Jewish News, March 5, 2021

PRESCOTT’S HADASSAH

New Hadassah chapter opens in Prescott

Local STAR tells cancer survival story

Repair the world:

Jobs, hats and a bagel

This week, the Jewish News is sharing more stories of people, organizations and synagogues that are stepping up for their community during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Whether it’s helping people find a new job in a difficult economy, knitting caps for newborns, or even surprising people with bagels to make them smile, all are ways the Jewish community continues to live the concept of tikkun olam in these trying times.

JFCS gives career assistance

David Adatto never thought he would be unemployed at 67. He didn’t expect Two’s Company Inc., the home decor and gifts company he worked for, to let him go after 28 years.

But Two’s Company had a tough year in 2019, Adatto said. And when the COVID-19 pandemic struck last March, “it was the icing on the cake. The business basically came to a standstill,” he said.

Adatto was one of thousands of Arizonans caught up in the pandemic’s wave of furloughs and layoffs; he was furloughed in March, brought back to work in April, furloughed again in May, and let go June 15. Arizona’s unemployment rate stood at 10% in June, when Adatto began looking for new opportunities.

“I haven’t written a resume in over 28 years,” he said. He quickly realized he needed help.

Rabbi Mari Chernow set to leave Temple Chai in June

Rabbi Mari Chernow didn’t plan to stay long when she arrived at Temple Chai in 2003. The freshly minted rabbi was determined to learn as much as she could within two years — the term of her contract — and then leave Phoenix.

But almost immediately, she “fell in love with this special community and its profound commitment to Kabbalat Shabbat,” she said, and it became her home for the next 18 years. “Within weeks, I would look at people, and I loved them already.”

Her love story with Temple Chai will come to an end — or transform to a long-distance relationship — on June 30, when she moves to Los Angeles to take a new position at Temple Israel of Hollywood.

Leaving Temple Chai, where she’s formed strong connections and shared in “the joyful, sad and redemptive moments” of members’ lives, will be difficult.

Debbie Biggard Berkowitz is one Temple Chai member who will feel her loss deeply. She admires how much effort Chernow put into getting to know the congregation, whether by meeting one-on-one with students preparing for their b’nai mitzvah, hosting Torah study sessions at her home or “getting down and dirty” making latkes with congregants at Chanukah.

“She’s always warm, approachable, funny, down-to-earth — the whole package,” said Berkowitz.

DNA finds surprising family connections

Samuel Burke got a big surprise when his family did some DNA testing for fun. Now he has to consider what really makes a family on his new podcast “Suddenly Family.” Pictured counterclockwise from left: Marah Burke, Tommey Burke, Samuel Burke, Marc Burke, Bill Burke. To read more, go to p. 12.

SEE TIKKUN, PAGE 2

A friend told him about Jewish Family & Children’s Services’ career services program, and although Adatto had been involved with JFCS “for years,” he wasn’t familiar with that program. So he reached out and got the help he was hoping for. His resume got a new look, and he found resources for networking. He received tips on how to interview.

MARCH 5, 2021 | ADAR 21, 5781 | VOLUME 73, NUMBER 12 $1.50

SHANNON LEVITT | MANAGING EDITOR AND NICOLE RAZ | STAFF WRITER

SEE CHERNOW, PAGE 3

SHANNON LEVITT | MANAGING EDITOR

PHOTO COURTESY OF SAMUEL BURKE

Rabbi Mari Chernow carries her daughter, Lillian, on her back during a hiking trip.

PHOTO COURTESY OF RABBI MARI CHERNOW

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“There were four or five meetings that we had virtually, and I had homework to do for these meetings, which was great,” he said. “And it was a great help.”

JFCS made him feel like he wasn’t alone, he said. “They were in my corner to help.”

Adatto hopes to land his next sales gig soon. “I loved what I did,” he said.

Kathy Rood, manager of Jewish Social Services at JFCS, said Adatto is one of about 500 local community members who have taken advantage of the program since its inception in August 2011. JFCS created the free program originally in response to the Great Recession.

“Repairing the world happens one person at a time,” Rood said. “When you help to make one person’s world better, you help to make the whole world better.”

Knitting hats for preemies

Lauren Glick retired two years ago. She expected to spend time with her grandkids and travel with her husband. That was before COVID-19.

Instead of traveling, now she knits.

“It’s helping me stay sane,” she said. “I’m stuck in the house.” She finds knitting peaceful and takes extra comfort knowing she is knitting for a good cause.

She joined Knit a Mitzvah, a study group offered through the Phoenix chapter of the Brandeis National Committee, about two years ago. The group makes hats, scarves and blankets to be donated to HonorHealth Medical Group and JFCS.

For the past year or so, she has been knitting and donating hats for premature newborns. Each hat takes two to three hours to make, she said.

Her twin grandchildren were born prematurely, and she knows how much

the hats mean to parents of babies in the neonatal intensive care unit. “My daughter always said how much she appreciated the women who knitted the hats,” Glick said. “She was just so appreciative that she still has the hats; they’re 6-years-old now.”

She donates between 30 and 40 hats per month.

“It just feels good to give it to other people,” she said.

Michelle Remis still remembers what a difference it made for her son 13 years ago, and is still “extremely grateful to whomever” made his hat. He was born at 26 weeks and weighed just over two pounds. It was almost two weeks before Remis was able to hold him for the first time.

“The NICU nurses put the hat on him the first time we got to hold him to help keep his head warm outside

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Lauren Glick knits hats to donate to HonorHealth for babies born prematurely on Sunday, Feb. 21, 2021.

PHOTO BY RANDY SIMON

Pictured from left: Blake, Amy, Piper and Rob Yosowitz. The family enjoyed being bageled. PHOTO BY AMY YOSOWITZ

SEE TIKKUN, PAGE 23

Chernow officiated Berkowitz’s second wedding and has seen her family through many lifecycle events. Pre-COVID, the two often met for coffee, meals and rock climbing.

“Aside from being my rabbi, she’s my friend,” said Berkowitz. “She provides our family with an abundance of wisdom, encouragement and comfort, and she’ll always be my rabbi and resource.”

In addition to the personal connections she’s made, Kabbalat Shabbat at Temple Chai has remained an essential mainstay for Chernow. Despite inevitable changes over time, “the passion for learning and

acknowledged, but for those who’ve become fans, “they’ve all really loved the experience.”

Debbie Blyn, Temple Chai’s executive director, appreciates the creativity Chernow has developed as she’s grown in confidence and stature in her role as the synagogue’s senior rabbi.

“She found that right level of experimentation, developing new programs while remaining true to the core of Judaism,” Blyn said. “I’ve watched her say, ‘Let’s try this.’”

Collegiality is also important to Chernow. Even before she arrived in Phoenix, she knew several of the area’s rabbis. She has fostered good working relationships with many more over the years.

“The rabbis here in town are spectacular,”

a native Californian, from San Luis Obispo. The couple has three children, Melila, 8, Ezra, 6, and Lillian, 2. Melila and Ezra are sad to leave their friends, but Ezra is buoyed by his fantasy that he might actually get to live in Disneyland.

And although there has been a lot of sadness in the Temple Chai community over losing Chernow, there is also widespread understanding of her need to be close to her parents and extended family, she said.

That alone “will be huge for her,” agreed Blyn, who was not surprised when Chernow was approached by Temple Israel. It wasn’t the first significant opportunity to come her way. “When you have a talented person, that’s what happens,” Blyn said. “Her new community will be getting a gem.”

Mark Feldman, Temple Chai’s president, agreed. “We’re extremely proud to have had her and learned from her and prayed with her,” he said. He admired the way people could go to Chernow with their deepest concerns, and have her offer a great perspective. But what he’ll miss most are the

Prayer Lab is an example of pushing boundaries creatively. Chernow and a group of congregants choose the most critical aspects of prayer and try to build on those elements to create a more “deep and meaningful experience,” she said.

The experimental service takes place once every six to eight weeks — with COVID-19 restrictions, the timing is less predictable. The services have included art and poetry, theatrical interpretations of the weekly parshah, and playing “Taps” on a bugle during Yom Kippur. The “haunting and powerful melody” was used to represent a confrontation with mortality, Chernow said.

“We will use anything at our disposal to create a prayerful experience,” she said. “Everybody knows that those are experimental nights, and if it doesn’t feel right, then we’ve learned something; but if it does feel right, well, maybe we’ve discovered something about how to create and deepen prayer.”

It isn’t for everyone, Chernow

shocked when she discovered Chernow was leaving. “My jaw dropped,” she said.

“I took for granted we were going to be a team forever.”

The two have worked together for 15 years, and their complementary skills have led to a “wonderful working relationship,” said Koppell. “She’s the big-picture dreamer and creative visionary, and I’m the person who can translate that into action.”

Chernow’s sensitivity and ability to know how to comfort people in any situation is one of her stand-out qualities, Koppell said. She recalled one night when Chernow left her a note with the words “Great night” in Hebrew following a successful event that Koppell organized and led. Having her colleague’s support and appreciation meant a lot. Chernow knew how to make a small gesture significant — a special quality that will be missed in what has been an “amazing collaboration,” Koppell said.

Chernow’s new job in LA will be a homecoming for her. Her wife, Kara, is also

normal, day-to-day conversations they had.

“At the end of the day, she’s just a regular person trying to take care of herself and her family,” he said.

Aside from family considerations, Chernow looks forward to working with Temple Israel's visual and performing arts program. She’s also looking forward “to digging into its incredibly robust and impressive social justice program,” she said.

In May, there will be an event where Chernow can say goodbye to the Temple Chai community, but one of the “heartbreaking” consequences of COVID is that it will probably have to be a drive-thru event without the possibility of handshakes and tearful embraces.

However the farewell event plays out, it will be an emotional time for Chernow.

“The deepest truth is that it’s very bittersweet,” Chernow said. “It’s hard for us to leave this community that we love so dearly. We are excited, but both emotions are deeply intertwined.” JN

Rabbi Mari Chernow, left, and her wife, Kara, pose with their children in front of the Grand Canyon.

PHOTO COURTESY OF RABBI MARI CHERNOW

Rabbi Bonnie Koppell, left, and Rabbi Mari Chernow participate in a Prayer Lab service at Temple Chai.

PHOTO COURTESY OF TEMPLE CHAI

Jewish high school plans to open in 2021

NICOLE RAZ | STAFF WRITER

Aileen Becker’s 27-yearold daughter was in the first class of Shearim Torah High School for Girls in 2007. “They’ve produced a lot of bright girls who have done very well academically,” she said. But it isn't the right fit for her 15-year-old daughter.

“I want her to feel comfortable," Becker said.

Shearim and the all-male Yeshiva High School of Arizona were the only Jewish high schools in Greater Phoenix. Seemingly out of options, Becker considered sending her daughter out of state.

But now that Nishmat Adin is set to open this fall, her daughter will stay put.

“For her,” Becker said, “I’m really excited.”

Ariella Friedman, president of Nishmat Adin’s board of directors, recognized the need for more Jewish options. “Many children who graduate from Jewish or non-Jewish elementary [and middle] schools don’t have a high school option that is exactly the right fit for them.”

The Oasis School, another inclusive and coeducational Jewish high school, was also scheduled to open in Scottsdale this fall. However, due to COVID-19, it will instead welcome its first class in 2022, according to Tobi Rifkind, president of the board for Oasis. “We are currently focused on recruiting the right head of school to lead Oasis with an in-person high school education using our innovative educational model,” said Rifkind, via email.

Nishmat Adin, or Shalhevet Scottsdale, will partner with Shalhevet High School in Los Angeles. The Scottsdale campus is open to all Jewish students regardless of religious affiliation. The exact location is still in the works, but students will be physically together in co-educational classes, and teachers at Shalhevet in LA will instruct them remotely. Students will have the assistance of in-person academic facilitators.

Nishmat Adin students will also be required to travel to LA regularly for in-person social and learning events. The school promises both a rigorous Jewish and secular education. Applications for admissions are due April 1 for August enrollment. Tuition will be $24,750 per year.

