MINTON/AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS

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Brandeis’ Phoenix chapter takes a look at breaking incarceration cycle

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The United States incarcerates more people than any other country in the world. According to the Prison Policy Initiative, one out of every 100 people in the U.S. is in a prison or jail. Nearly half (47%) of the approximately 1.25 million people in state prisons are parents of minor children and about 19% of those children are age 4 or younger.

“The majority incarcerated are Black and Hispanic. There is a connection between race and criminal justice,” said Rosalind Kabrhel, associate professor and chair of Legal Studies at Brandeis University in Massachusetts. “There’s an intergenerational harm happening here. If you are a child of an incarcerated parent, the likelihood that you will be incarcerated yourself goes way, way up.”

While a sentence for a crime may technically have a beginning and an end, if someone has a felony conviction, there are collateral consequences they face when released. They are ineligible to vote, serve on a jury or receive public funds like welfare or housing assistance. These contributing factors increase a person’s likelihood of committing a crime again.

Kabrhel discussed these concerns and more during “From Prison to Promise: Breaking the Cycle of Incarceration,” for Brandeis National Committee Phoenix Chapter’s University on Wheels program, on Jan. 9.

“Brandeis University faculty are known for combining innovative teaching and groundbreaking research. Professor Kabrhel is an outstanding example of both,” said Ellen Widoff, co-president of the Brandeis National Committee Phoenix Chapter. “Additionally, her initiatives provide Brandeis students an opportunity to interact and learn together with incarcerated individuals fostering the students’ social justice commitments now and into the future.”

A lawyer since 1999, Kabrhel served as

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an assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division, pursuing cases under the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act and anti-discrimination laws. She has also worked for state and federal legislators — performing political investigations, issue advocacy, due diligence research and legislative drafting.

After generations of crime policy that led to a doubling of the incarceration rate, President Obama moved away from policies that were focused on incarceration and shifted to more social service efforts to divert people from prison and move them into other ways of atoning for their crimes — like probation and community supervision. Also, his administration chose to address mental health issues in the community instead of waiting until someone is incarcerated to receive those kinds of services. Kabrhel said Obama was the first president to leave office with a lower prison population than when he started.

“When I came to Brandeis, I started volunteering on the Innocence Project

in 2008-2009 and was very inspired by that work,” she said. The project works to free innocent people and transform the legal system. She eventually left her law practice to become a full-time professor. She taught courses that included incarcerated youth as guest students and collaborators and she noticed that the experience was transformative for them, for her and the Brandeis students. She said it demonstrated that higher education could play a role and impact people’s experience while they are in prison and when they emerge.

“After I ran that class, two of our English professors approached me, John Plotz and David Sherman, and said, ‘We believe like you do that higher education can have an impact in prisons. We want to be part of something — let’s do something.’”

In 2019, Kabrhel, Plotz and Sherman co-founded the Brandeis Educational Justice Initiative (BEJI). According to her bio, “this initiative connects students with opportunities to provide educational

services to individuals impacted by incarceration and learn first-hand how higher education can disrupt the cycle of recidivism.”

Kabrhel insisted that BEJI not be housed within the Legal Studies program but be open to all students because “there is a role for everybody to play in relieving some of these collateral consequences for people emerging from prison.”

The professors started thinking about the types of programs they wanted to create and began researching other programs in the prison education community.

The Bard Prison Initiative at Bard College in New York is one of the country’s most well-known prison education programs. Their model is to teach college-accredited courses behind bars so that when a person is released from prison, they could also leave with a college degree.

“They became a model for a lot of prison education programs around the country, including Emerson College in Boston,” said Kabrhel.

Some of the faculty involved with BEJI started teaching through the Emerson program to get experience and to understand the relationship with the Department of Corrections. Since most of these college programs are 14 weeks long, a person must be stably incarcerated for that period to attend. But that’s not where criminal justice policy is moving, said Kabrhel. We’re moving to decarcerate and to have people serve their time in shorter-term facilities like jails or under community supervision.

“Programming in prison has a very good impact on recidivism rates — it decreases the likelihood that people will reoffend,” said Kabrhel. “And educational programming has a big impact. We thought, ‘How can we bring that benefit to more people who are in

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Brandeis National Committee Phoenix Chapter’s leadership with Professor Rosalind Kabrhel. From left, Leith Baletin, Rosalind Kabrhel, Michelle Fischer, Ellen Widoff and Barbara Stern.

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these less-stable places of incarceration?’ And that really drove our work.”

During the pandemic, working with a community partner, Partakers, a nonprofit that works to advance the education of women and men in prison through its College Behind Bars program, BEJI created the Partakers Empowerment Program (PEP). PEP is a 13-week virtual reentry program for individuals emerging from incarceration.

“We lead discussions centered around technology, health and wellness, civic engagement, personal finance, professionalism and education,” said Kabrhel. “We hone in on those critical areas where we see collateral consequences inhibiting peoples’ success.”

These discussions are designed and facilitated by the student team of two graduate students, three undergraduate students and two teaching assistants (TA) with oversight of faculty. The TAs are formerly incarcerated students who successfully completed one PEP cycle.

Kabrhel shared the PEP program’s impact on one of these TAs, Tammy.

Tammy was incarcerated for over 12 years. Kabrhel did not elaborate on her crime, saying, “like most crime, it was related to a sense of desperation at the community that she was in at the time.”

Before her incarceration, Tammy spent

12 years in law enforcement. She was a police officer with a master’s degree in criminal justice administration from Northeastern University.

“She came out with that level of education and that ability but was unable to rejoin law enforcement with a felony conviction,” said Kabrhel. “She was very frustrated because she could not put her level of education or skills to use anywhere because no one would hire her.”

the Brandeis students, they strove to help Tammy in any way they could.

They wrote letters to her probation officer to help her get off probation. Daniella, one of the PEP graduate students at the time, knew that Tammy cared about a piece of property in her community whose usage was under debate.

Tammy wanted the property to be developed into a playground, as some

“THERE’S AN INTERGENERATIONAL HARM HAPPENING HERE. IF YOU ARE A CHILD OF AN INCARCERATED PARENT, THE LIKELIHOOD THAT YOU WILL BE INCARCERATED YOURSELF GOES WAY, WAY UP.”

Tammy was excited when she went into a sandwich shop that was hiring and they told her to return the next day. But when she arrived, she was told that they ran a background check and said they could no longer hire her. “I have a master’s degree, I’m a smart person and I can’t get hired to make a sandwich,” Tammy told the PEP team.

Kabrhel said the sense of desperation and frustration was so evident in her voice and she made such an impact on

other advocates did. She didn’t want the town to sell it to a private developer. Daniella helped her get in touch with her state representative to facilitate a phone conversation so Tammy could advocate for the playground.

“It seems like a small thing, but it was a big step for Tammy to be able to find her voice and find an outlet to connect and be civically engaged — and make a difference in her own community,” said Kabrhel.

Kabrhel shared that Tammy recently initiated a conversation with the local sheriff about bringing the PEP program to her community. Kabrhel said Tammy was so excited to potentially bring some of what they do at Brandeis to her community, in the western part of Massachusetts, and make a more local experience there.

Even though Kabrhel focuses her teaching on what’s happening in Massachusetts, she has her students research what is happening in their home state.

She is working on more programs and would like to create an expungement clinic to assist people with paperwork on having their criminal records sealed or destroyed. Arizona just passed a law, effective January 2023, where eligible individuals will be able to apply to have convictions expunged.

“The students come to class almost demanding to learn what they can do to change the world and they want to be equipped with tools to change the world now,” said Kabrhel. “It’s very motivational for me as an advocate who wants to change the world today.” JN

For more information, visit brandeis.edu/ beji/. For information on Brandeis National Committee Phoenix Chapter’s programming, visit brandeisphoenix.org.

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Dr. Theresa Grebe, Medical Director, Dr. Kirk Aleck, Dr. Peter Baron, Dr. Linda Benaderet, Katherine Hunt Brendish PhD, CGC, Dr. Lance Cohen, Dr. Jeff Isaacs, Dr. Seymour Rife, Dr. Ralph Seligmann, Dr. Mark Shwer

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In support of a consistent arms-sale policy

Turkey has long been a prickly ally. At the crossroads of Europe and Asia, it joined NATO, the West’s Cold War umbrella, in 1952 and served as a bulwark against the USSR in the Mediterranean. Today, Turkey has NATO’s second-largest army and hosts two of the alliance’s airbases. Turkey’s contribution to NATO is not small.

Turkey has never been a Western-style democracy. And under authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey has exasperated the West with its dismal human-rights record and the stands it has taken in opposition to its NATO allies. So it is not surprising that when the Biden administration announced a plan for major arms sales to Turkey and Greece, a bipartisan opposition quickly formed to the Turkey side of the deal — a $20 billion arms package, including 40 new F-16 fighter jets.

With all of its warts, Turkey is an ally and should be treated like one. That includes receiving serious consideration for its arms requests and to be regarded like every other U.S. ally to whom we sell arms, including those that have equally disconcerting human-rights records.

There are multiple arguments in favor of such a move. First, the arms deal will strengthen Turkey’s ties to the West — militarily, diplomatically, and even for repairs and spare parts. Second, the administration wants to condition the sale on Turkey agreeing to allow Sweden and Finland to join NATO, a major stra-

because Sweden harbors Kurdish separatists it considers terrorists. An end to that standoff is in everyone’s best interests.

