Marcus Blassingame, a bar mitzvah student at Temple Beth Sholom, is a proud Afro-Latino Jew whose dad is a fashion stylist and editor. So it seemed a natural fit that his mitzvah project would start at donating his time to The Clothes Cabin in Chandler. Then he wanted to take things to a different level. “I love the idea of…
Birth Jewish children are given Hebrew names in addition to their English names. The most prominent ceremony surrounding a birth in our tradition is the circumcision of the male child, performed on the eighth day after birth. The ceremony is called a brit milah, which means covenant, harking back to when Abraham entered into a…
As an experienced clinical child psychologist, I believe the ultimate goal of any parent is to rear an independent, responsible child. While at first glance this may appear obvious, if we observe most parents in action on a day-to-day basis, it becomes evident that many parents have no idea how to achieve this. Most parents never…
One of Judaism’s core teachings centers on the passing of knowledge and values to the next generation. In celebration of Father’s Day, Arizona Jewish Life spoke to three fathers who have instilled the importance of being Jewish communal leaders to their sons. Murray & Adam Goodman Murray Goodman is as close to a Phoenix native…
In Jewish tradition, the cemetery is not a place of death but a place of life, where people honor their cherished ones and come to visit, sometimes leaving a small stone on the headstone as a sign of love. Many Jews long to be buried in a Jewish cemetery, not in the Jewish section of…
When Temple Beth Shalom opened its religious school five years ago, it faced a unique problem: how to create a synagogue community that integrates its newer members, mostly families with children of school age, with its longtime members, primarily seniors. “We have 400 member families; about 45 of those families are involved in the religious…
As you enter Inna and Alex Khazanovich’s home, you immediately feel the couple’s warmth, comfort and creativity. Inna’s artistic talents are everywhere. From the diagonally laid wooden floorboards that allow for not a single threshold throughout the house (it’s all about freedom and flow for these folks), to the handcrafted Frank Lloyd Wright French door…
I call my 9-year-old son, Eli, “my little bunny.” Today I tossed out the endearing appellation and he looked at me askew and said, “Why do you call me that?” I told him it was from one of my favorite children’s books, The Runaway Bunny, which I used to read to him when he was…
The most accurate description of the pioneer women of Arizona is best discovered somewhere between the historical records and the “embroidered” passed-down family stories. Without a doubt the women of the 1860s and ’70s who arrived in the Territory were fearless, dedicated individuals who brought with them the traditions and culture of their faith and…
One in 15 Ashkenazi Jewish individuals is a carrier for Gaucher Disease. Thus reads the opening statement on the Jewish Genetic Diseases Center’s website (jewishgeneticsphx.org). It’s a startling fact, and the rest of the site is also filled with facts and figures many people work hard to ignore. We don’t want to think about it,…