Friedman is working with five other

my students — hundreds of them. And I see them drifting away from Judaism and losing that connection and that education,” Allouche said. “So for many years now, I’ve been wanting to create a high school that would attend to the Jewish needs, to keep them connected, and ensure that they continue to develop their Jewish identity each in their own way.”

Allouche has already sent three of his own children out of state to Jewish high schools. Sending his kids away, “tears my heart each time,” he said.

About a year ago, Friedman and the others hired a consultant to help navigate the ins and outs of forming a Jewish high school. They met Rabbi Ari Segal, head of Shalhevet High School in LA, and a partnership seemed natural.

“I did not go into the relationship, the consulting role, thinking that this would be a possibility, but it emerged very, very, very organically,” Segal said, noting there was an alignment in philosophy and values between his school and what the Beth Tefillah congregants outlined. The pandemic has opened up opportunities in the educational realm for partnerships;

this will be the first of many to come, he said.

Jeff Klores moved with his son from Phoenix to Los Angeles in 2016 so he could attend Shalhevet. “My son graduated this past year, and he’s in Israel now and had really an amazing high school experience,” he said. “I didn’t want to leave the Phoenix area, but I thought it was important enough to do that.” Klores moved back to Phoenix last July, and joined the effort to develop the new school.

“I hope this opens up opportunities for families in Phoenix so that they don’t have to be faced with the same kind of decision that I had,” he said.

Friedman, who is also a pediatric urologist at Banner Health in Glendale, wants the school because it is an option she wants for her kids — ages 10, 5 and 3 — and she wants to create something that will benefit the growing Jewish community in

“I want a very strong secular education for my children,” Friedman said. But she also cares “very deeply about Jewish education.”

Allouche likes that much of Shalhevet’s philosophy aligns with the ideals of his mentor and teacher, the late Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz ob”m, a Jewish religious commentator. It will ensure that Nishmat Adin offers educational excellence and helps create strong Jewish leaders, he said.

“The passing of my mentor really propelled me to do even more, and continue his legacy,” Allouche said.

Steinsaltz’s teachings — including one of his mottos, "Let my people know" — were the inspiration for the school’s four foundational philosophical pillars.

“He had this wonderful philosophy of bringing Jewish people together of all different backgrounds and in an environment that is positive and uplifting, with a focus on action and learning,” Friedman said.

Becker has complete faith in Allouche and the Nishmat Adin board.

“They're going in knowing what they're doing and getting the support that they need,” she said. “I really have a ton of confidence in them so it's very exciting. I think it will make a big difference for the families here and future families and for the children.” JN

To learn more about Nishmat Adin, visit www.nishmatadin.org.

Arizona Jews for Justice’s young organizers take on old issues

NICOLE RAZ | STAFF WRITER

Ellie Sims, 17, has always felt a connection to social justice because she’s Jewish.

“I believe that the most direct ask out of Judaism is not only to treat people fairly, but to actively work for equity and equality,” she said.

Sims now finds herself in the midst of that work as one of six young adults hand-picked by Arizona Jews for Justice for its new leadership development program.

“We’ve always had teen volunteers, but at AJJ we really wanted to see how we can maximize Jewish teen leadership,” said Eddie Chavez Calderon, AJJ campaign organizer. Together with Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz, AJJ founder, he began looking for young adult leaders about three months ago. Sims was the first to be recruited in November.

It wasn’t hard for Chavez Calderon to recruit leaders. “With the pandemic, folks were eager to really find an avenue that gives them a pathway to leadership and a pathway to advocate for and support communities,” he said. Each leader is “hyperfocused" on something different. Some are working on unsheltered populations while others concentrate on women’s rights or gun violence.

As AJJ’s youth organizer, Sims’ main focus has been getting other teens involved by encouraging them to have topical conversations with their friends, collecting supplies and preparing packages for those in need. The excitement is there, but teens need to be pointed in the right direction, she said. “My work is not usually about convincing people why they should care about things, but rather providing people with opportunities.”

Chavez Calderon met Sims at a social justice event over the summer and saw a “spark in her — the potential to be an amazing leader,” he said.

Sims directly oversees three other volunteers and has

developed leadership skills over the course of the last few months. Her work at AJJ has already improved her facility with public speaking and writing, she said. “Even more than that, I’ve gained a new sense of how to manage others — and not in the sense of delegating, but how to communicate with others what needs to get done, how to motivate a team, how to make sure that their voice is heard,” she said.

as well as hosting a webinar on environmental justice. Following that, she plans to organize a panel where she and other Jewish teen leaders will discuss civic engagement with native teen leaders.

Chavez Calderon approached Hoffer in December on Sims’ advice. Hoffer was drawn to volunteering at AJJ because it’s a Jewish organization with a hands-on approach to issues.

“Social action has always been super important for me, and I think a lot of it comes from my Judaism,” she said.

AJJ youth leader Sophia Hammer, 18, is working on gun violence and suicide prevention. She is preparing to moderate a webinar with local and national experts about both issues.

“I’m young and gun violence has affected me in schools, especially with lockdowns and shooting drills. And it’s something that not only affects the Jewish community, but affects every student,” Hammer said. “To have a youth run the event is really, really something special for me.”

Another young leader for AJJ, Talia Hoffer, 17, focuses on Indigenous justice, environmental justice and women’s rights.

“I think anyone who really learned a lot about the Indigenous community can see how much they have done for everyone around them, and how little they’ve received,” she said.

On Feb. 17, Hoffer collected supplies to be donated to native communities, which have been among the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, through an event she organized.

Next up, she is putting together a webinar related to women’s rights for Women’s History Month in March,

Her work for AJJ will also involve supporting and lobbying for bills about preventing gun violence.

Chavez Calderon got to know Hammer at various protests and by seeing her on local news. “I knew that she was phenomenal and definitely somebody who could be a huge addition to our organization,” he said.

Hammer became a youth leader in January. Living in Gilbert, she hasn’t had the opportunity to do much work within the Jewish community.

“It felt great being introduced to a community where I could actually express my Judaism and work for the betterment of not only Jewish people, but everybody,” she said. JN

Arizona Jews for Justice youth organizers stand together following an AJJ event on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021, in Phoenix.

From left: Talia Hoffer, Ellie Sims, Sophia Hammer, Austin Davis, Salma Ortiz Diaz and Ari Anderson.

PHOTO BY EDDIE CHAVEZ CALDERON

"GUN VIOLENCE HAS AFFECTED ME IN SCHOOLS, ESPECIALLY WITH LOCKDOWNS AND SHOOTING DRILLS. AND IT'S SOMETHING THAT NOT ONLY AFFECTS THE JEWISH COMMUNITY, BUT AFFECTS EVERY STUDENT."

Tucson’s Arizona Jewish Post bids farewell

SHANNON LEVITT | MANAGING EDITOR

The Arizona Jewish Post was one of the first things that made Michelle Blumenberg, University of Arizona Hillel Foundation’s executive director, feel welcome when she moved to Tuscon in 1992.

“It was such a good paper and very hamash,” Blumenberg said. Coming from Ann Arbor, Michigan — a city with a large Jewish population — she was accustomed to reading the Detroit Jewish News with its focus on national and international stories. Prioritizing the local scene made AJP seem a breath of fresh air.

“It gave you a sense of what the community was about and made me feel welcomed — like I had a place,” Blumenberg said. “Absolutely everything was in there, and that’s how I knew what was going on.”

On March 1, AJP’s all-digital iteration came to an end. Its content had been exclusively online since September, 2020. The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, the paper’s owner, shuttered the print operation and cut back on staff last July in an effort to ameliorate the paper’s finances. Unfortunately, those steps weren’t enough.

“Changes in the landscape of modern journalism, including a push to digital and a move away from a subscription-based model, exerted formidable pressure on the AJP over the course of many years,” said Graham Hoffman, Southern Arizona Federation CEO, via email. “When the global pandemic hit, with its considerable economic impact, the AJP was not in a position to withstand additional force.”

Richard Kasper, president and CEO of the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Phoenix, is sympathetic given that JCF owns Jewish News of Greater Phoenix.

“It is unfortunate they had to make this very difficult decision,” he said. “It’s rather remarkable to find ourselves as the only Jewish newspaper still publishing in Arizona.”

Lindsey Baker, Southern Arizona Federation COO, said, via email, “We have been very open with our community about the financial pressures facing the Arizona Jewish Post, and the steps we have taken to mitigate loss have been announced publicly.”

Kasper understands the financial pressures of the newspaper business too.

“This should be a wake-up call to the Phoenix Jewish community,” he said. “It costs money to publish a quality newspaper, and we’ve been fortunate to have some generous supporters and consistent fans. But if JN is going to avoid the fate of AJP, we’re going to need our fans to be subscribers, advertisers and donors as well.”

The Southern Arizona Federation is considering alternatives to continue coverage of lifecycle and milestone events as well as local news.

“To me, the heart of the Arizona Jewish Post lives on, regardless of what the packaging or branding around it is,” said Maya Horowitz, director of marketing, communications and events for Southern Arizona Federation. “We are open to considering new and different paths — or, indeed, existing paths — but our fundamental imperative is to provide our community with the stories that they care most about in a way that is sustainable for the Federation moving forward.”

Spotlighting local content was one of

the newspaper’s founding principles. The paper should “stress Jewish activity, Jewish identity,” Rebecca Rutz told the Jewish Historical Society of Southern Arizona Oral History Project in 1947. Rutz and her husband, Meyer, founded the paper in 1946. They insisted that “there cannot be too much local news,” according to the Arizona Memory Project.

For the last two decades, Phyllis Braun, AJP’s executive editor, was responsible for maintaining that ideal. She’ll miss writing profiles the most. “Talking to people and finding out about them is really what I enjoy doing,” she said.

Braun’s final story for the newspaper

New Hadassah chapter takes shape in Prescott

On Feb. 22, Prescott’s new Hadassah Granite Mountain 19 chapter had its first meeting.

Prescott's previous Hadassah chapter was closely affiliated with Scottsdale’s Valley of the Sun chapter and meetings were held in Scottsdale. Over time, most Prescott members stopped attending because of the long drive, and when membership dwindled to two people, the chapter came to an end.

Last year, Linda Hochman and Shara Beck, both lifetime Hadassah members, decided to form a new chapter. When Hochman moved to Prescott in 2009 from Surprise, the old chapter was just coming to its end, which she found disappointing.

“Now we are experiencing a great immigration of people from all over who are moving to Prescott, and if they’re Jewish, they’re wondering where Hadassah is,” said Hochman.

She wrote to Hadassah’s national organization to find out what it would take to start a new chapter. She was referred to the Desert Mountain region and its head, Renee Sidman in Colorado, who gave her the guidelines.

Eight months ago, Hochman and Beck started making calls to a list of lifetime members in the Quad-City area, Prescott, Prescott Valley, Chino Valley and DeweyHumboldt, that Sidman gave them.

“Mostly all of them joyfully said yes,” Hochman said.

Hochman and Beck also discovered that another woman was inquiring about starting a Hadassah chapter in Prescott, and the three joined forces.

Sidman said that they needed 15 members to begin a chapter. Quickly they had 32 — many of whom were newcomers to town.

The group hasn’t advertised or held membership drives, but both Temple

B’rith Shalom and Chabad of Prescott put notices in their newsletters to announce

“That was neat,” Hochman said. “Very gracious — shoutout to both of those entities.”

Sometimes, Hochman joked, finding members is as simple as asking someone in the grocery store if she wants to join.

The group’s charter ceremony on Zoom last week was attended by 45 people.

“It was obviously something people missed in their lives and they all had fascinating stories about how they came to Hadassah,” Hochman said. “Some stories are bookworthy — they’re hilarious.”

The group will have its first organizational meeting on March 8 on Zoom. It will be a brainstorming session to decide what will be the chapter’s main goals. Right now, the organization’s link to Israel is its priority and what has been “the missing piece of the puzzle” for many Jews in Prescott, said Hochman. Two local Purim celebrations to view on YouTube

On Feb. 21, Gesher Disability Resources held a Purim shpiel table read of “Queen Esther and the Shushan Schemer.”

The event was Gesher’s first national collaboration and was watched live by 150 people. Gesher partnered with the Pink Umbrella Theater Company of Wisconsin and Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center in Milwaukee.

