Many Jews have fond memories of hearing parents, grandparents, or other relatives speaking in languages from ‘the old country,’ wherever that may be, of hearing Yiddish and ‘Yinglish’ slang employed in sitcoms, or getting through grueling Hebrew school classes in anticipation of their B’nei Mitzvah. Many may even associate these different linguistic phenomena with certain ‘segments’ of Jewish communities or particular Jewish aesthetics. Yet how many of us get to hear of or experience the ways these languages and their partisans interacted and changed with each other over time?

And yet, Shavuot teaches us that in these moments of fear and agony, we can find strength - not just in ourselves, but in each other. Rabbi Soloveitchik, a major American Orthodox rabbi, Talmudist, and 20th century Jewish philosopher, said that each of us carries a pintele yid - a spark of Jewish identity and connection. Even if we sometimes feel distant, even if the noise of the world distracts us, that spark remains. It is the imprint of Sinai within us, the chayei olam nata b’socheinu - the eternal Torah of life planted deep within our souls.

It struck me during my presentation that I wasn’t just describing what happened 80 years ago but what is happening now. Just the day before I took these seventh graders on their tour, a young student at Tufts University in Boston was freed from a Louisiana prison after being incarcerated for 45 days without due process simply because the current administration in Washington didn’t like her letter to the student newspaper, and they revoked her Visa.

Working as Programming & Education Director has been a challenging and engaging experience, to say the least. I moved to Tucson for the job, having never spent any time in Tucson, or Southern Arizona at all prior, and knowing little about the area. Throughout my time at TJMHC, I’ve had to learn to balance various “hats,” working as part-volunteer coordinator, part-museum educator, part-curator, part-cultural programs specialist, part-archivist, and of course,  managing other roles, from facilities management to onboarding, that are necessarily shared in all small but mighty operations like ours.

Every day, here at Tucson Jewish Museum & Holocaust Center, our dedicated staff and volunteers work hard to fight antisemitism and identity-based hate. We do this through education, exploration, advocacy, and collaboration because we believe that together, with our allies and friends, we can build a more just, equitable, and safer Southern Arizona community for all.

We will always strive to understand key themes in Jewish communal life today, and how they evolve. A grounding in classical Jewish thought does underpin the museum’s values and the lens in which we view our social justice and interfaith goals. And, of course, working constructively with a diverse group of constituents and colleagues is what I strive to do every day to build stronger bridges.

I love what we do here at the museum. I love the mission, and sharing the stories, and inviting people to participate. If you ask anyone who has spoken with me, they know that I’m done being the best kept secret in Tucson. That’s fine for fancy restaurants but we have too much to do and too many people to reach.

But my favorite event at the museum is Shabbat, when a local congregation comes down to daven on a Friday night. The historic synagogue comes alive! It remembers!

The month of is Jewish American Heritage Month, a time to elevate the significant contributions that Jews have made to American arts, music, business, science, education, and public service. At Tucson Jewish Museum & Holocaust Center, we use the intimate and heartfelt stories of Jews in our local community to proudly celebrate Jewish American Heritage every month, week, and day of the year.

This evening means a great deal—not just to our Holocaust Center and this museum—but to our community, and honestly, to the world we share. It seems We’re always living in a challenging time—politically, socially, economically. And in these times we need pieces of art like this, we need spaces and moments like this to pause. To reflect.

This mosaic gives us that space. It invites us to remember not only the lives lost in the horrific tragedy of the Holocaust, but to consider the broader loss and impact of the event.

The theme for this year’s Southern Arizona Yom HaShoah Commemoration is Liberation: Life After Loss. For some, the passing of eight decades can seem unfathomable but for survivors, these many years have simply been their lives. Their most enduring legacy, their embodied resilience, is the lives they created.

The Exodus is more than a story about escape - it's a foundational narrative of identity that incorporates freedom from oppression, divine justice, remembering the pain of bondage, and embracing hope for a better future...Nor did the Israelites leave Egypt on their own. Text tells us that they were accompanied by a mixed multitude, the 'erev rav' - people of diverse backgrounds and ethnicities who renounced their association with an oppressive regime and found common cause with the oppressed...

This past Monday, March 31st, was International Day of Trans Visibility, or TDOV. Visit the blog to learn why the Gumbiner Community Action Project embraces LGBTQ+ advocacy.

The Rabbi Joseph H. Gumbiner Project  supports interfaith and intergroup collaborations that uphold the fourth pillar of the Museum’s mission: “Collaborating with Tucson’s diverse community to promote human rights.” The project is inspired by the legacy of Rabbi Joseph H. Gumbiner, z”l, who led Temple Emanuel from 1942 – 1948, during the time that the congregation inhabited our space at 564 S. Stone Ave.

The Queen Esther Award is given annually to an individual who works diligently, often behind the scenes, to make our community safer, stronger, and more peaceful place for all.

At the 2025 Purim Pioneer Ball we will recognize…

JCRC Director, Lynn Davis, was invited to participate in an all-day tour in Nogales with folks from Santa Cruz Valley United Methodist Church and Border Community Alliance (BCA), a Tubac-based nonprofit dedicated to bridging the border and fostering community through education, collaboration and cultural exchange. BCA works closely with the Fundación Empresariado Sonorense A.C. (FESAC), a Mexican community foundation that focuses on community development in the border region.