HEADLINES | 5
SPECIAL SECTION | 18
HELPING THE HOMELESS
TAMING YOUR ELECTRIC BILL
Arizona Jews for Justice bring cool air and water to the city’s many homeless.
Supercooling is one way to beat the heat and help lower your electric bill.
JULY 29, 2022 | AV 1, 5782 | VOLUME 74, NUMBER 22
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Discover the new Filmmakers spotlight Gabby Giffords’ remarkable return in new documentary digital home for Phoenix’s Jewish I community — JewishPhoenix.com KATHY SHAYNA SHOCKET
MALA BLOMQUIST | MANAGING EDITOR
O
n July 25, a new website launched to unite all of Phoenix’s Jewish voices in one cohesive space. JewishPhoenix.com is a site where visitors can easily connect to community organizations, find upcoming events, discover volunteer opportunities, enjoy lifestyle content and much more. JewishPhoenix has been in the works since 2018, when the board of the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix discussed the fact that there was no community calendar — no one place where anyone could go to see a comprehensive listing of what was going on in the Jewish community. Federation board member and publisher of Java Magazine, Alan Zeichick, was chosen to chair the “tech/ data committee” task force to examine the problem. “While we were doing an investigation to solve a calendar problem, the project, as so often happens, grew. Somebody pointed out that there was no website that you could look at if you were visiting Phoenix and wanted to find a kosher restaurant or some Jewish music — you had to get on Google and it’s very time consuming and can be very overwhelming,” said Zeichick. The committee reached out to various technology experts, service providers and organizations to gain knowledge and expertise, including the Jewish Federations of North America and JewishBoston. In the end, the same software company that developed the JewishBoston website, RGB Media out of Tel Aviv, was hired to create JewishPhoenix. “They took what they built for Jewish Boston SEE JEWISH PHOENIX, PAGE 2
n their newest collaboration, Julie Cohen and Betsy West, the filmmakers known for their documentaries about powerful women, including the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (“RBG”) and culinary icon Julia Child (“Julia”), now spotlight former Arizona congresswoman and Tucson resident Gabby Giffords. “Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down” portrays Giffords’ relentless journey in the face of the tragic assassination attempt that changed her life in an instant on January 8, 2011. Giffords was shot at point-blank range in the head during her “Congress on Your Corner” constituent event outside a Tucson grocery store. The gunman killed six people, including a nine-year-old girl and wounded 12 others. In the panic of the mass shooting, some media outlets first reported Giffords was dead. Directors Cohen and West, the Academy Award-nominated, Emmy-winning filmmakers, personalize the remarkable story of Giffords’ grueling recovery and her triumphant comeback. They also capture the personal story of
Gabby Giffords giving a speech in an archival scene from “Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down." COURTESY OF BRIARCLIFF ENTERTAINMENT
Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, a former NASA astronaut and current Arizona senator. With unprecedented access to filming the couple over two years, blended with Kelly’s home videos of Giffords in the hospital and rehab trying to regain her speech and mobility, Cohen and West give moviegoers a very candid view of Giffords’ perseverance. Speaking with the filmmakers following the film’s premiere in Washington, D.C. with Giffords, they recalled the first time they met the couple during the pandemic over a Zoom call. “A virtual meeting didn’t seem like the best SEE GIFFORDS, PAGE 3
Jewish Political Candidates Learn about the Jewish candidates on the ballot for the Aug. 2 primary. See page 15. COURTESY OF MALA BLOMQUIST
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