Third, at a time when Erdogan has moved closer to Russian President Vladimir Putin and even signed an arms deal with the Russians to buy S-400 surface-to-air missile systems, American

OPPONENTS ARE UNQUESTIONABLY CORRECT ABOUT THE TURKISH PRESIDENT’S STIFLING OF HUMAN RIGHTS — THE SUPPRESSION AND ARREST OF JOURNALISTS, THE ROLLBACKS ON WOMEN’S AND LGBTQ RIGHTS, AND REPRESSION OF POLITICAL OPPOSITION.

Opponents are unquestionably correct about the Turkish president’s stifling of human rights — the suppression and arrest of journalists, the rollbacks on women’s and LGBTQ rights, and repression of political opposition. Erdogan has also fought America’s Kurdish allies in northern Syria, helping to strengthen Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, Iran and Russia. As recently observed by former Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman, if Turkey were a candidate for NATO membership today, it would not likely be admitted.

tegic gain for the alliance at a time when Russia is attempting to destroy Ukraine and threatens its NATO neighbors. Any NATO member can block expansion, and Turkey is opposing the expansion

support for the F-16 sale sends a message that Turkey is taken seriously by the Western camp. And fourth, Erdogan is repairing his break with Israel, a plus for the Jewish state and the United States.

The religious accommodation test

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from discriminating against workers based on religion and other protected categories. That law also requires employers to make reasonable accommodation for a worker’s religious beliefs — so long as those accommodations don’t impose an “undue hardship on the conduct of the employer’s business.” But what does “undue hardship” really mean?

Forty-six years ago, in Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Hardison, the Supreme Court ruled that “undue burden” was defined to be “more than a de minimis cost.” In other words, employers must accommodate a worker’s religious practices and beliefs if it can be done easily and at minimal cost. Otherwise, the employee is out of luck. That very low standard has enabled employers to refuse many religious accommodation requests and has frustrated those seeking to require employers to do more to accommodate the religious practices of their workers. That may soon change.

The Supreme Court has agreed to review the case of Gerald Groff, an evangelical Christian who observes Sunday as

a day of worship and rest. Groff worked as a non-career auxiliary mail carrier for the U.S. Postal Service. His job was to fill in when other workers were not available, including on weekends and holidays. For the first few years of his employment,

then sued the post office for its failure to accommodate his religious beliefs.

Both the trial and appellate courts found that the post office had made reasonable accommodation for Groff’s religious beliefs. And they found that to

We don’t live in a perfect world. But even in an imperfect world, consistency is important. Many U.S. allies are not squeaky clean. Yet we regularly sell arms to allies with contemptible human-rights records, including to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other Middle East regimes. That doesn’t excuse their human-rights abuses. Instead, we try to use the leverage of increased interdependence and support to spur discussion and address humanrights concerns.

The same approach should apply to Turkey. JN

change things. For most court watchers, the question isn’t whether the Hardison case will be overruled but how far the court will go in defining the standard for “undue hardship.”

Religious public-interest groups are urging a standard like that of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires accommodations for disabled workers unless doing so presents an “undue hardship” on the employer and defines “undue hardship” as an “action requiring significant difficulty or expense.”

Groff was not asked to work on Sundays. But demand for fill-ins increased when the post office started delivering for Amazon on Sundays. Initially, Groff himself or his managers were able to arrange for others to fill in for him on that day. But as demand mounted, Groff was threatened with disciplinary action if he didn’t take assigned Sunday shifts. Rather than face the disciplinary threat, Groff quit. He

require anything more would impose an undue hardship on the post office and on Groff’s co-workers. Those rulings were consistent with decades of other court conclusions since the Hardison case was decided.

But today’s Supreme Court — with its 6-3 conservative supermajority and a pronounced sensitivity to religious accommodation — is widely expected to

A NOTE ON OPINION

Such a change would be a big deal, particularly since the ruling could impact a lot more than the scheduling of work shifts. Things like an employer’s grooming and dress-code requirements, workplace expressions like the wearing of religious objects and symbols, and even workplace prayer activity could be implicated by any new definition of “undue hardship.”

There will be a lot riding on how the court seeks to balance the competing interests of employers and their workforce. We look forward to argument on the case and a decision later this year. JN

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, Mid-Atlantic Media 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.

EMPLOYERS MUST ACCOMMODATE

A WORKER’S RELIGIOUS PRACTICES AND BELIEFS

IF IT CAN BE DONE EASILY AND AT MINIMAL COST. OTHERWISE, THE EMPLOYEE IS OUT OF LUCK.

Irecently attended a bris in my community where the mohel announced to the new parents and the whole room, “Raising this child is the most important and impactful thing you will ever do.”

These words were offered to anchor the already exhausted and overwhelmed couple in the sanctity of the job they are embarking upon; the holiness of shaping a person into adulthood; the pride in doing something meaningful and lasting.

At the same time, these are the sentiments that form the foundation of parents’ guilt when they have to work

or when they choose to be with friends and not their children. They create the basis of self-recrimination when a child struggles and the parent is made to feel they are to blame. They foment anxiety over not enjoying aspects of parenthood or feeling lonely or isolated in the endless exhaustion of rearing children.

These are also the words that shame those of us who have no children.

The year I turned 30, I was not on any identifiable path to parenthood. I was, however, in rabbinical school and deeply committed to the ways I could and would serve the Jewish people as a rabbi. Until rabbinical school, I experienced my own private grief about not having a partner or kids, but no one had ever imposed those feelings on me or pressured me on my timeline.

As part of a counseling course in rabbinical school, I was assigned a reading where I learned that 13.9% of married women ages 30-34 experience infertility (a percentage that only increases after 35). Thirty years later, the author who shared this data did so again at an allschool gathering, reminding us that women pursuing education were largely responsible for the decline in Jewish population, since the ideal age for a woman to get pregnant is 22. He added, in essence, “Don’t come crying to me when you finish your education and

Sending a message

JANICE FRIEBAUM

As a fellow Scottsdale resident, I was greatly disappointed when I learned Rep. Alex Kolodin, who is Jewish, was among the Arizona legislators who walked out of Governor Hobbs’ very first State of the State speech.

I believe Kolodin was wrong to join the small number of legislators who discourteously expressed their antipathy to Governor Hobbs’ speech. I get that he is a Republican and the governor is a Democrat. I get that he detests many of her political positions. As a member of the Arizona Freedom Caucus, I understand Kolodin and his cohorts intend to vociferously protest all policies, bills, laws and politicians with whom they disagree.

And that is certainly their prerogative. But there is a definite line to be drawn between respectful and uncivil opposition — a line that he and his Freedom Caucus colleagues shamefully crossed. What message does he send by turning his back to Governor Hobbs or walking out of her speech? That Kolodin, a representative of citizens and voters of Arizona, is so principled and correct that he simply cannot listen to the duly elected governor of the state at her most important speech of the year? That he is not able to provide decorum and respect to the person occupying the highest level of leadership in Arizona? Rep. Kolodin, dare I ask, if you were our newly elected

realize you missed your window.”

I was shocked by his callousness and also by the overt implication that delaying parenthood for the sake of education was damaging to the Jewish people — an assertion, overt and implied, reached by many Jewish social scientists, as others have pointed out. Apparently, nothing I

could do as a rabbi would ever have the same impact on Jewish peoplehood and the Jewish future as producing babies above “replacement level.”

While the presentation surprised me, the idea that the ideal role of anyone with

SEE FISHER, PAGE 10

governor delivering your first State of the State address, what would you think about six or 10 legislators walking out of your speech?

And what message is sent to the citizens of Arizona by his actions, especially to our youth? That when you disagree or disapprove of a leader’s politics, impoliteness is OK? That it’s not necessary to listen to someone with different views? You don’t have to show respect to an elected official? These are tragic messages, Rep. Kolodin, and they exacerbate the current national crisis of political divisiveness and uncivil communication.

Finally, as a Jew, I am reminded of two core values in Judaism: kavod and being a

mensch Kavod means respect, dignity and honor. It has been a guiding force for me my entire life and is why I listen politely when I speak to people with whom I disagree. It is why, when I worked for state and federal governments in the past, I did not walk out of meetings or presentations when I abhorred what was being said.

Mensch is a person of dignity and honor, someone to admire and emulate, someone of noble character. I encourage Rep. Kolodin to contemplate these Jewish principles, kavod and mensch, and hope he strives to personify them as he carries out his new role as Arizona State Representative. JN

I am a single rabbi without children. I shouldn’t be made to feel I am not ‘doing my part.’

RABBI JESSICA FISHER | JTA

Jessica Fisher serves as a rabbi at Beth El Synagogue Center in New Rochelle, New York.

COURTESY OF RABBI JESSICA FISHER

Janice Friebaum is a resident of Scottsdale.

JTA montage by Grace Yagel COURTESY OF MATTJEACOCK FOR GETTY IMAGES

How a pair of eyes can change the world

When he saw people, he saw souls, not bodies. When he saw challenges, he saw opportunities, not dangers. And when he saw ashes of destruction, he saw their sparks of construction within.

In another instance, the Rebbe asked a troubled child if he was behaving well, if he likes going to school and if he listens to his mother. The child responded “no!” to all three questions.

his week, on Wednesday, marked the day in which, 72 years ago, the late Lubavitcher Rebbe accepted the mantle of leadership of the Chabad movement and world Jewry.

