Rice, lentils, chick peas, beans and other legumes shown in a produce market in Netanya, Israel. (David Silverman/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Israel held elections under the cloud of its leader’s possible indictment. The world’s far right and its far left have found common cause in their hatred of the Jews. There is a measles outbreak among the Orthodox. And friends want to kvetch about kitniyot. Every year around… Read more »
Laurence Kutler competes in the 171-mile bicycling leg of the March 6-8 Ultraman Israel endurance challenge. (Courtesy Laurence Kutler)
As if completing a 320-mile race in three days isn’t enough, doing it in 36 hours is an enormous challenge. Included in that are a 6.2-mile swim through chilly mountain waters and cycling 171 miles across a desert at the lowest point on earth, not to mention running a… Read more »
Judith Viorst (Photo: Debbie
wagner)
As a mother of three active boys, bestselling author Judith Viorst never had the luxury of waiting for the muse to strike. “I just put my tushy on the chair and wrote” when the kids were napping or at preschool, she told the AJP recently. “If every once in… Read more »
Driver Mark Contreras has worked for HandiCar, Inc. for 11 years. Jeanne Fischer is one of his regular passengers. The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s free transportation service is available for seniors and disabled passengers traveling to Jewish cultural, religious and community activities around Tucson. (Photo: Debe Campbell/AJP)
For some local Jewish seniors and the disabled, transportation can’t be taken for granted. Without a vehicle, a driver’s license, friends or family to take them places, or the ability to afford a ride service, life can be confining. Isolation can lead to depression and affect general well-being. When… Read more »
(Shannon Sarna)
(The Nosher via JTA) – I love rainbow cookies. Love. And they are a serious obsession for my entire family. So when I made this recipe Passover-friendly last year, it was a wonderful, delicious game-changer for our Passover celebrations. Simply replace the regular flour with 1/2 cup matzah cake… Read more »
Graham Hoffman We live at a turning point in the history of Jewish philanthropy. Over the next few decades, more than $30 trillion will be passed down from the baby boomer generation to their children. As these considerable assets change hands, so too will the power to shape the philanthropic sector.… Read more »
Four questions. Four cups of wine. Four types of children. At Passover, the number four figures prominently in the rituals of the seder, the ceremonial holiday meal that can be mesmerizing and mystifying. Four new delightful and brightly illustrated books for young kids will enliven — and help explain… Read more »
The Maccabeats sing ‘Dayenu.’ (Screenshot from YouTube)
No joke: I love hosting the Passover seder. I love feeding people — I’m both Jewish and Southern, so this is deeply ingrained in me. I love educating people, and I love being Jewish, so the seder is a perfect opportunity to gather the ones I love for a… Read more »
(Marissa Roer)
This article originally appeared on Kveller. Joyce Fienberg was a connector. Bringing people together for a holiday meal was incredibly important to her, and not just her family: She invited people she met on world travels, her students from the University of Pittsburgh, colleagues. She loved connecting people of… Read more »
The Kveller Haggadah is "for curious kids — and their grown-ups." (Kveller)
(JTA) — The Passover seder can be boring for kids. A new Haggadah is trying to change that. Published by Kveller, a Jewish parenting site, the Kveller Haggadah is “for curious kids — and their grown-ups.” The Haggadah’s co-creators are Elissa Strauss, a columnist on parenthood for CNN, and… Read more »
Deena Gayle Hitzke, Ed.D. LEAH (Let’s End Abusive Households), a program of Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Southern Arizona, with community partner Hadassah Nurses Council, will present, “Freeing Survivors of Domestic Violence from Stigma and Self-Blame” with Deena Gayle Hitzke, Ed.D., on Sunday, April 7, 10 a.m. to noon at Congregation Bet… Read more »
Nancy Lefkowitz
Nancy Lefkowitz is a “winter resident.” But the six months of the year she lives in Tucson, “we really live here,” she says, and her community engagement certainly proves it. “Having worked with Nancy over the last several years, I know she is always ready to take on responsibilities… Read more »
Peace Corps Coverdell Fellows Katy Cremer and David Thalenberg at the University of Arizona Campus Women’s Plaza of Honor. (Debe Campbell/AJP)
The Peace Corps takes a unique approach to making a difference. The altruistic, hands-on, volunteer program, founded in 1961, provides social and economic development abroad. Through technical assistance, it promotes mutual understanding between Americans and foreign populations. Many U.S. college undergrads complete two-year assignments in developing nations, often working… Read more »
Magda Havas, Ph.D., is an expert on environmental toxicology. (Courtesy Electromagnetic Safety Alliance Inc.) Fourteen years ago, Jenny Baldwin, wife of Tucson neurosurgeon Hillel Baldwin, was having sleep problems and was diagnosed with restless leg syndrome and periodic limb movement disorder, making it almost impossible for her to get deep, restorative sleep. But over the past three years, she says, her symptoms “became… Read more »
Andrew S. Kraft, M.D. The University of Arizona Cancer Center performed experiments indicating that a triple-combination therapy might significantly boost the immune system’s ability to fight cancer and improve patient survival. Collaborating with researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina, the team published its results online in “Clinical Cancer Research” in October… Read more »
Cheerleaders celebrate walkers at the Autism Society of Southern Arizona’s 2018 Autism Walk (Darin Wallentine)
The Autism Society of Southern Arizona will hold its 13th Annual Autism Walk & Resource Fair on Saturday, April 6, in Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium at Kino Park Sports Complex, 2500 E. Ajo Way. Registration begins at 7:30 a.m. and the Walk and Resource Fair runs from 9 a.m.–1… Read more »
Irene Gefter, Jewish Family & Children's Services executive office Aaministrator; Helene Rothstein, CHAI Circle volunteer; Alice Steinfeld, CHAI Circle volunteer; Susan Kasle, JFCS vice president of community services.(Courtesy Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Southern Arizona)
One Sunday each month, two dedicated psychotherapists come together to provide a salutary space for female cancer patients and survivors in the Tucson Jewish community. Alice Steinfeld and Helene Rothstein are therapists and friends who facilitate the cancer support group, CHAI Circle. CHAI (Cancer, Healing and Inspiration) Circle has… Read more »
(L-R): Medical volunteers Audrey Russell-Kibble, D.N.P., F.N.P.C., F.A.A.N.P.; Richard Wahl, M.D.; and Kenneth Iserson, M.D., on Feb. 24, in the Benedictine monastery chapel in Tucson that serves as a dormitory for asylum-seekers.
(Debe Campbell/AJP)
Disembarking without fanfare and frequently no forewarning, asylum-seekers file, dozens at a time, into the old Benedictine monastery in midtown Tucson. Since Jan. 26, the monastery has been a makeshift “hospitality center” providing a safe place for families released from custody after applying for asylum at the Mexican border.… Read more »
(L-R): Gila Ben-Jamin, Arlene Kutoroff, and Sheryl Boris at a recent University of Arizona women’s basketball game where cancer survivors were recognized, with Tucson Cancer Conquerors participating.(Courtesy Marlyne Freedman)
For nearly a half-century, Gila Ben-Jamin had a secret she refused to share. She reluctantly accompanied a friend to a meeting of Tucson Cancer Conquerors 17 months ago and called it life-changing. There, for the first time, she was able to talk about what had once been a taboo… Read more »
Israel is the 10th healthiest country in the world — 54 spots ahead of the United States. The Bloomberg Healthiest Country Index, published Feb. 24, ranked 169 nations based on factors such as life expectancy and access to sanitation and medical care. Countries were penalized for tobacco use and… Read more »