The Silverstein Family Foundation Fund sponsored the event. Mishloach manot bags were delivered to Gesher members in Greater Phoenix, and the East Valley Jewish Community Center sponsored the deliveries.

Gesher plans to repeat the event next year, but in the meantime people can still view this year's celebration at youtu. be/4HHMRhAoqL4.

Daniel Stein Kokin, a member of Beth

El Congregation and a visiting researcher at Arizona State University, developed a Purim performance highlighting the talents of Beth El congregants and members of the Greater Phoenix Jewish community.

Kokin is a scholar of Jewish studies and the Renaissance. The show is called “Inversions and Subversions: Leone de’ Sommi’s Purim Comedy of Betrothal,” and is devoted to the oldest-known Hebrew-language play, which was written in 16th-century Italy as Purim entertainment.

The show also features Beth El Cantor Jonathan Angress and Phoenix-based soprano Nina Cole Garguilo.

"At once lighthearted and scholarly, this program focuses especially on the drama’s proto-feminism, Near Eastern setting and use of biblical and rabbinic texts," Kokin said, via email.

The show is available to watch at youtube. com/watch?v=-njuXO2sqso&feature= youtu.be.

Neighbors clean up swastika-filled gra ti in North Phoenix

On Feb. 15, Jason Israel was with his 9-year-old son when he spied graffiti on the wall separating his cul-de-sac from the main street at 37th Place and Mayo Boulevard in North Phoenix. Swastikas and the words “GOP” and “QAnon” covered a large swath of the wall.

“It was very upsetting,” Israel said. “I understand the political message considering the discourse we have in our nation, but just the images of the swastika and what it represents — I was pissed. It was very close to home.” He drives by the wall every day.

Israel immediately called his homeowner association to report the graffiti and assumed that would be the end of it. He was surprised to find it still on the wall a few hours later. He called the HOA again and was told the police had been called. He spoke with the police who told him

the graffiti was written in charcoal and could probably be removed with warm water and soap.

The neighborhood is full of families with young children, Israel said, and he wanted the graffiti, especially the swastikas, gone.

“Regardless of the political message it probably wanted to convey, the swastikas stood out, and I live in a neighborhood with all families and didn’t want the kids to see that,” he said. “It was concerning and extremely offensive as a Jew.”

Israel, who attends both Chabad of Phoenix and Chabad of North Phoenix, decided not to wait for the HOA to clean it up.

His neighbors, Shelly Flecky, Amy House and others, gathered supplies to clean the wall. Israel’s son, Russell, and Flecky’s son, Alex, also helped. The warm, soapy water wasn’t enough, but they were eventually able to remove the graffiti by power-washing the wall.

Israel used the opportunity to answer his son’s questions about why the swastika was so offensive and needed to be removed. “I told him it was wrong,” he said. “I tried to teach him as best I could in that moment, that the symbol represents hate and evil. But we treat people with kindness, decency and love — all that you see here is completely opposite of that.”

Israel lost family in the Holocaust, and seeing the image of the swastika so close to home was extremely concerning, he said. The rest of the message was “gibberish,” but “the swastika has the most power in terms of imagery, and that was what I was concerned with,” he said. He hopes not to encounter more offensive graffiti but will be prepared if he does.

“It’s hateful speech, it’s wrong and we don’t want it on the wall anymore,” he said. “If it comes again, we’ll take it down again.” JN

Treasurer Karen Luedke, left, with chapter co-coordinators Linda Hochman, center, and Shara Beck, make plans for Prescott's new Hadassah chapter.

Neighbors cleaned up swastika-filled graffiti at 37th Place and Mayo Boulevard in North Phoenix.

PHOTO BY JASON ISRAEL

Phoenix-area kosher businesses hang on in face of COVID-19

NICOLE RAZ | STAFF WRITER

Shoshana Simones and her family eat out a lot more than they used to. Before the pandemic upended daily life almost a year ago, the family would eat out about once every two weeks. Now, the family orders from kosher restaurants a few times a week.

“With three kids, usually we try to cook and eat at home,” Simones said. “During this past year, we’ve tried to patronize our kosher restaurants more than we would previously.”

It’s no secret that COVID-19 has devastated the restaurant industry, and kosher food businesses are no exception.

Twelve percent of the 100,000 restaurants that existed in Arizona at the beginning of 2020 are now closed, according to Susie Timm, president of Knife & Fork Media Group, which represents the Arizona Restaurant Association. Several kosher restaurants and food services say they are limping along, barely surviving.

Even though 613 Grill is located near several Orthodox shuls — roughly 10 — it’s really the tourists keeping Itzhak Rafael’s restaurant afloat. “Thank God that the airports are open, because without that I don’t think we’ll be able to survive,” he said.

He estimates about 20% of his customers are local, a drop from what he saw pre-pandemic. “I definitely understand,” he said. “There were a lot of elderly crowds that were regulars and whatnot, and now they’re concerned about eating out.”

Dany Marciano, owner of milk+honey espresso bar & eatery in the Martin Pear Jewish Community Center in Scottsdale, said it’s been especially tough not having a street-facing entrance. “We have some very loyal customers that still are ordering to go, but we don’t see a lot of people,” Marciano said.

Alejandra Dashe and her husband have been going out of their way to order at milk+honey to support Marciano and his business. She said she doesn’t go “that often” because even though she feels “relatively safe” eating indoors at the JCC, she’d rather be safe than sorry.

Before COVID, about 30% of Marciano’s sales came from catering. “We had everything: outside catering, events in the JCC, meetings in the JCC — any event through the JCC,” he said. But now, “catering is dead.” With limited support from the community, most of the customers he sees are tourists seeking out kosher food.

Bradley Levy, owner and chef of catering company Brad’s Kitchen, had to get creative to make it through COVID. He started offering and delivering pizza kits last year. They come with five 8-inch frozen plain crusts, five 3-ounce containers of pizza sauce and five 3-ounce containers of mozzarella cheese. Each kit costs $35 with $5 of each kit donated to an

organization of the customer’s choice.

He also started offering and delivering Shabbat meals. “It’s basically just trying to reinvent yourself,” Levy said. “You have to sort of just do anything to try and keep the wheels turning.”

He feels the Jewish community is doing what it can to support him. “I think there are people just kind of stepping up,” he said.

Simones said she frequently orders from catering companies, including Brad’s Kitchen, to make sure she is spreading her support as widely as she can. “Anyone who posts on any of those kosher groups [on Facebook] that they’re providing food, we make an effort to order from them,” she said, noting she recently saw a new kosher offering promoted inside a Facebook group devoted to kosher food: Only Kubbeh.

While many kosher food businesses are just trying not to close, Tzvia Halilyan started Only Kubbeh in late January. “I needed to help my husband, so I started cooking from home,” she said.

Halilyan was a teacher at a private Jewish day school and stopped teaching out of concern for her health amid the pandemic. Meanwhile, her husband has had trouble finding work as a handyman because of pandemicrelated safety concerns, further tightening the household budget.

She is keenly aware of the struggles restaurants face and tried her best to offer something different so as not to take away from other businesses. Her menu consists of different types of kubbeh and offers three for $15 with a side of rice or Israeli salad for pickup.

In her first two weeks of promoting her menu online, she received six orders, an encouraging sign. People must be eager to try something different, she said, since there are only so many kosher restaurants to choose from.

Simones is using the would-be family activity budget toward supporting kosher food businesses. “We want to help everyone, and I mean, obviously, we’re getting good food out of it,” Simones said. JN

Moderated by APT president Dr. Charles Jacobs:

Dr. Charles Jacobs, president of Americans for Peace and Tolerance Register at:

www.peaceandtolerance.org/webinar

Anti-Semitism surges in America, yet the Jewish “defense department,” the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), seems unwilling to ght Jew-hate from politically incorrect sources.

Please consider making a tax-deductible donation so that APT can continue to do the work our community leaders will not do.

Americans for Peace and Tolerance is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Your donation is fully tax-deductible. Please, donate to our cause. Send a check to: APT, 15 Main Street, Suite 118, Watertown, MA 02472. Or donate online with a Credit/Debit Card or Paypal

Shira Simones, 2, left, eats a pizza and sushi lunch from LaBella Pizzeria and Restaurant with her dad, Ari, and sister, Hannah, 4, on Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021.

PHOTO BY SHOSHANA SIMONES

“ e Failure of Jewish Leadership: ‘Where’s the ADL?’” — an analysis of Jewish institutional failure presented by two pre-eminent intellectuals: Jonathan Tobin and William Jacobson

Jonathan S. Tobin, editor-in-chief of JNS

William A. Jacobson, professor at Cornell Law School and editor of Legal Insurrection

ASU event highlights anti-Semitism on campus

NICOLE RAZ | STAFF WRITER

Koral Zaarur sometimes worries her prominence as a Jewish student leader at Arizona State University makes her an easy target for anti-Semites. “I’m hated by some because of my religion,” she said. She finds herself wondering whether “someone will act on this hatred.”

Zaarur, president of ASU’s Students Supporting Israel, spoke about her experiences Feb. 16 during a university webinar about antiSemitism on campus. She joined the panel’s moderator, Hillel at ASU Executive Director Debbie Yunker Kail, to discuss students’ personal experiences of anti-Semitism and identify university resources for combating it.

There has been a “dramatic rise” in antiSemitism on campus, mirroring a rise in antiSemitism around the country and the world, according to Yunker Kail. Last August, posters with anti-Semitic slogans, such as “Hitler was right" and “unity of our blood,” were found on ASU’s campus for the second time in less than a year.

Nationwide, nearly nine out of 10 American Jews say anti-Semitism is a problem in the United States, with more than a third describing it as a serious problem, according to an American Jewish Committee survey published in October 2019.

Hava Tirosh-Samuelson, director of Jewish Studies at ASU, was also at the event. She described anti-Semitism as a problem not just for Jews, but for all of society, which still has not learned “the most tragic lessons” of the Holocaust.

“It can appear on the right as well as the left,” she said. “It can be conscious as well as unconscious; it can be promoted by people who have never met us, or it can be promoted by people who benefit directly from antiSemitic propaganda.”

Yunker Kail agreed that anti-Semitism takes myriad forms and is not the exclusive domain of any political ideology, although extremists on the right might be easier to spot. Some Jewish students report facing challenges when entering “progressive spaces” because Jews are seen as benefiting from white privilege, she explained, so their voices are not listened to or recognized as valid.

The best tools students have to combat such misperceptions — and anti-Semitism in general — is education and getting to know people one-on-one, she advised. Emily Kaplan, a junior at ASU involved in Hillel, Chabad and Jewish Arizonans on Campus, has had to deal with anti-Semitic comments during her college tenure.

“We all know Nazis and swastikas are bad, and, yes, that’s obvious,” she said. “But now

we are facing subtle anti-Semitism — things that sound questionable but are hard to gauge.” She sees posts denying the Holocaust in her social media feed as well as those promoting Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Ga.) idea that a Jewish space laser caused California wildfires. The biggest challenge for her generation, Kaplan said, is addressing these flippant anti-Semitic comments online.

“Anti-Semitism is everywhere on the internet, and the worst part is I can report it as many times as I want, but nothing happens,” she said.

One goal of the webinar was to let students know they are not alone and point out where they can find assistance.

Cassandra Aska, ASU’s deputy vice president and dean of students, told students that her office can be a valuable resource.

“Communicating to us that you are experiencing something, or that you are on the receiving end of an incident, is very important,” she said. “Call the dean of students and report it. Call ASU police and report it. That’s the starting point.”

Michael Thompson, ASU’s police chief, has given his cell phone number to several Jewish student leaders.

“I have tried to make sure that everybody understands within the department that we are every bit as much of an educator as we are an

be so much more profound, to have those first feelings of lacking security,” he said. “But thankfully, there’s an organization like ASU Hillel that can bring hope and help to students.” JN

The international COVID laboratory

Israel has vaccinated a higher percentage of its citizens against the coronavirus than any other country. More than half of the adult population has received the two inoculations. Still, about 40% of Israelis have not participated. Some worry about potential side effects; others don’t believe that the vaccines serve any useful purpose; and still others simply refuse to participate for different reasons. A recent survey found about 25% of Israelis who haven’t been vaccinated are not planning to do so. With this mixture of good and bad news, Israel’s Health Ministry last week announced adoption of a plan, similar to that used in a few other countries, that is designed to reward and conquer vaccinephobic citizenry: The Green Passport, or Green Pass — a phone app for any Israeli who has been immunized or has recovered from COVID-19. All one needs to do is show a Green Pass in order to gain access to the gym, the theater or restaurants, or to go to a sporting event or the swimming pool. All others will be banned.

