HEADLINES | 6
SENIORS | 14
MEZUZAH MAKES HISTORY
‘TEKHELET’ MAKES ITS DEBUT
Meet the first Phoenix City Council member to put up a mezuzah
CBI members learn about adding the blue thread to their tzitzit
JUNE 14, 2024 | SIVAN 8, 5784 | VOLUME 76, NUMBER 20
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Greater Phoenix Arizona’s Jewish women leaders enlists billboard welcome new head as they bid fond campaign farewell to ‘beloved’ founder to highlight antisemitism F SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER
MALA BLOMQUIST | MANAGING EDITOR
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ot-pink and white billboards with slogans such as, “Can a billboard end antisemitism? No. But you’re not a billboard.” and “We’re just 78 years since the gas chambers. So no, a billboard calling out Jew hate is not an overreaction.” can now be seen along major thoroughfares and freeways throughout Greater Phoenix thanks to a partnership between the Center for Jewish Philanthropy of Greater Phoenix (CJP) and JewBelong, a national nonprofit that hopes to fight antisemitism, encourages Jewish pride, and provides information for those curious about Jewish identity, religion and culture. Archie Gottesman, the co-founder of JewBelong, created billboards to engage unaffiliated Jews when the company began. In 2021, in response to reports of increased antisemitism following an outbreak of violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, JewBelong switched the focus of its messaging from promoting Judaism to fighting antisemitism. “Billboards are seen by everybody, no matter your point of view,” Gottesman told Jewish News when she was the keynote speaker at CJP’s Lighting the Spark Breakfast on March 7. Thus, using billboards is more effective in her view to convey messaging than targeted advertising based on algorithms formed by online behavior. Richard Kasper, CJP’s CEO, sees the billboards serving more SEE BILLBOARDS, PAGE 2
rom time to time, Rabbi Elana Kanter contemplates the life of Beruriah, a female sage in the Talmud, much admired for her breadth of knowledge of Jewish law and wisdom. Yet, as a woman of her time, Beruriah “had no place or context in which to offer her Torah,” Kanter wrote in Jewish News at the end of 2021. Kanter, on the other hand, has built a reputation in Greater Phoenix as someone deeply invested in providing Torah education to women. In service to her ideals, she created the Women’s Jewish Learning Center (WJLC) in 2010 and added the Women’s Leadership Institute (WLI), a complimentary leadership cohort program, five years later. “The most important part is the network of women we’ve created. Each individual can be a change agent but collectively we can do so much more, and that is where the power of the network lies,” Kanter told Jewish News. The learning center’s classes have grown in size over the last decade, as has the number of leadership cohort applicants. Next fall, the ninth cohort will be the biggest yet. Still, change comes even to the most successful programs and in January, Kanter wrote to participants with the news that she will step down as executive director in June. Rabbi Emily Langowitz “will be taking the reins of the organization, offering her wisdom, vision and talent to the WLI as it moves forward.” Additionally, the WJLC and WLI will become simply the Women’s Leadership Institute of Arizona (WLIA) On Tuesday, May 7, the WLIA held a “Celebration of Achievement” at the Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center. In addition to recognizing SEE LEADERS, PAGE 3
Rabbi Emily Langowitz COURTESY OF RABBI EMILY LANGOWITZ
Rabbi Elana Kanter COURTESY OF RABBI ELANA KANTER
Juneteenth poem on display The Children’s Museum of Phoenix will feature the poetry of a 13-year-old Black and Jewish girl this month. See page 9. COURTESY OF JACQUELINE SHAPROW
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