Jewish News, Dec. 2, 2022

SPECIAL PULLOUT | B1

DECEMBER EVENTS

Celebrations this month designed to bring Greater Phoenix’s Jewish community together

Mark Sklar, Jewish philanthropist, iconic real estate developer and respected mentor, dies at 74

SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER

Residents of Greater Phoenix will likely remember Mark Sklar as a real estate developer who helped shape the city’s growth, or as a philanthropist who gave generously of his time and money to Jewish and secular causes.

But those lucky enough to have known him well, will remember him as a great but humble man who loved his family, made friends everywhere and lived life to its fullest measure — a man who embodied both wisdom and exuberance in equal parts.

Sklar died at home in Phoenix on Nov. 11.

He was born in Madison, Wisconsin in 1948, and grew up in Milwaukee. He met his future wife, JoAnn (Cookie), at Camp Ojibwa, where both children were part of a theatrical production. Their families lived close and the two grew up in similar circles. Sklar returned to Madison to attend the University of Wisconsin and when Cookie transferred there after her sophomore year, it didn’t take long for them to fall in love.

(Sklar also fell in love with Badger basketball. He was a sports fan generally, but college basketball was his favorite, and he always had seats to the Final Four. And if Wisconsin was playing, “it was total chaos and excitement,” said Michael Sklar, his son. “He lived for his Badgers.”)

Sklar and Cookie married in 1969, moved to Arizona and had

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Honoring a special senior, fitness fun and Indiana Jones is back

Spielberg draws from his Jewish upbringing in semi-autobiographical film

KATHY SHAYNA SHOCKET

In one of the early scenes of Steven Spielberg’s new film, “The Fabelmans,” the family is driving home on a winter night. Their young son, Sammy, points out he knows which home on the street is theirs, as it is the dark one among all the others adorned with Christmas lights.

The Fabelmans are a fictional family. But it’s one of the scenes where Spielberg draws from his own early memories, growing up in mostly non-Jewish neighborhoods.

Through the Fabelman family and Spielberg’s real-life experiences, the movie artistically captures the Jewish American experience in the 1950s and 1960s and reflects Spielberg’s own Jewish upbringing in three different cities.

The semi-autobiographical movie shares the joy of unwrapping Chanukah gifts and traditional Shabbat family gatherings. There are various scenes filled with the Jewish culinary favorites of brisket and challah, a peppering of Yiddish expressions and wisdom offered from bubbes and a great uncle.

Highlighted with the origins of what shaped Spielberg’s infatuation and steadfast dream to make movies, this is also very much a story of family relationships.

A family in transition in ways beyond packing up boxes, the unraveling of his parent’s marriage and eventual divorce is also central to the film.

It’s an intimate glimpse into the drama of the family’s migration from snowy New Jersey to the desert of Arizona and then Northern California.

His story is one that his mother had always encouraged him to share.

The Spielberg family moved several times during the filmmaker’s adolescence. His father, Arnold Spielberg,

Chanukah Gift Guide

Steven Spielberg, right, directs Gabriel LaBelle on the set of “The Fabelmans.”

SEE SPIELBERG, PAGE 3

two children, Michael and Debbie. Sklar, who spent his life globetrotting, started a travel agency in Phoenix.

When Sklar sold his agency after roughly five years, he told people he was retired. But that didn’t last long. The first day into Sklar’s “retirement,” he settled into his chair and asked Cookie, “What’s for lunch?” She told him it was time “to go get a job,” Michael said.

Soon after, Sklar got into real estate.

In 1984, Sklar and two partners founded DMB Associates. In the 1990s, DMB developed DC Ranch in Scottsdale, which became a model for developers across the nation, and built a reputation for transforming Metro Phoenix and creating more liveable spaces.

The company also became known for its integrity, taking the long view in terms of building a community rather than turning a short-term profit.

Verrado, DMB’s second big community in Buckeye, exemplified this instinct. The development saw very successful sales early on, but then the 2008 real estate market crashed. While other home builders were returning lots to lenders, DMB bought unsold Verrado lots from the banks to keep the community as planned rather than allow others to build small houses cheaply to snag a quick sale.

The company even subsidized Verrado’s Bashas’ grocery store and kept it open during a difficult economic time.

“DMB is in it for the long haul,” Gadi Kaufman, an analyst with Washington, D.C.-based Robert Charles Lessor & Co., told The Arizona Republic in 2012. “Look at the other big builders in Phoenix who bought parcels and had grand plans but handed them back when the market fell.”

According to Kaufman, if not for

“DMB’s level of commitment,” the crash would have been worse.

DMB hasn’t been about one specific project, Sklar told the Republic in 2018.

“It’s about three people who became friends and formed a business that has purpose beyond making money,” he said.

Drew Brown, one of DMB’s three co-founders, said that while Sklar had a deep love of architecture, he was always more focused on relationship building than the nuts and bolts of development.

“Mark was important to all of our partners because he was 100% trustworthy,” Brown said. “He was deeply involved in the personal aspects of the business and the partnerships.”

Brown often found himself turning to his co-founder for advice.

“He was full of great advice about doing the right thing at all times,” Brown said. “I always turned to Mark to ask how to make the best, fairest and most equitable decision.”

Brown was not alone in seeking out Sklar’s counsel and mentorship.

Michael said his father had a quiet way of teaching him about the world and how to navigate it. Simply by reading books together, for example, Sklar could impart valuable lessons.

Michael said his dad encouraged him to read “The Snow Leopard,” a 1978 book by Peter Matthiessen, after graduating from college. It is a first-person account of the search for the seldom-seen snow leopard in Nepal. The long and arduous pursuit results only in uncovering the leopard’s tracks.

Sklar told him what some might see as failure was actually a success because it became about the journey rather than the destination.

“I hated it,” Michael said. “At that time, I wanted a destination — a job and to get on with it — but he embraced the journey.”

It wasn’t until after Michael married and had his own children that he understood his dad’s lesson, but he didn’t rub it in his son’s face.

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Mark Sklar pictured in Venice, Italy.

COURTESY OF MICHAEL SKLAR

“My dad didn’t take pride in being right,” Michael said. “He would say, ‘You just wait. The journey never ends. There will always be a new one.’”

Jonathan Hoffer, managing partner of SMS Financial, LLC and Jewish community stalwart, saw Sklar as his most valuable mentor in business, philanthropy and life. He was a teenager when he got to know Sklar and the two bonded quickly over sports. Hoffer’s father didn’t like sports and neither did Michael, so Sklar took Hoffer, Cookie’s young cousin, to games. Their relationship developed from there and when Hoffer entered the commercial real estate business, he gleaned invaluable lessons just from watching how Sklar did things.

The same was true for being a philanthropist.

“He taught me that when you pick a cause, you have to give both your time and money, especially when you’re asking others to do the same thing,” Hoffer said.

“He was also a phenomenal listener; people felt like they could talk to him,” Hoffer added. “He always put the best interest of the community first.”

Richard Kasper, the Center for Jewish Philanthropy of Greater Phoenix’s CEO, agreed.

Sklar was a key mentor, someone he could call for advice even though Sklar never gave him a clear-cut answer. Still, “by the end of our conversation, my problem was solved,” Kasper said.

Kasper even started calling Sklar “Batman” because “I could metaphorically put the bat signal in the sky and Mark would come.”

Sklar served on numerous boards in the Jewish community and his was the quiet but influential voice others listened to. Kasper said that if Sklar got behind an initiative, others would follow suit. If he

opposed an idea, however, no one else would support it.

And it was all done with a sense of humility.

“There was no ego in him,” Kasper said. “Mark was always generous with his time and his spirit.”

In his eulogy, Temple Kol Ami Rabbi Jeremy Schneider called Sklar one of those “rare individuals, who by some quality within themselves succeed in creating an atmosphere, an aura about them, a climate which is the extension of their personality.”

Sklar’s infectious joie de vivre and love of fun, even at work where he was famous for wearing slippers for comfort, will be missed.

“Mark just loved life and got so much out of it,” Hoffer said. “He could deliver a great speech, gamble and drink with you, mentor you, talk history with you or plan trips with his photographic memory. He was just so engaging and interesting and kind and knowledgeable.”

Michael remembers his dad as “the fun parent. He was pretty much a goofball and we did a lot of dancing around the house.”

Sklar and Cookie were peripatetic travelers and took their kids everywhere, hitting it off with people and making friends easily.

“We met a brother and sister who worked on a cruise ship when I was 15. Five years later, my dad was still in touch with them,” Michael said. Sklar took his family to visit the pair in their small Slovakian town, toured the area and met their parents, neither of whom spoke English.

“That was just normal for my dad,” he said.

Hoffer and his wife Rachel became close friends with Sklar and Cookie, often taking trips together. From such an

intimate vantage point, Hoffer could see what a genuinely kind person Sklar was.

He described Sklar as unassuming despite his material success, something he didn’t brag about. “He didn’t wear fancy clothes or seek a high profile,” Hoffer said. He simply treated everyone with respect and dignity, whether he was talking to a billionaire donor or the busboy at a restaurant.

Brown and Hoffer said if they needed restaurant recommendations in Rome or Paris, they would ask Sklar, who knew the best places everywhere. But Michael said that his dad was also just as happy to eat Chinese takeout at home with a bottle of Two Buck Chuck from Trader Joe’s. What mattered were the people he was with.

Until Cookie died at the end of 2017, Sklar was her sole caregiver. A little more than three months later, Sklar had a stroke. During that brief window in early 2018, he started the process of retiring from DMB and moved into Michael’s office.

“We spent three months together before his stroke and we had really deep conversations, reevaluating and talking about everything. I got more of him directly,” Michael said.

Michael said his dad radiated charisma, such that everyone seemed to want to know him — and he wanted to connect and be with people, too.

“He was a lot of things to a lot of people, but he’s my dad first. He was the world’s greatest dad,” Michael said. JN

The family has requested that donations in Mark Sklar’s memory be directed to either the Center for Jewish Philanthropy of Greater Phoenix or the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute.

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

a successful electrical engineer with a brilliant scientific mind, was a pioneering computer designer.

His rising career opportunities would uproot the family across the country, as Steven’s mother, Leah, put her career as a concert pianist behind her.

In Phoenix, the family lived in a onelevel ranch house in the Arcadia area filled with orange trees. The neighborhood was initially developed as a citrus grove.

Although the Phoenix scenes were not shot in Arizona, Spielberg re-created them with the magic of his team, including Karen O’Hara, set decorator; Andrew Cahn, supervising art director; and Andrew M. Siegel, prop master.

The pedestal-based Saarinen dining table in the kitchen, where parents Mitzi and Burt Fabelman and children gather in the film, replicates a specific piece that Spielberg and his three sisters recalled being an important feature of their home.

The table that embodied the late

1950s and early 1960s was a powerful memory for them because it was a literal centerpiece for family dinners and conversations.

There aren’t any bar mitzvah scenes in the movie or mention of the Phoenix synagogue’s name which he attended, but the now former Beth Hebrew Synagogue is where Spielberg’s family and friends gathered for his bar mitzvah.

His parents would drive a distance to the downtown Phoenix area to attend what was the city’s first Orthodox synagogue. Among the founders of Beth Hebrew, incorporated in 1950, was a Holocaust survivor named Elias Loewy.

The notice in the Dec. 25, 1959, edition of the Phoenix Jewish News announced that “Steven Spielberg, son of Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Spielberg will be Bar Mitzvah Jan. 9 (1960) at Beth Hebrew Congregation. Rabbi William Greenberg will officiate. A Kiddish will follow the services and an open house will be held Jan. 10.”

Like young Sammy in the movie, played

by actor Gabriel LaBelle, Spielberg was immersed in making home movies and recruiting his family, and later, his fellow boy scouts and classmates to act in his location shoots.

Armed with his 8mm camera, discovering how the power of cinema can touch people, he was showing his movies to audiences, building the foundation

Steven Spielberg’s Bar Mitzvah announcement in the Phoenix Jewish News.

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SPIELBERG CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

for his classic craftsmanship.

In 1961, after attending Arcadia High School for three years, the family moved again, this time to Northern California.

