EVJCC Blog
New ELC kindergarten opens in July 2023
The Early Learning Center (ELC) at the East Valley JCC will open a kindergarten for the 2023-2024 school year. An information session about the kindergarten will be held 5-6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 29. Below is an interview with Pam Morris, ELC director, about this...
Rugelach Love: Family recipes connect generations
The East Valley JCC is excited to announce a project being developed by one of our Doing Jewish grant recipients. Julia Talore Zilman of Scottsdale has launched a project that started as a family recipe book but has grown to include a fundraising event for a Kyiv...
EVJCC invites AZ schools to take virtual tour of Auschwitz
The Center for Holocaust Education of The East Valley JCC provides a unique learning experience through its virtual live tours of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, which are led live via Zoom by an Auschwitz educator in Poland. Thanks to a grant from the...
August: Jewish history, Israeli film and women’s brunch
The next season of programming of the East Valley JCC is starting soon! Here’s a look at what is happening in August. Open Beit Midrash offers two classes beginning this month: ‘Jewish History: The Journey of the Jewish People” at 10 a.m. and “Maimonides: A...
Mindful Monday: The Filter of ‘both/and’ thinking
By Wayne "Dr. B" Benenson, Ph.D. This is my last post for the EVJCC blog. I am left with two seemingly opposite feelings, of both sadness and gratitude. I feel sad since I will no longer be sharing these monthly moments of mindfulness. And, at the same time I feel...
Early Learning Center receives NECPA accreditation
The Early Learning Center of the East Valley JCC recently achieved National Early Childhood Program Accreditation (NECPA). The National Early Childhood Program Accreditation was established in 1991 to encourage quality and recognize excellence in early childhood...
Mindful Monday: Tame your monkey mind
By Wayne "Dr. B" Benenson, Ph.D. If the mindfulness movement had a mascot, it would probably be a chattering monkey. Imagine a jabbering monkey jumping from tree to tree. Now imagine a mind that jumps from thought to thought. The term “monkey mind” is an uncanny...
Mindful Monday: Forgiveness, the mindful way
By Wayne "Dr. B" Benenson, Ph.D. Most of you know the story of how Nelson Mandela fought his demons by learning to forgive his jailers. Nelson ended his 27 years in an apartheid jail to become president of South Africa and usher in a new norm of racial...
Mindful Monday: Know How to Pivot
By Wayne "Dr. B" Benenson, Ph.D. Woody Allen famously joked, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans.” At every stage of life we make plans, set out where we want to go, and imagine what it would be like when we have “arrived.” But things...