This interactive and upbeat Shabbat celebration for families incorporates fun-spirited melodies and family-themed activities. We’ll share Shabbat dinner, followed by Open Lounge in the Youth Center with games and fun. Come celebrate Shabbat with ruach (spirit) and your congregational family! Dinner $25 per family (two adults & up to 4 children) and/or adults (13+) $10 per person. RSVP needed by Sept. 12.
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.)
The East Valley JCC and the City of Chandler will host the annual Klezmer Fest from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday, March 15, at the East Valley JCC, 908 N. Alma School Road, Chandler.
Lively and upbeat, klezmer is the traditional Jewish folk music of Eastern European Jewish communities. Over time, the style of music has grown to include instrumental music, Yiddish vocal music and modern fusion music that combines klezmer with world music such as Afro-pop, rock or hip hop.
This music festival will also include a Yiddish Experience that includes workshops and lectures focusing on topics such as genealogy and the Yiddish language. In addition, there will be children’s activities, such as inflatables, face-painting and a petting zoo, as well as kosher pizza and salads available for sale by Brad’s Mobile Pizza Oven.
Local bands include Jerusafunk, a nine-piece ensemble from Phoenix that blends traditional klezmer music with American Funk and other world music genres, such as jazz, salsa and samba; the Rural Street Klezmer Band of Temple Emanuel of Tempe that plays traditional Jewish soul music inspired by Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Yiddish theater and American jazz; Zaftic, whose rich and succulent sound is a mixture of Turkish, Arabic, Baroque, Irish and jazz; and Klezmerkaba, an 11-piece band from Tucson whose repertoire consists of klezmer pieces steeped in Eastern European tradition, as well as familiar Jewish, Yiddish and Israeli pieces from different eras and ethnicities. The festival will conclude with a massive jam session featuring all the musicians.
Tickets are $15 adults, $5 children up to age 12.
Visit evjcc.org/klezmerfest.