In the movie, a teenage Sammy is targeted at his new Northern California high school by antisemitic bullies. They often call him “Bagelman” and punch him in the nose. In one scene, Sammy discovers they have hung a huge bagel in his school locker.

The iconic filmmaker wrote the script for “The Fabelmans” with longtime collaborator and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner, who also shares a strong love of being Jewish and Judaism.

Spielberg and Kushner both felt it was essential to reflect antisemitism as a real, troubling feature of Jewish-American life. Still, Spielberg wanted a treatment of the subject that was honest about his experience and its impact on him.

At the recent Toronto International Film Festival, and world premiere of the film, Spielberg talked personally about how he had been thinking about making the film for a long time and its journey to the big screen. He and the cast received many standing ovations, and the movie won the festival’s People’s Choice Award.

Spielberg explained that antisemitism is an aspect of his life, but it is not any governing force. The bullying he suffered was limited to just a pair of boys and was not indicative of that high school in general. And it is not meant to be the theme of the film. But it made him very aware of being an outsider early on.

and to whom Spielberg gives much credit for inspiring him, is played by four-time Academy Award nominee Michelle Williams. His father, Arnold, the hardworking electrical engineer, who considered his son’s filmmaking in the director’s early years a hobby, is played by Paul Dano.

Seth Rogen plays the Fabelman’s friend Bennie in the film. The character is based on the family’s actual close family friend, Bernard Adler, also an electrical engineer, who married Leah in 1967 and died in 1995.

The 87-year-old Judd Hirsch plays Uncle Boris; the character with a thick accent is based on Spielberg’s real-life great-uncle Boris. In the film, Uncle Boris makes an unexpected visit where he tells Sammy of his past, performing in the circus and about the Jew haters.

Among the other great performances in “The Fabelmans” are veteran actors Robin Bartlett and Jeannie Berlin.

Spielberg’s three sisters, Sue Spielberg, Anne Spielberg, a producer and writer, and Nancy Spielberg, also an accomplished producer of several films, were frequent visitors to the set.

The sisters offered insight and support to the actors playing them. Their big brother Steven also sought their input while he was writing and refining the script.

After wrapping “West Side Story,” Spielberg found a deeper, urgent motivation to accelerate development of “The Fabelmans.”

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“The Fabelmans” is also a way of memorializing his family. It shows how his parents’ values and personalities (dad, the brilliant technician and mom, the passionate artist) shaped his character and artistic identity.

It is an attempt to memorialize his parents with gratitude for their virtues, forgiveness for their frailties and the same humanistic grace that marks all his films.

His mother, Leah, the accomplished classical pianist who loved to dance

His father, Arnold Spielberg, died in August 2020. He was 103 years old. His mother, Leah Adler, passed away four years earlier at 97 years old. And then, there was the pandemic, and Spielberg began thinking more about what story he was going to leave behind.

“The Fabelmans” gives insight and emotion into the story behind the worldfamous Spielberg’s career, including “Schindler’s List,” “Munich” and founding the Shoah Foundation. He has one of the most beloved, transformative and diverse filmographies in history. JN

Kathy Shayna Shocket is a writer and reporter based in Phoenix and Los Angeles.

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December events hope to connect broad Jewish community across Greater Phoenix

SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER

Marina Awerbuch, program director for the Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater Phoenix (BJE), takes her two kids to see ZooLights at the Phoenix Zoo every December. She always thought it would be a great place to celebrate Chanukah, the festival of lights, but organizing and paying for it was simply too much.

This year, however, she approached the Center for Jewish Philanthropy of Greater Phoenix (CJP) about hosting such a celebration and the organization quickly got on board.

Kaylie Medansky, CJP’s senior director of community engagement, loved the idea.

“People love the zoo and they’re already going to ZooLights, so why not create a space for the Jewish community to do it together,” she said.

While several Jewish groups will host Chanukah celebrations, Jewish Community Night at ZooLights on

bring all of Greater Phoenix’s Jewish community together.

Jewish Community Night at ZooLights

In addition to being the first time the Jewish community has come together to celebrate ZooLights, it is also the first big collaboration between CJP’s community engagement team and another community organization.

Jennifer Starrett, CJP’s associate director of community engagement, said this is their first community-wide event that is just for fun and not tied to another purpose, like fundraising.

“A big priority of our team is bringing organizations together, so there will be more of this to come,” she said.

Medansky said this is an easy way for the Jewish community “just to get together, hang out and enjoy celebrating our

Christmas lights.

“Enjoying the lights is for everyone.”

The zoo will be open to the public on Dec. 17, but after people walk around looking at lights, they can go to Lemur Lane, where the Jewish community will gather with tables, lounge seating, a photo booth and a Havdalah program.

Additionally, the youth departments of Congregation Or Tzion and Temple Beth Sholom of the East Valley are sponsoring a teen scavenger hunt. Teens can check in at Lemur Lane at 7:30 p.m., organize into teams and let the search begin.

Awerbuch’s 6-year-old son Max isn’t old enough to join the scavenger hunt but he is excited to go for a reason beyond seeing lights. Recently, he walked into his mom’s office and saw her working on publicity for the event. He immediately suspected he might be the actual focus of the night.

“It’s because of me and how I like animals and I wanted my birthday party

“Sometimes,” she laughed, “it’s just easier to go along with the fantasy.”

Phoenix Sings: Chanukah

Sing-A-Long

Congregation Beth Israel Cantor Seth Ettinger sat down last May with several of his cantor colleagues to decide how to bring Greater Phoenix’s Jewish community closer together. A Chanukah singalong was the first thing everyone said.

“Bringing cantors together is something I’ve been doing since I came to Arizona in 2018,” Ettinger said.

The first Phoenix Sings: Chanukah Sing-A-Long took place in December 2019, and was a big success. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed a second such gathering. Now it’s back and four cantors are participating: CBI’s Ettinger, Temple Kol Ami’s Cantor Noa Shaashua, Congregation Or Tzion’s Cantor Dannah

DECEMBER EVENTS

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

Rubinstein and Temple Solel’s Cantorial Soloist Todd Herzog.

This concert will be the first time the four have sung together.

“I love when everyone gets together. That’s the culmination of the work I try to do,” Ettinger said.

Temple Chai’s Cantor Ross Wolman had intended to participate but withdrew due to a scheduling conflict. It was his suggestion to make the event a fundraiser for CJP’s community camp scholarship.

Jewish kids from all the synagogues involved attend the various Jewish summer camps. Ettinger said the beneficiaries will be those kids who need scholarship assistance for summer camp.

“It’s all about them,” he said.

The concert will be held at the Arizona Jewish Historical Society on Saturday, Dec. 17. While it is the same night as Jewish Community Night at ZooLights, Ettinger doesn’t see a problem.

“You can have two major events on the same night and still work together to make them both successful because in the end we’re supporting CJP,” he said. Additionally, Ettinger curated the playlist for ZooLights.

The evening starts at 5:30 p.m. with a silent auction, followed by Havdalah and the concert. After the music stops, there will be

a dessert reception.

The cantors have planned songs from Jewish pop to more traditional fare — something for everyone.

Ettinger sees a gathering like this as both a celebration and a comfort.

“We’re supposed to light the night brightest and what better way to do it than coming together and having a musical celebration. That makes the brightest light,” he said.

Mazelpalooza 2022

In 1998, leaders of the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix’s Young Leadership Division (YLD) decided to create a celebratory event on Christmas Eve that would bring young Jews together on a night when they might otherwise be left with nothing to do.

Rachel Rabinovich, director of special projects for CJP, was then in her first year as a staff associate for YLD. She remembers how difficult it was to convince bar owners in Old Town Scottsdale that it would be worthwhile to stay open on Christmas Eve for this new event called Mazelpalooza.

“Don’t worry,” she remembered telling them. “There will be plenty of people and they will buy drinks.”

From the beginning it drew a few hundred people and it lived up to what YLD’s leaders had envisioned.

“It was great fun,” Rabinovich said,

though the next two years she had to do the same convincing of bar owners.

On Dec. 24 — 24 years later — CJP’s NowGen is getting ready to welcome several hundred young Jews for “the party of the year.”

“This is an opportunity to bring out people who may not otherwise connect with the Jewish community or their Jewish identity,” said Andrew Gibbs, NowGen’s director. “Mazelpalooza is a place where Jews can come and be with family,” he said.

This year will also be special because it will mark the first year the party is back in full force. In 2020, NowGen changed the event’s name to Mitzvahpalooza, and made it an opportunity for people to do mitzvah projects, like making donations to those in need.

Last year, Mazelpalooza was back but in a modified way. It was small and held in a semi-private area of an Old Town bar and didn’t include a DJ.

This year people should expect dancing, an aerialist, a fire act and a roaming saxophone player, Gibbs said. Mazelpalooza will once again have drinks, community and an opportunity to gather.

Jacob Ladin, Mazelpalooza co-chair, has been to many Mazelpaloozas. He said this year will stand out due to the “amazing entertainment company” partnering with NowGen.

“We’re offering new fun ways for

people to interact with each other, which should lead to building more positive relationships,” he said.

One big difference this year is the location. It was always held in a bar in Old Town Scottsdale, but for 2022, the event is moving to The Duce, a new downtown venue.

“We’re trying to mix it up,” Gibbs joked. “We’re coming back big and Old Town can’t handle this party anymore.”

There is no dress code and while most dress as if it’s a regular Saturday night out, Gibbs stressed that he wants people to feel comfortable and be who they are.

“This is an amazing place to be whether you’re Jewish or Jew-ish,” he said. He explained that while some people might not feel they’re “Jewish enough” for services, a Shabbat dinner, a Jewish social action project or a CJP event, Mazelpalooza is somewhere any Jew will feel at home.

“We want you just to come and know that this is your community, too,” he said. JN

To register for Jewish Community Night at ZooLights, visit phoenixcjp.org/zoolights; for Phoenix Sings, visit azjhs.org/hanukkah-concert; and for Mazelpalooza, visit phoenixcjp.org/mazel22.

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

World-renowned Jewish artists perform at Red Rocks Music Festival in December

MALA BLOMQUIST | MANAGING EDITOR

The Red Rocks Music Festival has been bringing chamber music to concerts in Sedona and Phoenix for more than two decades. The festival’s mission “is to educate, engage and challenge audiences through a collaboration of leading Arizona artists with world-acclaimed musicians.”

Moshe Bukshpan, executive director and founder of the festival, is also a musician and received his master’s degree in violin performance from Northern Illinois University. Seeking to fill a void after a festival in Flagstaff was discontinued, Bukshpan created the Red Rocks Music Festival in 2001 to ensure that Arizona had a reputable venue for classical music.

“In our current season, we present diverse programming, in Phoenix and Sedona, which includes chamber music, a recital with a tenor from the Metropolitan Opera, music from six centuries, ‘The Four Seasons’ by Vivaldi & Piazzolla with Maestro Shlomo Mintz, ‘Mainly Beethoven’ with pianist Inna Faliks and the jazz group Brubeck Brothers Quartet in a multi-media production,” said Bukshpan.

The Red Rocks Music Festival often features world-renowned Jewish musicians, and this month there are two such performers: Inna Faliks and Shlomo Mintz.

Inna Faliks

Inna Faliks was born in Odesa, Ukraine and although her family left when she was 10 and she never returned, she still has relatives there.

Faliks started playing the piano at age 5 and was considered a “child prodigy.” She is currently reworking some of the music she had written as a child and brought out of Ukraine when her family emigrated.

She shared she was most influenced musically by “my mother, who passed away last year, and my teachers Emilio del Rosario, Ann Schein, Leon Fleisher, Gilbert Kalish and Boris Petrushansky. [Also] favorite operas, string quartets and my own wonderful students at UCLA.”

Faliks is currently professor and head of piano at the University of California, Los Angeles. While on faculty at UCLA, she was introduced to the Milken Center for Music of the American Jewish experience.

“With its [Milken Center] help, I was able to commission fascinating music and take part in wonderful projects. Ljova’s Voices, a suite for piano, and historical

JUST IN TIME FOR HANUKKAH!

JUST IN TIME FOR HANUKKAH!

