HEADLINES | 6
SENIORS | 17
SHIVA SOURCE
ABSTRACT ART
Kim Gallagher is filling a need in the Jewish community
Freddie Lieberman is ejoying her first one-woman art show
JANUARY 10, 2025 | TEVET 10, 5785 | VOLUME 77, NUMBER 9
Rosie’s Nest boosts CBI’s Jewish community ‘from cradle to grave’ philosophy SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER
T
his year, parents dropping off their kids at Congregation Beth Israel’s (CBI) Chanen Preschool will be able to grab a coffee and chat with friends for a few minutes before rushing off to work. The same will be true for people wanting an ice cream in the afternoon or just the chance to relax, hang out and talk in comfort. While new coffee, ice cream and gift shops might be exciting campus additions for many CBI members, none of those nifty new spaces constitute the main motivation for the synagogue’s ongoing construction, which began last spring. Instead, something much cuddlier and sweeter is afoot. Through its preschool, Hebrew school and summer camp to its social groups, adult education and religious services, CBI promotes the all-inclusive ethos of Jewish community — from the cradle to the grave. This month, it will add another, more precious layer to that communal mindset with the addition of Rosie’s Nest at Chanen Preschool. Rosie’s Nest is an infant and family center expanding on Chanen’s existing infant program. It takes the care that was already offered to “a new level,” Robin Roeder, CBI’s chief communal and executive officer, told Jewish News. Those parents who need infant care for children as young as six weeks old are either working full-time, caring for an elderly parent or likely both, according to Roeder. She recognized that to
$1.50
Activist Montana Tucker warns ‘history will repeat itself’ if antisemitism not aggressively confronted BRYAN BENDER | SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
M
ontana Tucker, the popular multimedia star and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, brought her global campaign to combat antisemitism and draw attention to the plight of the Gaza hostages to Scottsdale on Dec. 12 at Jewish National Fund-USA’s (JNF-USA) annual Men’s Event. The 31-year-old actor, singer, songwriter, dancer and producer, who boasts 14 million followers on TikTok and Instagram, was the featured speaker at a fundraiser for the nonprofit organization that is dedicated to building a strong, vibrant future for the land and people of Israel. “My grandparents’ survival is the reason I’m even here today,” Tucker told hundreds of the organization’s local partners. “They lived so that I could live, so that I could speak out in ways that they couldn’t back then. If we don’t stand up now, history will repeat itself.” Tucker said she committed to using her unique platform to educate young people in the aftermath of the Hamas massacre of more than 1,200 people on Oct. 7, 2023, which supercharged an already steady rise in antisemitism. “We live in a world where the unthinkable has become acceptable,” she said. “Antisemitism is no longer hiding in the shadows. It’s out in the open. It’s woven into chants on college campuses, into the rhetoric of protests in the streets of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, right here in Arizona, to SEE ACTIVIST, PAGE 3
Montana Tucker spoke at the Jewish National Fund-USA’s COURTESY OF TAVITS PHOTOGRAPHY Men’s Event on Dec. 12.
Thinking of camp Jewish camp professionals share their favorite camp-related memories. See page 15. PHOTO COURTESY STEFANI ROZEN, AUBREY GOLDING, ERIN WYNN, SAM BRALEY AND JOEL SWEDLOVE
SEE NEST, PAGE 2
KEEP YOUR EYE ON jewishaz.com
NATIONAL
Trump names a former critic as Middle East aide — but says, ‘These things usually don’t work out’
INTERNATIONAL
Justin Trudeau, who is stepping down as Canadian PM, faced post-Oct. 7 criticism from Jewish leaders
ISRAEL
Meet Valerie Hamaty, the Arab Christian leading the race to represent Israel at Eurovision