Esther Award Honoree for Purim 2026 is…
TJMHC’s Purim Committee is pleased to announce that Lynda Rogoff has been named TJMHC’s 2026 Queen Esther Award honoree. The award honors Queen Esther’s quiet courage and is given annually to an individual who works diligently, often behind the scenes, to make our community a safer, stronger and more peaceful place for all.
All who know and love this year’s honoree, know well that she is anything but quiet: when Lynda Rogoff is passionate about something you will know it! Whether she is promoting Tucson Jewish Museum & Holocaust Center, recruiting volunteers for the Maccabi Games, or standing up for her friends, she shares her convictions proudly and loudly.
For almost fifty years, Lynda Rogoff has been a beautifully vocal fixture of Tucson's Jewish community, leaving an indelible mark through her extensive and deeply personal volunteer work. Her decades of service, which began shortly after she moved to Tucson with her husband, Ed, have woven her into the very fabric of Southern Arizona’s Jewish community. From leading organizations to passionately sharing history, Lynda's contributions have enriched the lives of many and helped preserve a vital part of Tucson's heritage.
Lynda is not “merely” a museum docent - she is also one of TJMHC’s most ardent ambassadors, promoting the mission to most anyone who will listen. It is common for staff to get a message from Lynda letting them know that she has scheduled a tour for a group of friends from pickleball or just a bunch of folks she met at Starbucks that morning!
Lynda believes that everyone in our community needs to visit and learn not only the history of Jews in Southern Arizona but, most importantly, the history of the Holocaust and our local survivors. In fact, Lynda has been connecting folks with history since before there was even a museum. For years, she worked with Margie Fenton and Linda Tumarkin to bring local Holocaust survivors to speak at schools and events. She has never forgotten those deep relationships she formed with so many of those survivors during those days of driving them to speaking engagements and helping them share their stories. Today’s visitors can see it when her eyes mist as she introduces folks on her tour to her dear friends featured in the museum.
She has been in service to the Jewish and broader community of Southern Arizona since she arrived in 1978. In addition to her service to TJMHC, Lynda is a past president of the Tucson Jewish Community Center and a former president of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona's Women's Division. As a life board member of the Jewish Federation and a past JFSA Woman of the Year, her dedication has been recognized at the highest levels within the community.
We hope that you can join us on Saturday, February 28, 2026, as we come together to honor Lynda Rogoff as TJMHC’s 2026 Queen Esther Award Honoree.