Meet Bestselling Israeli-American Author

Meet Bestselling Israeli-American Author

STEVEN HARTOV

JUST IN TIME FOR HANUKKAH! Meet Bestselling Israeli-American Author STEVEN HARTOV

STEVEN HARTOV

JUST IN TIME FOR HANUKKAH!

JUST IN TIME FOR HANUKKAH!

Meet Bestselling Israeli-American Author

Meet Bestselling Israeli-American Author

STEVEN HARTOV

recordings that feature sounds of cantorial music (Gershon Sirota, the “Caruso” of Odesa), klezmer music, etc., is a powerful work of new music that’s been written for me to take me back to the city where I was born — and where, now, I may not be able to return for a very long time,” said Faliks.

“Coming out of a very ‘Jewish’ city — Odesa — I am proud to carry the musical and cultural heritage of this city,” she continued. “Being who I am impacts everything I do as an artist, of course, because what I do is so personal and is about sharing.”

Faliks is also the founder and curator of Music/Words, an award-winning poetrymusic series that she produced alongside some of the nation’s most recognized poets in performances across the U.S.

“I grew up surrounded by poetry and literature and reading a lot,” she said. “This idea, juxtaposing music with another art and joining two types of

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And get a signed copy of his thrilling World War II novel

And get a signed copy of his thrilling World War II novel

STEVEN HARTOV

LAST OF THE SEVEN

And get a signed copy of his thrilling World War II novel

THE LAST OF THE SEVEN

And get a signed copy of his thrilling World War II novel THE

THE LAST OF THE SEVEN

THE LAST OF THE SEVEN

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— Booklist

Inna Faliks COURTESY OF RED ROCKS MUSIC FESTIVAL

This Chanukah, give the gift of life.

There are many ways to support Israel and its people this holiday season, but none is more transformative than a gift to Magen David Adom, Israel’s paramedic and Red Cross service. Your gift to MDA isn’t just changing lives — it’s literally saving them. Donate today at afmda.org/support or call 866.632.2763.

The killing plague

Our nation is suffering from what can best be described as a mass shooting epidemic. According to data from Gun Violence Archive, more than 600 mass shootings have occurred in the United States over the past 11 months. That’s a startling average of almost two mass shootings per day — defined as an event in which at least four people are shot, excluding the shooter. In Arizona, there have been 11 such incidents, resulting in 15 deaths and 55 people being injured.

We don’t hear about all of the shootings, but we hear about many of them. And we recoil in horror each time another incident leads to the senseless loss of precious life prompted by yet another disturbed person who got legal access to a gun. Just last month, there was the Nov. 13 shooting at the University of Virginia in which three students died. On Nov. 19, five people died in a shooting in a Colorado Springs LGBTQ nightclub. And on Nov. 22, a Walmart employee killed six people in one of the company’s stores in Chesapeake, Virginia.

Thanksgiving was the six-month mark of the killing of 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas,

which came 10 days after a supermarket killing spree in Buffalo, New York, that left 10 people dead.

safety legislation that President Joe Biden signed into law last June — the first major gun-safety legislation passed by Congress

owning a gun. And it expands background checks on people between the ages of 18 and 21 who want to buy a gun.

Nineteen states and the District of Columbia have red-flag laws, Arizona does not currently have one in effect. But the mere existence of the laws does not prevent killings. Killings will only be prevented when the laws are enforced. Unfortunately, surveys indicate that few states actually make use of their red-flag laws — some because law-enforcement officials are reluctant to and some because of a lack of awareness of the laws or the lack of a clear understanding of how to implement them. Neither reason is acceptable, particularly since nearly twothirds of Americans support the new gun law.

We have pleaded before in this space for much-needed gun-control legislation to be enacted without impinging precious citizen rights under the Second Amendment. And we have questioned why anyone not in the military or law enforcement has the need for automatic weapons or other repeat fire gun enhancements. We were encouraged by the gun-

A stain on the World Cup

Almost every country wants to host the World Cup. The competition for hosting rights, however, is corrupt. How else does one explain that this year’s World Cup kicked off last month in Qatar after more than a decade’s worth of controversy?

The questions about Qatar, a Persian Gulf emirate smaller than the state of Connecticut, have very little to do with what the world calls “football.” Instead, inquiry focuses on a global corruption scandal in which Qatar is alleged to have paid bribes for the award of hosting rights, the sky-high price tag Qatar spent to build facilities to host the event, serious human-rights concerns about Qatar’s treatment of migrant workers and outrage over Qatar’s treatment of women and LGBTQ people.

Qatar, of course, denies the allegations of bribery. But according to the U.S. Department of Justice, multiple officials of FIFA — the governing body of the World Cup — received bribes to vote for Qatar as the host of the tournament. And a simple analysis of the Qatar bid shows how weak the application was. For example, at the time of its bid in 2010, Qatar didn’t have sufficient stadiums to

host the World Cup or places to house the million-plus fans who would come to watch the games. Since then, Qatar has built seven new stadiums and renovated an eighth; accelerated the building of an entire new city and a subway system to support it; expanded its airport; and constructed a massive number of new residential buildings and hotels. The cost

in nearly 30 years. But if that legislation is working, it seems to be doing so very slowly.

The new gun-safety law includes incentives for states to pass red-flag laws that allow courts to take away weapons from people deemed to be a threat to themselves or others. The law also prevents those convicted of domestic abuse from

The next steps are clear: Elected officials and law-enforcement personnel need to familiarize themselves with their state’s red-flag laws and enforce them. And if they don’t, reluctant elected officials should be voted out and unwilling law-enforcement personnel need to be replaced. We cannot tolerate the continued tyranny of senseless gun violence. JN

Qatar has a population of 3 million, only about 300,000 of whom are Qatari citizens. The rest are foreign workers, and it is they who do the hard and dangerous labor in the emirate, including construction for the World Cup. Human-rights groups accuse the Qataris of using forced labor under abusive conditions and report that 6,500 migrant workers from India,

ACCORDING TO THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, MULTIPLE OFFICIALS OF FIFA — THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE WORLD CUP — RECEIVED BRIBES TO VOTE FOR QATAR AS THE HOST OF THE TOURNAMENT.

incurred by Qatar (exclusive of bribes) is estimated to be in the range of $300 billion — more than all the previous World Cups and Olympics combined.

Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka died in Qatar since 2010, mostly in service of the World Cup construction projects.

A NOTE ON OPINION

Qatar has the world’s third-largest natural-gas reserves and is one of the top oil producers. Qatar hopes to use the international visibility of the World Cup to help grow its non-energy economy, with ambitions to become a regional business and tourism hub.

In the euphoria of the soccer competition, we hope that Qatar’s record of human-rights abuse and mistreatment does not get lost. In addition to its migrant worker victims, Qatari women are denied by the country’s male guardianship rules the right to make key decisions about marriage, choice of work opportunities, travel abroad and reproductive health care. The country’s laws also criminalize all forms of sex outside marriage, including sex suffered by rape victims. Sex between men is punishable by up to seven years in prison.

We worry about the “split screen” on which fans watch this year’s World Cup — as they celebrate the sport they love and a tournament that has meaning — being played in a country that has built the games on corruption, exploitation and human suffering. JN

We are a diverse community. The views expressed in these opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the views of the officers and boards of the Jewish Community Foundation, Center for Jewish Philanthropy, Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix, Mid-Atlantic Media or the staff of the Jewish News. Letters must respond to content published by the Jewish News and should be a maximum of 200 words. They may be edited for space and clarity. Unsigned letters will not be published. Letters and op-ed submissions should be sent to editor@jewishaz.com.

IN ARIZONA, THERE HAVE BEEN 11 SUCH INCIDENTS [OF MASS SHOOTINGS], RESULTING IN 15 DEATHS AND 55 PEOPLE BEING INJURED.

Being thankful

NINA TARGOVNIK

Thanksgiving is a perfect time for reflection and thinking about food. On Nov. 22, I got to do both when the Arizona Kosher Food Pantry (AKFP) launched its food truck, Mazon Tov on Wheels. We were able to serve the homeless in the Thomas Road and 36th Street area and asylum seekers who were dropped off by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Mount of Olives Mission. The homeless were so appreciative of the turkey loaf, rice, pozole, beans and apples.

Some were even brave enough to try potato kugel, though more tasted the mashed potatoes. The asylum seekers ate a hot meal and were able to get toiletries for their continuing journey.

In the rush of our daily lives, we can overlook how lucky we really are: most of us will never need to use a food pantry for our daily needs or visit a food truck to have a hot meal. Thanksgiving was the perfect time to examine our lives and remember what’s important: family, friends, the ability to support ourselves

and the ability to help others.

Over the summer, I began volunteering at the AKFP. Even though I work with the low-income community, sometimes I forget the desperation when rent increases and Social Security doesn’t. Or when gas and food prices rise and there is no money for milk, eggs or oranges. I met women who would have to choose between putting gas in their cars or buying food. I saw families eagerly fill their food bags with fresh fruits and vegetables and the relief in the parent’s eyes when they could provide for their families.

So many people needed help over the past months, there are days when the AKFP’s shelves are empty. I made the commitment to buy food for AKFP each time I go grocery shopping, it may not be much, but each donation helps. The AKFP is a much-needed resource for the Jewish community and the community at-large. Volunteers are always welcome.

Some of the highlights of the day: looking at a child’s joy eating cotton candy and twirling around the parking lot

enjoying knowing a hot meal is waiting; seeing a chronically homeless man getting a new pair of shoes and giving his shoes which did not fit him to his buddy; and watching hungry people eating a full meal. The AKFP’s commitment to feeding the homeless and hungry is not limited to one day a year or before one holiday, AKFP will be using the food truck on a regular basis to feed the needy in our community.

the hungry. This event highlighted how much easier it is to serve hot meals to the homeless from the truck — the food was

we’re in the same business.

SHULY RUBIN SCHWARTZ | JTA

Like so many other American Jews from the New York area, I have been eagerly awaiting “I’ll Have What She’s Having,” the new exhibit on the American Jewish deli now on view at the New-York Historical Society. After all, the deli was our family business.

I grew up on Long Island during the baby boom era, when large groups of Jews moved to the suburbs. New synagogues opened in almost every town, and Jewish bakeries, shops and schools proliferated around them.

My family had its pick of half a dozen kosher delis within 20 minutes of our home. We tried them all but came to especially enjoy Brodie’s Kosher Delicatessen, in the Mitchel Manor Shopping Plaza in East Meadow. Like Brodie’s, most of these delis were modest storefronts, with little ambience and a straightforward menu of traditional Eastern European Jewish food and deli meats. Nothing fancy, but it was kosher and delicious and enjoyed by the whole family.

Eating in any of these delis carried special meaning for us because the experience served as a connection to our extended family, who had a long and rich history

in the delicatessen world. After immigrating from Eastern Europe, my grandfather and his brother

established themselves in the food business, eventually starting a kosher catering company. In order to continue

The food truck is also available for events. The AKFP will come to your event, cook and serve the food. The food truck is supervised by the Greater Phoenix Vaad HaKashruth and will offer a range of meat options and snacks (popcorn, cotton

For more information, please contact Daniel at daniel@azkosherpantry.org. To volunteer, call

supporting their growing families, my great-uncle Abe kept the catering business, and in 1929 my grandfather Morris opened Rubin’s Delicatessen. Located in Brookline, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston, its first location boasted only five tables.

The deli truly was a family business. My grandmother kept the books, my grandfather’s sister Bessie ran the kitchen and my grandfather worked at the deli counter. Bessie made all the home-cooked food, including an unforgettable hearty vegetable soup, meat knishes, russel (fleishig, or meat-based, beet soup), pot roast, roast chicken, eingemacht (a kind of beet candy preserves), taiglach (a dough and honey sweet dessert for Rosh Hashanah), jelly roll and mandlen (soup nuts). During busy times, such as before Passover and Rosh Hashanah, my grandmother and other great aunts came in and worked together to bake 4-pound sponge cakes.

The clientele of Rubin’s was something of a “Who’s Who” of Boston Jewry. As in Jewish delis around the country, businesspeople conducted informal meetings there, rabbis stopped in for lunch during

Nina Targovnik is an attorney at Community Legal Services, president of the board of Furnishing Dignity and volunteer with the Arizona Kosher Food Bank.