To be sure, street-front shops, malls, markets, museums and libraries are now largely open to all Israelis after the most recent six-week shutdown. But not all places are universally available. The passport is designed to be a form of reward for Israelis who have participated in the national inoculation program, and have received a green merit badge for doing so. And while Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said no one is obligated to be vaccinated and won’t be separately punished if they

Editorials Commentary

aren’t, the government is clearly hoping that the benefits of the Green Pass will act as an inducement.

As with other aspects of Israel’s COVID actions, other Western countries are looking at the Green Passport as something of a test case. But few will be able to duplicate its potential success. Unlike many other countries, Israel has enough vaccine for all of its people. Its relatively small population can be reached easily and in relatively short order. And its centralized health system enables the collection of compliance data on virtually all citizens.

Still, we wonder how confident Israelis will become as more people are able to flash the Green Passport. Masks and social distancing are still the rule. And the app has been criticized as being easy to forge. This has led to warnings from the government of “uncompromising punishment” for counterfeits. In addition, the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza are being inoculated at a much lower rate than Israelis. This has led to international criticism that Israel is not vaccinating everyone under its control. It also raises questions about how an inoculated population in a land without defined borders can live side by side with a population of roughly the same size that has not been similarly vaccinated.

We join the rest of the world in watching the roll-out of Israel’s Green Passport program, and applaud the effort to encourage all citizens to participate in the comprehensive vaccination effort. JN

The Senate’s power brokers

November’s election brought the government under the full control of the Democrats, but not by much. Because of the 50-50 split, any Senate Democrat can join with Republicans to defeat a Democratic agenda item or to vote down a priority of President Joe Biden.

So it is with Sen. Joe Manchin, a “dark purple” Democrat from West Virginia, who is the Senate Democrat at the figurative “center” of American politics. Whether because he is a bit of a maverick or because he is adept at leveraging his otherwise weak hand, Manchin has become a pivotal senator in the confirmation process for several Biden Cabinet nominees.

For example, Neera Tanden could be the first woman of color to serve as Office of Management and Budget director, if her nomination is confirmed. But Tanden, president and CEO of the left-leaning Center for American Progress, left a Twitter trail (now removed) in which she castigated members of Congress in both parties. Manchin announced he will vote against her nomination, citing her barbed tweets. He could join a unified Republican contingent that is eager to defeat the nomination of Tanden, who was an aide to Hillary Clinton.

Some Republicans are quite clear about the reason for their opposition: For example, Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said: “I think there is concern by both Republicans and Democrats that she will be overtly political and that her allegiance is not to America and it’s not to President Biden. It is to Secretary [Hillary] Clinton.”

Get vaccinated now; the Torah commands it

DAVID LAU

During my visits to coronavirus wards at hospitals across Israel, I encountered a most worrying statistic. All of the hospitalized were relatively young people who had not been vaccinated. A few minutes after one such visit, I learned that a childhood friend of mine, a healthy individual with no pre-existing conditions, had died. That morning, he had found it difficult to breathe, and by 5 p.m., he headed downstairs to the ambulance waiting to take him to the hospital. By 2 a.m. the next morning, he was gone. These visits and this news have led me to call

on all of you to get vaccinated.

We have the incredible fortune afforded to us by God to have a vaccine, but many of us still contemplate the move, despite the fact that halachah [Jewish law] mandates that we inoculate against the virus.

According to senior physicians in Israel and around the world, the vaccine is the best answer to the virus. The risk of the virus is certain. The risks posed by the vaccine are in question. These doctors’ unequivocal position has been that we must vaccinate unless instructed otherwise by a doctor.

I wonder who gave certain individuals the courage to play with people’s lives. How can irresponsible people try and undermine something that has been proven to save lives?

Unfortunately, this phenomenon of convention-breaking is not just typical of our battle with the coronavirus; we see this in many other fields. Those same people who work so hard to prevent people from getting the vaccine bear no responsibility for the public. While they say that they want to preserve their rights, they are in fact harming their fellow man.

Our obligation to be careful is not a choice. One cannot harm one’s own body or others’ bodies. Those who do not get vaccinated are not just putting themselves at risk, but more importantly, they could cause harm to others. More than a year ago, I made clear that beyond an individual’s need to make sure one is safe, one must also ensure not to inflict physical or emotional harm on others.

We aren’t at all moved by that stale critique. Indeed, we suggest that someone remind Kennedy that we are now five years beyond the Trump-Clinton race, and point out the hypocrisy of criticizing Tanden for her tweets while continuing to forgive the online excesses of the former Tweet Abuser in Chief.

Nonetheless, arguments like Kennedy’s could matter to Manchin and other more conservative Democrats, like Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Jon Tester of Montana, who now play a pivotal role. Whether they lean right or left will determine the vote. “Each and every one of these members has the ability to be the king- or queen-maker on Capitol Hill,” said Jim Manley, a longtime aide to former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. “If they stick together, and flex their muscles — especially given the tight margins in both the House and the Senate — they can have a real impact.”

Republicans are also looking to Manchin to help defeat the nomination of California Attorney General Xavier Becerra for health and human services secretary. Becerra’s support of abortion rights and Obamacare are anathema to his Republican opposition. So, on the Democrat side, strategists hope to entice Republican Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowsky (Alaska) or even Mitt Romney (Utah) to substitute for potential Democratic defectors.

Each of these “fence-sitters” has outsized influence in the Senate, which makes the math behind 50-50 more complicated than it seems. JN

Hope and willpower are the solutions to many illnesses. One of the Torah’s commandments is to visit the sick. The intention here is not to ask the ill how they are doing but to see what they need. Those who undermine the vaccines weaken public resilience, and that’s a shame. The Torah’s command that we take care includes the obligation for preventative medicine, and the existing vaccine helps with that.

To my mind, anyone who doesn’t fulfill this commandment is being ungrateful that merciful God gave his world and us this vaccine to exit this pandemic. JN

We are a diverse community. The views expressed in the signed opinion columns and letters to the editor published in the Jewish News are those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the officers and boards of the Jewish Community Foundation, 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.

David Baruch Lau is the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel. This article first appeared in Israel Hayom.

Three DNA bombshells upended my life

SAMUEL BURKE

Confusion. Disbelief. Denial.

Those were the emotions cutting through me as I looked at my dad’s DNA results. We come from a small Phoenix Jewish family, but this at-home test was showing a big discovery none of us could explain.

“Dad, it says you’re Mormon.” Words I never thought I’d utter. My father’s response shocked me even more.

“I know,” he said as my eyes widened. “I saw that when the results came in. But it’s so preposterous that I just ignored it.” You can ignore DNA results, but that doesn’t make them go away. The test classifies my dad (and by extension me) as “Mountain West Mormon Pioneers.” We had no idea a scientific test could tell if someone comes from a relatively-new proselytizing religion like the Church

of Latter Day Saints.

I was determined to solve this mystery, but the deeper I dove into it the more I realized our lives would never be the same again. When I finally untangled the web, my heart broke as I watched the DNA test steal a part of my dad and his identity. We’re still Jewish, but my father’s paternal lineage was not at all who or what he’d always believed.

“It changed my whole perspective on who I was,” my dad admitted, referring to his identity in the past tense.

At-home DNA testing has become commonplace in the United States and this nearly $10 billion market is now taking off around the world. But there’s a secret side to these kits that the DNA industry doesn’t like to talk about.

Experts find that as many as 11% of people who take a DNA test discover that one of their parents is not their biological parent, according to the American

Journal of Physical Anthropology. This sounded ridiculous to me — until it happened twice in my very own family.

The advertising for DNA testing focuses on positive stories of people who were seeking out answers about their ethnic backgrounds. They don’t spotlight families like mine whose lives are turned upside down by a simple swab of the cheek.

For my family, the DNA test wasn’t just adding a new chapter in our lives. It seemed as though it was rewriting our life story. After my mom sent in her sample, we received a cryptic email from a woman whose family also attended Congregation Beth Israel. As I read the stranger’s email, I realized the woman was insinuating she and my mom are sisters. When I found a picture of the woman, my jaw literally dropped. My mom took one look at the photo and made a blunt proclamation.

“Well, we don’t need a DNA test. She’s

obviously my sister,” she said as she stared at her new younger sister in amazement.

A third DNA shock brought my family closure to the case of a missing cousin who disappeared in the late ’80s. We believed he had died from AIDS, but learned he had met a different fate.

The DNA test began adding and subtracting the people I called “family” so quickly that I started questioning the very meaning of the word. Are family the people who you are raised with? Or the people you’re related to?

I began documenting my family’s own journey as well as a dozen other families around the world whose lives were torn apart and put back together by DNA testing. Two years of listening in on these families’ roller-coaster journeys is now a podcast called “Suddenly Family.”

Pandemic holidays leave Jews longing for community

JONATHAN S. TOBIN

It was a year ago that everyone’s lives changed. It was on the eve of Purim that the first lockdowns were declared in some parts of the United States. Up until the weeks before the festival, the coronavirus pandemic was more of a theoretical threat than anything else to most people. It was exactly in the days before the Jewish holiday most associated with festivities — costumes, shpiels, parades and hamantaschen — that the reality had begun to set in. It promptly led to a round of cancellations of Purim events, as well as Megillah readings and services. Though few of us knew it at the time, the pattern of our lives for the next 12 months had been set.

With the holiday coming round again last week, that means that we have now gone through the entire cycle of the Jewish year with the COVID threat hanging over us. As such, it’s the first year not just in memory, but in recorded history, in which all the festivals and observances that mark the Jewish calendar will have been observed in the weary way members of the tribe have gotten used to. Except for pandemic scofflaws, mass gatherings for holidays, as well as simchas of all kinds and in-person community activities, have been out. Social distancing is in, as is — at least for the non-Orthodox —

“attending” services or other programs via Zoom or watching them passively on Facebook and YouTube.

Even with vaccinations starting to provide some hope of safety and a return to normalcy — something that is more of a possibility in Israel with its successful mass vaccination program as opposed to the haphazard and often dismal rollout

store for us in the coming months.

We won’t be able to understand what the long-term impact of this radical shift in Jewish communal life will be for years. The elderly, who have been the primary prey of the disease, have likely been so thoroughly frightened by the threat of catching the illness that many of them may never emerge from their isolation.

the new environment. Though some were slower to adapt than others, as we begin the second year of this strange life, most synagogues and organizations have adjusted to the brave new world of the coronavirus fairly well. Religious events of all kinds have been experienced by looking at a computer rather than in the flesh. Those groups that have stuck to more in-person gatherings than others have also adapted with social distancing and outdoor events the rule rather than the much-publicized violations of regulations.

Indeed, it may be that many religious and communal groups have adapted so well — and used the remote model to actually expand rather than to curtail their activities — that they may largely stick to the current practice rather than rushing to resume meeting the old way. Zoom can’t be the future of Jewish life, but philanthropic and advocacy groups have realized that you can actually reach more people with online programming than by staging expensive live events.

of the vaccine in the United States — we’re not there yet. Indeed, with fear of the virus still deeply embedded in our collective consciousness and with authorities sending mixed signals on just how soon we can expect something close to pre-pandemic life becoming a reality, more socially-distanced or remotely observed holidays is probably what’s in

Children will also be deeply affected by this experience and carry a certain fear and wariness that has been instilled in them for the rest of their lives. The damage done to their development and education by the loss of in-person schooling will also linger.

