HEADLINES | 6
SPECIAL SECTION | 16
CORBIN’S LEGACY
NEIL LANE IS DESIGNING LUXURY KETUBAHS
Alan and Joan Leafman keep their daughter’s memory alive
The 62-year-old Brooklyn-born designer is now designing ketubahs
JULY 8, 2022 | TAMUZ 9, 5782 | VOLUME 74, NUMBER 21
Forging unique relationships with Phoenix’s sister city in Israel MALA BLOMQUIST | MANAGING EDITOR
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n 1972, the city of Phoenix joined the Sister Cities International (SCI) movement by creating the Phoenix Sister Cities (PSC) program. The movement, started by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956, proposed a citizen diplomacy initiative, creating bonds between people around the world. “Phoenix currently has 11 sister cities, including Ramat Gan, Israel,” said Rita Marko, president and CEO of Phoenix Sister Cities. Ramat Gan became Phoenix’s sister city in 2005. In the past, through the program, Phoenix worked with Beit Zvi School for the Performing Arts and Bar-Ilan University. With Israel being the startup nation, and Ramat Gan located less than 5 miles from Tel Aviv, that is the next focus for the sister cities. “That’s something that Phoenix is particularly interested in, supporting startup businesses. We’re just starting to explore what that might look like in terms of enriching this relationship further,” said Marko. According to SCI, “Sister city relationships develop from a number of sources, including but not limited to: preexisting mayoral relationships, trade relationships, historical connections, ancestral/demographic connections, expatriate communities, shared geographic/ sector challenges, faith-based groups and personal experiences.” “It’s like getting married. We develop a contract, not unlike a ketubah, where we outline each member’s responsibilities and what we hope to do together,” said Marko. On June 14, one such “marriage” happened between the Phoenix Zoo and Safari Ramat SEE SISTER CITIES, PAGE 2 Gan. The relationship began
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Taking the trip of a lifetime MALA BLOMQUIST | MANAGING EDITOR
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group of 180 immigrants from Ethiopia landed in Israel on June 1, fulfilling a lifelong dream of making aliyah. The group arrived at Ben Gurion Airport on a flight chartered by The Jewish Agency for Israel. This trip marked the continuation of Operation Zur Israel, an initiative that will reunite 3,000 Ethiopians with their families in Israel in the coming months. Also on that flight were two local residents, Danielle Gross and Rachel Hoffer. Hoffer, a member of Congregation Beth Tefillah and Or Tzion, is involved with the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix and the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA). Her role on this trip was as board chair of the Jewish Agency for Israel-North American Council. The mission included lay leaders and professionals from several Jewish organizations. Gross, a member of Temple Solel, is also a member of the National Young Leadership Cabinet of JFNA. “The past year and a half with my work with Federation, I’ve been learning about the Ethiopians’ journey, some of the challenges they face,” shared Gross. “This was the peak of it, being able to travel to Ethiopia and see
Hoffer, Gross and other members of the National Young Leadership Cabinet of JFNA after landing in Israel. COURTESY OF DANIELLE GROSS
firsthand. I learned so much.” The women landed in Ethiopia on May 30 and traveled to the Ethiopian city of Gondar. With a population of nearly 300,000, the city has 6,000 Jews, many of whom have been waiting close to 25 years to make aliyah. “I don’t think that I had an expectation of what I was going to see and so I went in with open eyes,” said Hoffer. “I’ve heard about Ethiopian Jewry for 30 years, and every time I visit Israel, I’ve gone to an Ethiopian absorption center. So I’d seen what comes next, but I didn’t SEE TRIP, PAGE 3
Local Jewish youth competed for national STEM title A team of local middle schoolers, Eric Wang, Adi Vashistha, Ira Parsons and Chas Skidmore, competed in a national STEM event in Washington, D.C. on June 30. See page 8. COURTESY OF AUDREY SKIDMORE
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