I’m a Jewish historian and my grandparents ran a deli.

Maybe

People line up outside of the Mazon Tov on Wheels food truck for a hot meal. COURTESY OF NINA TARGOVIK SEE SCHWARTZ, PAGE 10

Morris Rubin opened Rubin’s Delicatessen in Brookline, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston, in the 1920s. COURTESY OF SHULY RUBIN SCHWARTZ

Accompanied by angels

orah is a keen observer of human behavior — our biblical authors as cartographers — charting a course to “the better angels of our nature” as stated by Abraham Lincoln in his first inaugural address. In this week’s Torah portion, Vayetzei , we accompany our patriarch Jacob in a place of great vulnerability. Thus far in the biblical story, we only know Jacob’s dark side. He exploits his older, twin brother, Esau, in a weaken, famished moment, in order to steal his birthright. Jacob unflinchingly goes along with his mother Rebekah’s scheme to deceive his father into giving him the blessing intended for Esau.

Jacob is now on the run — fueled by the fear of Esau who threatens to kill him — directed by his mother to return to her native land of Haran for safety and to find a wife. The narrator tells us, “Jacob … came upon a certain place and stopped there for the night, for the sun had set.

Taking one of the stones of that place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place.” (Genesis 28:10-11).

The rabbis write a stunning midrash based off the words, “for the sun had

SCHWARTZ

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9

their busy days and customers stopped by to pick up essential provisions or to enjoy a quick bite.

As the years passed and my grandparents got older, discussions about the future of Rubin’s began. Instead of taking over the family business, my father and his brothers pursued career paths outside of the deli, becoming religious leaders and Jewish professionals. My grandparents were proud that their children had pursued white-collar professions. And, in many ways, those children carried on a family business: The spiritual sustenance they provided as rabbis and social workers was an extension of the physical sustenance the deli provided through chicken soup and pastrami sandwiches.

This sense of providing intellectual, emotional and religious nourishment to the Jewish people has continued in various forms through several generations of my family, including my own choices as a Jewish historian, educator and institution builder.

When it finally came time for my

Tset,” saying, “that God extinguished the sun; that is, the world became like a wall before him; God caused the sun to set prematurely, so that God might speak with Jacob in privacy. God’s actions may be understood by the parable of the king’s admirer who visited him occasionally. The king would command, ‘Extinguish the lamps, extinguish the candles and lanterns — for I wish to speak with my friend in secret.’” (Genesis Rabbah 68:10)

There is something about darkness that opens up our souls. It’s counter intuitive — the darker the skies, the more clearly we can see the stars and the galaxies. This is surely the case with Jacob. “He had a dream; a stairway (a ladder) was set on the ground and its top reached to the sky, and angels of God were going up and down on it. And standing beside him was the Lord, who said, ‘I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac … Remember, I am with you: I will protect you wherever you go ...’ Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the Lord is present in this place, and I did not know it!’ Shaken, he said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the abode of God, and that is the gateway to heaven.’” (Genesis 28:12-17)

Alone and vulnerable, God gets Jacob’s attention by sending divine emissaries, angels. When we need it the most, life conspires to stop us in our tracks. Spiritual realignment cannot be imposed. Like Jacob, we need to be open to it. I like to think of the angels ascending and descending as reminders. Spiritual growth

does not just happen with elevated, mountain top, heavenly experiences, as breathtaking as they are. Spiritual depth is also hard earned in the real world, coming down to earth.

Jacob does not yet know what’s in store for him. None of us do. The 20 years of labor that lie ahead at the hands of his manipulative, deceptive uncle, prove to be consequences for his own troubling behavior. There is some poetic justice there — what goes around comes around. Yet only through his struggles, does Jacob bear the fruit of family and wealth.

As extraordinary as Jacob’s dream, is his response to it when he wakes up. “Surely God is present in this place, and I didn’t know it.” Our patriarch Jacob is open to amazement, while recognizing his own spiritual blind spots. Jacob, even when his name is changed to Israel, will always be a complicated, imperfect human being. Here, at the beginning of Vayetzei, Jacob is just becoming aware of his spiritual tuning fork. Yet, it’s only in a dream that he encounters angels.

As Vayetzei draws to a close, Jacob makes a peace pact with his uncle Laban. Jacob develops the tools to navigate conflict in a healthier, albeit transactional way. The Torah portion concludes, “Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God encountered him. When he saw them, Jacob said, ‘This is God’s camp.’” (Genesis 32:2). No longer does Jacob dream of angels and encounter them with his eyes closed. Angels now seek to encounter Jacob — their tuning fork

SPIRITUAL GROWTH DOES NOT JUST HAPPEN WITH ELEVATED, MOUNTAIN TOP, HEAVENLY EXPERIENCES, AS BREATHTAKING AS THEY ARE. SPIRITUAL DEPTH IS ALSO HARD EARNED IN THE REAL WORLD, COMING DOWN TO EARTH.

vibrating with Jacob’s spiritual frequency. His eyes are open. While Jacob is no longer surprised to see angels, he experiences it with a deeper sense of awe. God is in this place. Angels are all around us. May we all be blessed to experience such awe and never take it for granted. JN

grandfather to hang up his apron in June 1974, he had one stipulation when selling the business to his great-nephew: “the

to keep the “kosher” in his “kosher deli.”

Rubin’s changed hands a few more times but eventually closed its doors in

THE DELI TRULY WAS A FAMILY BUSINESS. MY GRANDMOTHER KEPT THE BOOKS, MY GRANDFATHER’S SISTER BESSIE RAN THE KITCHEN AND MY GRANDFATHER WORKED AT THE DELI COUNTER.

Seller has for many years conducted the aforesaid business as a kosher delicatessen and restaurant under the supervision of the Vaad of the Associated Synagogues and wishes to maintain the kosher status of said business so long as the business is conducted under the name of ‘Rubin’ on said premises or on any other premises to which it may be moved.”

After all those years, his final wish was

the summer of 2016, a milestone noted in Boston Magazine.

For many of us, my family especially, the kosher deli experience wasn’t just about the food (although the food of course was delicious and satisfying). Visiting and eating at a Jewish deli became a safe space, a deep link to previous generations, a fun way to comply with Jewish dietary laws, and a place to feel both Jewish and

American. Deli meals didn’t simply provide nourishment, they provided comfort — true comfort food — and a way to connect to some of our Jewish traditions.

“’I’ll Have What She’s Having’: The Jewish Deli” tells the story of how Jewish immigrants like my grandparents helped create a new type of American restaurant and an important piece of American food culture. Reflecting on the many stories I heard about the business growing up, the too-numerous-to-count meals I ate when visiting my grandparents, and the memories of family, Jewish culture and delicious food, I know my visit to the New-York Historical Society will be both emotional and stimulating.

And I think I know what I’ll have for lunch after my visit. JN

Shuly Rubin Schwartz is chancellor of The Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

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

Rabbi John A. Linder is the spiritual leader of Temple Solel in Paradise Valley and a leader of the Valley Interfaith Project.

Rabbi John A. Linder

PARSHAH VAYETZEI: GENESIS 28:10 - 32:3

RABBI JOHN A. LINDER

SENIOR

Janet Arnold Rees honored posthumously with congressional tribute

SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER

Roughly one year after her death, Janet Arnold Rees, former senior concierge and creative aging coordinator for Jewish Family & Children’s Service (JFCS), founder of Arizona Jewish Theatre Company (AJTC) and devoted friend to Greater Phoenix’s Jewish community, was honored by U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton (AZ-04) with a tribute he entered into the Congressional Record that became part of the Library of Congress in perpetuity.

On Thursday, Nov. 10, Tom Rees and Noreen Shcolnik, Janet’s widower and sisterin-law, respectively, sat in Stanton’s Phoenix office as the congressman read from the framed tribute before handing it to Tom.

The tribute begins, “Madam Speaker, I rise to honor the life and legacy of Janet Arnold Rees. Janet was tirelessly devoted to our community and made it a better place to live through her work as a teacher, theater producer, entrepreneur and social worker.”

It then briefly summarizes Janet’s biographical details, her experience founding the AJTC and her work with JFCS before closing with a brief benediction.

“Janet touched so many lives and leaves behind a legacy that will be felt by generations. We join her loved ones in grief and gratitude, thankful we bore witness to her work. Godspeed, Janet.”

Stanton said that serving in the U.S. Congress is “a great job for many reasons” and one of the best is honoring people like Janet, “who have gone above and beyond so that their life, their work and their advocacy and stewardship of the community deserves to be in the Congressional Record.”

This tribute now becomes part of the official record of the United States and will be part of the Library of Congress, on view for future generations.

Stanton said his staff read about Janet’s leadership and her passing and brought it to his attention.

“She had an amazing life,” he said. “I wanted to make sure that I did my part to recognize Janet’s amazing accomplishments and leadership.”

While Stanton never met Janet, as Phoenix’s former mayor, he knew the importance of AJTC to the local theater scene.

“It’s hard to create stuff and she created a theater company which is pretty amazing,”

Stanton said. “It’s a bummer that it ended up not making it and hopefully, someone else will use a lot of the things she created.”

Stanton called himself “an arts and culture guy” and appreciated the diversity Janet brought to Phoenix’s theater scene. Her founding of AJTC, as well as her work with JFCS, another organization he knew well from his days as mayor, grabbed his attention when his staff first mentioned her as someone who might deserve the tribute.

“I love people like Janet who are willing to make such a positive difference,” Stanton said.

“And when I saw that she was AJTC’s founder, I thought, ‘This is the perfect person.’”

A congressional tribute is the highest honor U.S. congress members can give and they do so sparingly. Stanton estimated that he might give one to seven or eight people a year. He’s done it for military veterans and civil rights leaders who have had amazing lives, he said. And occasionally, he has given it to an organization celebrating its centennial anniversary.

“In my world, it’s big and I love it,” he said.

After reading the tribute, Stanton chatted

briefly with Tom and Noreen about the midterm election, redistricting and his need to find a new office. He told them his staff would give them more copies of the tribute for family members.

Noreen described Janet as “a force.” The two were best friends since they were 14 and “talked every single day of our lives for 67 years.”

The two became in-laws when Noreen married Janet’s brother at 19.

“We always said we were sisters by choice and the marriage just made it legal,” Noreen said.

She was thrilled by the tribute and said the words Stanton read “really captured Janet.” Tom, who still wears his wedding ring, said he “married up” with Janet, someone who “improved my life drastically.”

Janet died Nov. 23, 2021, of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. She was 73. JN

Arnold Rees on Nov. 10, 2022. PHOTO BY ANDREW NICLA

Fitness classes are ‘a lifesaver’ for some seniors

SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER

Fitness is one of Ruth Dryjanski’s priorities in life. It’s so essential, in fact, that she schedules all of her appointments, even those for radiation therapy, around her fitness classes. A few months ago, she was diagnosed with breast cancer but it didn’t dissuade her from fitness — quite the opposite.

“Those classes have been a lifesaver,” she said.

On Wednesday, June 29, she had surgery and by the following Monday, she was taking another online fitness class, albeit with modified movements.

“Three weeks after the surgery, my doctor said, ‘Go for it!’ and I did the regular classes, which helped me through my five radiation treatments,” she said.

Dryjanski lives in Phoenix and has been attending Jewish Family & Children’s Service (JFCS) Center for Senior Enrichment classes at The Palazzo for the last several years. Until the COVID-19 pandemic shut in-person instruction down in 2020, she was going to exercise classes nearly every day of the week, sometimes two a day, in addition to JFCS’ cooking, craft and museum classes.

One thing that helped her through the sudden isolation of the lockdown was that both JFCS and Alive, Fit & Free switched to online instruction quickly.

Vicki Aigner, founder of Alive, Fit & Free, was able to pivot online quickly because the idea of virtual classes was already on her radar, especially for seniors who struggled with mobility. Additionally, she could reach a much wider audience without having to teach in person.

“I love virtual because it saves me from driving an hour in every direction, and I can reach more people at the same time,” she said.

Aigner moved to Arizona in 2005 with her six children after her husband passed away. She returned to the fitness profession and became a wellness coach for various Native American populations, individuals and corporate clients. Soon after, she started Alive, Fit & Free.