But the remarkable thing about this year of “COVID Judaism” is how well Jewish institutions have coped with

This ability to change with changing times speaks well for a Jewish world that a year ago was in a panic about how to survive the first of the lockdowns, which were only supposed to last a few weeks in order to “bend the curve” of the outbreak and ensure that hospitals

ZOOM CAN'T BE THE FUTURE OF JEWISH LIFE, BUT PHILANTHROPIC AND ADVOCACY GROUPS HAVE REALIZED THAT YOU CAN ACTUALLY REACH MORE PEOPLE WITH ONLINE PROGRAMMING THAN BY STAGING EXPENSIVE LIVE EVENTS.

Ritualistic rest: Revitalizing rather than repressive

ur ever-increasing, modern-day dependency on electronic connectivity makes it easier and easier to make the case for Shabbat observance.

“Six days a week, I’m never without this little piece of plastic, chips and wires that miraculously connect me to the rest of the world and that I hope makes me more efficient, but clearly consumes a lot of my time and attention,” wrote Joe Lieberman, who meticulously observed a traditional Shabbat throughout his long tenure in the United States Senate.

The busier and more distracted we become, the more we need and appreciate a physical, spiritual and emotional break. As a day of rules and restrictions, however, Shabbat does not seem to be the optimal way to accomplish this break. Its laws, which the Talmud derives from the commandment in this week’s parshah to desist on Shabbat

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12

Infidelity. Blackmail. Murder mysteries. Kidnapping. Clandestine artificial insemination. These families have experienced it all. Their DNA plots sound more like blockbuster thrillers, but behind that are the emotional firsthand accounts of people who’ve had to pick up the pieces of their lives and start all over again.

What type of relationship do you owe a relative stranger you had never met before the DNA test? What happens to the close family you no longer share a bloodline with?

These were the questions I needed answered and the families who let me listen in on their most intimate DNA moments truly provided them.

I learned more about what the family I’ve had all my life means to me after developing relationships with my newly-discovered family.

Now that the dust has settled, my dad summarizes what this gut-wrenching DNA experience has meant to him:

“It’s now just a matter of fact,” he said. “It’s not good. It’s not bad. It just is.” JN

Samuel Burke is a three-time Emmy-awardwinning television news correspondent, Arizona State University graduate and Phoenix native. He now lives in London and is the host of the new podcast “Suddenly Family.”

from the activities required for building the Mishkan, are among the most numerous and detailed in the whole of halacha (Jewish law). How does following this catalog of restrictive rules fit with the feeling of freedom that we require for rest and repose?

OTo understand the positive and uniquely constructive effect of the Shabbat restrictions, it is useful to consider several angles. It is easier to see how the Shabbat requirements imposed a much-needed physical rest in prior generations when for a larger portion of the population work equaled labor.

A beautiful example is the Jewish stevedores of Thessaloniki, Greece, who, with other types of Jewish port workers, were so essential to the functioning of its busy international seaport that it had the unique distinction of being closed on Shabbat. Norwegian Journalist Alexander Kielland reportedly found himself as a passenger on a boat that arrived at the port on a Saturday and wrote about how dissatisfied his fellow passengers were with the Jews and their Sabbath since they had to wait until the next morning before the boat could be docked and unloaded.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12

could function properly. Synagogues, federations and philanthropic agencies of every stripe, as well as activist groups, have had to lay off employees and learn how to operate in a completely different fashion. But they have fared far better than many first supposed.

But along with acknowledging this achievement, we must also note two other elements of pandemic Jewish life.

The first is that while the modes of communication — and even to some extent, observance — have changed, it has been business as usual with respect to some of the worst aspects of Jewish life.

The fracturing of the Jewish world into warring tribes along denominational and political lines has, if anything, grown far worse in quarantine than it was when we were still gathering together.

Part of that may be credited to a deeply divisive election in which Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jews largely found themselves on different sides. The same is true with reactions to the Black Lives Matter movement, in addition to the rise of critical race theory and the oppressive “cancel culture” that goes with it.

The restrictions on movement and in meeting people have increased our isolation from those with different opinions about the issues, as well as how Jews should

When the big, burly, Jewish stevedores and porters finally expertly unloaded the boat with their bare hands, Kielland observed with great interest. He could not square the circle of how these ostensibly brutish, unsophisticated and unrefined men who spend their days as physical laborers could forgo their Saturday income for religious reasons.

Still in Thessaloniki when the next Shabbat came around, he began to understand the transformative power of Shabbat when he made it a point to walk through the Jewish neighborhood where he could scarcely recognize the same men who were now dressed in Shabbat finery, surrounded by their families, and exuding peacefulness and serenity. He wrote that he then grasped how the mighty Romans fell but the Jews live on. And in an era like our own when even blue-collar employees often do more office and administrative work than physical labor, it is the restrictions of Shabbat that make its weekly rest effective. Without the limitations on phones, messaging and email that its laws provide, breaking free of the pressure of checking up on or responding to the communications from our weekday work

would be all but impossible.

Senator Lieberman made this point while highlighting the irony of restrictions creating rest. “If there were no Sabbath law to keep me from sending and receiving email all day as I normally do,” he wrote, “do you think I would be able to resist the temptation on the Sabbath? Not a chance. Laws have this way of setting us free.”

The self-imposed limitations through which we attempt to regulate our work-life balance can never create the uncompromising freedom that our divinely imposed Shabbat delivers every week. There is no better time to move forward by coming back to the secret of our continuity and our beautiful national treasure. JN

react to them. Sadly, the pandemic has replicated the social-media cocoons in which too many of us cut ourselves off from anyone who might contradict our pre-existing beliefs and prejudices. When faced with people who voted differently or have varying approaches to the pandemic, more often than not we have treated fellow Jews with contempt. In this respect, the problems the pandemic has posed have exposed our communal weaknesses and shown just how far we have fallen short of our ideals and the needs of the moment.

Yet the pandemic has also proved that Jews of every sort, affiliated as well as unaffiliated, are more than ever before longing for meaning in their lives. Rabbis I have contacted all say the same thing about how people are looking to institutions not just for help in hard times, but for a reason to have faith in spite of the despair that this shattered world has often engendered. If there is any reason to have faith in a time of crisis, it’s not just the light at the end of the tunnel provided by vaccines. It is the knowledge that Jews, individually and collectively, need what our religion and the treasures of our heritage have to offer.

The solace, as well as the resources, that those who are suffering in isolation require are to be found in the everyday

genius of Jewish faith and practice. That’s also true of the services and opportunities for activism and charitable work that the organized Jewish world offers to those who are willing to reach out and participate. The consolation that we can take from what has otherwise been an unprecedented trauma is that those who have availed themselves of what Judaism has to offer have generally found what they needed.

The challenge going forward is not merely to survive but to redouble our efforts to bring help, both material and spiritual, to a community in need of both. We can only hope and pray that a year from now when we are again preparing to celebrate Purim, social distancing will be but a distant memory, and the only masks we wear will be those with costumes. As we anticipate that time, keep two key pandemic lessons in mind: seek out those with whom we differ to relearn how to speak to each other in a civil fashion; and remember that faith and Jewish peoplehood have the answers to most of the problems our torn communities are facing. JN

Rabbi Yisroel Isaacs is director of the Greater Phoenix Vaad Hakashruth, rabbi at Beth Joseph Congregation and director of the Jewish Enrichment Center.

Find area congregations at jewishaz.com, where you can also find our 2021 Community Directory.

PARSHAH KI TISA EXODUS 30:11-34:35 RABBI YISROEL ISAACS

Jonathan S. Tobin is editor-in-chief of JNS, where this article first appeared.

Scottsdale cancer survivor finally gets ‘2nd Act’

SHANNON LEVITT | MANAGING EDITOR

Linda Luth, 68, is not shy about telling her story of surviving cancer. But when she was approached last year by a friend to share it at 2nd Act’s annual fundraiser, she hesitated. She was vaguely familiar with the organization, which funds grants for cancer survivors, publishes their stories and distributes them to treatment centers and hospitals. Luth thought its work was admirable but not really applicable to her. She told her friend she wasn’t looking for a second act.

Luth’s friend continued to press her, asking what she did with her free time. Luth responded that she raises money for National Ovarian Cancer Coalition — she raised $1,300 as a solo walker for its Together in Teal event — and speaks to medical students about the value of listening to patients.

“But don’t you see?” her friend laughed. “You do have a second act, and this is it — you’re giving back to other survivors.”

Finally convinced, Luth auditioned and was chosen to tell her story of living through a stage 4 ovarian cancer diagnosis and two years of surgery, chemotherapy and recovery for the organization’s 2020 annual fundraiser.

As the big day approached, Luth was nervous about the live audience but excited to be part of a group of survivors sharing stories that could help others in similar circumstances. But by March 15, 2020, the day of the final rehearsal, it was clear that in-person events could not go forward due to COVID-19.

“Oh, I didn’t want to do this anyway,” Luth told herself to mask her disappoint ment. “This is a sign that maybe it’s not meant to happen.” But Judy Pearson, 2nd Act’s founder and fellow cancer survivor, wasn’t about to let it go. She initially postponed the event, but when it became clear COVID wasn’t going away, she decided to go virtual.

On March 21, a video of Luth and seven other survivors telling their survival stories will be broadcast on Youtube. The STARS (Survivors Tell a Real Story) event might not have the same emotional impact as an in-person experience, Pearson said, but she still feels good about finally getting these stories out.

Pearson started 2nd Act when she got to the other side of her own cancer treatment and decided not to waste another minute of her life, she said. She saw firsthand how little people are prepared for survivorship, and her organization is a way to help people figure out what comes next. And part of that is talking about surviving.

“These stories are so fabulous and so amazing, and as survivors we have fragile lives,” Pearson said. “It’s true with anybody, but we’re a little more susceptible, and I didn’t want to wait longer.”

Luth doesn’t like waiting either. Her first doctor misdiagnosed her illness and wouldn’t listen when she thought she might have cancer. She found a new doctor who caught it, but she felt compelled to confront her original doctor about the importance of listening to his patients. She discovered later from another of his patients that he had taken her words to heart and had improved his listening skills. Knowing her voice made a difference was a powerful lesson.

the phrases “You matter!” and “Nobody fights alone!” outside of chemotherapy rooms. Sometimes patients knock on the window to let Luth and her cohort know they’ve been seen and appreciated. Sometimes the staff or family members come out to say thank you.

“It feels so good, because they feel seen,” Luth said. “It’s the littlest thing, but it matters.”

She and the other STARS’ presenters were recorded Feb. 21. Luth tweaked her original story to add some COVID color. “I had to wear a mask and gloves even before COVID,” she quipped.

Luth is gratified that people will have the chance to listen to these stories. Listening is essential, she stressed. “The more people listen, the more they ask questions,” she said. “That can make a big difference.”

To register for the free STARS event, visit a2ndact.org.

Toby Weinstein Broker Associate

Linda Luth and other cancer survivors take a moment to raise a celebratory glass after filming for 2nd Act’s fundraising event.

Frequent tests and rapid results

BOB ROTH

don’t feel sad that my father celebrated his 85th birthday last month with four other COVID-vaccinated family members. We know all too well that the pandemic prevented many people from reaching that milestone. When I asked my dad how he feels celebrating during a oncein-a-century pandemic, he gave a wry smile and said, without skipping a beat, “I think I’ll miss the next one.”

Some experts predict, however, that in the next few decades we are likely to see more pandemics. The lessons we have learned should not only serve as a roadmap for the next pandemic, but ideally should help us know how to act in the present. Unfortunately, with one full year in the rearview mirror, we have not adopted rapid antigen testing as the best public health strategy to control viral transmission.

I have been waiting for rapid antigen testing to emerge as a strategy to keep case rates down since the idea was introduced in July of 2020. My trusty research assistant and wife, Susie, brought this to my attention with numerous articles citing the research of Dr. Michael Mina, assistant professor of

epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

ITo put the science simply and succinctly, the two tests that are used to confirm a coronavirus infection are the antigen test and the PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test. The antigen test looks for specific proteins to confirm the presence of SARS-CoV-2. The PCR test looks for RNA. RNA is the genetic material that instructs the virus to make these proteins.

The most important elements of testing to guide our behavior are rapid results and test frequency. The PCR test has historically taken between two and five days to get results. The rapid antigen tests give results in about 15 minutes. The PCR requires a lab to generate the results. The antigen test can be performed at home. So far, I am probably not telling you anything you didn’t already know.

