Our Congregation

  • Family, tot, young family and teen Shabbat services are conducted in addition to daily minyan and festival services.
  • Generations of children have gone through CAI’s award-winning preschool, kindergarten, religious school and United Synagogue Youth programs.
  • Adult education offerings include visiting scholars, holiday and family workshops, weekday and Shabbat Torah study, and more.
  • Affiliate and social groups provide opportunities to enrich friendships, learn new skills and engage in service projects; a monthly book group discusses books by Jewish authors and/or with Jewish content; and numerous Havurot are formed to help extend synagogue families.
  • Ongoing social action projects allow participation in Tikkun Olam (repairing the world) through blood donor drives, food and clothing collections and diaper drives, thereby connecting contributors to the greater Jewish community.
  • We believe that it is important to live Jewishly, to be in the midst of, and as part of, our people. Active involvement in Jewish life can offer understanding, compassion, courage, and strength; something we all seek at one time or another.
  • We come to our synagogue to pray together, to study our sacred texts, to share our lifecycle events, and to find companionship. May you find the understanding, the compassion, the courage, and the strength you seek to meet your needs of the

Core Values

Congregation Anshei Israel is committed to:

Promoting Jewish continuity

Education of children and adults

Spiritual renewal and egalitarianism

Community building through social action

Houses of Worship

CAI-Sanctuary

Main Sanctuary

The larger sanctuary is usually the site of our Shabbat morning services, which feature the reading of the Torah and frequently involve community celebrations (Bar/Bat Mitzvah ceremonies, baby-namings, aufrufs (blessings for an upcoming marriage), and anniversaries), thus attracting many worshippers and visitors.

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Rabbi Eisen Beit Midrash

The Rabbi Eisen Beit Midrash is usually the site of our Friday evening Kabbalat Shabbat services, which offer a worship service only, thus attracting a smaller congregation of worshippers to a more casual and intimate environment. Wherever we are praying, we face east toward Jerusalem, the site of the First Temple.

Our History

Congregation Anshei Israel was founded in 1930 and originally located in downtown Tucson on South Stone Avenue.

Under the spiritual leadership of Rabbi Marcus Breger and Cantor Maurice Falkow (both of blessed memory), the synagogue relocated in 1946 to 6th Street/Martin, and, as the congregation continued to grow, moved in 1969 to its present location on the corner of 5th Street/Craycroft.

Rabbi Arthur Oleisky z'l began a 29-year tenure as spiritual leader in 1970. In 1999, we welcomed Rabbi Robert Eisen who led our congregation for 21 years until 2020. Rabbi Sara Metz was hired as our spiritual leader in 2020. Cantor Ivor Lichterman joined us from 1991-2011. From 2005-2011, Rabbi Kelley Gludt served as our assistant rabbi and education director. In June 2011, Rabbi Ben Herman joined us as Director of Congregational Learning and was promoted to Assistant Rabbi in June 2012. Rabbi Ruven Barkan served as Education and Youth Director from 2015-2020. In 2014, Nichole Chorny was appointed as Cantorial Soloist and in 2020 she also took over our B’Yahad Youth Programming.

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