The Tucson Board of Rabbis has a total of 11 members from Conservative, Reform and Renewal congregations. The TBOR develops positions on important issues of the day and sponsors forums on important topics.
In 2013 the members of the Tucson Board of Rabbis joined with the Phoenix Board of Rabbis in issuing a resolution to support reforming gun laws: “As religious leaders and American citizens, we call upon our elected State and Federal officials to listen to the will of the people, and hear the voice of our children [and take] the life-saving steps to reform our gun laws.” That same year, The Tucson Board of Rabbis sponsored a forum about the Pew Report, “A Portrait of Jewish Americans.”
Together with representatives of other faiths, it participates in civic and communal affairs and is recognized as the religious spokesman for the local Jewish community.
The current president of the Tucson Board of Rabbis is Rabbi Stephanie Aaron.
She and her husband, Dr. Jack Aaron, a Tucson ophthalmologist, have four children and two grandsons.
Currently serving the second year of a two-year term, Rabbi Aaron has long been active in Tucson’s Jewish community. She has served Congregation Chaverim for 35 years, the last 17 years as the rabbi of that Tucson Reform congregation. She also worked as an elementary teacher in the religious school of Temple Emanu-El. In 1981 she was named the Young Woman of the Year by the Tucson Jewish Community Council. In 2011 the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona named Rabbi Aaron professional of the year and nominated her for the Third Annual Jewish Community Hero Awards for her work on gun reform.
“The TBOR has created some excellent opportunities for Jewish learning for the entire Jewish community,” says Rabbi Aaron. “We have offered a Talmud class and we have also taught at and co-sponsored our larger Jewish community’s yearly educational event, The Culture Shuk (a marketplace of ideas with a myriad of classes available in one evening).”