You may recall hearing terms like “gold standard” and “test sensitivity.” If you have prior knowledge of which tests fall into these categories, be open-minded to the following information. The rapid antigen test can tell you that you are able to spread the virus at the exact moment you take the test. The test result is positive only if you have enough virus present in your nose to spread it.

The PCR test is positive if you have any amount of RNA. It is positive when you are incubating an infection, when you have

enough virus to transmit an infection, or when your infection resolves and the RNA hangs around for up to six weeks. So, how do you know if you are contagious if you have a positive PCR test? You don’t. You could have the tiny remnants of RNA from an asymptomatic infection four weeks ago.

Is the goal of testing to find every shred of RNA? No. The public health goal is to stop the spread of viral transmission. The PCR test has the unintended consequence of isolating and quarantining those who are not even contagious. Loneliness resulting from isolating our seniors in communal living settings and financial hardship due to lost wages are also public health issues.

If your PCR test is a true positive, you are carrying the virus and able to transmit the disease. It is very likely that due to delays in getting the results, you unknowingly carried the virus to every errand, meeting and personal encounter.

The reality is that to bring infection rates down and rebuild our economy, we need tests to determine if people are contagious. That is the advantage of rapid antigen tests. While the PCR test has been the gold standard of clinical diagnosis, it is undermining our interests to stop the spread of this deadly virus.

But is what is good for medicine always good for public health? Mina and other

epidemiologists say no and are urging a reboot. This pandemic requires a view through a public health lens.

Can a PCR test still be the gold standard if it doesn’t identify when someone has a transmissible virus? If a test is so sensitive that it picks up RNA from a past infection, it makes it difficult for us to open up our economy and schools.

A rapid antigen test is the best public health surveillance tool we have. It identifies those who are infected and able to transmit the moment you test them. Think about what that extra layer of protection would mean when you visit your 85-year-old dad.

Mina proposes that the ideal way to get our lives back is to have very simple rapid antigen paper strip tests in quantities large enough to test two or three times every week. They must also be very inexpensive to encourage participation.

The Biden administration has signaled that rapid antigen tests will be rolled out with the testing strategy for the United States.

In my next column, I will look at how close the administration is to making this plan a reality. Stay tuned. JN

Bob Roth is the managing partner of Cypress HomeCare Solutions. Roth has years of experience in eldercare, but is not an epidemiologist. His conclusions are based on his reading of other people’s research.

The luxury and location you want featuring senior living apartment homes providing full size kitchens, washers and dryers, and choices in balcony or patio style apartment living.

Processes that converge in eternal spring

RABBI MINDIE SNYDER

assover is a process that involves connecting, coalescing into a nation, conscientiously identifying what matters most, embracing the comfort that order brings, elevating the senses in the joy of experience, being enlivened and challenged by the power of meaningful inquiry and finding hope in the blossoming of spring.

Aging is also a process. Connecting past, present and future; committing to live each and every day; caring for self and others; embracing our imperfections and refining our character; daring to try new things, while honoring our established strengths; applying the wisdom of experience, while walking in humility; and the growth and change that happens when we become who we were meant to be are all pieces of the process.

Throughout the pandemic, aging in place has become the undesirable norm. Whether one is in assisted living, independent living, health and rehab or a hospital, the fullness of lives has been compressed into the utter here and now.

This is where Passover and aging, as processes, converge.

PThis spring finds us once again in the grip of a plague. This is not a test. It is the real thing. This is not a memory recalled from pages of a book. It is our lived experience, as it has been for over a year. However, hope of healing and recovery from COVID-19 is in our midst with the administration of vaccines, masking and maintaining social distance.

Unlike last year, when Passover was passed over, Sun Health Communities plan to gather in small groups to read from the Haggadah and partake in the communal Passover meal. It will be a very different night because we are not free people, not yet. Instead, we are people who care about maintaining our tradition.

One of the most poignant things about this intersection between plague and freedom, youth and age, health and illness, breath of life and death, is that we don’t know very much. Our Jewish culture of inquiry and mining the question has helped us survive not having answers, but that doesn’t always generate peace and comfort. Not long ago, many of us had plans and we could see the future, touch it, count on it somehow. We blinked. Suddenly, illness and calamity altered our relationship with

each moment, notably with the concept of future. Bending with the weight of the present, the weightless future is formed out of a great question mark, like a puff of smoke or a cloud. The Source of All Life holds the rest of the story we cannot know.

As the redemption and revelation of Passover approach, there has been much discussion about the confinement of the past year, losses of all kinds, the adaptations — some more or less successful than others, the incredible relief for those who have been fully vaccinated and the yearning to be liberated and in control of comings and goings.

Additionally, some of our residents carry burdens of worry about daily bad news, not just about the recent uptick in COVID cases, but about local and global unrest, about violent expressions of hatred. They want it to stop. They want to know who will put an end to it, and when that will happen. They want a kinder world for their children and grandchildren. The bandwidth of patience has been stretched to its limits and it is about to tear.

But we are stronger than we have been. As we inch closer to the 15th day of Nisan, we notice a new shape of our character; forged between the shifting tectonic plates of these pandemic times. For many, life’s

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priorities have been reordered. From this new vantage point, we may see the Exodus story entirely differently than in years past. The collective experience of our four cups of wine, the four questions and the lessons of the four children may fuse as a dynamic compass, reconfiguring our psychospiritual north, south, east and west.

When we gather this year around the Seder table, we will be able to imagine the sea of troubles parting before us, as it did for our ancestors. We will envision our march toward freedom, into the arms of our loved ones.

And together, we will dream of the sun shining in a timeless spring, for all our days.

Freedom is a precious process that demands navigation through obstacles. It requires unlimited endurance and pushes us to define what we want for ourselves and for others. It highlights what is most meaningful and teaches us to rise after a fall. It orchestrates opportunities for welcoming the stranger, loving our neighbors, honoring our elders, caring for the Earth and all of Creation.

It is something we choose over and over again. JN

Rabbi Mindie Snyder serves as the rabbi and chaplain for Sun Health Communities.

Stuck at home, seniors discover new skills, talents

NICOLE RAZ | STAFF WRITER

Risa Mallin, 79, isn’t used to staying at home. She was “busy, busy, busy” pre-pandemic. She went out with friends and out to lunch; she volunteered in the Jewish community; and she took care of her husband, who passed away in 2019.

“You wouldn’t really find me home,” she said.

When COVID-19 turned the world upside down, she told herself, “I’m not going to let one day go by where I don’t learn something.” To “survive” staying at home, she takes a Zoom class at least once a day.

“I’m on Zoom, Zoom, Zoom,” she said. “I’m a Zoom girl.”

Mallin tunes into a variety of programming from Jewish Family & Children’s Service, the American Israel Friendship League, the Jewish Theological Seminary and the Bureau of Jewish Education. She learned about Flemish artists and the jewelry they painted, and she took up chair yoga and creative writing. She’s also attempting to learn Yiddish by watching plays put on by the National Yiddish Theatre.

“I feel like I have so many more areas of interests in my life,” she said. And she’s not alone.

Suzanne Dreyfus, 68, and her wife, Sue Fimmen, 71, used to spend their time with friends, perusing stores and going to museums and the gym.

“All of that just shut right down, and we’re here in our house,” Dreyfus said. Now that the couple only goes out to buy groceries, virtual programs have become essential.

“Thank God for the Jewish Family & Children’s Services’ senior virtual class program,” Dreyfus said.

Dreyfus has especially enjoyed JFCS’ senior dance and exercise classes.

“I’ve always really had two left feet, so to speak,” Dreyfus said. But now, she’s learning the cha-cha, mambo, rumba and even ballet. “It’s great exercise,” she said. “You don’t even realize you’re exercising when you’re dancing, but hey, it’s hard work.” Dance classes were never her thing when she went to the gym, but now they will be if she goes back.

The couple also enjoys JFCS’ presentations by Marshall Shore, known as Arizona’s Hip Historian. “He’ll choose a certain year, and then talk about Arizona history during that year, as well as just general history,” she said. Fimmen enjoys the opportunity to meet people she wouldn’t otherwise.

More than 1,500 seniors have tuned

in since the program’s virtual launch last November, said Jennifer Brauner, director of JFCS’ Center for Senior Enrichment Virtual Programs.

“This is truly the silver lining of the pandemic, offering this gift back to the community,” she said, noting that the classes help provide a social outlet and a sense of purpose for seniors who may feel isolated. Brauner comes up with the ideas for classes and coordinates everything herself. “I’m wearing so many different hats to make this successful,” she said. And she’s happy to do it.

“This is not a job,” Brauner said. “To me, this is just an opportunity to give back.”

Some seniors, like Elaine Fogel, discovered new talents during the past year.

“I never could have imagined that I could paint,” she said.

Fogel, 67, was always drawn to art and interested in painting. But it wasn’t until the pandemic hit that she really worked at it.

“It’s amazing how creativity can help people cope during difficult times,” she said. “All I could think of was, ‘Please, God, let me have use of my hands until I die. Like, no arthritis. I don’t want any problems with aches and pains in my hands.’”

The more she paints, the better she becomes. She started out painting children

before progressing to landscapes. Her most recent painting combines both subjects — a young boy facing the ocean.

But the more she painted, the more canvases accumulated in her house.

She donated one of her paintings to the VHL Alliance, an organization she’s been involved with ever since losing a close friend to VHL syndrome. She plans to donate more to local charities and nonprofits for their fundraising auctions. With her background in marketing and business, she launched ElaineFogel Art LLC and began selling her paintings online last September.

“I’m not in this to make zillions of dollars,” she laughed. She’s just hoping to make enough to help her buy paint, brushes and more canvases. JN

For more information about JFCS’ senior enrichment programs, contact Jennifer Brauner at seniorcenter@jfcsaz.org.

Elaine Fogel at her easel on Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2021. PHOTO BY ALLEN FOGEL

‘'Til Kingdom Come’ investigates evangelical support for Israel

SOPHIE PANZER | CONTRIBUTING WRITER

It takes Yael Eckstein three days to get from her home in Israel to Middlesboro, Kentucky, but it’s a journey she is happy to make.

That’s because the city’s residents are staunch supporters of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, one of the largest organizations supporting humanitarian projects in Israel. At the time of filming, Christians had donated $1.4 billion to Israel through the fellowship. It was created by Yael Eckstein’s father, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, who named her as his successor.

Middlesboro’s residents are not wealthy. Their community is blighted by the decline of coal, economic recession and addiction. Yet they pool their smalldollar donations to the fellowship at their church under the guidance of the Bingham family, a local dynasty of pastors who preach that God will bless the nations who support the nation of Israel.

Director Maya Zinshtein zooms in on this relationship between evangelicals and Israel in her documentary “‘Til Kingdom Come.”

In the film, Yael Eckstein explains that the fellowship supports programs that offer aid to Israel’s most vulnerable populations, including minorities and Holocaust survivors, but Zinshtein probes the darkness behind the fervor of its donors.

Evangelicals, Pastor Boyd Bingham III says in the film, believe the return of Jews to the biblical land of Israel is crucial to bringing about the rapture, the second

coming of Jesus Christ. It’s a period that will be marked by great “tribulations” in the region, including armed conflict, disease and natural disasters, which will culminate in the battle of Armageddon. Two-thirds of Jews will perish, and the other third will be forced to accept Christ as their savior.

“Tribulations” are key. Since the coming of Christ is supposedly heralded by upheaval in Israel, many of the film’s evangelical subjects react to news

makes Zinshtein squirm, and she succeeds in making her audience just as uncomfortable as she is.

Zinshtein interviews Jewish leaders, many of them secular and progressive, who are alarmed by the role of Christianity in Middle East policy and see it as an erosion of the boundary between church and state.

She also speaks with Israeli correspondent Barak Rand, who says with the election of President Donald

honestly, they see a horror movie, wars and Armageddon and battles. Their scenario is not one that will help us Palestinians and Israelis coexist,” said Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac, who leads a congregation in Bethlehem.

Even Eckstein acknowledges the elephant in the room.

“When the Christian community speaks about what they think is going to happen and what they envision, I agree with 99% of it. But the end is different. Only one of us can be right,” she said.