All who encountered the Rebbe were taken aback by his irresistible charisma. But above all, it was his eyes that left a permanent mark on all who had the privilege of meeting him.

Yitzchak Rabin recounted how “his eyes penetrated deep within the person.” Elie Wiesel shared at a Gala honoring the Rebbe, how “his eyes penetrated your face without hurting.” And Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks described how “the Divine stared at me through his (the Rebbe’s) eyes.”

Although I was just seven years old when I first met the Rebbe, I, too, vividly remember the Rebbe’s piercing eyes. When the Rebbe’s eyes locked with mine, it felt as if the Rebbe was transporting me to the heavens to introduce me to my soul, and its sublime majesty, anew.

But more than the Rebbe’s gaze, it was his vision that transformed humanity.

TA woman once asked the Rebbe how he had the strength to stand all day to bless everyone. The Rebbe’s reply was deeply moving: “When you’re counting diamonds,” he responded, “you don’t get tired.”

In 1973, the Rebbe suggested to a group of “Disabled Veterans of the IDF” that they should erase the word “disabled”,

The Rebbe then told the child’s mother: “You have a very special child. He always speaks the truth!” Many years later, this young child recounted how this defining exchange with the Rebbe caused him to reconnect and “jump right back into the whole scene.”

If only we could see individuals as diamonds, disabled people as exceptional

ALL WHO ENCOUNTERED THE REBBE WERE TAKEN ABACK BY HIS IRRESISTIBLE CHARISMA. BUT ABOVE ALL, IT WAS HIS EYES THAT LEFT A PERMANENT MARK ON ALL WHO HAD THE PRIVILEGE OF MEETING HIM.

everyone and the endless possibilities in every moment.

This is what the Rebbe wanted from each of us. “Open your eyes and see the seeds of redemption everywhere,” he pleaded in many of his talks. Or, in the words of this week’s parshah: “Fear not, stand still, and SEE the redemption of G-d, which He will show you today” (Genesis 14:13). And if we still can’t see these seeds of redemption, we must open our eyes a little more, until our vision becomes wider, better and brighter. And as we see those “seeds of redemption everywhere,” let us water them and make them grow with incessant deeds of goodness and kindness.

and instead, be called “Exceptional Veterans”, since “your injury indicates that G-d has given you special powers to overcome the limitations ...”

people and rebellious children as champions of truth. If only we could adopt the Rebbe’s vision and see the infinite good in everything, the Divine soul in

A new reality of redemption will then undoubtedly be revealed, where “we will lift up our eyes and see, they have all gathered together … and our hearts will tremble and swell with joy.” (Isaiah 60:4-5). JN

not have to do as a rabbi or as a woman. It is not math we should ask of anyone.

a uterus is to bear children is embedded in our scripture and liturgy. Even the way many of us have chosen to add women into the daily amidah prayer to make it more egalitarian attests to this role: Three times a day we chant, “magen Avraham u’foked Sarah,” that God is the one who shields Abraham and remembers Sarah. This line about remembering Sarah refers to the moment when God undid Sarah’s barrenness, giving her a child (Genesis 21:1). Every time we recite these prayers we are reifying the idea that a woman’s relationship with God is directly linked to her fertility.

According to the medieval sage Maimonides, “Whoever adds even one Jewish soul it is considered as creating an entire world.” How many times do I have to sit on a beit din, or rabbinical court, before the number of conversions I witness adds up to a child? How many weddings and b’nei mitzvah and tot Shabbats and hospital visits and adult education classes? This is math I should

I know I am not alone among my peers in expressing frustration around such rhetoric. If we truly believe that a person’s value is derived from being created b’tzelem elohim, in the image of the Divine, then we need to demonstrate this in the ways we speak and teach about parenthood and fertility, celebrating the role and value of an individual within a community with no correlation to the number of children they raise, how they parent, or how those children connect to Judaism.

While there are plenty of sources in Jewish literature and a range of sociological data that offer all kinds of reasons that Jews should “be fruitful and multiply” — often expressed with urgency after the devastation of the Holocaust — the Torah, our most ancient and sacred text, also presents a model for what it means to be a person without a child who makes a tremendous impact on the Jewish future.

According to the most straightforward reading of the Torah, Miriam, the

daughter of Yocheved, sister of Aaron and Moses, does not marry and does not bear children. And yet, Miriam played a crucial role in ensuring the possibility of a Jewish future. She was the sister who watched over Moses as he floated in a basket, the girl who connected Moses’ adoptive mother with his birth mother, and  the prophet who led the women in joyous dancing when the Israelites finally attained freedom.

In a recent conversation, Rabbi Rachel Zerin of Beth El Temple in West Hartford, Connecticut, pointed out that what is powerful about Miriam is that she appears content with her life. Unlike most of the women we encounter in the Hebrew Bible who do not have children, we never see Miriam praying for a child; she is never described as barren or unfulfilled and yet she is instrumental in securing the Israelites’ — our — freedom.

Through this lens, we can understand that the Torah offers us many models of a relationship to parenthood: Some of us may yearn for it and ultimately find joy in it, some of us may experience ambivalence around bringing children

into the world, some of us may encounter endless obstacles to conceive or adopt, some of us may struggle with parenting the children we have, some of us may not want to be parents at all, and some of us may experience all of these at different times.

Like Miriam who fearlessly added her voice to the public conversation, we, too, can add more voices to the conversation about Jewish continuity that counteract the relentless messaging that raising children into Jewish adulthood is the most consequential thing we might do.

Yes, parenting can be miraculous and beautiful, something we should continue to celebrate. But we each have so many gifts to offer the Jewish people — our communities just need to create space for all of us to contribute in a broad variety of ways, by making fewer assumptions and speaking about parenthood with more nuance, expansiveness and compassion. JN

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

Rabbi Pinchas Allouche is the spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Tefillah in Scottsdale.

Find area congregations at jewishaz.com, where you can also find our 2023 Community Directory.

PARSHAH BESHALACH EXODUS 13:17 - 17:16

RABBI PINCHAS ALLOUCHE

Rabbi Pinchas Allouche COURTESY OF RABBI PINCHAS ALLOUCHE

SOS Volunteers Cindi Steele and Mark Neufeld

You’re never too old for camp

BOB ROTH | COLUMNIST

The nostalgia of summer camp has been close to my heart lately. I’ve been filled with gratitude for parents who had the means to send me and saw the value of the camp experience in molding my character. If you have never been to camp as a kid, the good news for adults of all ages is it’s not too late.

If you want to learn something new, explore new places and gather with others who have similar passions, adult camp is an opportunity to explore. I share this epiphany with you, my fellow boomers, as I elevate my aching feet after three days of tennis camp at the beautiful United States Tennis Association (USTA) headquarters in Orlando, Florida.

I shared this amazing experience with my wife, Susie and seven other tennis enthusiasts ranging in age from 28-67 years. As I reflect on adult camp, there is no question in my mind why I highly endorse this concept. It has all the elements that contribute to successful aging.

We are meant to be social, with isolation having a profoundly negative effect on health. The camaraderie of our group is the exact prescription of social engagement we seek for all humans, and espe-

cially for our aging community.

Spending time outdoors exercising in fresh air and daylight is exactly what our cavemen DNA requires. This trifecta of exercise, fresh air and daylight promotes feelings of optimism and well-being.

Fostering friendships with people of all ages is a great strategy for successful aging. Our youngest instructor was 22 years old. We not only learned so much from each other, I was truly touched by his enthusiasm and encouragement. As a former coach for my children’s sports teams, it was a great example of how generations must elevate and support each other for successful aging.

We studied strategies for offense, defense, patience and court geometry with high and low percent shots. In other words, we not only exercised our muscles, but our brain was in high gear forging new neural connections. Thinking and moving in new ways helps defend against cognitive decline.

Want to learn a new language, yoga, square dancing, photography? There is an adult camp for that. There is space camp, rockstar camp and culinary camp. The possibilities seem endless.

If you are caring for your parents or aging seniors, adult camp can be especially beneficial for you. Think family reunion with a twist. A shared family experience can not only make memories of a lifetime but is also an excellent foundation for your future. How many gluttonous, sedentary vacations have left you feeling like you need a detox instead of feeling refreshed and recharged?

As our pandemic world has become our endemic reality, making up for lost time

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has been my mantra. Adult camps provide a new enlightened way to approach vacations. Alone or combined with a relaxing beach stop, you can rejuvenate in ways you may never have imagined.

I highly endorse camp for all age groups. You just never know; you could meet or one day end up marrying your biggest camp crush. (Shout out to our daughter Alli and her fiancé Josh!) JN

Bob Roth is the managing partner of Cypress HomeCare Solutions.

Bob Roth at the United States Tennis Association’s headquarters in Florida.

the rabbis still in the pulpit.

“Most rabbis are rabbis for life,” said Rabbi Gary Glickstein, NAORRR’s co-executive vice president and conference organizer.

While many professionals turn their focus to other interests after retirement, he said the same cannot be said for most rabbis.

“Rabbis seem to always want to remain rabbis and we find different avenues even after we retire,” Glickstein said.

For example, most of the people attending the conference are still teaching or substituting for full-time rabbis from time to time. Even during the conference, people talked about the opportunity to preside at High Holiday services for congregations across the country without permanent rabbis. In this way, they can keep a toe in the work, as well as help out congregations in need.

This year’s conference was in person for the first time since 2020. Every year its location swings between Phoenix or San Diego on the West Coast and Boca Raton, Florida on the East Coast. The bylaws state that the January conference must be held in warm weather.

