HEADLINES | 7
CHARITABLE GIVING | 13
‘EMMY’ WINNER
TEEN TRENDS
Student Layla Heeres and her friends received a junior Emmy for their documentary
A look at the rise in philanthropy among teens
NOVEMBER 22, 2024 | CHESHVAN 21, 5785 | VOLUME 77, NUMBER 5
New Beth El cantor started as interpreter for the deaf SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER
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antor Sarah Bollt, Beth El Phoenix’s newest clergy member, didn’t envision becoming a cantor growing up. Instead, she wanted to (and did) become an interpreter for the deaf. That educational choice and career ended up helping her as a cantor. “The job of a service leader is not to show off and be a diva, but to create a connection between the congregation and the divine. For me, there’s a very close relationship between what I do on the bimah and what I did as an interpreter creating a connection between the deaf and the hearing parties,” she told Jewish News. She considers herself “a language person.” Indeed, by the time she graduated high school, she had already received eight and a half years of foreign language instruction, including two years of American Sign Language and Hebrew from Tucson’s Hebrew High. While attending the University of Arizona and then working as an interpreter, she “explored my Judaism,” she said. At Tucson’s Congregation Or Chadash, she taught classes, led the ritual committee, sang in the choir and even substituted for the cantor on occasion. Still, it took her “a long time to get to the point where I knew this is what I want to do. Finally, it all came together.” She decided to go back to U of A to take more Hebrew, Judaic studies and music theory and prepare herself to apply to cantorial school. To qualify for the program, she interned at Tucson’s Kol Ami Synagogue. Meanwhile, she was doing some interpreting for deaf Jewish families in Tucson and for religious services.
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IDF soldier shares how wife’s nightmare became reality on Oct. 7 MALA BLOMQUIST | MANAGING EDITOR
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t was 5:30 a.m. on Oct. 7, 2023, when Captain Elkana (Kuno) Cohen’s wife, Shiran, woke him up after a nightmare. She explained in her dream that terrorists infiltrated their town, and her husband was unable to shoot them. He calmed his wife, hugged her and assured her that nothing would happen to them, and they fell back to sleep. Cohen opened his presentation with that story on Oct. 27 at Congregation Beth Tefillah in Scottsdale, in front of a packed social hall. He then shared excerpts from his book, “Oct. 7: The War Against Hamas Through the Eyes of an Israeli Commando Officer,” which also begins with Shiran’s nightmare. Cohen wrote the book from his diary, which he kept while fighting in Gaza. Sometimes, he only slept three hours a night, so he could write down everything that occurred that day while his memory was fresh. “I decided to document as much as I could,” he said. “We witnessed something that the entire world should understand.” He also shot videos with a GoPro of what his unit encountered. Cohen, a reservist in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), was a team commander with the Duvdevan Unit, made famous through the Netflix series “Fauda.” While serving in this unit, he met Shiran whose role was intelligence Captain Elkana (Kuno) Cohen signs books after his presentation gathering. The couple settled in Ra’anana, Israel and are on Oct. 27. COURTESY OF DRORY TENDLER SEE SOLDIER, PAGE 3
Thanksgiving feast Phoenix food blogger Francine Coles shares a variety of recipes for your Thanksgiving. See page 18. PHOTO COURTESY OF FRANCINE COLES
SEE CANTOR, PAGE 2
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As Schumer presses ahead with Antisemitism Awareness Act, concerns about free speech resurface
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Argentina seizes trove of Nazi memorabilia as part of international arms investigation
ISRAEL
Top Canadian book prize to be awarded amid a flurry of protest over its sponsors’ ties to Israel