Zinshtein’s research is exhaustive, and the sheer number of perspectives she obtains on the relationship between evangelicals and Jews is both overwhelming and necessary in such a multifaceted story. Keeping track of the major players’ various political and religious motives and anecdotes makes for a dense viewing experience in a 76-minute film.

of violence in the region with eerie excitement.

“As I listen to news reports from Israel, I heard about the bombings and they were bombings even near children. When we see all of these things happening to the nation of Israel, it should give us all hope, that when we hear of these wars, we can look at and say that our redemption will begin,” an evangelical radio host says in an early scene.

The paradox of providing financial support for Israel while preaching the eventual downfall of the Jews clearly

Trump and Vice President Mike Pence in 2016 and the appointment of prominent evangelicals like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, evangelicals had the power to combine prophecy and politics. They advocated to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, he says, because they believed it was a step toward the rapture.

“This is political Christianity in which politics is a continuation of a prophetic vision,” Rand tells Zinshtein.

Evangelical involvement in the region also alarms some Palestinian Christians.

“When they look at the future,

The director’s greatest strength is her ability to balance tough questions with the humanity of her subjects. From Pastor Boyd Bingham IV’s story of how faith helped him overcome a deadly illness to Eckstein’s close relationship with her father and Rev. Isaac’s fear of increasing violence in his region, Zinshtein’s interviews convey that the personal is inseparable from the political, and every dollar donated extracts a hidden cost. JN

Sophie Panzer is a staff writer for Jewish Exponent, a Jewish News-affiliated publication.

An evangelical congregation prays in “‘Til Kingdom Come.”

PHOTO BY ABRAHAM TROEN

"WHEN THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY SPEAKS ABOUT WHAT THEY THINK IS GOING TO HAPPEN AND WHAT THEY ENVISION, I AGREE WITH 99% OF IT. BUT THE END IS DIFFERENT. ONLY ONE OF US CAN BE RIGHT."

Featured Event

SUNDAY, MARCH 14

Jewish communities in Asia: 2 p.m. Beth Ami Temple of Paradise Valley will host a virtual lecture about several of Asia’s unique Jewish communities. The 90-minute fundraising event will be presented by Dan Fellner, a seven-time Fulbright fellow, travel writer and faculty associate at Arizona State University. Fellner’s presentation will take the audience on a virtual — and highly visual — journey to explore Jewish life and history in such fascinating places as Shanghai, Thailand, Hong Kong, India, Vietnam, Japan and Myanmar. Cost: $25 per Zoom link. For more information, contact Elyssa Schneider at 602-433-1617 or eschneider4@cox.net.

Events

Pick up a Haggadah: Need a Passover Haggadah? Robin Meyerson, co-director of Project Inspire Arizona and chair of the Shabbos Project Arizona, has collected donated Haggadot for anybody who needs one. They are in a box outside of her house available to be picked up. Cost: Free. Email Meyerson at robin@projectinspireaz.com for her address.

FRIDAY, MARCH 5

Humanity at a Crossroads: 10 a.m. The Arizona Jewish Historical Society will host a virtual presentation by Zumret Dawut about the persecution of Uyghur Muslims by the government of Communist China. Dawut is an internment camp survivor. Following her presentation, Dawut will be on a panel with Holocaust survivor Oskar Knoblauch to discuss the similarities and differences between their experiences. Cost: Free. Registration is required. Visit azjhs.org/ humanity-at-a-crossroads.

SUNDAY, MARCH 14

Live Music at the J: 2 p.m. Come outside the J for an afternoon concert featuring music and samplings from the String Quartet canon. We will be socially-distanced while sitting outside and wearing masks. Space is limited so register now. Cost: $30 for members, $45 for guests. Location: 12701 N. Scottsdale Road. For more information, visit apm.activecommunities.com/ valleyofthesunjcc.

Virtual Meetings, Lectures & Classes

THURSDAY, MARCH 4

Great American Songbook: 11 a.m. Pianist Nicole Pesce returns with another delightful edition of the Great American Songbook on Zoom, featuring classic songs with a tip of the hat to the Irish. Cost: Free. For more information, visit jfcsaz.org.

SUNDAY, MARCH 7

Book discussion: 6 p.m. Join Sharsheret for an inside look into “Pretty Is What Changes: Impossible Choices, the Breast Cancer Gene, and How I Defied My Destiny,” an acclaimed memoir written by the Executive Producer and Showrunner of CW’s Supergirl, Jessica Queller. The book chronicles Jessica’s journey of inheriting the BRCA1 mutation from her mother. Cost: Free, donations optional. For more information, visit sharsheret.org/event/ sharsherets-national-book-club.

MONDAY, MARCH 8

Cancel Culture and Online Shaming: 11 a.m. Tune in for a Valley Beit Midrash presentation by Rabbanit Karen Miller Jackson called, “If Rashi had Facebook.” As shaming and cancel culture become more prevalent, explore what relevant guidelines can be found in Jewish law and thought. Cost: $18. For more

information, visit valleybeitmidrash.org/ event/if-rashi-had-facebook/.

TUESDAY, MARCH 9

Blast from the Past: 11 a.m-noon. Explore 1939 with Arizona’s Hip Historian Marshall Shore. Cost: Free. For more information, visit jfcsaz.org.

THURSDAY, MARCH 11

The Art of Illusion: 11 a.m. Take a look at the way artists working in two dimensions try to fool us into thinking we are seeing in three dimensions. Cost: Free. For more information, visit jfcsaz.org.

Sisterhood meeting: 1 p.m. Tune into the next meeting of the Sun Lakes Jewish Congregation Sisterhood using Zoom. The guest speaker will be Jackie Wheeler, owner of JackieStyle — Image and Branding Agency. Sisterhood members will receive an email with the link for the Zoom meeting. For more information, call Carol Biales at 480-895-3168 or Janey Burnce at 480-895-4815.

TUESDAY, March 16

Yiddish Club: 11:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Share the warmth and humor of Yiddish online with Rabbi Laibel Blotner. Cost: Free. For more information, visit jfcsaz.org.

Women in Comedy, A Subversive History: 2 p.m. The Center for Senior Enrichment, under the auspices of Jewish Family & Children’s Service is offering a new look at the often-overlooked gender in comedyfemales. "Women in Comedy: A Subversive History" will be presented via Zoom. For more information, visit jfcsaz.org.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17

Begged and Borrowed: 1 p.m. The Celtic music duo will perform live online for a St. Patty’s Day Celebration, complete with Celtic harp, flute, whistles and Irish bouzouki. Cost: Free. For more information, visit seniorcenter@jfcsaz.org.

THURSDAY, MARCH 18

Tea for Three: 11 a.m. A Betty Ford monologue online featuring Kandyce Hughes will kick off a new monthly series featuring actors from the Herberger Theater. For more information, visit jfcsaz.org.

TUESDAY, MARCH 23

FRIDA KAHLO: 11 a.m. As part of the Jane Przelica Presentation Series, learn via Zoom about Frida Kahlo, who is considered one of the great artists of the 20th century. Cost: Free. For more information, visit seniorcenter@jfcsaz.org.

TUESDAY, MARCH 30

Lady in Gold: 11 a.m.-noon. Thanks to the 2015 movie “Woman in Gold,” the portrait of Viennese socialite Adele Bloch-Bauer painted by Gustav Klimt in 1907, has become famous. Learn the stories the painting tells via Zoom. Cost: Free. For more information, visit seniorcenter@jfcsaz.org.

MONDAYS

Partners in Torah: 7:30 p.m. 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.

Ethics of Our Fathers: 7 p.m. Learn with Rabbi Zalman Levertov online. Tune in at: bit.ly/2Y0wdgv. Cost: Free. For more information, visit chabadaz.com.

Quotable Quotes by our Sages: 7 p.m. Learn with Rabbi Shlomy Levertov online. Tune in at: JewishParadiseValley.com/class. Cost: Free. For more information, visit chabadaz.com.

Learning to Trust in God: 7:30 p.m. Learn with Rabbi Yossi Friedman online. Tune in at: ChabadAZ.com/LiveClass. Cost: Free. For more information, visit chabadaz.com. Torah & Tea: 7:30 p.m. Learn with Rabbi Yossie Shemtov online. Cost: Free. For more information, visit Facebook.com/ ChabadTucson.

MONDAYS, JAN. 25 - MARCH 1

The Writings and Wisdom of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks Z’L: 12:15-1:30 p.m. A Bureau of Jewish Education course taught by Andre Ivory. Rabbi Sacks, who passed away recently, possessed a world of wisdom which crossed denominational lines. Cost: $98. For more information, visit bjephoenix.org.

TUESDAYS Keep Calm and Play Mahjong: 6:30-8:30 p.m. Play mahjong from home with myjongg.net. Cost: Free. To join a table, email Nicole at nicoleg@vosjcc.org.

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

39 Ways to Repair the World: In celebration of Rabbi Shmuly’s 39th birthday, he is teaching the 39 melachot over the year (1 per week for 39 weeks). Each session will be between 15-20 minutes long on Tuesdays. Cost: Suggested $18 donation. For more information, visit valleybeitmidrash.org.

TUESDAYS, FEB. 16 - MARCH 9

Beginner’s Guide to Kabbalah: 10-11 a.m. A Bureau of Jewish Education course taught by Rabbi Laibel Blotner. Explore the inspiring and meaningful guide to Jewish mysticism. Cost: $60. For more information, visit bjephoenix.org.

TUESDAYS, JAN. 12 - MAY 25

Introduction to Judaism: 7-9 p.m. Learn the basics of Judaism with Rabbi Stein Kokin.

For more information or to register, visit bethelphoenix.com/adult-education.

WEDNESDAYS

Happiness Hour: 11:30 a.m. An online class taught by Rabbi Pinchas Allouche that delves into texts and references culled from our traditions to address a relevant topic and draw uplifting life lessons from it. For more information or to join, visit cbtvirtualworld.com.

The Thirteen Petalled Rose: 1 p.m. An online Kabbalah class that studies “The Thirteen Petalled Rose” by Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz, focusing on the many foundational and transformational 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. virtual 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.

Torah Studies: Noon. Take a weekly journey to the soul of Torah online with Rabbi Yossi Levertov. Cost: Free. For more information, visit chabadaz,com

Lumch & Learn: Noon. Grab some food and learn online with Rabbi Yehuda Ceitlin. Cost: Free. Tune in at: Facebook.com/ ChabadTucson. For more information, visit chabadaz.com

Words & Whiskey: 8:30 p.m. Join a free weekly, virtual learning session for men. To RSVP, email rmollenaz@gmail.com or call/text 310-709-3901.

Knit a Mitzvah: 1-3 p.m. On the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month, check in with fellow knitters who are making items to donate as part of this Brandeis National Committee Phoenix chapter study group. For more information, contact Ronee Siegel at ronees@aol.com.

WEDNESDAYS, FEB. 3 - MARCH 10

Journey of the Soul: 7 p.m. Join Rabbi Mendel of the Jewish Learning Center for a new six-session course by the acclaimed Rohr Jewish Learning Institute that will answer a question which has occurred to every self-reflective person: What happens when we die? For more information or to register, contact Rabbi Mendel Vaisfiche at rabbimendel@chabadofscottsdale.org.

WEDNESDAYS, FEB. 3 - APRIL 7

The Lights of Rav Kook: 11 a.m. Learn the foundational roots of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook’s teachings and the soaring winds of his vision. Cost: $18. For more information, visit valleybeitmidrash.org.

Musmeah Yeshua Synagogue in Yangon, Myanmar PHOTO BY: DAN FELLNERXZ

THURSDAYS

Ladies Torah & Tea: 10:30 a.m. Learn about the women of the Torah with Mrs. Leah Levertov online. Cost: Free. Tune in at: ourjewishcenter.com/virtual. For more information, visit chabadaz.com.

Talmud - Maakos: 11 a.m. Learn with Rabbi Shlomy Levertov. Cost: Free. Tune in at: JewishParadiseValley.com/YJPclass. For more information, visit chabadaz.com.

The Science of Everything: 11:00 a.m. 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. Learn with Rabbi Tzvi Rimler online, Cost: Free. Tune in at: cteen.clickmeeting.com/east-valley. For more information, visit chabadaz.com.