Additionally, the bylaws state that

them with real camaraderie, and I don’t see that in other organizations,” she said.

Most of the rabbis who belong to NAORRR are men, but that is changing.

The largest conference cohort of retired women rabbis thus far came to Phoenix. The women said the strong showing came only after years of hard work to make it a welcoming space.

Rabbi Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus, a past president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), said it was important to distinguish between the female rabbis and the female spouses.

In the past, when women rabbis have pointed out how few of them come to the conference, “some people said, ‘There are women here, just look at all the wives,’ but it’s not the same,” she said. “Some members don’t understand what our concern is and don’t quite see the difference. Whether you’re married to the rabbi or you are the rabbi, it’s not the same. We’re trying to change the culture.”

Rabbi Amy Perlin pointed out that the 50th anniversary of women in the rabbinate was celebrated last year. Just as the women rabbis were groundbreakers 50 years ago, those who are retired now

SENIOR LIFESTYLE

are also making strides to be accepted in new roles.

“I look at today’s students and tomorrow’s NAORRR will be filled with women. As you retire you make choices, so there’s a learning curve,” she said.

(Perlin presided at the installation of her student, Temple Chai Rabbi Emily Segal, while she was in town.)

When Rabbi Glickstein first stepped into his position, he made it clear that getting women rabbis involved would be a priority and the NAORRR board agreed. To that end, he’s been talking to several women rabbis to get a complete picture of what they see as problematic.

“It will be another couple of years before a really sizable group of women will feel comfortable,” he said. “It’s step by step.”

Rabbi Annette Koch also highlighted the 50th anniversary, calling it a paradigm shift for Reform rabbis.

“These shifts don’t happen all at once. They may look like they start at once, but it takes time and it’s still ongoing,” she said.

The women rabbis entering retirement now have been “fighting this fight” for a long time and their needs have changed, she said. These women are looking for community just as the men are. This conference provides a logical place to find it, but that necessitates coming to terms

with some things that have happened in the past that not everyone is so anxious to discuss.

Rabbi Laura Geller explained some of the backstory.

“Our movement is now challenged by revelations of boundary violations over the years of women rabbis by men. For some women to come to a gathering with some colleagues, who may have been the gatekeepers, is a challenge, but we have to have the difficult conversations of what restorative justice and repentance mean and how the community can help come to terms with the dark side of our history,” she said.

Still, she said it was clear that their male colleagues were sincerely happy to see them and seemed ready to acknowledge the past.

Rabbi Barbara Goldman-Wartell agreed and added that the pandemic ironically made NAORRR more appealing because it offered online programs that appealed to and resonated with women rabbis.

“They’ve been talking about it a long time but now we’re here and we will teach them how to walk the walk,” she said.

Unfortunately, there are still echoes of semi-sexist jokes one hears at the conference, Dreyfus said.

“It’s like they haven’t been clued in yet that that’s not funny anymore.”

Issues of institutional abuse also arose

during the panel “The State of the Reform Movement and Our Institutions” that featured heavy hitters Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ); Rabbi Hara Person, chief executive of CCAR; and Andrew Rehfeld, president of Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC).

It was the first time the three heads of Reform Judaism appeared together at a NAORRR conference.

Jacobs reflected on the strides made since URJ’s report on its ethics investigation was published nearly one year ago.

“That in many ways was the beginning and it was really a deep dive into really painful history,” he said.

Rehfeld told the audience to pay attention to the work that HUC is doing to ensure transparency when it comes to reporting abuses.

The Q&A went on for more than an hour and people asked about a range of topics: combatting shrinking synagogue memberships, future funding models, engaging young Jews, recruiting new rabbis, understanding Israel’s new government and its disapproval of Reform Judaism, abuse of rabbis by congregants, welcoming converts and fighting antisemitism.

The three panelists met with individuals

and small groups to continue the conversation and “start talking about nuts and bolts, so it’s not just ideas,” Glickstein said.

Additionally, Jacobs met with several of Greater Phoenix’s Reform rabbis, who happily posted group photos on Facebook.

“The conference is an opportunity for these rabbis to support each other with friendship and to connect or reconnect to give them a sense that they’re valued,” Glickstein said.

The really exciting part is that after five days together talking and learning, “some of them will be fired up and will actually step up to make positive changes,” he said. JN

For more information, visit NAORRR.org.

Thinking about Senior Living?

Sometimes people confuse moving to a retirement community with a loss of independence. But for many, it is the exact opposite, they actually gain more freedom. Today’s retirement communities are for people who want to maintain their independence, expand their horizons, and make their own decisions. So, before you say “I’m not ready” take a good look at Maravilla Scottsdale retirement community and consider these five things when making a decision about senior living.

Explore new interests and meet new friends.

As we age, our social circles can change. A retirement community can o er options to join in with peers as well as those of all ages, allowing you the choice of connecting with someone new or exploring a new interest.

Simplify your life.

Enjoy the convenience of maintenance-free living with less home care and housework. No need to worry about driving, scheduled transportation options are available. Enjoy restaurant-style dining with delicious made-to-order menu choices without having to worry about the hassle of shopping or preparing daily meals. And should you want specialized nutritional choices, there are a variety of menu options catering to di erent needs. Now is the time to experience the freedom a service-enriched community can o er you.

Why wait?

Whether downsizing or considering a single level floorplan, most people need to make housing adjustments as they grow older. You’ve planned ahead your whole life, so don’t wait until you have to make a decision.

We realize that circumstances can change.

We o er vibrant, fulfilling lifestyle options that can support many needs, from Independent Living to full continuum of Assisted Living and Memory Care services. In addition, you’ll find access to preemptive and preventative wellness strategies to keep you feeling fit and strong, rehabilitative services to help you heal and feel better, faster.

Throw away your misconceptions about retirement living.

It’s all about living life with zest and finding new ways to enjoy it. Explore the possibilities with a calendar of inspirations all curated by a full-time activities concierge.

We invite you to learn more about the many exciting experiences waiting to be discovered at Maravilla Scottsdale retirement community. Visit us at MaravillaScottsdale.com or call us at 480. 269.1952 to schedule your personal tour.

“RABBIS SEEM TO ALWAYS WANT TO REMAIN RABBIS AND WE FIND DIFFERENT AVENUES EVEN AFTER WE RETIRE.”

RABBI GARY GLICKSTEIN

Jewish lawyer earns lifetime achievement award from Native American Bar Association of Arizona

SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER

Glenn M. Feldman received a lifetime achievement award in 2022 from the Native American Bar Association of Arizona, whose mission is to assist in the development of Indian attorneys and improve the practice of Indian law in the state.

Feldman is not Native American but rather a Jewish lawyer who has spent his entire professional career representing the interests of Indian tribes and tribal entities.

“That’s all I have done in my career for more than 40 years,” he told Jewish News.

When Feldman started out, it was a fairly lonely corner of the law. In the late 70s and 80s, he represented tribes across the nation. Now, he represents tribes in Arizona, California and Washington. In Arizona specifically, it’s the Cocopah Indian Tribe near Yuma; the Hopi Tribes’ public utility companies; the San Carlos Apache Tribe’s telephone company east of Globe; and the Kaibab Band of

Paiute Indians on the Utah border near Colorado City.

“My practice is about as varied as it could be because my clients look to me for advice in a broad range of activities,” he said.

Those include drafting and reviewing contracts, working with land, lease and right-of-way issues and a lot of gaming work for tribal casinos.

“I’ve got my fingers in a lot of pies for different tribes and tribal entities,” he said.

A tribal gaming case, California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, gained Feldman acclaim.

The Cabazon Band, a small tribe near Palm Springs, had a tiny poker room and a bingo hall in the 1980s where they offered bingo games with prizes that exceeded California’s legal limit and the state sued. The case eventually made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where Feldman represented Cabazon in December 1986.

“To argue a case in front of the Court, the stars have to align correctly, and even more astoundingly, we convinced six of the nine justices that we were right,” he said.

The decision came down in February 1987 and led to Congress passing federal legislation regulating tribal casinos in 1988. Those two events directly influenced the establishment of several tribal casinos around the country.

“Not surprisingly, I had a lot of people wanting my legal help regarding casinos and the bulk of my practice involves that,” Feldman said.

Tribal gaming today generates around $35 billion. However, Feldman is quick to point out that a small minority of the roughly 500 casinos that exist, those close to large urban centers, make the bulk of

that money. Most are located in rural locations, and while they do make money, it is more modest than people assume.

On the other hand, casinos have provided jobs for tribal members, programs and services and scholarships for high school and college students.

“I know for a fact that there are now

dozens of young Native lawyers who wouldn’t have had the chance to go to law school without these funds,” he said.

In addition, “tribes are very, very charitable and contribute significant portions of their revenue to local charities,” he said. Depending on the state, sometimes that is actually a requirement of the casino. Regardless, Feldman said that casinos have been a net gain for the tribes and the communities near reservations.

“The tribes are good neighbors trying to share the benefits, which has helped the non-Indian community understand and appreciate their Native neighbors better than they did before.”

Though Feldman works exclusively on Native American issues now, they weren’t on his radar when he started law school at Georgetown University. After graduation, he became a staffer to several elected officials in the U.S. Congress. It was James Abourezk, the Democratic senator from South Dakota, who introduced him to Indian affairs.

