HEADLINES | 6
SPECIAL SECTION | 16
ROVING RABBIS
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Rabbis Mendel Slonim and Ari Oirechman traveled across the state this summer
Arizona teens become Holocaust education content creators
1948
YEARS
2023
AUGUST 18, 2023 | ELUL 1, 5783 | VOLUME 75, NUMBER 22
Martin-Springer Institute initiative helps teachers explain why they teach the Holocaust SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER
H
eather Land has taught Holocaust Literature, a class she developed, at Mesa’s Mountain View High School for the last nine years. She works hard to keep the semester-long senior elective fresh for each new group of students, updating it with modern scholarship from conferences, reading and talking to experts. Last summer, she was part of an educators’ 18-day trip to Poland and Germany, where she saw several of the historic places she has read about and taught for years. In all her preparation, one thing she hasn’t had to think much about is why she does it. She hasn’t really needed to provide a rationale for her class because she’s always had the support of her administration and parents, she said. When she first started teaching the course, she couldn’t imagine that anyone might question its relevance or importance but in the past few years, she’s met other teachers who have not been as fortunate. Since 2022, Arizona’s public schools are required to teach about the Holocaust and other genocides at least twice between seventh and 12th grades. Yet, while the state tells its teachers what to teach, it does not tell them how to teach it or why. Additionally, private schools are not mandated to teach the subject at all. “Teachers must absolutely know SEE TEACHERS, PAGE 2
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How did 21 Messianic Jews in Show Low decide to convert to Judaism? It’s a story with many beginnings. SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER
W
hen Richard Cortes completes his of ficial conversion to Judaism this month at Scottsdale’s Congregation Or Tzion under the supervision of Rabbi Andy Green, it will mark an extraordinary moment in his decades-long spiritual journey, one that he has not taken alone. After months of study and reflection, Cortes, his wife, Alpha, their son and 18 other people belonging to Foundation of the Word (FOTW) in Show Low, formerly a place of devotion founded by Cortes for Messianic Jews (an umbrella term for a Christian movement that incorporates some elements of FOTW members preparing to convert to Judaism take a photo with Congregation Or Tzion Judaism and other Jewish traditions Rabbi Andy Green and Education Director Andre Ivory in Show Low’s Jewish Learning Center. COURTESY OF RABBI ANDY GREEN into evangelicalism), will come to Scottsdale to complete the final steps in their conversion to Judaism. Green has known others straddling Judeo-Christianity who gradually came to reject a belief in the Christian “New Testament” and find deeper meaning in traditional Judaism, but it’s always been an individual here and there. “This is exceptional, and to my knowledge, the first time that it’s ever happened, where an entire congregation collectively converts following the leadership of their pastor,” he said. SEE CONVERTS, PAGE 3
What's in your genes? A graduate student in Arizona State University’s genetic counseling program encourages local Ashkenazi Jews to fill out his survey. See page 9. PHOTO CANVA STOCK IMAGE
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