Jewish Family & Children’s Service is pleased to announce its April Memory Café will feature an interactive sing-along with the JFCS Senior Chorus, The Sunshine Singers, at Beth El Congregation, 1118 W. Glendale Avenue in Phoenix on Thursday, April 5, 2018 from 10 to 11:30 am.
The Sunshine Singers, who are part of the Creative Aging program of JFCS, have been rehearsing together for several months, led by the talented Daniel Kurek.
The Café is a meeting place for those with changes in their thinking or memory, mild cognitive impairment or dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease or a related disorder, along with their care partners. Offered on the first Thursday of the month, each Café has a new theme and includes meaningful, fun activities to engage the participants and stimulate their minds and bodies. Socialization is a key component to the cafés, as they are meant to be a place to relax, meet others and have fun in a nurturing and accepting environment.
Jewish Family & Children’s Service presents its Monday Movie Matinee featuring the 1979 film, “The Frisco Kid” starring Gene Wilder and Harrison Ford.
The event will take place on April 9 at 12:30 p.m. at the Bureau of Jewish Education on the Ina Levine Jewish Community Center Campus, 12701 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale, AZ 85254.
Also starring Ramon Bieri, Val Bisoglio and George DiCenzo, this Robert Aldrich-directed film follows a Polish rabbi who wanders through the Old West on his way to lead a synagogue in San Francisco.
Max McQueen, former film critic for the East Valley Tribune, will host a discussion session following the film.
There is no charge but RSVPs are required; please send to [email protected]. The matinee is open to senior adults (60+).
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.
The Center for Holocaust Education and Human Dignity of the East Valley Jewish Community Center will host a daylong program commemorating the victims of the Holocaust in observance of Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Registration is required for all programs. To register, click here. All programs are free except for the Open Beit Midrash guided tour, which includes a kosher lunch. To make a payment, click here.
- Self-guided tours (Noon-3 p.m.): “Through the Eyes of Youth: Life and Death in the Bedzin Ghetto” is an exhibit created by the Martin-Springer Institute at Northern Arizona University that tells the story of young people in the Jewish ghetto of Bedzin, Poland, before, during and after the Holocaust. Reservations are required.
- Guided tour and lunch (11 a.m.): Bjorn Krondorfer, director of the Martin-Springer Institute at Northern Arizona University, will lead a tour of the above exhibit as part of Open Beit Midrash. The cost is $14, which includes a kosher lunch following the tour. Reservations are required by April 29.To register, click here. To make a payment, click here.
- Screening of “Shalom Italia” (1 p.m.): This documentary by Tamar Tal Anati tells the story of three Italian Jewish brothers set off on a journey through Tuscany, in search of a cave where they hid as children to escape the Nazis. Their quest, full of humor, food and Tuscan landscapes, straddles the boundary between history and myth, both of which really, truly happened. Reservations are required.
- Teacher’s workshop (4-5:30 p.m.): In this free workshop, Bjorn Krondorfer, director of the Martin-Springer Institute at Northern Arizona University, will lead a tour of the exhibit and discuss how to approach stories from the Holocaust with students. The program is geared toward teachers who teach high school or college students. Reservations are required.
- Yom Hashoah ceremony (6 p.m.): Procession of survivors and their descendants and a candle-lighting ceremony; presentation by Holocaust survivor Marion Weinzweig, author of “Lonely Chameleon”; presentation by Bjorn Krondorfer, who will share his story about finding out as an adult that his father was a German soldier at a slave labor camp in Poland; and reading of names, Mourner’s Kaddish, El Maleh Rachamim led by Rabbi Michael Beyo. Reservations are required.
Partners of this East Valley JCC program include The Martin-Springer Institute of Northern Arizona University, Temple Emanuel of Tempe, Temple Beth Sholom of the East Valley and the Sun Lakes Jewish Congregation.