HEADLINES | 6
SPECIAL PULLOUT | B1
TISHA B’AV/TU B’AV
SENIOR LIFESTYLE
Learning about the two holidays that fall during the Jewish month of Av
Getting fit in the water, celebrating Norman Lear, fighting Alzheimer’s disease and superaging
AUGUST 5, 2022 | AV 8, 5782 | VOLUME 74, NUMBER 23
$1.50
Local teens Finding Jewish connections in Care-A-Van across Arizona’s small towns the Southwest R doing good SHANNON LEVITT
MALA BLOMQUIST | MANAGING EDITOR
A
fter a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, Hebrew High’s Care-A-Van embarked on its 18th trip in 20 years, helping communities in need. Hebrew High is a program of the Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater Phoenix (BJE). This year Care-A-Van, which is unique to Arizona, took 12 teens to Nevada, Utah and Colorado on June 13-23, where each participant performed more than twenty-five hours of community service work. “I never went when I was at Hebrew High because I was always at summer camp,” said Rabbi Aviva Funke, Hebrew High principal and associate director at BJE. “I could not believe the impact, connection, passion and the program — it’s a trip with a serious mission to do good.” Accompanying Funke on the trip were also college counselors who participated in Care-A-Van when they were in high school and Myra Shindler, executive director of BJE. “Myra is a masterful community organizer and especially with Care-A-Van, which has been her baby for all these years,” said Funke. “She went to the kosher butcher and had frozen meat, chicken and schnitzel. She brought everything and made it so easy for all of us.” “We had amazing counselors, an amazing rabbi (and her family) and Myra is amazing — she helped so much,” said Lilly A., an incoming junior at Desert Mountain High School in Scottsdale. “The way this program is organized — everything is in perfect balance. We do so much community service but balance it out with going to the park, having fun, rollerblading and bowling.” SEE HEBREW HIGH, PAGE 2
abbi Mendel Slonim is now making his second journey through rural Arizona and its small towns in order to make connections with fellow Jews, some of whom haven’t talked to a rabbi, or even another Jew, for years. Last summer, strictly by chance, Slonim said, this type of encounter happened when he was leaving Yuma. “This man we met hadn’t seen any Jew for decades. We left in tears. He was crying and I was crying and it was really special that we met through a long string of unplanned events.” Slonim and Rabbi Dovber Goldman started their two-week Arizona adventure on Sunday, July 24. They have a car, a list of names and numbers of Jewish people who may be interested in a visit and the determination to connect with as many Jews as they can. The two are part of Chabad’s international Roving Rabbis program, which is in its 79th year. It was originally developed by Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, in the 1940s. This kind of program represents one of the Rebbe’s greatest passions, Slonim said,
Mendel Slonim, left, and Dovber Goldman embark on their Arizona adventure. COURTESY OF MENDEL SLONIM
which was “connecting to every single Jew no matter where they may be or affiliation. He believed that we are all intrinsically one body, the entire Jewish nation.” Slonim said he gets to experience this idea firsthand as he visits Arizona’s small towns. And this summer, in honor of the 120th anniversary of the Rebbe’s birth, Slonim said that he and Goldman have challenged themselves to meet and connect with at least 120 Jews. SEE ROVING RABBIS, PAGE 3
Rock On Michelle Worley has been with the School of Rock for a decade doing what she loves. See page 12. COURTESY OF MICHELLE WORLEY
KEEP YOUR EYE ON jewishaz.com
NATIONAL
Michigan Dem group apologizes for ‘offensive’ TikTok attacking ‘Zionists’ on the eve of House primary
INTERNATIONAL
Deborah Lipstadt, back from Saudi Arabia, says progress underway on combatting antisemitism in Gulf states
ISRAEL
Turkish NBA star Enes Kanter Freedom is hosting an interfaith basketball clinic in Jerusalem