“I’ve always been passionate about helping people feel good, be happy and live the best life that they can,” she said. The company began growing and in 2017, she turned her focus to seniors. The Palazzo, where she first discovered JFCS, was one of her first senior communities.

All of Aigner’s fitness classes are based on four health pillars: physical, mental,

emotional and energetic. If any of her classes aren’t touching on all four, “we haven’t done our job because health and fitness go beyond the physical body,” she said. “We are holistic beings.”

Her exercise philosophy is that all four pillars are intertwined and work together to energize and rejuvenate people. Aigner hopes participants will experience relief from stress and anxiety, as well as improvements in memory.

“We do specific moves and patterns that help work on brain function, stop memory loss and actually even rebuild new neural pathways,” she said.

Balance and coordination are also key, “because we all need that no matter what age we are,” she said.

Aigner said her classes, whether in person, such as those at The Palazzo, or online, are always engaging as opposed to many online courses she referred to as “come in and sit down in the chair and move your arms” classes.

Classes for yoga, Pilates, tai chi, belly dancing and flamenco are all offered as are more unusual courses such as the “Energy Up” class, which is designed to enhance immunity with breath and movement.

Dryjanski said the immunity-building class is probably her favorite.

classes is that teachers explain both the hows and whys of every movement.

“We’re not just following along.”

Aigner, who is not Jewish, said most of her clientele are women and roughly half are Jewish, but her company strives to be very inclusive to all people.

Dryjanski is Catholic and has enjoyed all of JFCS’ programming, including holiday programs, for years because she likes learning about Judaism and Jewish holidays. She now knows how to make challah, for example, and she focuses on the things the two religions have in common.

“Let’s face it,” she said. “Jesus was a Jew.” JN

For more information, visit alivefitandfree.com.

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Local survivors socialize at Café Europa

MALA BLOMQUIST | MANAGING EDITOR

Holocaust survivors living in Greater Phoenix gathered at Congregation Beth Tefillah in Scottsdale on Oct. 16 for lunch and socializing. It was the second time since the pandemic that the group met in person at Café Europa. Presented by the Phoenix Holocaust Association (PHA), Café Europa is a social and support program for Holocaust survivors and their descendants, family and friends.

The program is partially funded through the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference), a nonprofit organization with offices in New York, Israel and Germany, which secures material compensation for Holocaust survivors around the world.

Café Europa is a worldwide program for survivors to meet over a meal and form a community. The name comes from a café in Stockholm, Sweden, where survivors would meet to try and locate missing family and friends after the war.

Charlotte Adelman and her son, Marc, are regulars at the monthly luncheons.

“It helps us to get together and see each other,” said Adelman. “They [PHA] help us so much and let us know if something new happens.”

Adelman is one of the survivors who visits schools and other venues to share her story. Aided by a Catholic family, she hid in a cellar in France as a child for nine months during the war.

Karen Perna, who is on the board of directors of PHA, schedules the speakers. When she receives a request, she responds within 48 hours.

“I try to schedule near where they live,” said Perna. “Some survivors will still do Zoom; some are tired of Zoom and want to get back to the schools in person.”

During the pandemic, many of the survivors did school presentations virtually. They even maintained their monthly Café Europa meetings via Zoom.

“They would get online, and we would have meals delivered to their doorstep,” said Sheryl Bronkesh, president of PHA. One month, at the beginning of the pandemic, they included a roll of toilet paper in the delivery.

Keeping the survivors safe and healthy was of utmost importance during the COVID19 pandemic and part of the reason it took them so long to return to meeting in person.

“We did not lose one survivor to COVID19,” said Bronkesh.

Rise Stillman, a survivor of AuschwitzBirkenau and Bergen-Belsen, was taken to

Sweden after the war to recuperate from malnutrition. She emigrated to the United States in 1948 and moved to Arizona in 1985.

“I like the idea of being together and seeing each other,” she said about gathering with other survivors. “It keeps the memory going, so it’s not forgotten.” Although she explained that the group doesn’t often talk about their experiences with each other.

Evelyn Goldstein recently moved to Arizona from Las Vegas, where she belonged to a survivors group there.

When asked what brought her to the event, her answer was simply, “I need to be among Jews.”

She explained that her family left Germany when she was 3 years old for Shanghai, China, where they lived for 10 years. Her father was a doctor and had contracted tuberculosis and they wouldn’t let the family leave China until he was cured. They finally emigrated to San Francisco and then moved to Colorado.

After lunch, the survivors mingled and chatted with each other while Gal Drimmer played acoustic guitar in the background.

Bronkesh explained that some form of entertainment is always part of Café Europa,

As Adelman approached, Bronkesh asked why she came to Café Europa. “Because I love you!” Adelman replied. Bronkesh laughed and told Adelman she loved her too and continued, “It’s nice to see survivors happy and together.” JN

For more information, visit phxha.com.

Holocaust survivors Charlotte Adelman, left, and Evelyn Goldstein at Café Europa. COURTESY OF PHOENIX HOLOCAUST ASSOCIATION

Harrison Ford will fight Nazis again in forthcoming ‘Indiana Jones’ sequel

ANDREW LAPIN | JTA

Indy’s going to sock it to the Third Reich once more.

The fifth movie in the Indiana Jones series will plop Harrison Ford’s heroic archaeologist into “a castle swarming with Nazis” in the year 1944, according to new plot details revealed in Empire Magazine this week. Digital de-aging technology will be used to make Ford appear young again for the opening sequence before the film transitions to the year 1969. Ford turned 80 on July 13, 2022.

Leaked set photos had previously hinted that Nazis would be involved in the story to some degree, but the full details were not known. The image of Indy fighting Nazis with his bare fists became an iconic part of series lore after its first entry, 1981’s “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” but the most recent go-around, 2008’s “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” was set in the 1950s and swapped Nazi villains for Soviets.

Although the character is not canonically Jewish, Jones is known for staring down antisemites over Biblical artifacts in the first and third entries in the series, making him something of a Jewish folk hero.

In the universe of the series, Hitler’s army has been subjected to cosmic punishments for attempting to exploit holy items, implying the existence of a Hebrew Almighty: “Raiders” depicts a gang of Nazis getting their faces melted off by a divine presence after they pry open the Ark of the Covenant, while 1989’s “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” ends with a Nazi

crumbling to dust after he tries to drink from the Holy Grail (and also features Adolf Hitler signing autographs at a Berlin book-burning).

Set to be released next year, the stilluntitled fifth Indiana Jones movie will co-star Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Mads Mikkelsen, and it is the first not to be

directed by Steven Spielberg. He has handed the reins to James Mangold, whose other credits include “Logan” and “Ford v. Ferrari.” Spielberg, who created the character with George Lucas and remains involved as a producer on the fifth entry, has said he based the franchise on the adventure serials of his youth.

Harrison Ford and Phoebe Waller-Bridge are seen on the set of “Indiana Jones 5” in Sicily on October 18, 2021 in Castellammare del Golfo, Italy. COURTESY OF ROBINO SALVATORE/GC IMAGES VIA GETTY IMAGES

Letty Cottin Pogrebin talks legacy of shame for Hammerman Lecture

SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER

Letty Cottin Pogrebin, journalist, social activist, Emmy winner and author of 12 books, will be giving this year’s Hammerman Family Lecture, hosted by Valley Beit Midrash (VBM), a global center for learning and action.

Pogrebin will discuss “SHANDA: A Memoir of Shame and Secrecy,” her recently released book, on Dec. 5, at Congregation Or Tzion in Scottsdale. Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz, VBM’s president and dean, said the evening would unfold in an interview format.

Other than for her books, Pogrebin, who is 83, is most well-known as a founding editor for Ms. magazine and a leading feminist during the 1970s.

Yanklowitz said he chose her as a speaker for that reason, in addition to her reflections and commentary on the concept of shame.

“We think her voice is really important right now given some new dynamics in the Jewish community, both in Israel and the U.S., and we need to keep the #MeToo movement alive

and support feminism,” he said.

Pogrebin told Jewish News that when her 80th birthday passed, she decided to sit down, take stock of her life and write a memoir. But simply regurgitating highlights wasn’t cutting it. She needed to make sense of her life and find a throughline. During the course of her research, she found an unexpected one: secrets.

“I realized how much of what I was shaped by was family secrets,” she said. “Hiding shameful things was typical of my parents’ generation of immigrants, showing the best face, conforming, wanting to be accepted as a real American and therefore hiding your imperfections.”

She also contends that secrets are part of the Jewish story. After an epiphany she had in shul while listening to the account of Jacob learning he was married to Leah instead of Rachel, she realized that the Torah is full of secrets and shame.

“God creates an image of shame as powerful as shedding blood. It reminds us that humans are flawed,” she said.

Her book is a retrospective analysis of her entire family, and she used a series of fulcrum points to make sense of her own choices in life.

In the book, she tells many family stories that had been kept secret. Because so many of the people she wrote about are dead, she went to their children, her cousins and siblings, and asked permission. Not a single one denied her request.

This was a clarifying moment for them as well. Their response mirrored her own: I want to understand myself.

Her parents hid facts about education, divorces and health problems. They even hid sisters from her — her father abandoned his first daughter, and her mother

and acted out sexually. Finding out she was pregnant, devastation set in and she planned ways to kill herself. Fortunately, a roommate made her talk to a dorm counselor who helped her get an abortion — at a time when abortion was illegal.

When finally confessing both abortions

sent her daughter from her first marriage to boarding school and pretended she had never been married.

“How many times did I hear, ‘We don’t want to be a shanda for the goyim ?’” she said. The yearning to avoid disgrace in front of gentiles fueled her family’s secrecy and she said the same is true for many Jewish families she knew.

During the course of writing the book, Pogrebin came to see her feminist activism as a way of providing reparations to her mother and her generation of women. The female secrecy, in particular, resonated throughout her life and in devastating ways.

She shares the stories of her two abortions in the book. One she had already shared publicly in an article for The New York Times many years ago. But the fact that she had had two abortions within six months of each other in her senior year at Brandeis University was something she didn’t feel comfortable revealing.

“It would be a shanda to admit two to The New York Times,” she told the Jewish Women’s Archive in September. “One was OK, but two would make me look stupid.”

Pogrebin was going through a rebellion

to her older sister, whom she thought was perfect, she discovered her sister also had an abortion, her mother had one and her grandmother had more than one.

“If women had communicated their truth to each other rather than hide and pretend, I could have owned it and I wouldn’t have been so alone or loathed myself. I would have realized that this is a woman’s experience,” she said.

Ironically, women still hide abortions, something that continues to be stigmatized. She said she wasn’t surprised by the Supreme Court’s Dobbs’ decision overturning Roe v. Wade, but hopes that people will finally see what it means to have rights taken away and fight back.

“It’s depressing, unnerving, demoralizing but there’s no alternative to just keep fighting — if you’re an activist, that’s what you do,” she said.

Pogrebin doesn’t feel she has any other choice because it’s not only her life she’s fighting for. She has six grandchildren and fights for them. JN

The Hammerman Family Lecture takes place at Congregation Or Tzion in Scottsdale on Monday, Dec. 5 at 7 p.m. To register for the hybrid event, visit valleybeitmidrash.org/event.

Letty Cottin Pogrebin

COURTESY OF VALLEY BEIT MIDRASH

“HIDING SHAMEFUL THINGS WAS TYPICAL OF MY PARENTS’ GENERATION OF IMMIGRANTS, SHOWING THE BEST FACE, CONFORMING, WANTING TO BE ACCEPTED AS A REAL AMERICAN AND THEREFORE HIDING YOUR IMPERFECTIONS.”

AJJ’s big humanitarian bus brings toys, aid and experience

SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER

One very big, red and yellow bus, emblazoned with the words “Let’s Be Better Humans,” is parked outside of Arizona Jews for Justice’s (AJJ) Phoenix office, and it might be just the thing to help the organization get to the next level of its humanitarian work.

AJJ uses advocacy and education to address two primary focuses: welcoming the stranger — refugees, immigrants and asylum seekers — and supporting unsheltered people.