Abourezk had grown up on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in South

Glenn Feldman celebrates his lifetime achievement award from the Native American Bar Association of Arizona with his family. Lauren Langer, Feldman’s daughter, stands to the left of Glenn and Linda Feldman, and their son, Jason Feldman, stands on their right.

COURTESY OF GLENN FELDMAN

Dakota, and though he is not Sioux, he developed a great interest in, and affinity for, Native Americans. He helped create the American Indian Policy Review Commission and the Select Committee on Indian Affairs, which he was chair from 1977-79, before he left the Senate.

Abourezk was also the author of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), passed by Congress in 1978 to preserve Indian families and tribal culture, by arranging for the placement of Indian children in homes of their cultures, as well as to reunite them with families. It gives preference to tribal courts with custody of Indian children living on reservations and presumptive jurisdiction in cases of children living off the reservation.

When Abourezk left the Senate, Feldman followed him into private practice and worked as his associate. Due to his boss’ reputation and expertise, Feldman wasn’t surprised that some tribes hired him as their lawyer.

“That was how I got involved,” Feldman said. “He brought in the clients and I did most of the work.”

Feldman and his wife, Linda, left D.C. for Phoenix in 1986. By then, he had a full-blown law practice full of clients who were all west of the Mississippi and more than 1,500 miles away from the

nation’s capital.

Many members of Linda’s family were already in Arizona, and Feldman decided it would make sense to live closer to his clients, even though he didn’t have any in Arizona at that time. People were coming to him from Alaska, California

the word gets around and others come knocking on your door,” he said.

At 75, Feldman still goes into the office every day and has no plans to retire. He continues to discover new issues and problems, all of which he finds fascinating.

Nation. They brought a case in 2018 against Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who is a member of the Pueblo of Laguna, arguing that ICWA, Abourezk’s signature legislation, is unconstitutional. The Department of the Interior helps administer ICWA.

It boils down to whether Congress had the authority to pass a law giving specific preferences to tribes and other tribal members without running afoul of certain Constitutional provisions, Feldman explained.

His answer is yes.

“Congress has been doing this for hundreds of years. Indian tribes are political groups because they are governments. If the court rules against the tribes in this case, it could have major ramifications for lots of things having to do with Indian tribes — and create a lot of confusion and havoc in my field,” he said.

and Oklahoma, but he was becoming well known across the west.

The Feldmans are members of Congregation Kehillah in Cave Creek.

Feldman is also the past chair of the Indian Law Section of the Arizona State Bar.

“If you do good work for a tribe,

“There aren’t simple answers and we need to convince people that our view is correct,” he said.

One case he’s keeping an eye on is Brackeen v. Haaland. The Brackeens are a white couple who adopted a Native child after a prolonged fight with the Navajo

Some of his clients have filed amicus briefs on Haaland’s behalf. The case is complicated and nobody is quite sure which way the court will rule, he said.

Feldman joked that although he spends a lot of time in casinos, his wallet never comes out of his pocket.

“I watch, but I know the house always wins,” he said. JN

“TO ARGUE A CASE IN FRONT OF THE COURT, THE STARS HAVE TO ALIGN CORRECTLY, AND EVEN MORE ASTOUNDINGLY, WE CONVINCED SIX OF THE NINE JUSTICES THAT WE WERE RIGHT.”

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WEDNESDAY,

Comic Keith Barany entertains in a relatable way

omic Keith Barany doesn’t tell dirty jokes or pick at people’s insecurities to get a laugh. That’s one reason he’s a popular comedy choice for country clubs, corporate events and Jewish community centers. He tells funny stories from his life, but in a way that gives them

Universality is important to him because although he grew up an Orthodox Jew in New York, he’s no longer a believer and doesn’t really identify as Jewish. He wants to go beyond tribalism and describes himself as a citizen of the world, “sort of like Albert Einstein — though I’m

“There’s a whole spectrum of ways people can be products of the Jewish culture and one of them is to say, ‘I’m no longer Jewish,’ and that’s where I fall,” he said. Barany will perform his autobiographical comedy at the VOSJCC in Scottsdale on Wednesday, Feb. 15.

He grew up in an Orthodox Jewish enclave on the Upper East Side of New York City and pieces of his current act carry over from the time he was still steeped in that community. Barany’s stories include details anyone can relate to, Jewish or secular, because it’s better to be the kind of comedian who makes it clear that his experience, at least in part, is somehow common to everyone, he said.

He and Jerry Seinfeld, someone he has worked with

in the past, have discussed the wisdom of their similar approach to comedy. Seinfeld uses observations as the core of his routine, and even though Barany thinks that is the better strategy, he sticks with his own game plan because he is “so good at my autobiographical stuff that it feels like it’s observational to people who relate to it very strongly,” he said. “I’m kind of bridging the gap between me and Seinfeld.”

About 10% of his bookings come from JCCs, Jewish Federations and Reform communities. He sometimes performs for Conservative Jews but “they’re not as enthusiastic about comedy programming,” he quipped. He used to perform for Orthodox audiences, but has since stopped. The audiences were always great, but he realized he was uncomfortable with the gap between what he believes now vs. the Orthodox crowd.

“I choose to be comfortable on stage,” he said. He’s mindful that a lot of non-Jews come to his shows and he’s careful to explain Jewish cultural or religious themes before launching into specifically Jewish stories to ensure that nobody feels like an outsider. The importance of that was brought home to him early in his career when he was still doing more Jewish-specific comedy, much of which was based on his yeshiva training.

Keith Barany

COURTESY OF KEITH BARANY

Greater Phoenix Jewish Film Festival offers three films in person this year

At Scottsdale’s Harkins Theatres Shea

14 next month, Jewish movie lovers will have the chance to hear directly from first-time filmmaker Marvin Samel, the director and creator of one of the Greater Phoenix Jewish Film Festival’s (GPJFF) three featured films.

Samel will be on hand to speak directly to viewers about his film, “iMordecai,” a comedy starring Judd Hirsch and Carol Kane as married Holocaust survivors living in Florida and learning to use technology. The filmmaker loosely based the two main characters on his own parents.

The festival will welcome its viewers back in person, something it hasn’t been able to do for the last two years — but with a couple of important caveats: Films will be screened in two theaters (Harkins Shea in Scottsdale and Harkins Theatres Tempe Marketplace) for only the first two days, Sunday, Feb. 19 and Monday, Feb. 20. The remainder of the festival, which takes

place Feb. 23-March 5, will be virtual.

The three films shown in person, “iMordecai,” “Farewell Mr. Haffmann” and “The Replacement,” are those that GPJFF’s executive directors find to be both the most engaging films and those that benefit most from a group dynamic and an energetic crowd, said Deborah Muller, GPJFF’s public relations consultant.

Tricia Beran, GPJFF co-executive director, is very excited about being able to offer at least three films in person.

“Nothing replaces the buzz and excitement of being together and watching great films on the big screen,” she said.

“To be back in person, even a little, reiterates what a wonderful community experience the film festival is,” added Muller.

“This way, you can watch movies while laughing next to your friends — and sometimes crying next to them,” she said.

Beran has heard from viewers, some who can’t wait to be back in person and many who “really enjoy the ease and flexibility of watching our festival films from home.”

Sue Adatto, GPJFF co-executive director, agreed, adding “the hybrid model offers the customers flexibility in viewing.”

This year’s virtual options have expanded to allow the greatest amount of flexibility in the time frame someone has to finish viewing a movie. Last year, once a movie began, the clock started ticking, with 72 hours to finish watching. This year, a viewer can start a film on Feb. 23 and wait to finish it until the last day of the festival, two weeks later.

By extending the viewing window of each film, “it’s now a super convenient film schedule,” Muller said.

As is the case every year, the co-executive directors have aimed to offer a wide variety of Jewish films, including comedies, dramas, documentaries and short films.

Hundreds of films are evaluated each year by the festival’s screening committee, a process that begins immediately after the close of the preceding year’s festival. Then, three area screening committees view the top 50-60 finalists. From these, the final slate of 25 feature-length films best representing the GPJFF’s mission of showcasing Jewish life, culture and history from around the world is selected. There are also short films and bonus content.

In addition to America and Israel, this year’s films hail from across the globe. World War II and the Holocaust continue to be important topics for the festival’s films.

“The Conference” is a German docudrama that recreates the Wannsee Conference, where the Final Solution was decided. It was released last year to mark the 80th anniversary of the infamous conference.

“Farewell, Mr. Haffmann,” one of the three films offered in person, is a drama set in 1942 Nazi-occupied Paris. The drama involves a jeweler’s assistant who suddenly has power over his Jewish employer who is looking for a place to hide.

“Lost Transport,” an offering from the Netherlands, tells the story of the friendship that develops between Russian sniper Vera, German village girl Winnie

and Jewish-Dutch woman Simone after a train deporting hundreds of Jewish prisoners gets stranded in the spring of 1945.

The festival’s offerings touch on a wide array of modern topics as well.

For example, the filmmaker behind “Barren,” an Israeli film telling the story of a haredi Orthodox couple experiencing childlessness after four years of marriage, hopes to spur discussions about the ethical implications of the couple seeking spiritual help rather than medical opinions to deal with the issue.

“More than a Roll with a Hole” is a light-hearted documentary of the history of the bagel, while “Rose” tells of a newly widowed 78-year-old woman who begins to pursue the long-forgotten aspirations of her youth. JN

“Farewell, Mr. Haffmann” is one of three films to be shown in person in February.

Judd Hirsch stars in “iMordecai”

“Lost Transport” is available to watch during the Greater Phoenix Jewish Film Festival.