THURSDAYS,

JAN. 14 - MARCH 25

Israel and the Middle East Through the Lens of Ever-Changing Events in the US, Israel and the Middle East: 12:30 -2 p.m. A Bureau of Jewish Phoenix course taught by Meir Jolovitz. An examination of the implications of the election and current events. Cost: $130. For more information or to register, visit bjephoenix.org/courses/ available-courses.

SATURDAYS

Saturday Mindfulness Gatherings: 9:30 a.m. Hosted by Hospice of the Valley. Join via Zoom. For more information and event link, visit vosjcc.org/j-at-home-adults.

SUNDAYS

Soul Study: 7:15 a.m. An online class exploring the secrets of the Tanya and Jewish mysticism, taught by Rabbi Pinchas Allouche. Cost: Free.

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

Chassidus Class: 9 a.m. Learn about the of the Chassidic movement with Rabbi Yossi Friedman. Cost: Free. Tune in using this link: ChabadAZ.com/LiveClass. For more information, visit chabadaz.com.

Passover Q&A: 7:30 p.m. Have a question related to Passover? Ask it here with Rabbi Mendy Levertov. Cost: Free. Tune in using this link: ourjewishcenter.com/virtual. For more information, visit chabadaz.com.

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

Shabbat

FRIDAYS

Pre-Shabbat Kiddush Club: 6 p.m. Say kiddush with Rabbi Mendy levertov online. Cost: Free. Tune in here: ourjewishcenter. com/virtual. For more information, visit chabadaz.com.

Shabbat at Beth El: 11-11:45 a.m. Celebrate Shabbat with songs, blessings and inspirational teachings. Rabbi Stein Kokin from Beth El Congregation will lead us 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.

Welcome Shabbat: 11-11:45 a.m. Join the JFCS Virtual Center for Senior Enrichment each Friday for a soothing and inspiring program to welcome Shabbat. Each week a different guest host will lead the program with song and celebration. Cost: Free. For more information, visit jfcsaz.org/cse.

EVERY THIRD FRIDAY, JAN. 15-DEC. 31

Third Friday Shabbat: 7- 8 p.m. The Desert Foothills Jewish Community Association hosts a virtual abbreviated Shabbat service followed by a program. Contact Andrea at 480-664-8847 for more information.

Seniors

MONDAYS

Dance Fusion with Michele Dionisio: 11 a.m.-noon. Presented by JFCS Center for Senior Enrichment. Cost: Free. For more information, visit jfcsaz.org/cse.

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

TUESDAYS

Brain Games with Friends: 2-3 p.m. Challenge your brains while having fun. Experts believe that active learning helps maintain brain health by preventing loss of cognitive skills such as memory, reasoning and judgment. For more information or to register, visit vosjcc.org/j-at-home-adults.

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

WEDNESDAYS

Chair Yoga with Zoe: 11-11:45 a.m. A guided class in yoga without having to get down on the floor. Presented by JFCS Center for Senior Enrichment. Cost: Free. For more information, visit jfcsaz.org/cse.

FRIDAYS, JAN. 15-MARCH 5

Wise Aging: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. A Bureau of Jewish Education course taught by Nan Pollinger. Wise Aging is designed specifically to meet the social, emotional and spiritual needs of Jewish seekers entering second adulthood. Explore the tools and resources to age wisely through the lens of Jewish wisdom. Cost: $130. For more information or to register, visit bjephoenix.org/courses/ available-courses.

THURSDAYS

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

FRIDAYS

Adult Chair Ballet Class: Noon-12:45 p.m. Join Jennifer Cafarella and Elaine Seretis from Ballet Theatre of Phoenix as they teach a ballet class that will help improve strength, flexibility, movement and balance. No prior dance experience required. Presented by the JFCS Virtual Center for Senior Enrichment.

Cost: Free. For more information, visit jfcsaz.org/cse.

Musical Friday: 12:30 p.m. Join Smile on Seniors on the first Friday of every month for a musical presentation.

Cost: Free. For full details visit sosaz.org/ virtual or email Rabbi Levi Levertov at levi@sosaz.org. JN

Upcoming Special Sections

Passover

March 12, 19, 26

Show your support of the Jewish community by wishing them a Happy Passover!

March 12

Showcase your camp and educational offerings to families looking for the perfect fit for their children.

March

Say cheese

Princess costumes and more

Some at Martin Pear JCC's Allan J. Flader's Purim Parade showed off tiaras, while some wore costumes that covered them from head to toe.

by grogger

Taking time to strike a pose at the Allan J. Flader Purim Parade

Dinosaurs bring the Jewish News to the Allan J. Flader Purim Parade at Martin Pear JCC on Feb. 21.

PHOTO BY DEMI SOLOMON

Martin Pear Jewish Community Center's Allan J. Flader Purim Parade on Feb. 21 brings out some imaginative costumes.

PHOTO BY LIZ JORGENSEN

Death

Hebrew High students brought a new level of high jinks to their Purim celebration by creating a murder mystery game.

PHOTO BY RABBI AVIVA FUNKE

of the incubator,” she said. Seeing her baby with so many wires and tubes was unsettling. “It was comforting to have that one thing that other babies had,” she said. “It felt like a bit of normal in a surreal situation.”

Temple Emanuel of Tempe ‘bagels’ members Lynn Obstein’s doorbell rang unexpectedly one Saturday morning in February. She opened the door to find a dozen bagels. “Oh, what a wonderful surprise,” she thought.

Temple Emanuel of Tempe congregants have been posting photos of being “bageled” for the last three months, so the surprise wasn’t total. Obstein saw the messages but wasn’t expecting her turn to come so quickly. And that little flash of surprise is what made it fun, she said.

In November, Temple Emanuel’s board started a bageling chain to maintain a sense of community for its membership. After months of being separated by COVID-19, surprising people with bagels and a cheerful note seemed like a fun and delicious way to keep connected.

Chelsey Falk, b’nai mitzvah coordinator at Temple Emanuel, split the synagogue’s membership list into 14 groups based on where members lived. One person in a group begins by sending a dozen bagels, two cream cheese containers and a note with a greeting and a list of instructions to another family on the list.

“Surprise! You’ve been bageled,” reads the note, which also explains how to bagel another family and reminds people to cross their name off the list to avoid being bageled twice. People are encouraged to post

was an interview with Geraldine Brooks, a writer featured at this year’s book and author event put on by the Tucson Chapter of the Brandeis National Committee. Braun worked in the world of book publishing in New York before coming to AJP, and the event offered her the opportunity to dip her toe back into that world every year. She was gratified to cover it one last time.

“We are extremely thankful to Phyllis for her 25 years of service, award-winning journalism, strong work ethic and deep commitment to our community,” said Baker. Longtime readers, like Jane Myerson, chair of a new Northwest Tucson Jewish Community group, said the end of AJP is a huge loss. “It filled a very important need in the community,” she said. Myerson also highlighted its coverage of local events and milestones. “It was a way to celebrate being Jewish in the Greater Tucson area,” she said.

a picture on Temple Emanuel’s Facebook page with #TEOTgetsbageled.

This treat isn’t just about having something good to eat. It’s a way to let people know “we’re still thinking of you even though we’re not able to see you,” said Falk. Some people don’t even want the bagels, but everyone has enjoyed the surprise, she said.

Falk started her position six months ago, and because of COVID, has been unable to meet people in person.

“It’s been such a nice thing, because I’ve met so many people and families,” she said. Her mother-in-law was also surprised to learn there were fellow congregants living nearby.

“We’ve been finding all kinds of people,” Falk said.

Obstein agreed.

“We’re a very spread-out community and it’s cool to know there are so many people nearby,” she said.

The project is fun, and using bagels also gives one the opportunity “to feed peoples’ souls,” Obstein said.

“Maybe that sounds corny, but you feed people in more ways than one,” she said. “It lets you know you’re part of something that’s bigger than yourself.”

Obstein also praised Temple Emanuel’s COVID programming in general. “It’s such a hard time and they’ve really risen to the occasion — now, we’re almost more connected.”

Obstein didn’t waste any time in finding the next family and bageled them the next morning.

Her husband dropped the bagels on the doorstep, and by the time he reached his car and turned around, the bag, full of bagels and cream cheese, was already gone. JN

“Just putting events in the calendar doesn’t create community like the Post created it.” Baker, a Tucson native, is sympathetic to the community’s disappointment.

“I deeply appreciate the paper’s important place in our community, and anticipate continuing to provide the same essential stories through different means,” she said.

Horowitz believes a transition to new ways of highlighting community events marks an evolution rather than an ending.

“I am looking forward to evolving the way that we interact with our community through new communication vehicles,” Horowitz said.

“The pandemic has asked us to innovate in so many different spaces, and communications is one of them.”

Blumenberg, too, is hopeful that success lies ahead for whatever comes next in terms of sharing news and events with the community. But losing “a great institution” like AJP still stings.

“I’m just sad,” she said. JN

Jonathan Aaron Pear, age 52, passed away on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021, with his family surrounding him and as a beautiful sunset painted the sky. He was born on Dec. 11, 1968, in Hartford, Connecticut and enjoyed growing up in Worcester, Massachusetts, Binghamton, New York, and Tampa, Florida before settling in Arizona. Jonathan was a beloved husband, father, son, brother, grandson, nephew, cousin and friend and brought happiness into the lives of all he encountered.

He graduated from The University of Florida and spent his early career in hospitality management, which lent itself perfectly to his engaging and friendly personality and unmatched work ethic. He and his wife, Jamie, moved to Arizona in 2001 where he began a career in finance and then real estate and created strong relationships through his professional life always the first to lend a hand. Jonathan married his loving wife, Jamie, on March 30, 1996, after meeting as teenagers. They experienced countless adventures, created lasting memories together, and shared the joy of raising their two children, the light of their lives, Samantha and Tyler.

Jonathan will be remembered for his ambition and hard work, his wit and sense of humor, and his kind heart and warmth. Jonathan worked diligently each day to make the world around him brighter. He helped buy and sell homes to many in the Valley and provided opportunities for individuals to start new, wonderful lives in the home of their dreams. Jonathan had a beautiful outlook on life and his smile lit up a room and humor brought laughs to those that surrounded him. Jonathan treated his friends and family with love and kindness and his big heart will be greatly missed and his legacy will be honored and remembered by his family.

Jonathan was preceded in death by his father, Martin. He is survived by his wife, Jamie, their two children, Samantha and Tyler, his mother, Beverly, and his siblings, Ian (Rachel), Rachel (Jonathan) and Sara (Evan), as well as many cousins, nieces and nephews.

A funeral service was held on Sunday, Feb, 7, 2021, at the Mt. Sinai Cemetery. To honor Jonathan, donations can be made to the Martin Pear JCC at (mpjcc.org/support) or the The Jonathan Pear Farm - PE’AH, Shir Hadash in Israel (shirhadashjerusalem.com/donation).

Jewish News is accepting nominations from our readers for our annual Best of Jewish magazine.

This year, we’ll focus on the best healthcare the area has to offer, from doctors and nurses to pharmacies and hospitals.

Is there a dentist or physical therapist you think deserves plaudits?

How about an extra caring surgeon or psychologist?

Nominations will be accepted for individuals and organizations, big hospitals and small health care facilities.

Nominations close March 16

To submit a nomination, please send an email to editor@jewishaz.com, including the name of the nominee and no more than 300 words explaining why this person or entity should be honored. Nominations will be anonymous and confidential, but we may use the description you send us in the magazine.

Irene Danon, 91, died Feb. 12, 2021. She was born in the former Yugoslavia and lived in Prescott. She was an author and Holocaust survivor. She is survived by her daughters, Roberta, Laura and Michelle Danon. Arrangements by Science Care in Phoenix. JN

MILESTONES

@ 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

Rabbi Sharon Brous, the Founding Rabbi of IKAR, will give a one hour class exploring various dimensions of Judaism & Social Justice. Join our annual Hammerman Family Lecture Series to honor our friends Stan & Cheryl as we engage in this morally urgent call to sacred responsibility.

Rabbi Sharon Brous