Lately, AJJ’s leaders have been scratching their heads, trying to figure out new ways to tackle these issues, according to founder Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz.

When the opportunity to acquire the bus with its own history of social activism arose, AJJ grabbed it.

The bus belonged to local photographer and AJJ compatriot Jon Linton, who recently decided to step away from his humanitarian work to focus more on his art.

Linton acquired the bus a few years ago to do the same kind of work that AJJ does. He isn’t Jewish, but growing up an Irish Catholic kid in the midst of a Jewish community in the suburbs of Chicago gave him some familiarity with Jewish idealism. All his friends were Jewish, and his friendship with a Jewish colleague started him on the path of helping the downtrodden. When his friend succumbed to the ravages of heroin addiction, he died homeless and alone.

Linton used his photography to honor his friend’s memory by creating the “I Have a Name” project — a photographic collection of people living on the street. Initially, the project was meant to be a single contribution to the issue. That was more than a decade ago, and since then, Linton has driven his bus across the city and documented the plight of Phoenix’s homeless.

He recognized he could do more and used the bus to help people join the Women’s March, Standing Rock protests, demonstrations against the defunding of Planned Parenthood and those supporting the LGBTQ community. He also documented the plight of migrants and immigrants photographically and is no stranger to trips across the Mexican border.

When Linton met Eddie Chavez Calderon, AJJ’s campaign director, roughly two years ago, the two worked

together to serve the homeless, but also hit on the idea to use Linton’s bus as a means to provide resources to those caught in detention camps in Mexico.

Thus, when Linton decided to make a change, it was clear who should have first crack at buying the bus.

Yanklowitz said this bus will be a useful tool to assist AJJ with three significant goals.

The first is to distribute more goods. AJJ volunteers plan to fill the bus with food, water, clothes and necessary life supplies and deliver them to the U.S.-Mexico border as well as local places — “wherever we need to go,” Yanklowitz said.

A toy-wrapping event on Nov. 16, is next up on the calendar.

AJJ has done toy drives before for vulnerable children, but this month it hopes to double the amount of toys from last year and also take the toys to those who can’t come to them. They will deliver wrapped toys to homeless encampments as well as nearby Native American reservation chapter houses (community centers). Kids and parents can come on the bus and select gifts for themselves.

“We want the parents to feel empowered to give a toy to their kids,” said Calderon.

AJJ’s second goal is to fill the bus with volunteers, teens, young professionals and adults to take to vigils, rallies or to volunteer. The bus is not only transportation but a mobile message.

“The bus has powerful messaging on the inside, too,” Yanklowitz said. “There are references to mass shootings like the Tree of Life, but there are also many messages of hope, of peace and of idealism.”

The third goal is to share widely the message written on the bus’ exterior: “Let’s be better humans.”

“It’s a message that’s inspiring in a time of so much selfishness, greed and hate,” Yanklowitz said. “Let’s be kinder and better.”

He said the bus elicits reactions from people driving next to it and when it’s sitting at an event. AJJ goes to spaces that aren’t always considered safe. Sometimes the people it serves have mental illness or are distrusting and unfriendly, and sometimes the opposition at rallies can get pretty nasty.

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But the optimism of the words painted on the bus is disarming.

“It’s a way to promote our commonality,” Yanklowitz said.

The bus has only belonged to AJJ for about a month and already they’ve taken young families to an animal sanctuary, delivered supplies to asylum seekers and taken young adults to the border.

Another border trip is being planned for early 2023. Calderon said those journeys are very eye-opening for people who have never visited the area before.

“In Nogales, it’s all right in front of you, so close,” he said. “We see immigration as numbers but seeing the faces of people trying to leave behind hardship — that changes a person’s perspective. Oppression is in your face.”

AJJ is extending an open invitation to the Greater Phoenix Jewish community to participate in its work, whether by donating money to help with the cost of gas and upkeep or actively participating in its events.

“We want this bus to be for our Jewish community and the broader community to have a sense of idealism,” Yanklowitz said. JN

For more information, visit arizonajewsfor justice.org.

Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz stands in front of Arizona Jews for Justice’s new humanitarian bus.

COURTESY OF ARIZONA JEWS FOR JUSTICE

Charitable giving as an entry point for financial literacy

JESSIELYN HIRSCHL

and accounting, most are expected to learn these lessons from their family or through firsthand experiences.

In an effort to best prepare our children and the younger generations for success, it behooves us to have conversations about financial literacy and financial best practices, but how do we begin?

Charitable giving is an excellent topic to not only teach about the importance of tzedakah and giving, but also as an entry point for building strong financial health

health and the importance of giving.

Tit comes to the topic of financial health is, “if I only knew this when I was younger.” Especially in my line of work as the director of development and outreach for Jewish Free Loan, I hear both clients and donors alike express that they wish they knew more about financial literacy beginning at a younger age. While some very basic skills are discussed in school and some individuals have the privilege of majoring in degrees that include finance

LIFESTYLE & CULTURE

The Arizona Charitable Tax Credit allows for residents of Arizona to receive a dollarfor-dollar tax credit on their Arizona state income tax return. By making a donation to a Qualified Charitable Organization of your choice, you can receive a dollarfor-dollar tax credit of up to $400 per individual or $800 per married couple filing jointly. There are numerous Jewish and nonsectarian organizations throughout the state who qualify for the Charitable Tax Credit and who offer a variety of different services and help to those in need. By donating to an organization of your choice through this program, you can begin demonstrating and teaching about financial

First, set the example and discuss your giving habits. When it comes time for you to make your charitable gifts, let your children and family members know what causes are important to you. Explain what organizations you give to and why you choose to do so. In some cases, this may also be a great opportunity to teach about the Arizona Charitable Tax Credit which can lend itself to starting a conversation about filing taxes. This topic alone will give you a great point of entry to have an in-depth conversation about fiscal responsibility.

Next, explain that in order to give, you must also save. After explaining your giving habits, find time to explain how you have been able to save that money. Charitable giving not only requires introspection and intention for choosing an organization you deem worthy, but it also requires prioritizing other expenses and responsibilities. It’s important for children and family to understand what other items take priority and why. These conversations give real life examples of what younger individuals might be able to expect in their future, thus better

preparing them to not only budget for the necessary expenses, but to also make charitable giving a normal occurrence in their financial cycle.

Now that you’ve introduced a few basic topics, see what questions arise. Hopefully, a natural discussion will flow from here. Who knows, this could even be a learning opportunity for you as your children or family members bring up their own topics to consider.

As the year begins to come to a close, please consider making a charitable contribution to an organization of your choice. Whether the donation is made for general support or to take advantage of the Arizona Charitable Tax Credit, your generosity will impact the local community and potentially the financial health of future generations. Together, we can use this time of year as a chance to assess how we can better support our children and the community as a whole and provide valuable lessons in financial literacy. JN

For more information, visit jewishtaxcredit.org for a list of qualified Jewish organizations or azdor.gov for a full list of qualified organizations.

Jessielyn Hirschl is the director of development and outreach for Jewish Free Loan (jewishfreeloan.org).

audiences for a performance that has a natural arc, emotionally, came very naturally. I enjoy presenting these types of programs immensely.”

She is also releasing a memoir, “Weight in the Fingertips,” scheduled to be published in 2023.

For her Red Rocks Music Festival appearance on Dec. 3 at Sedona Creative Life Center and Dec. 4 in Phoenix at Steele Indian School Park’s Memorial Hall, she is performing “Mainly Beethoven.”

“I care about creating a bridge between music of then and now, preserving pedestals of great music but also creating new ones,” said Faliks. “This program I am presenting also means a lot to me because juxtaposing Beethoven with something unknown and fresh is important.”

Shlomo Mintz

Shlomo Mintz was born in Moscow and when he was 2, his family immigrated to Israel. There he learned to play the violin at 3 1/2 years old. He said that his parents were his first musical influences and then his teachers, Ilona Feher, Dorothy DeLay and Isaac Stern, who became his mentor.

Mintz is not only a performer but also

a composer and, at the age of 18, he became a conductor, leading acclaimed orchestras worldwide, including the Royal Philharmonic, the NHK Symphony in Japan and the Israel Philharmonic.

“Between the three disciplines, there is a vast repertoire and a personal curiosity to discover all these works during an

artist’s lifetime,” said Mintz. “There are still works left and I look forward, very much, to performing them, maybe as a conductor, as a violinist or a violist.”

He has performed various works across the world at famous music halls in Vienna, Moscow, Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing and New York. He said that although he doesn’t have a favorite work, Sibelius Violin Concerto and Shostakovich-Sonata for Viola are “so meaningful and so perfect.”

But he explained that it’s not necessarily the venue or the piece of music that provokes an outstanding performance,

“You have a moment’s spark with a certain work. It’s a combination of the moment, audience, orchestra and conductor or pianist that accompanies you. It’s the moment that counts — it is a moment of inspiration. It is difficult to relate to, as to when it happens or how it happens, but there is a certain ‘click’ which brings you to a different sphere and you know without even noticing that the audience is with you,” said Mintz.

Mintz is also a co-founder of the “Violins of Hope” project together with Israeli luthier Amnon Weinstein. Violins of Hope features instruments and stories of musicians who died during the Holocaust and was on exhibit in Phoenix

in February 2019. Mintz has played some of these restored instruments during concerts performed in tandem with the traveling exhibition.

“Violins of Hope is a very special project. Those are instruments that belonged to people who were deceased in concentration camps or a great story of immigration or escape during the Second World War,” said Mintz. “They carry a story and sometimes a sound, the old sound which could be transferred through generations. The atrocities of war are enormous on human beings, and we still have a ways to go until war stops completely.

“I think there is a reason for us being born and war should not be cutting our lives short. The hardship of living in any century, actually, encourages me to be helpful to others.”

Mintz will perform “The Four Seasons” by Vivaldi & Piazzolla on Dec. 10 at Sedona Performing Arts Center and Dec. 11 in Phoenix at the Madison Center for the Arts. JN

For more information, visit redrocksmusic festival.com.

Shlomo Mintz COURTESY OF RED ROCKS MUSIC FESTIVAL

Chanukah Gift Guide

BLOMQUIST | MANAGING EDITOR

Though it might feel like we just got through the High Holidays, Chanukah is just around the corner. This year, the Festival of Lights begins on Dec. 18, and we have some ideas from local vendors to help with your holiday gift giving this year.

sizes, ranging from $30-$200. The collector-quality pieces are made of brass, steel, copper and fused glass and are durable enough to be used, yet also look beautiful on display. Each piece is handmade and the patterns and colors of the glass and metal will vary.

For more information, visit mazeltov gifts.net.

any Chanukah treat. You can event place it underneath your menorah to catch dripping candle wax. Available for $58 from Modern Mitzvah online retailer in Scottsdale, this 14.9-inch Chanukah tray is perfect for entertaining or gifting. The tray is handmade in Sweden with lightweight, FSC-certified birchwood and is food and dishwasher safe.

For more information, visit shopmodern mitzvah.com.

Judaica Shop in Phoenix this year. There is a menorah for any budget with prices ranging from $20-$60. You can shop in person or online.

For more information or to schedule your Judaica Shop appointment, contact Joan at 602-971-1234 or Jneer@ templechai.com.

Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel ... These dreidels from The Gary Rosenthal Collection may be made out of glass instead of clay but they spin just as fast. Mazel Tov Gifts in Scottsdale carries a wide selection of the dreidels in different

A bouquet for your table

Use this Floral Menorah Serving Tray as a platter for latkes, sufganiyot, gelt or

Many menorahs

This is just a sampling of just some of the Chanukiot available at the Temple Chai

For the hostess with the mostest

The Temple Emanuel Judaica Shop in Tempe is excited to share many unique items for your Chanukah celebration. One of these items is a wine stopper featuring a tree of life motif. They are $15 each and would make a lovely hostess gift either on their own or presented with a bottle of wine.

For more information, visit emanuelof tempe.org/judaica-shop.