“The Conference” is a German docudrama that recreates the Wannsee Conference, where the Final Solution was decided.

The three in-person films have limited seating. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit gpjff.org.

MESA ARTS CENTER | SATURDAY, MARCH 18

Tucson artist facilitates healing through art

MALA BLOMQUIST | MANAGING EDITOR

Artist Beth Surdut is a wildlife illustrator, environmental educator, stained glass designer and writer. She began painting on silk in the 1980s, starting with scarves, which have been on display in the Smithsonian, in Washington, D.C., and then moved on to larger paintings. She also creates chuppot, Torah covers, tallitot and healing scarves.

She first got the idea to create a tallit while sitting in temple at HaMakom: The Place for Passionate and Progressive Judaism in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

“I belonged to a wonderful congregation, and it was so small that we could sit in a circle and you could see who you were davening with,” said Surdut. “I thought, ‘I should start doing custom prayer shawls,’ which personalize that invitation into what I think of as a portable house of prayer.”

She talked to her rabbi, Rabbi Malka Drucker, about the idea and she said, “Great, I’ll buy one.”

People started commissioning her to

make custom tallitot. Her clientele varied from kids to adults, with many women in their 60s, or older, who hadn’t had a bat mitzvah. She starts the process by interviewing the individual and asking them about their interests, what makes them happy and if they had a day to do anything they wanted — and if money and time travel were taken care of — what would that day look like?

“It’s very interesting to work with someone who’s only been on the planet for 12 years versus somebody who’s been on the planet for 60 or more years,” says Surdut. “Their perspectives are quite different because of their life experiences.”

As people discovered that she was a wildlife illustrator, they also began asking her to put animals on their tallit. There was one client who had three Sulcata tortoises and she wanted one on her prayer shawl because of what the animal represented to her: “ancient wisdom, a creature that has lasted for so long and has been in the universe for so long.”

Surdut also likes to suggest that people put the Hebrew names of their family members on the corners. “During services, when you gather those four corners together, you’re gathering your family together,” she said.

The tzitzit on the tallit come from Israel. “I think of them coming from very happy sheep,” she said. “There is a directive that the wool for the tzitzit needs to come from sheep that are clean and don’t have burrs and dirt in them. So, I picture happy sheep that are gently and lovingly sheared.”

Surdut’s first introduction to Tucson came in 2012, when she visited the annual Tucson Festival of Books. The following year, she returned to accept the festival’s Literary Award for Nonfiction for “Listening to Raven,” a compilation of illustrations, stories and personal essays.

In 2014, Surdut gave a presentation, “The Modern Tallit,” at the Tucson

Jewish Community Center and during that visit, she was featured in shows by Arizona Illustrated and a radio piece on Arizona Spotlight. Drawn to the wildlife

3/19 Zukerman Trio

4/3 Chris Botti

3/27 Rosanne Cash

3/5 Michael Feinstein & Jean Yves Thibaudet

Hollyhocks painted on the refuah scarf Beth Surdut made for her dying friend, Lynn Saul.

Tracing Arizona’s ‘Jews of the Borderland’

ELLEN BRAUNSTEIN

The city of Tucson has elected five Jewish mayors dating back to Charles Strauss, who was in office from 18831884. Two Jewish brothers, Isaac and Jacob Isaacson, founded the Arizona border town of Nogales. And famed lawman Wyatt Earp of Tombstone married Josephine Marcus of the NeimanMarcus family.

These are just a few examples of the little-known Jews of the Southwest who are the subject of a documentary series by award-winning filmmaker Isaac Artenstein of Cinewest Productions. A Mexican-Jewish director, he lives in Tucson and San Diego with his wife and co-producer, Jude Artenstein. Another producer is Paula Schwartz, former director of the New Mexico Jewish Historical Society.

The “Jews of the Borderland” series on Tijuana, Santa Fe, San Diego and El Paso is complete. Still to be finished, and in need of funding, is the episode on the Jews of Arizona, Artenstein said.

TUCSON ARTIST

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21

in Arizona, she moved from Santa Fe to Tucson in 2015.

She started making refuah shleimah , healing scarves, to represent “the essence of the Jewish Mi Shebeirach prayer said aloud in direct recognition of those in need, in pain, in suffering.”

The first one was a request from a former tallit client who had a friend who had lost her hair due to chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer. Surdut made her a headscarf to wear.

Most of the people she’s made healing scarves for have fully recovered from their illness or injury and went on to wear and enjoy the scarf for many years. She had two dear friends, however, for whom this was not the case.

She met Lynn Saul when Saul was running a writing group at Congregation Bet Shalom in Tucson and asked Surdut to co-team it with her. Miriam Blum joined the writing group and she and Surdut became fast friends.

Blum had numerous health issues; she had open-heart surgeries and was on dialysis six days a week.

“She was writing and was cheerful, bright and funny,” said Surdut. “I would shlep her places in her wheelchair and we would go on adventures together.”

Surdut had made a refuah scarf for

“People of the Crossing: The Jews of El Paso” airs in February on PBS.

Artenstein’s projects on the Jewish experience in the Southwest feature archival footage and family memories told by present-day relatives. The films deliver new insight into an important missing piece of the narrative of the Southwest, he said.

“With the help of the Jewish History Center in Tucson (Tucson Jewish Museum & Holocaust Center), we’ve done extensive interviewing in Arizona with a lot of descendants of pioneers and people that were historically significant in Jewish Arizona,” he said.

For Artenstein, 66, the project is personal. His family migrated to Mexico in the 1920s from Poland and Turkey. His parents met in Tijuana and came to San Diego in the 1960s. Spanish is Artenstein’s first language.

“I got tired of explaining how an Artenstein like me comes from Mexico. I felt this urge to reveal that the Jewish

Blum with hummingbirds on it and after she died, nobody could find the scarf.

One day, Surdut was talking to Blum’s husband, Bennett, and he asked why it was so important to her, besides the fact that it was beautiful and she had made it, that he find the scarf. “And I said, ‘Because I made it with kavanah (intention) and it was just for Miriam,’ because my life is guided by paying attention and intention.”

He called Surdut about two hours later to tell her he found the scarf. When she asked him where it had been, he told her, “As soon as you said kavanah, I had a feeling I knew where it was. She had tucked it into her tallit bag.”

“That was very beautiful to me,” she said.

When her friend Lynn Saul was in the hospital, Surdut picked up the book of Saul’s poetry, “In Our Language: Collected Poems,” looking for inspiration. The first poem in the book is about hollyhocks, so she painted a scarf with the flowers on it to bring to Saul the next day.

“I walked into the hospital — it’s the first time I put one of my scarves on a dying person — and I put it on her shoulders and she looked at me with these beautiful blue eyes and said, ‘This will help,’ and we both knew what that meant,” said Surdut.

Surdut told Saul’s daughter-in-law to leave the scarf on and not to take it off unless Saul wanted her to. She told her, even though it was silk, not to worry if

it got wrinkled, dirty or torn. Surdut said that when Saul was in hospice, the daughter-in-law took the scarf off to wash it. Saul had been in and out of consciousness, but when she woke up, the first thing she said was, “Where’s my scarf.”

“I think we all don’t want to see the people we love in pain and sorrow,” said

Surdut. “We wish we could wave a magic wand to clear it all away. This is as close to a magic wand as I can get.” JN

Currently, Surdut has an exhibition at the Beth Shalom Temple Center in Green Valley called “Listening to Raven: Drawings and True Stories.” It is on display through Feb. 26. For more information, visit bethsurdut.com.

Charles Strauss shown with his son, Charles Jr. Strauss was elected mayor of Tucson in 1883. COURTESY OF PIONEER JEWS BY HARRIET AND FRED ROCHLIN

The refuah scarf with hummingbirds Beth Surdut made for Miriam Blum.

presence is not just in New York or Los Angeles. There are wonderful, interesting Jewish communities throughout the Southwest,” he said.

Artenstein relied on Jewish history already well-documented by local historians, books and museums and the archives at the Tucson Jewish Museum & Holocaust Center, housed in the first synagogue built in the Arizona Territory in 1910.

“This documentary on Tucson is very fascinating to me because it is the one

that encapsulated the magic of the Old West, especially of the border towns like Tombstone.

“There was a Jewish presence there and the cemetery actually has a Jewish section. There’s a memorial there that speaks to the relationship between the Jewish community and the native populations,” Artenstein said.

Jewish merchants also settled in the old mining towns of Bisbee and Douglas.

“The other thing I find fascinating about Arizona is that there is a direct

line. You start in El Paso with the Jewish experience, then New Mexico, Arizona and California, and you find that the families in these places are related.”

In the 1830s, Solomon Spiegelberg came to America and became the first Jewish merchant to travel the Santa Fe Trail. Bringing family members to the Southwest, the Spiegelbergs opened dry goods stores in different cities that grew into department stores. “They would bring cousins from the old world or the east and start them up in business. The

relationships go all across the Southwest. They’re really fascinating stories.”

Rabbis traveled on a circuit timed for the High Holidays, weddings and brit milahs, Artenstein said.

The series demonstrates the great lengths Jews went in order to preserve their traditions in a vast and sparsely populated terrain.

Much has been documented in a book called “Pioneer Jews: A New Life in the Far West” by Harriet and Fred Rochlin. It chronicles the lives, experiences and contributions of the Jewish men and women who helped shape the American frontier. Before she died at age 90, Harriet Rochlin served as an advisor on Artenstein’s film project.

