For her final project in a course on the history of medicine, first-year medical student Raeesa Hossain joined with four fellow students from New York Medical College to interview a Holocaust survivor deported to Auschwitz as a child. The survivor told the students how his experience during the war… Read more »
Special Sections
Israeli students train guide dogs for the blind
Shir Tabac had always yearned for a dog, but it wasn’t until she completed her military service and went to college that she felt ready to make the commitment. “It was the first time I was living independently, and I wondered how I could have a dog and do… Read more »
105th birthday plans in works for local woman
If you are a Tucson Hebrew Academy student, you have probably met, or at least heard of, Gertrude Shankman, a resident at Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging. THA students have been celebrating Shankman’s birthday every year since she turned 100. On Oct. 26, Shankman will turn 105. “It… Read more »
At 95, Tucsonan Bill Kugelman still charming, vigorous
When I first spot Bill Kugelman across the room at a local senior living community, he is sitting in a chair, waving his arms in the air and stomping his feet to lively Zumba music. Surrounded by a group of grey-headed women, he is one of very few men… Read more »
Tucson teens’ b’nai mitzvah projects celebrate community, giving
The b’nai mitzvah project has become an important part of the traditional coming of age ritual for many Jewish teens. Whether they volunteer in the local community or raise funds for a worthy cause, it’s a chance to exercise compassion and responsibility. Sometimes, it’s also a lesson in flexibility,… Read more »
At COC Sisterhood Girls’ Night Out, fitness coach to discuss healthy aging
Health and fitness coach and author Laurie Rein will present a Healthy Aging for Women program for a Congregation Or Chadash Sisterhood Girl’s Night Out on Nov. 13. Rein brings 30 years of experience in health training and a career in professional dance to her talk. Growing up in… Read more »
Mega Challah Bake: a celebration of bread, from Tucson to Bosnia
Hundreds of women and girls gathered at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on Thursday, Sept. 26, for the sixth annual Mega Challah Bake, co-sponsored by Chabad Tucson. Participants learned how to make and shape dough for round challahs in advance of the Rosh Hashanah holiday, enjoyed a buffet of… Read more »
Who by fire: 38,000 pounds of bagels burnt in truck days before Yom Kippur
(JTA) — Midwest Jews may need to find something else to eat when Yom Kippur ends — tons of their bagels are now toast. Some 38,000 pounds of frozen bagels met an unhappy fate on Sunday, just a couple of days ahead of the Jewish Day of Atonement, when… Read more »
Goat at Yom Kippur family service – no kidding!
Children will be able to release their sins the really old-fashioned way by sending them away with a goat at Temple Emanu-El’s Yom Kippur morning family service, Wednesday, Oct. 9 at 8:30 a.m. During Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, repentance is achieved by prayer, repentance, and fasting, but… Read more »
Voices of Hope: The ongoing legacy of the Holocaust
The Jewish New Year is a time for reflection and commitment toward a more just world. The six Holocaust survivors we feature in this issue are a few among the approximately 75 survivors currently living in Southern Arizona, most of whom were children or teens when the war broke… Read more »
Four gorgeous Rosh Hashanah recipes from some of Israel’s top chefs
Rosh Hashanah menus, while traditional and delicious, can also get a little stale year after year. With Israeli food trending across the globe, now is a perfect time to add some authentic Israeli flavors to your holiday. We have gathered four exclusive recipes from some of Israel’s top chefs:… Read more »
Happy New Year 5780
Erika Dattner
When World War II began, Erika Dattner was 2 years old in Budapest, Hungary. Her childhood was shaped and stolen by Hitler’s military campaigns and Nazi protocols. Her family was scattered and to stay safe, she had to hide. When the war ended in 1945, she had no home.… Read more »
Michael Bokor
Despite his family’s poverty in New York City in 1947, Michael Bokor declares it was beautiful to be in America. At least compared to life in Hungary during the Holocaust — forced labor, concentration camps, hiding, beatings, starvation, disease, and death. After living in the United States for 72… Read more »
Theresa Dulgov
Theresa Dulgov, 75, is a child survivor of the Holocaust. From her Tucson home, surrounded by souvenirs from her travels and treasures recovered from her past, she recounts the memories her mother, Eva Siebert, instilled and her own as she grew up in the shadow of both the Holocaust… Read more »
Willy Halpert
Willy Halpert remembers the last day he saw his father with crystal clarity: the sunshine, the chatter of an Antwerp café, music playing, then silence as Nazi SS and Belgian Brownshirts closed off the street. But for decades after the war, he shut away memories of what came after,… Read more »
Walter Feiger
As a boy in Poland, Walter Feiger cherished a book about Buffalo Bill; when he first visited Tucson in 1970, he said, “That’s buffalo country!” Feiger, who survived a ghetto and several concentration camps, has been telling his story to local school and law enforcement groups since the 1980s.… Read more »
Annique Dveirin
Never Again, Annique Dveirin. A signature. A statement. And all because she wants hate to cease to exist in this world. Even though she was only 4 years old when she was hidden with a Christian family in Poland, Dveirin was made painfully aware of the terrors of the… Read more »
Israeli woman goes to the emergency room after confusing wasabi for avocado
(JTA) — Just a teaspoon of the green stuff was enough to make her feel like she was having a heart attack. A 60-year old Israeli woman checked herself into the Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba after a night of “unexpected chest pressure that spread to her arms… Read more »
What working as a prosecutor has taught me about Yom Kippur and forgiveness
Editor’s note: The author is an active prosecutor in a major U.S. city. Due to the nature of their work, they must write anonymously. The court officer calls out the calendar number and reads the docket into the record. The defendant, accompanied by his attorney, enters the well. The… Read more »