CHANUKAH

MALA

COURTESY OF MODERN MITZVAH

COURTESY OF MAZEL TOV GIFTS

COURTESY OF TEMPLE CHAI JUDAICA SHOP

COURTESY OF TEMPLE EMANUEL JUDAICA SHOP

It all starts at sundown

Starts At Sundown, an online retailer in Scottsdale, features all hand-crafted items by women-owned small businesses. These stylish pieces make the perfect gift and can be used year round. A favorite is the navy blue eco-friendly resin challah board ($90), hand carved hamsa baby teether ($14) and Hebrew wooden coins ($14, perfect for playing dreidel) and the speckle ceramic Shabbat candle holders ($17). A portion of proceeds go to PJ Library.

For more information, visit startsat sundown.com.

Local couple’s Etsy shop displays a love of Judaism and art

MALA BLOMQUIST | MANAGING EDITOR

Baby’s first Chanukah

Judaica Central Scottsdale manufactures and personalizes fabric Judaica items. You can have this white cotton baby bib personalized with a blue dreidel, “1st Chanukah” and the child’s name in silver. Their items also make great presents for baby showers or bris gifts. The bib is $19.99 with the custom embroidery included and shipping is free. Shop online or make an appointment to visit the studio in Scottsdale. They will also have a pop-up shop on Dec. 4 from 10 a.m.1 p.m. at 7116 E. Mercer Lane #103 in Scottsdale. JN

For more information, visit judaica centralaz.com.

In September, Hal and Lindsay Cohen launched an online Etsy shop, Olive+Fawn, “for the creative and beautiful Jewish home.” During the pandemic, the Cohens became involved in crafting, creating a home camp with their four children where Lindsay planned different craft activities that involved the whole family.

“My wife and I have been creatives for a long time and very passionate about our Judaism,” said Hal. “We started doing various kinds of projects, we made a poster with the Al Hamichya (after-food blessing) and we made name signs for the kids.”

Hal works as an attorney; Lindsay was a preschool teacher at Torah Day School’s Kindertots Preschool and is now a stayat-home mom. The family are members

with AJ’s Fine Foods Celebrate the Season

Hal and Lindsay Cohen with their Al Hamichya poster.

COURTESY OF STARTS AT SUNDOWN

COURTESY OF JUDAICA CENTRAL SCOTTSDALE

ETSY

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15

of Ahavas Torah in Scottsdale.

“I love teaching; it fills me up, but right now, I have a baby at home and that’s always going to be the focus for us — what’s good for our family and our kids. Then after that, how we can contribute to our community and the Jewish people at large,” said Lindsay.

The Cohen’s four children are 1-yearold Nesanel, 3-year-old Akiva and twins, Shimon and Esti (their only girl), who will be 5 at the end of this month.

The couple hadn’t planned on becoming business owners; they just enjoyed creating beautiful items to decorate their home.

“Living an observant Jewish life is the most beautiful bracha, blessing, that can be, and yet there was such a paradoxically small outlet for artistic representation of that,” said Lindsay. “It seems like everything was being put into Chanukah and that was the only time of year people were focusing on.”

When friends came over and started complimenting the couple on their pieces, they would be surprised upon learning that the Cohens had made it themselves. When people asked where they could

03-10-013 11/20/13 10:08 AM Page 1

purchase the item and found out it wasn’t for sale anywhere, they encouraged the couple to start selling their art.

“It’s one of those things where the first time you’re told that you’re a horse, you call the person a jerk and the 20th time you get a saddle,” joked Hal. “Eventually, we were like, there is a demand for what we make.”

“The Etsy shop seemed like the best avenue to get our stuff public,” said Lindsay. “Etsy itself is like a virtual community of creatives and we’re staying within our brand, creating beautiful Jewish art.”

“LIVING AN OBSERVANT JEWISH LIFE IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BRACHA , BLESSING, THAT CAN BE, AND YET THERE WAS SUCH A PARADOXICALLY SMALL OUTLET FOR ARTISTIC REPRESENTATION OF THAT.”

The couple wanted to come up with a name that felt both meaningful and also represented the art they were creating. Since they make Judaic art and pieces for nurseries, they tried to find something that wasn’t obvious like a Star of David. Instead, they wanted something with more of an artistic reference.

“We thought about olives, one of the special fruits from Israel. Also, the color of them, the shape of them, the iconic beauty of the tree and the connotation of the tree for peace,” said Lindsay. “We liked the vibe and it represents our Judaic line without being too literal.”

Now they had to come up with a name for the “baby section” of the business.

“Our baby’s middle name is Hirsch, which is deer in Yiddish,” said Lindsay. “So, a deer was already on my radar. I love the peace of them; I love the color scheme as funny as that is. The fawn color with the white speckles.”

As a child, Lindsay was always drawing and painting — always involved in some sort of art, not only visually but also theater and music. Hal has enjoyed various art hobbies including mask-making, woodworking and pottery.

Lindsay often sketches out a design and then gives it to Hal, who digitizes it and sends the file to Lindsay’s mom, Peggy Simon, who creates the pieces. Simon has a Glowforge, a machine that laser cuts, engraves and scores varied materials.

“There’s mom and pop shops and we say we’re the mom, pop and grandmom shop,” said Lindsay. “It’s a family business and it’s fun. It also keeps up the relationship with my mom. We’re talking to her

all the time and coming up with ideas and she is like a super hard worker and a perfectionist so you can be assured that any products bought from our store are going to be made well.”

One of Lindsay’s favorite pieces is the Al Hamichya poster. She said that there are many versions available online, but they tend to look similar and are often etched on a piece of Lucite or acrylic and she feels that’s where the design starts and ends.

She said Hal suggested incorporating the seven species mentioned in the Torah into the artwork.

“There are dates, pomegranates, olives, figs, grapes, wheat and barley on it. So, we made it not only beautiful for anybody who’s just looking at it but if you look deeper, and you know the meaning of it, it has all of the species listed,” said Lindsay.

“I think the other thing that’s so cool about that is that you can really make your home reflect your values, it’s not just going to the store and getting what somebody else views as beautiful. You’re taking your own values and putting them into a physical medium. It’s something that I realize we are blessed to have the ability to do.” JN

For more information, visit OliveandFawn.etsy.com.

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All donations received under this special Tax Credit Program will be used to underwrite essentialservices for the elderly who must rely on our Community’scollective generosity.

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Featured Event

THURSDAY, DEC. 8

Steven Hartov discusses ‘The Last of the Seven:’ 7-8 p.m. The Poisoned Pen Bookstore, 4014 N. Goldwater Blvd., Scottsdale. Author Steven Hartov discusses his novel of World War II based on the little-known history of the X Troop — a team of European Jews who escaped to join the British Army and return home to exact their revenge on Hitler’s military. Cost: $26.99 for a signed copy. For more information, visit poisonedpen.com.

Events

FRIDAY-SUNDAY, DEC. 2-4

Fiddler on the Roof: Times vary. Orpheum Theatre Phoenix, 203 W. Adams St. The classic story of traditions that define faith and family. Presented by The American Theatre Guild. For more information, visit broadwayorpheum.com.

SUNDAY, DEC. 4

Screening of ‘Berenshtein’: Watch online anytime on Dec. 4. As part of its Israel Film Series, the East Valley Jewish Community Center presents this film based on the true story of Leonid Berenshtein, the last surviving member of the great partisans who located Hitler’s secret weapon, the V2 missile development facility. Free. Register for the link at evjcc.org/film.

Singles Coffee: 11:30 a.m.Coffee Plantation, outdoor patio, 7366 E. Shea Blvd. #101, Scottsdale. Jewish singles age 55-70 are invited to attend a casual gathering to meet new friends. No RSVP necessary. For more information, contact Sheryl at 602-750-1838.

Jewish Youth in Action: Opportunities for Climate Engagement: 2 p.m.Online. Meeting for Jewish youth interested in taking action on the climate crisis as well as youth directors, religiousschool teachers, camp counselors and other members of the Jewish community engaged with youth. Prsented by the Citizens’ Climate Lobby Jewish Action Team and co-sponsored by JYCM and the Dayenu Circle of Silicon Valley. For more information, visit bit.ly/CCLJewishYouth.

MONDAY, DEC. 5

Temple Kol Ami’s Holiday Fair: 6-8:30 p.m.

Temple Kol Ami, 15030 N. 64th St., Scottsdale. Shop for presents from local vendors. Hosted by TKA Under the Red Tent, an intergenerational women’s program. For more information, visit templekolami.org.

Hammerman Family Lecture: A Journey of Discovery and Truth-Telling: 7 p.m. Congregatin Or Tzion, 16415 N. 90th St., Scottsdale. Valley Beit Midrash presents a hybrid event (in-person and virtual) featuring Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz in conversation with Letty Cottin Pogrebin, writer, activist and co-founding editor of Ms.magazine, about her new book, “Shanda: A Memoir of Shame and Secrecy.” For more information, visit valleybeitmidrash.org.

THURSDAY, DEC. 8

JNF-USA Annual Men’s Event: 5:30-10 p.m.

The Clayton House, 3719 N. 75th St., Scottsdale. Hear from Russell F. Robinson, Jewish National Fund-USA’s CEO, about new initiatives and enjoy a night of conversation, dinner, whiskey tasting, cigars, a luxury car display and more. Cost: $100; $54 for young professionals under 40. For more information, contact Leila Mikal at lmikal@jnf.org or 480-447-8100 x987.

SATURDAY, DEC. 10

Levity, Latkes and Liberty: 5-8 p.m. Guests who purchase tickets will receive an email with the event address — a private home in North Central Phoenix. Join Phoenix Sister Cities Ramat-Gan

city committee for a buffet meal and presentation by Dr. Björn Krondorfer, “From Hanukkah to Holocaust: Liberty and Liberation.” Cost: $30-$50. For more information, visit phoenixsistercities.org.

THURSDAY, DEC. 15

Chanukah Regional Party: 7:30-9 p.m. Chabad of Phoenix, 2110 E. Lincoln Dr., Phoenix. CTeen Phoenix is hosting a Chanukah party for teens from all over Arizona with dreidels, latkes and more. Cost: Free. For more information, visit cteenphoenix.com.

SATURDAY, DEC. 17

Jewish Community Night at ZooLights:

5:30-9:30 p.m. Phoenix Zoo, 455 N. Galvin Pkwy. Enjoy ZooLights and exclusive access to the Jewish community area at Lemur Lane where there will be crafts, programming and more. Presented by the Center for Jewish Philanthropy of Greater Phoenix, Bureau of Jewish Education, PJ Library and Pardes Jewish Day School. Cost: $25 per person, ages 2 and under are free. The deadline to receive this special discounted price is Friday, Dec. 11. For more information, visit phoenixcjp.org/zoolights

Phoenix Sings — Chanukah Sing-A-Long:

5:30-8 p.m. Arizona Jewish Historical Society, 122 E. Culver St., Phoenix. An interactive Chanukah concert fundraiser featuring the cantors and soloists of Congregation Beth Israel, Congregation Or Tzion, Temple Chai, Temple Kol Ami and Temple Solel. Proceeds benefit the Center for Jewish Philanthropy of Greater Phoenix’s Camp Scholarship Fund. Cost: $36 adults; $18 children 12 and under. For more information, visit azjhs.org/ hanukkah-concert.

SUNDAY-SUNDAY, DEC. 18-25 Chanukah in Carefree: 5:30 p.m. Sanderson Lincoln Pavilion, 101 Easy St., Carefree. Nightly menorah lighting led by a different community group or family each night of Chanukah. Gift bags will be available for children every evening as well as chocolate gelt for all. Live streaming also available. For more information, visit carefree.org/ holidays-in-carefree.

Meetings, Lectures & Classes

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

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

MONDAYS

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

Quotable Quotes by our Sages: 7 p.m. Online. Learn with Rabbi Shlomy Levertov. Tune in at:

JewishParadiseValley.com/class. Cost: Free. For more information, visit chabadaz.com.

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

TUESDAYS

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

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

WEDNESDAYS

History of the Jews: 11:00 a.m. Online. Learn the Jewish journey from Genesis to Moshiach with Rabbi Ephraim Zimmerman. Cost: Free. Tune in here: zoom.us/j/736434666. For more information, visit chabadaz.com.

Words & Whiskey: 8:30 p.m. Online. Learning session for men. Cost: Free. To RSVP, email rmollenaz@gmail.com or call/text 310-709-3901.