The completed episodes of the documentary series include “Challah Rising in the Desert: The Jews of New Mexico.” The documentary tells the story of Conversos, who converted by force to Catholicism during the Spanish Inquisition. In the Southwest, they secretly maintained Jewish practices. The documentary also features German Jewish pioneers of the Santa Fe Trail up to the counterculture movement of the 1960s.

“To the Ends of the Earth: A Portrait of Jewish San Diego” highlights Jews arriving by wagon train and steamship starting in 1850. San Diego was a small pueblo in the remote Southwest corner of the U.S. It was the end of the line for frontier Jews in a border town that boomed.

“Tijuana Jews” is a personal exploration of this community that blended Jewish and Mexican cultures and customs in an unlikely place and time.

“I’m inspired by untold stories and being from the Southwest myself, the story of the Jewish experience really rang true with my own experience,” Artenstein said. JN

For more information or to view trailers of Artenstein’s documentary series, “Jews of the Borderlands,” visit cinewest.net.

Ellen Braunstein is a freelance writer based in Chicago.

He was making a Talmudic reference in one of his stories without any explanation. It was so familiar to him and friends who had grown up as he had that it never occurred to him that there were Jews who didn’t know it. But his nephew, an Orthodox rabbi, told him that many people, even many Jews, aren’t going to understand that joke because they haven’t been to a yeshiva.

“So I said, ‘OK, I get it now.’ I’m a comic with a religion-based Jewish upbringing, presenting a cultural Jewish show, for the most part. When I slip back into my religious persona, I make sure everybody understands what I mean,” he said.

He knows he’s something of a rarity in the world of comedy, and warns people who might be troubled by someone who isn’t easily labeled that they might find him unsettling.

“Among the uncommon people, I am considered very uncommon,” he said. That hasn’t hurt him though. He

was even one of the very few comics in the country who booked a lot of jobs during the early period of the COVID19 pandemic. With restrictions varying by state, Barany, who often works in country clubs instead of comedy clubs, was still able to perform. About 80% of his performances are in country clubs.

He also owns a comedy agency, KB Entertainment, that works with others who do PG-rated comedy.

During the pandemic, Barany moved to Logan, Utah, a small city with a tiny Jewish population. After living in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, he

discovered that even Salt Lake City was a little too big.

He hasn’t performed in a comedy club in some time but he occasionally goes to support other comics, especially at open mic nights. What many people don’t know about comics, he said, is that “laughing is kind of off the menu.” They sit at the back of the room and break down the jokes as each comic delivers them. It’s really just another day at the office. JN

To register for Comedy Night with Keith Barany, visit vosjcc.org/comedynight.

Isaac Artenstein

COURTESY OF PHILIPPE GOLDSTEIN

Featured Event

THURSDAY, FEB. 16

NowGen Happy Hour

5-7 p.m. K O’Donnell’s Sports Bar & Grill, 14850 N. Northsight Blvd., Scottsdale. February is Jewish Disability Advocacy Month (JDAM) and Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance & Inclusion Month (JDAIM). Jewish adults in their 20s through 40s can enjoy a happy hour and learn about Gesher Disability Resources and their resources and programs, as well as opportunities to volunteer. Cost: Free. For more information, visit jcfphoenix.regfox.com/nowgen-happy-hour.

Events

SUNDAY, FEB. 5

Tu B’Shevat Celebration: 10-11:30 a.m. Chandler Park, 178 E. Commonwealth Ave., Chandler. Join the East Valley Jewish Community Center’s Early Learning Center for Tu B’Shevat fun, including games, crafts and storytime with PJ Library. Registration required at evjcc.og/jcommunity.

Summer Camp Registration Event: 2-4 p.m. Ina Levine Jewish Community Campus, 12701 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale. The J will host a Shemesh Camp registration event for families with an obstacle course, games, Kona Ice, air brush tattoos by GreenScreen Entertainment, music, snacks and more. All families who register their children for camp at the event will receive 10% off any camp session. Cost: Free. For more information, visit vosjcc.org/shemesh.

CAREaVAN Zoom Info Session: 4:30-5:15 p.m. Virtual. Teens entering grades 9-12 in 2023 can join the Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater Phoenix’s Hebrew High and learn about its CAREaVAN teen volunteer road trip. They are traveling to San Francisco this summer, June 11-21. For more information, visit bjephoenix. org/2023-summer-careavan.

Israeli Television Sets the Scene: 6:30-8 p.m. Ina Levine Jewish Community Campus, 12701 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale. Join the Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater Phoenix for a discussion about why Israeli programs have attracted so much attention and what their stories tell us about a changing Israeli society. The program will include clips from shows. Part of BJE’s Jewish Passages 2023 series. Cost: $20. For more information, visit bjephoenix.org/ programs/passages.

Tu B’shvat Women’s Circle: 7 p.m. Location provided upon RSVP. Join Chabad of Ahwatukee to create a fruit board with a wood-burned design and discover the meaning of Tu B’shvat. For more information, visit chabadahwatukee.com or call 480-382-0232.

TUESDAY, FEB. 7

Primary Infertility Support Group: 1-2 p.m. Virtual. Join Fruitful for peer-to-peer support for women struggling with primary infertility. Cost: Free. For more information, visit fruitfulaz.org.

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 8

‘No Greater Love: Part 2’: 10-11:30 a.m. East Valley Jewish Community Center, 908 N. Alma School Road, Chandler. Holocaust survivor Dirk Van Leenen, author of “Resistance on a Bicycle,’ “The Americans are Coming” and “The Last Train to the

Concentration Camp,” returns to tell more of his story at this Generations After program. Cost: Free. Books will be available for purchase. For more information, visit evjcc. org/generations-after.

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 8 & 15

100 Jewish Artists: 1-2 p.m. Virtual. Join the East Valley Jewish Community Center to learn about 100 Jewish artists and their impact on the art world in this series presented by Nancy Kotz of Jewish Art Education. Cost: Free. For more information, visit evjcc.org/artists.

THURSDAY, FEB. 9

The Maternal Divine: 6:30-7:30 p.m. Virtual. Join Valley Beit Midrash and presenter Deena Aranoff for a study of Torah texts that reveal maternal aspects of the divine. Cost: $18. For more information, visit valleybeitmidrash.org.

FRIDAY-SUNDAY, FEB. 10-12

Documentary Film Series: Virtual. Join the Arizona Jewish Historical Society for its monthly film series. This month’s feature is “Crossings.” Cost: Free. For more information, visit azjhs.org/ documentary-film-series.

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 15

Comedy Night at The J: 7-9 p.m. Ina Levine Jewish Community Campus, 12701 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale. Join The J for an evening of clean comedy with Keith Barany. There will also be a dessert reception with Barany after the show. Cost: J members $30, non-members (guests) $40. For more information, visit vosjcc.org/ comedynight.

SUNDAY, FEB. 19

Hamentaschen Baking Party: 3:30-5 p.m. The New Shul, 7825 E. Paradise Lane, Scottsdale. Join The New Shul for a family baking party. All families, all ages welcome. For more information, contact Jolene Kuty at kutychiropractic@yahoo.com.

SUNDAY, FEB. 19-MARCH 5

27th Annual Greater Phoenix Jewish Film Festival: In theaters and virtual. Enjoy the latest and greatest in international Jewish feature films, short films and bonus content. For more information, visit gpjff.org.

MONDAY, FEB. 20

Sisterhood Luncheon: 12 p.m. Temple Beth Shalom of the West Valley, 12202 N. 101st Ave., Sun City. Lauren Abramowitz, gemologist and appraiser, will discuss how to determine what jewelry is worth. Cost: $12 for Temple members, $15 for nonmembers. RSVP deadline is Feb. 15. For more information, contact 623-977-3240 or email TempleBethShalomAZ@gmail.com.

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 22

Jewish Community Center Blood Drive: 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Ina Levine Jewish Community Campus, 12701 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale. A Vitalant bloodmobile will be in the parking lot. Preregister to schedule an appointment at vitalant.org, use code JCCVOS or contact 877-258-4825.

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.

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 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.

TUESDAYS

Tuesdays at the J: 10-11:30 a.m. East Valley Jewish Community Center, 908 N. Alma School Road, Chandler. Join individuals and couples age 55 plus for presentations on a variety of topics. Cost: Free; registration

required. For more information, visit evjcc. org/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? We can teach you! Every level welcome. Cost: Free. For more information, visit vosjcc.org.

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

WEDNESDAYS

History of the Jews: 11:00 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.

THURSDAYS

America’s Four Gods: 10-11 a.m. Temple Beth Shalom of the West Valley, 12202 N. 101st Ave., Sun City. Interactive four-week program led by Rabbi Dana Evan Kaplan and Temple President Fay Henning-Bryant, Feb. 2-23. Based on the book, “America’s Four Gods: What We Say About God — And What That Says About Us,” written by Paul Froese and Christopher Bader. Cost: $18 for members and $36 for non members; advance registration and payment required by Jan 30. For more information, contact 623-977-3240 or templebethshalomaz@ gmail.com.

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.

Middle Eastern Percussion - Beginner Level: 12:45-1:45 p.m. One World Dance and Music Studio, 3312 N. Third St., Phoenix. Learn the fundamentals of Middle Eastern rhythms on tabla/doubek (drum), riq (tambourine) and zills (finger cymbals). Cost: $20 per class. For more information, visit oneworlddanceandmusic.com.

