For the Summer, Schmooze Young Families (20s-40s) is making a monthly stop at different Phoenix area splash pads for some nice cool fun outdoors! In September, we’ll stop by the new and exciting splash pad at the Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center in Scottsdale. Be on the lookout for the Schmooze sign to gather with other Schmooze members. To reserve your space, please RSVP at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/53KJ57F.
You can find more details and RSVP (to let us know if we should be on the lookout for you) through the Facebook event page (https://www.facebook.com/events/1314558858561882) or Meetup event page (https://www.meetup.com/azschmooze/events/233720303).
Held on the Oleisky Courtyard patio
The opportunity to worship outside enables us to better encounter nature, and to remind ourselves that any space can become sacred through the manner in which we use it. Come and help us expand our “worship zone” as we welcome Shabbat.
Sacred time and emotional fullness can help promote meaningful and long-term family health. Enjoy an interactive and reflective conversation about bringing family closer together through age-old practices such as transforming a dining room table into an altar to create shared family spirituality. Speaker Avraham Alpert is the spiritual leader of Congregation Bet Shalom in Tucson and is in his final year of rabbinical seminary at the Academy for Jewish Religion in Los Angeles after serving as a hazzan for more than 18 years. He leads services and officiates a full range of life cycle events, counsels people in need, trains students of all ages, coordinates lay-leaders, develops programs, and teaches creative classes.
This is one of two April lectures in the Shalom in Every Home Healthy Family Lecture Series sponsored by Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Southern Arizona and the LEAH program, which is funded by the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona.
Incorporating the practice of mindfulness into our lives has a positive impact on our individual well-being. This discussion will focus on the use of mindfulness in couples counseling and specific skills that increase gratitude and compassion in interpersonal relationships. Shari Goettel, LCSW, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in private practice in Tucson. As a trainer and presenter, Shari draws from her background in Imago Relationship Therapy and Encounter-Centered Couples Therapy, as well her mentors and Buddhist psychology. Shari creates a rich learning space for people to explore new ideas, beliefs and habits.
This is one of two April lectures in the Shalom in Every Home Healthy Family Lecture Series sponsored by Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Southern Arizona and the LEAH program, which is funded by the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona.
Jewish Family & Children’s Service is hosting a crisis and response training for professionals and paraprofessionals from Jewish faith-based organizations. The training will take place at Temple Chai, 4645 E Marilyn Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85032 on Tuesday, April 24 from 6 – 8:30 pm. There is no cost to attend, but registration is required.
When a crisis occurs in the Phoenix Jewish community, these trained volunteers will be available to offer immediate support services to help those impacted cope with the aftermath of the crisis.
This three-hour training will give participants the opportunity to enhance their crisis intervention skills and gives the volunteers additional insight into the challenges faced by the community in the wake of a crisis situation.
Participants will leave the training with the skills to provide culturally sensitive responses to those in crisis, including those that have been victims of a hate crime, as well as a deeper understanding of how people heal through EMDR therapy.
The training session will be presented by Ira Dressner, Ph.D., LCSW, EMDR Consultant and Trainer, and Liana Dressner, MSW, LCSW, EMDR Consultant. Ira Dressner graduated from the Maxwell School of Public Affairs with a MPA and Ph.D. He has been a psychotherapist and counselor for 26 years and specializes in trauma. Liana Dressner graduated with her bachelor’s in social work and Master’s in Social Work from New York University.
Open to the public, this FREE weekly class for children 9- to 24-months in age and their parent(s) is a great way to meet other parents, exchange experiences, and provide an opportunity for the children to play together and engage in age-appropriate activities. Facilitated by Gabby Erbst, various experts from different fields of child development and child-care will visit to share their expertise and provide opportunities for discussions. Feel free to bring your friends; it’s open to everyone! (PLEASE NOTE: We have a mandatory vaccination policy.)
Open to the public, this FREE weekly class for children 9- to 24-months in age and their parent(s) is a great way to meet other parents, exchange experiences, and provide an opportunity for the children to play together and engage in age-appropriate activities. Facilitated by Gabby Erbst, various experts from different fields of child development and child-care will visit to share their expertise and provide opportunities for discussions. Feel free to bring your friends; it’s open to everyone! (PLEASE NOTE: We have a mandatory vaccination policy.)
Open to the public, this FREE weekly class for children 9- to 24-months in age and their parent(s) is a great way to meet other parents, exchange experiences, and provide an opportunity for the children to play together and engage in age-appropriate activities. Facilitated by Gabby Erbst, various experts from different fields of child development and child-care will visit to share their expertise and provide opportunities for discussions. Feel free to bring your friends; it’s open to everyone! (PLEASE NOTE: We have a mandatory vaccination policy.)
“Special Needs” – “Disability” – “Inclusion” – so many ways to describe individuals in our community who have differences. Come hear what those words mean to a mother of a young adult, a disability agency, and an individual. Rabbi Nate Crane will moderate a panel through which these speakers can tell their stories sharing what support means to them in both the secular and Jewish communities. Learn how best to help in various situations and get involved in a way that makes sense to you.
Panelists Amy DL Hummell of Gesher Disability Resources, Sharon Landay, and Barton. Facilitated by Rabbi Crane of Congregation Or Tzion and Hagigah.
The Center for Holocaust Education and Human Dignity of the East Valley JCC presents “Elie Wiesel and Primo Levi: The Gray Zone of Holocaust Survival” 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 18, at Chandler Center for the Arts.
Professor Nancy Harrowitz of Boston University’s Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies will read written works by two Auschwitz survivors, Primo Levi and Elie Wiesel, and discuss how they started a new life after the Holocaust.
Elie Wiesel and Primo Levi are the two most widely read authors on the subject of the Holocaust. They share their harrowing and deeply moving stories in very different ways, but are tied together through a deeply philosophical perspective, an emphasis on social justice, and the meaningful legacies they have left behind. How do they create an approach to the Holocaust that brings readers to appreciate its importance in today’s world? How can looking at their stories and how they tell them help us understand their relevance? What can we learn from these two writers/survivors? The program is the debut of a partnership with Boston University’s Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies.
Nancy Harrowitz is a professor of Italian and Jewish studies at Boston University. She has published widely on anti-Semitism and gender in the modern period. Her most recent work includes the book “Primo Levi and the Identity of a Survivor.” At Boston University, she teaches courses on modern Italian literature, film and literature produced under fascism, and representations of the Holocaust in literature and film. She also directs the school’s new minor in Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Studies.