BACK TO SHUL

By Libby Herz

On the eve of Passover last month, Leah Levkowitz was conflicted. All she wanted was to celebrate with her mother as she had done since childhood. It seemed impossible.

Leah was recovering from surgery, and her mother, Barbara Levkowitz, now 95 years old, was unable to help. The rest of her family planned to go to Los Angeles. “I didn’t know how I could possibly do Passover,” she says.

Leah recalled how her mother had always prepared chicken, matzo ball soup, and her famous Passover nut sponge cake. “My mom couldn’t do that now because of her age, and I was physically unable to do anything this year as I was recovering from surgery.”

Finally, word about the situation got to Rabbi Yossie Shemtov, Executive Director of Chabad Tucson. Within a short while, Rabbi Shemtov stood in front of Leah’s door with packages in hand. “He brought everything we needed to celebrate,” says Leah. “He brought Shmura matzo from Israel, the ingredients for the seder plate, and more than enough food for two Seders! It took all the stress off of me.”

Now, Leah thinks back to this past Seder as a special mother-daughter bonding experience. “We were able to hold a traditional Seder just like we always did,” she says. “And my mother wanted to do the whole Seder. No skipping anything!” she laughs.

Deep roots

Rabbi Shemtov’s swift response to the Levkowitz family was one many are familiar with in town. Yet, considering the family’s illustrious history, it carried an added significance.

Leah is the granddaughter of Clara and Harry Levkowitz, who played a central role in the Jewish community in Tucson. The couple moved to Tucson with their family in 1919 and founded the Chicago Store, named after their hometown. The shop bought and sold everything under the sun, from pocket watches to clothing and sundries. If it was worth something, they would handle it, the family says.

Clara was a founding member of Congregation Young Israel when it was established in 1948 as the first Orthodox synagogue in Southern Arizona. Located at 2443 E 4th Street, the congregation drew traditionalist Jews who sought to remain true to Torah Judaism.

Clara volunteered for Young Israel. She donated property to be auctioned off at the congregation’s fundraiser. On Jewish holidays, she and her seven children would help prepare meals for the entire congregation. She was committed to keeping kosher and used to ritually slaughter, and kosher chickens by herself.

She cared deeply about living a Jewish life, and her intense efforts on behalf of the Jewish women in Tucson led to the construction of the first mikvah in the state of Arizona, located behind the Shul. It was renamed the Clara Levkowitz Mikvah upon her passing in 1979.

“She loved Yiddishkeit,” says her grandson Danny Levkowitz. She passed on her love for living a Jewish life to her seven children. As for the Shul, “My grandmother Clara always believed in Young Israel. It is part of our hearts because of her.”

Amatch made in Shul

Barbara was born in 1927 to Lilly and Max Wendell. She was 14 when her family moved to Tucson from the Bronx in 1941. The family always held their Judaism dear, and while in New York, they had attended an Orthodox synagogue. Barbara recalls trudging in the snow to Hebrew School while still living in the Bronx.

Upon their move to Tucson, the Wendell family initially joined the conservative congregation Anshei Israel since there was no Orthodox synagogue then. Later, they became integral to Young Israel and got to know the Levkowitz family.

Marrying Jewish and ensuring Jewish continuity was a priority for Clara’s son, Mike Levkowitz. Mike and Barbara seemed meant for each other. They got married and the couple raised three children: Danny, Leah (Laurie), and Hal.

Barbara had learned how to keep a kosher home and observe the Jewish holidays from her parents. “My mother kept a kosher home, celebrated the Jewish holidays, and made sure we had our Bar Mitzvahs and Bat Mitzvahs,” Danny says. “She used to hold two Passover Seders for the whole family at my parent’s home.”

Barbara was an active volunteer in the Jewish community and with the local chapter of Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America. One of her life’s highlights was hosting First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt for an event. “It was the only time Eleanor came to Tucson,” Leah says.

The family remained connected to both Young Israel and Anshei Israel at different points in their lives. But no matter which Shul they attended, they were always committed to living Jewish values and traditions. Leah recalls being featured in the local newspaper after being crowned Queen Esther during a Purim party at Young Israel and says, “I remember making hamantaschen in their kitchen with my mom for that party,” she says.

Barabra’s Jewish cooking has taken on a life of its own. “My mother taught me how to make all the Jewish foods like chicken, matzo ball soup, chopped liver, and haroset for Passover,” Leah recalls. “Each year, my mother made a sponge-nut-wine cake from scratch. It was the best cake. She also made farfel kugel and passed the recipes down to me. Now, my cousins email me asking for my mother’s recipes. My mother brought the whole family together with the traditions that she got from her parents.”

Lighting the way

Over the past few years, Barbara’s memory has been waning, yet she still remembers the Jewish traditions which are so dear to her heart. To this day, she lights Shabbat candles with her daughter and makes kiddush and Hamotzi every Friday night.

It explains Barbara’s commitment to celebrate Passover this year and the predicament of her daughter Leah in wanting to make it happen.

Just last year, four generations of the Levkowitz family - now spread around Tucson, Phoenix and California - returned to Young Israel to participate in the Community Passover Seder. It felt like coming full circle for the family, sitting in the social hall at the Shul where their parents and grandparents prayed and celebrated.

Young Israel, also called The Shul of Tucson, has been put in the custody of Chabad Tucson, which Rabbi Shemtov heads. When the Shul recently needed new lighting fixtures, Rabbi Shemtov turned to the Sun Lighting company, founded by Mike Levkowitz in 1953. Mike’s and Barbara’s son Danny Levkowitz, who has taken over the business since, happily provided LED lighting for the Shul’s sanctuary.

In fact, one of the last orders of business Danny accomplished before selling Sun Lighting last year was to acquire and provide exquisite lighting systems for the new building of the Lamplighter Chabad Day School of Tucson. “My mother cared deeply about education, so it was an honor for us to be involved in this endeavor,” Danny says.

“Clara Levkowitz, Barbara Levkowitz and the Levkowitz family were instrumental in establishing deep Jewish roots within the Tucson community,” said Rabbi Shemtov. “They passed along the history and traditions of Judaism to the next generation and filled it with pride for the past and hope for the future. Barbara and her descendants continue to be a blessing to this community.”

Shavuot is a two-day holiday, celebrated from sundown on the 5th day of the Hebrew month of Sivan (May 25, 2023) and lasting until nightfall on the 7th of Sivan (May 27, 2023). Every year on Shavuot, we renew our acceptance of the Torah, and G d “re-gives” it to us anew.

Here are 9 things you should know about it:

1. The festival has five names. -Shavuot—The word Shavuot means “weeks.” It marks the completion of the seven-week Omer counting period between Passover and Shavuot.

-Yom HaBikkurim—”The day of First Fruits.” Shavuot is also the celebration of the wheat harvest and the ripening of the first fruits, which is the reason for this name as well as the following one.

-Chag HaKatzir—The “Harvest Festival.”

-Atzeret—In the Talmud, Shavuot is also called Atzeret, which means “The Stoppage,” a reference to the prohibition against work on this holiday.

-Zeman Matan Torahteinu—In the holiday prayer service, we refer to it as the “Time of the Giving of Our Torah.”

2. Women and girls light candles to usher in the holiday.

Candles are lit on Thursday, May 25 at