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 Sheana Abrams at (602) 971-1234 or sabrams@ templechai.com.

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: 7:30 p.m. Gloria Christi Church, 3535 E. Lincoln Dr., Paradise Valley. Rabbi Alison Lawton and Cantorial Soloist Michael Robbins lead Shabbat services twice a month. Beth Ami welcomes people who are not affiliated and looking for a spiritual connection. For more information, visit bethamitemple.org. JN

Upcoming Special Sections

February 17

Showcase your educational and camp offerings to Jewish families looking for the perfect fit for their children during these difficult times.

Wonderful

February

People of the book

The “Peoples of the Book” program on Jan. 8, brought Jews, Christians and Muslims together to discuss human dignity and how it is exemplified in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Quran. COURTESY OF ALAN ZEICHICK

Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration

Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz, president and dean of Valley Beit Midrash, gave an opening prayer at the Arizona MLK Awards Breakfast at the Phoenix Convention Center on Friday, Jan. 13, saying that while the struggle against racism is far from over, everyone present was committed to doing the work of overcoming the perils of white supremacy.

COURTESY OF RABBI DR. SHMULY YANKLOWITZ

Grand fundraiser

The Barrow Grand Ball 2023 took place at the Arizona Biltmore the third weekend in January. This iconic event put on by the Women’s Board of Barrow Neurological Foundation raised in excess of $7 million. Pictured from left: Amy Cohn, Dr. Michael T Lawton, president and CEO of Barrow Neuroloical Institute, Erin Gogolak and Diane Might, Women’s Board chairman.

COURTESY OF WOMEN’S BOARD OF BARROW NEUROLOGICAL FOUNDATION

Where’s

Scottsdale resident Judith Chandler brought an issue of Jewish News with her on her annual Maui vacation. She read it on the beach. COURTESY OF VIRGINIA LEVITT

Smiles all around

During a Smile on Seniors’ fundraiser, Steven Ference, Susan Ference, Rudy Troisi, Suzanne Monashkin and Sheldon Monashkin, pictured left to right, smile for the camera.

COURTESY OF SMILE ON SENIORS

Presenting for Judah’s lions

The Phoenix Black-Jewish Cohort presented a panel at the 50th anniversary of the International Lion of Judah Conference, which took place in Phoenix in December.

COURTESY OF JEWISH COMMUNITY RELATIONS COUNCIL OF GREATER PHOENIX

OBITUARY

LEE SHAPIRO

Lee Shapiro of Phoenix died Jan. 20, 2023. She was 73. Lee was affiliated with the Alpine Ski Club.

Lee is survived by her life partner, John Henson, of Phoenix; daughter, Stacey Shapiro of Austin, Texas; son, Cory Shapiro (Rachel Zaslow) of Phoenix; stepdaughters Jenifer Henson of Mesa; Jermaine Hendrickson (Michael) of Everett, Washington; Jessica Henson Natland of Gilbert; stepson, John “JJ” Henson, Jr. of Phoenix; five stepgrandchildren; parents, Annette “Denny” and Cecil Yolles of Toronto, Canada; sister, Marilyn Goldberg (Melvin) of Toronto, Canada.

Services were held on Jan. 24, 2023, at Paradise Memorial Gardens, officiated by Rabbi Eliot Baskin and arranged by Sinai Mortuary of Arizona.

Donations in her name can be made to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America, 1702 E. Highland Ave. #400, Phoenix, AZ 85014 or the Mayo Clinic, 5777 E. Mayo Blvd., Phoenix, AZ 85054.

OBITUARY

HARRIET “HAPPY” PERLMUTTER

Harriet “Happy” Perlmutter passed away peacefully at her daughter and son-inlaw’s home in Scottsdale on Dec. 22, 2022. She was 90.

Happy was born in Houston, Texas on May 28, 1932. She married the love of her life, George Perlmutter, on Sept. 16, 1951, and was married for 57 years. Together they had two daughters Cheryl (Mayer) and Debbie (predeceased).

Happy is survived by her daughter, Cheryl Mayer (Rob); grandson, Scott Cassman (Erica) and their children Lilah and Gavin; and her late granddaughter, Rachelle Golden (Dan) and their children Jacob, Hannah and Ella.

In lieu of flowers, donations in her name can be made to the CLL Society.

OBITUARY

TOBA KRISTAL

Toba Kristal of Scottsdale died Dec. 27, 2022. She was 91.

Toba was born in Chicago, Illinois and co-owned Kristal Drugs for 25 years with her husband, Stewart. She was a volunteer with the Navajo Elementary School Reading Program.

Toba was preceded in death by Stewart; her parents, Nettie and Alfred Press; and her brother, David. She is survived by daughter, Jill Kristal Feuerstein of

MT. SINAI CEMETERY

For sale: one plot in a semi-private estate in the original Jacob Section of the cemetery (Jewish only allowed).

Has been upgraded to companion (burial for 2) space. Includes granite bench on adjacent space with name engraved. jarpell@yahoo.com

Robyn Horne Silverberg of Paradise Valley passed away peacefully on January 9, 2023, after a long illness. She was 87.

Robyn was born in 1935 to Jack Horne and Gina Sokoloff (Horne) in Brooklyn, New York. After graduation from Jamaica H.S. in 1953, Robyn attended Syracuse and Adelphi Universities. She met Robert I. Silverberg through her brother Elliot, and they wed December 18, 1955. They went on to welcome son, Kenneth, and daughter, Jane, to the family.

The family relocated to Paradise Valley from King’s Point, New York in 1975, and were soon joined by Elliot and Joan Horne and their family Gina, Michael and Karyn, and eventually by Laura Horne Schwartz. Robyn participated in family business endeavors in the Scottsdale area, but her passion was theater and communication. She began working for Childsplay theater group as an audience outreach director for 25 years before retiring, and even performed on one occasion.

Robyn loved animals and service. She read for the blind and did volunteer work for both animals and people. She was an avid collector of fine Copenhagen figurines and Native American art and jewelry with her husband, Bob. The research and stories behind each piece were as important as the collection itself. She loved collating the family history with her brother to allow the family a better understanding of their culture and heritage. All who encountered Robyn were touched by her larger-than-life personality and amazing, quick wit. She was a great source of strength and a listening ear for so many throughout her lifetime.

Robyn was predeceased by her brother, Elliot Horne, in 2002; sister-in-law, Joan Horne, in 2004; and stepmother, Laura Horne Schwartz, in 2015. She is survived by her loving husband, Robert, of 67 years; son, Kenneth; and daughter, Jane, and her husband, David.

A graveside service was held on Jan. 12, 2023, at Green Acres Cemetery. In accordance with the way she lived her life, the family requests in lieu of flowers donations be made to Coalition of All Breed Rescue Arizona (CABRA) or Southwest Airedale Terrier Rescue.

A life well lived!

Larchmont, New York; sons Scot Kristal of Phoenix and Steven Kristal of Royal Oak, Michigan; sister, Phyllis Palmer of Ottawa, Illinois; six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

A celebration of life was held Jan. 21, 2023. Arranged by Green Acres Mortuary and Cemetery. Donations in her name can be made to Hospice of the Valley, 1510 E. Flower St., Phoenix, AZ 85014 (hov.org).

BAT MITZVAH

JAMISON BRENLIE WALKER

Jamison Brenlie Walker will become a bat mitzvah on Feb. 25, 2023, at Temple Chai. She is the daughter of Amanda and

Scott Walker of Scottsdale. Jamison’s grandparents are Joyce and Stanley Ettinger of San Francisco, California; and Peggy Walker of Scottsdale and the late Jerry Walker. For her mitzvah project, Jamison gathered donations for Halo animal shelter. A student at Pardes Jewish Day School, Jamison enjoys theater, dancing and singing. JN

Robert Alan Baratz passed away on Jan. 14, 2023. He was 91. Robert was born in Chicago, Illinois to Mollye and J. Joseph Baratz, M.D. on Oct. 17, 1931. After a primary education in the Chicago public schools, he received a B.S. degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1952, M.S. and Ph.D. Degrees from the University of Illinois, Chicago, and his M.D. from Marquette University (Medical College of Wisconsin) in 1963. After an internship and residency in anesthesia at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City, he joined the anesthesia staff from 1966 to 1971. He and his family moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where he practiced anesthesiology from 1971 to 2010. During a period of this time, he served as president of the Arizona Society of Anesthesia.

He is survived by his loving wife, Joan, of 68 years; his sister, Sheila Rabin Tenenblatt; four grown children Rachel (Marc Ehrich), David (Sharon Jacobs), Carol (Paul Krulisky) and Janet. They gave their parents, Joan and Robert, 11 wonderful grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

During the years of active medical practice, Robert donated his time and knowledge to treat patients in Israel, Senegal, Ecuador, Guatemala and Peru. Along with his wife, he also taught conversational English to children in Poland, Vietnam and Cuba. An avid bicyclist, he took multiple bike trips throughout the U.S., as well as Europe and China.

Gloria “Goldie” Bookstein, years young, from loomfield ills, ichigan, and allas, e as, passed peacefully in her sleep on Jan. 16, 2023.

orn in etroit, ichigan, which she always considered home, she later split her time between ri ona, ichigan and e as to be near her children and family.

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oldie was the loving daughter of the late orris and nna lotni and sister of the late Sarah ulius Smith and the late elen erbert ollin.

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