THURSDAYS

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

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

SATURDAYS

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

Shabbat

FRIDAYS

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

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

Shabbat at Beth El: 11-11:45 a.m. Beth El Phoenix, 1118 W. Glendale. Ave., Phoenix. Celebrate Shabbat with songs, blessings and teachings with Rabbi

Stein Kokin the first Friday of every month. Special guests will be welcoming Shabbat during the remainder of the month. For more information or to join, visit bethelphoenix.com.

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

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

Shabbat Services: Friday evening (5:30 p.m. nosh, 6:15 p.m. service) and Shabbat morning (varying dates and times). Temple Chai, 4645 E. Marilyn Raod, Phoenix. For more information, contact Sheana Abrams at (602) 971-1234 or sabrams@templechai.com.

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

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

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

Third Friday Shabbat: 7-8 p.m. Terravita Golf & Country Club, 34034 N. 69th Way, Scottsdale. The Desert Foothills Jewish Community Association hosts a Shabbat service followed by a program. Contact Andrea at 480-664-8847 for more information.

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

Shabbaton in NYC

Nov. 4-6, over 1,200 Jewish college students from around the world joined an international Shabbaton in Crown Heights Brooklyn at the NYC Pegisha. More than 20 Arizona State University Jewish students represented Chabad at ASU at this special event.

Happy hour NowGen style

On Nov. 2, approximately 60 young professionals made it out to The Little Woody to mingle with returning NowGeners and brand-new ones.

OF NOWGEN

A wide world of animals

The New Shul had its first intergenerational family program of the season, celebrating Noah’s Ark by walking through the gardens at the home of Dr. Jolene Kuty and Daniel Gottlieb to learn about the parshah and the lives of the animals.

Sharing Shabbat

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

Pictured from left to right: Deanna Taylor, Abbie Beller, Peggy Allen and Stephanie Shink enjoy Shabbat dinner with Smile on Seniors.

Lila Markowitz of Phoenix died Nov. 16. She was 97.

Lila is survived by her sons Adam Markowitz of Scottsdale, Michael Markowitz of Tucson and Randall Kavet of Orwell, Vermont; and daughter, Suzanne Kavet of Portland, Oregon; eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, Jerome Markowitz. Services were held at Paradise Memorial Gardens on Nov. 22 and arranged by Sinai Mortuary of Arizona.

Donations in her name can be made to the Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater Phoenix, Congregation NefeshSoul in Chandler or Temple B’rith Shalom in Prescott.

Lila’s adage was: “Love is multiplied, never divided.” Lila was a remarkable woman. She was an editor, teacher, advocate, wife, mother, stepmother, grandmother, great-grandmother and dear friend to so many. From New York to Arizona and beyond she touched so many lives. We celebrate her, we miss her and we love her.

Elaine Goldberg , 86, of Phoenix passed away peacefully in her sleep during the early hours of November 12, 2022, after a brief battle with lung cancer.

Elaine was born in Brooklyn, New York to Sarah and Murray Shaw on February 5, 1936. She was a registered nurse with a career that spanned over 50 years.

A beloved sister, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, she is survived by her sister, Madeleine Lucien-Brun (Maurice); sons Alan (Camille) and Seth (Roz); daughter Nancy (Mark); and grandchildren Jordan (Mark), Leah, Brandon, Jeremy, Jacob, David, and great-grandsons Zeke and Max. Elaine is predeceased by her husband of 53 years, Dr. Morris Goldberg.

A funeral service was held on Monday, November 14 at Sinai Mortuary in hoeni In lieu of flowers, lease onsider ma ing a donation to os i e of the Valley (hov.org).

SHELDON ROBERT ROTH

Sheldon Robert Roth, aka Noodles, longtime resident of Scottsdale, Arizona, passed away on Nov. 18 in his home, surrounded by his loving family. He was 86.

Sheldon was born on Feb. 15, 1936, in Hartford, Connecticut, to Samuel and Fannye Roth. He graduated from Avon Old Farms Prep School in Connecticut and went on to study business management at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, where he graduated in 1958.

Sheldon, who lovingly referred to himself as “Noodles,” moved to Washington, D.C. after college and met his wife, Joan Smelkinson, and they were married on April 19, 1959. They lived in Baltimore, Maryland, where they raised three boys: Joseph, Robert and Jonathan. Sheldon went to work for Joan’s father’s business, Smelkinson Brothers Corporation, and was instrumental in the success of the company becoming the largest Institutional Foodservice Wholesaler in the Baltimore/ Washington market.

Sheldon was a pioneer in the industry and helped create what is known today as a Full Line Foodservice Wholesaler and as a result was named by ID (Institutional Distribution) Magazine as one of the “Top 25” people who shaped the industry to what it is today. The business was sold to CFS Continental in 1985 and was subsequently purchased by Sysco Foodservice (the largest foodservice wholesaler in the nation). Sysco recognized Sheldon’s leadership and asked him to become president of their Phoenix operation in 1987, to help expand and grow their Southwest region. Sheldon and Joan moved to Scottsdale, Arizona in 1987 and Sheldon eventually retired from Sysco in 1989, and for several years continued to do private consulting in the food service industry.

Sheldon was involved in many civic and philanthropic causes including being appointed as a magistrate judge for the City of Baltimore, president of Golden Eagle Square and Compass Club of Maryland, president and board chairman of Jewish Convalescent and Nursing Home of Baltimore, chairman of Israel Bonds of Phoenix, member of the National State of Israel Bonds campaign cabinet, board member for Jewish National Fund-USA, board member and campaign chairman of the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix and was he a lifetime board member of Congregation Beth Israel of Scottsdale.

Upon Joan’s passing in 2002, Sheldon married Maddy Shapiro in 2003, and they were married for 19 years until Maddy’s untimely passing in March 2021. Maddy and Sheldon lived in Scottsdale, Pinetop, Payson and Fountain Hills. Sheldon was a bigger than life character, who loved telling a good joke, had a passion for his family, golf, card games, food and wine, travel and a good cigar. Noodles enjoyed his retirement to the fullest and was fortunate to travel the world, spend time with his loving family and he liked to joke that he only played golf on days that ended in “y.”

Sheldon is survived by his three children; Joe (Amy), Bob (Susie) and Jonathan (Lori) as well as nine grandchildren; Sami-Jo (Doug), Courtney, Spencer, Allison, Megan, Harrison, Jessica, Ben and Joelle and his stepchildren; Jason (Natasha) and Jenny (Angela).

Funeral Services were held graveside at Mt. Sinai Cemetery on Tuesday, Nov. 22. The funeral service was recorded and can be viewed at www.gotroth.com.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that a memorial donation be made to Congregation Beth Israel of Scottsdale, in the name of Sheldon “Noodles” Roth Memorial Fund.

HERMAN CHANEN

Noted Arizona community leader Herman Chanen passed away on Nov. 14, 2022. Builder, entrepreneur, education advocate and a man with a larger-than-life personality, Herman Chanen ersoni ed the meri an dream he lo ed so mu h Born the son of immigrants from at ia and a rst generation meri an, Herman loved the promise and opportunity represented by the United States. From the earliest age, he strived to honor his country, live up to its promises and assure that the America dream was attainable by all. Born in Independence, Iowa, as a child he played the bugle each day at his s hool for the raising of the meri an flag and be ame a Boy out, ultimately rising to the level of Eagle Scout. Herman volunteered and served his country in the Navy toward the end of World War II. After his military service, Herman moved to Phoenix, population 90,000. With no time for college, Herman thought he should start a business. He became a TV pitchman for a grocery store, started an advertising agency and started a car wash, Chanen Family Car Wash. None of the early businesses were what he hoped they would be. In 1951, he married Phoenix resident Lois Boshes and through a twist of fate, went to work for a local apartment builder and learned the construction industry. By 1955, and with a growing family, he was ready go out on his own. He borrowed $1,000 from Household Credit and started Chanen Construction Company. The company grew and by 1960 Herman, and his company, built erminal at y arbor International ir ort, the om any s rst large onstru tion ro e t Being part of the business community during the phenomenal growth years of Phoenix brought Herman national attention. In 1963, Look magazine did a story featuring Herman and his family entitled “Boom in the Desert,” in which Herman predicted that Phoenix would become a city of one million people. He was appointed to the National Alliance of Business by President Lyndon Johnson in 1967 and worked with that administration to create prototype low-cost housing. Herman served for almost two decades on the board of Valley National Bank of Arizona, Arizona’s then largest bank, now part of JP Morgan Chase.

As his company grew, Herman led or served on more than 50 philanthropic and community organizations, many of which were crucial to the economic and cultural development of Arizona. He was recognized by many of these institutions with awards including the Phoenix Advertising Club Man of the Year, Human Relations Award from the National Conference for Community and Justice, Golden Plate Award of the National Academy of Achievement, the Human Relations Award of the Anti-Defamation League and he was a 32nd Degree Mason of the Scottish Rite. Herman was appointed by former Governor Bruce Babbitt to the Arizona Board of Regents, the governing body for Arizona’s three public universities, where he served for eight years, including the role of the Board president, modernizing Arizona’s universities’ a ital de elo ment o ersight and s al re iew ro ess s a egent, erman had lasting influen e on ri ona, hairing the sele tion ommittees that named r attie Coor as resident of Arizona State University in 1992 and Dr. Michael Crow as President in 2002. In recognition of these efforts, Herman was granted a Doctor of Humane Letters (Honorary) in 1994. erman s leadershi was ru ial with many ri ona non ro t o rgani ations i n luding t he ri ona eart Institute oundation building ri ona s rst dedi ated heart surgery hos ital , Barrow Neurological Foundation, Boys and Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Phoenix, Childhelp USA, HomeBase Youth Services, the Phoenix Symphony and the Greater Phoenix United Way (where he chaired one of their most successful fundraising efforts). He was a co-founder of Phoenix Economic Growth Corporation (now the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, Arizona’s leading global economic development organization) and was an early member of Phoenix 40 (now Greater Phoenix Leadership, an organization of Valley leading CEOs working to improve economic vitality and quality of life through aligning business, education, philanthropy and public policy sectors.)

More recently, Herman was the recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor by NECO (the ational thni Coalition of rgani ations , oining other distinguished re i ients, su h as ee Iacocca, Walter Cronkite, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Rosa Parks, Bob Hope, Joe DiMaggio, Muhammad Ali and Barbara Walters. The Ellis Island Medal of Honor ranks among the nation’s most renowned awards.

While serving these organizations and being recognized with over 50 local and national awards, erman en oyed shing in Iowa and innesota la es, dining with friends, and Arizona professional sports, fun with family and devising pranks to be launched on friends and family. Herman continued to grow Chanen Construction Company, which today is 67 years old. The company built a headquarters building for Household Finance in Las Vegas and Herman shared the story of the company’s founding with Household’s CEO, saying “I am only here today to build this building for you because of what your company did for me 50 years ago.” The story of the American dream in action.

Herman Chanen is predeceased by beloved parents Louis and Edith Chanen; his sister, Frieda Goldberg; and his former wife, Lois Chanen. He is survived by his sons Marc Chanen and Steve Chanen (Jeanne); and grandchildren Rachel, Lauren and Sammy Chanen. Services were held on Sunday, Nov. 20, 2022, at 2 p.m. at Congregation Beth Israel, 10460 N. 56th St, Paradise alley, In lieu of flowers, for those desiring, a ontribution is suggested to the Chanen Scholarship Fund at Midwestern University or the Chanen Preschool at Congregation Beth Israel.

Years

Jewish Arizona

CELEBRATE 75 YEARS WITH THE JEWISH NEWS. The January 6 issue kicks off a year-long celebration with a special section focusing on the history of the Jewish News.

The Best of Magazine Jewish News 75th Anniversary commemorative issue publishes on August 18. The glossy magazine will take a look back at the major events of the last 75 years with the stories, photos and advertisements that have shaped Jewish life in Greater Phoenix.

ADVERTISE IN THE JEWISH NEWS TO REACH ENGAGED, HIGHLY EDUCATED AND LOYAL READERS.

Special Section: January 6

Ad space deadline: December 28

Best of Jewish News

Anniversary magazine: August 18

Ad space deadline: June 22