It’s never too late to learn and grow. The Tucson Jewish Community Center provides numerous opportunities to help people discover their passions later in life. Here are a few highlights of events and classes coming up. “Inside Writing a Mystery” is a free discussion with local author and retired… Read more »
Special Sections
Communities aid residents’ Jewish connections
Enthusiastic participation in celebrating Shabbat and Jewish holidays helps residents of senior living communities stay connected to Judaism. Sometimes, they even teach the non-Jewish staff about Jewish traditions and food. Atria Campana del Rio “I have been with Atria for 14 years, and when I started I knew nothing… Read more »
There’s a podcast about Jewish summer camp
David Wain, director of "Wet Hot American Summer," in January 2018. (Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Entertaiment Weekly)
(JTA) — Many Jews attend overnight camp. But growing up, Micah Hart was so Jewish that he attended two every summer. Hart was the son of the director of Jacobs Camp, a Reform Jewish camp in western Mississippi. He went there every year, but to give him some independence,… Read more »
Your favorite Jewish foods, updated for Passover
Passover-Friendly Chicken Schnitzel (Shannon Sarna)
(JTA) — Two of my family’s favorite dishes are schnitzel and rainbow cookies, and I have a feeling your family may feel the same. Here’s some great news about both: They very easily translate into Passover-friendly versions with minor adjustments. While you could serve them for your seder meals,… Read more »
9 things you didn’t know about Passover
(My Jewish Learning via JTA) — Here are nine things that many likely wouldn’t know about the Festival of Freedom: 1. In Gibraltar, there’s dust in the charoset. The traditional charoset is a sweet Passover paste whose texture is meant as a reminder of the mortar the enslaved Jews… Read more »
This Jewish Bedtime Ritual Is a Parenting Win
(Kveller via JTA) — Twinkle, twinkle, kochavim (stars), Shining in the shamayim (sky). When I say Shema tonight, Everything will be all right. Years ago, my oldest child brought this song home from preschool. It made me wonder: What exactly was the message they were trying to convey to… Read more »
Summer camps offer kids an immersion in Israel’s tech prowess
Campers at Big Idea/JCC Day Camp in Tenafly, N.J., incorporate robotics into Lego projects. (Courtesy of Kaplen JCC on the Palisades)
CHICAGO (JTA) — Sam Rosen, a 10-year-old Minecraft player, builds virtual castles at his computer and protects himself from monsters. His mother, Carrie, a high school math teacher, knows the game teaches tech skills and engineering — valuable skills he can build on in school. So when JCC Chicago… Read more »
Israeli ultra-Orthodox grandmother gives birth to her 20th child at Hadassah hospital
(JTA) A haredi Orthodox grandmother’s delivery of her 20th child was no big deal to her, but it was an exciting event for the maternity department staff at Hadassah University Medical Center in Ein Kerem. The Dec. 20 delivery, a boy, was a natural birth. It was the 42-year-old… Read more »
Myalgic encephalomyelitis support group will start in Tucson this month
#MEAction Arizona, a local chapter of the myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) Action Network, meets Thursday, Jan. 18, 6 p.m. Those interested in advocating or building a community in Arizona for people with this disease may attend the meeting in Tucson at 210 N. Court Ave., or join virtually via BlueJeans… Read more »
Anniversary waltz: Nine local couples married 50+ years share their secrets
Harriet and Jerry Belenker
Communication. Give and take. Love. These are some the themes that emerged when the AJP spoke recently with nine couples in the Jewish community who have been married more than 50 years – six, remarkably, in the 60-plus range — about the secrets to a long marriage. Here, without… Read more »
Disease nearly keeps winner from Jewish Women Who Dared awards
jwa.org/blog/woman-who-dared-and-me
It was late afternoon, and I could barely get my body out of bed. In fact, I’d been in bed most of the last few days or was it weeks? Yet even with all that rest, my legs were still too weak to stand up. It wasn’t that… Read more »
YWC plans ‘Mindfulness, Martinis & Mitzvahs’
Ali Katz
The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Young Women’s Cabinet is hosting an event next month to help women of all ages kick off the new (secular) year feeling rejuvenated. “Mindfulness, Martinis & Mitzvahs” will be held Wednesday, Jan. 10 at 6:30 p.m. at the Harvey and Deanna Evenchik Center… Read more »
Personal injury lawyers stress compassion, looking out for the ‘little guy’
Getting injured in an accident can impact everyday life for individuals and their families, and personal injury lawyers help people through these difficult situations. Four local personal injury lawyers weighed in on why they like this field of law, and also provided advice on what do do if injured… Read more »
In Tucson and beyond, b’nai mitzvah kids already are Jewish philanthropists
Pictured, Brenda Landau, right, with seventh graders at the Or Chadash annual meeting on May 9, 2016. Landau and her son Matt Landau are the Noah Cohen Memorial Philanthropy Program advisors.
SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) — Lyla Maymon and Jane Shvartzman went to interview officials last year at the Larkin Street Youth, a San Francisco organization fighting homelessness among young people, to see if their programs were worthy of a philanthropic grant. Maymon and Shvartzman asked all the right questions, like… Read more »
Sufganiyot get all the hype. But this humble Moroccan doughnut is Israel’s Hanukkah staple.
The sfinj hails from North Africa. (Wikimedia Commons)
TEL AVIV (JTA) – The sufganiyah is the plump, shining star of Hanukkah in Israel. During the holiday season, the famed jelly doughnut poses in the windows of cafés and bakeries across the country. It sparkles with oil and sugar, and shows just enough filling to keep… Read more »
In Budapest, Hanukkah comes out of the shadows and onto the ice rink
Rabbi Slomo Koves, right, and a participant at Chabad Hungary's 2015 Hanukkah on Ice event take selfies at Budapest's City Park Ice Rink, Dec. 6, 2015. (Courtesy of EMIH)
BUDAPEST (JTA) — The outdoor ice skating rink — the largest in Central Europe — in Budapest’s city center has been part and parcel of Hungary’s Christmas tradition for nearly 150 years. Stretching across 3.5 acres between Heroes’ Square and Vajdahunyad Castle, the Budapest City Park Ice… Read more »
Transform your yard into a refuge for birds
(Jeffrey Schwartz/Fotolia.com)
(StatePoint) Millions of wild birds are killed each year flying into windows, including private homes. Birds face other dangers, too, in your yard, whether they are migrating or flying locally. Everyone, but especially those who enjoy having birds visit their yards and gardens, should take steps to make their… Read more »
Contrasting textures create vibrant design
(Robin Stancliff)
Living in the beautiful Sonoran Desert, we are surrounded by many textures and colors. Think for a moment of the vibrant yellow palo verde blossoms, blaze orange from the desert bird of paradise, vibrant fuchsia from bougainvillea, or the endless shades of blue from sunrise to sunset of our… Read more »
Tips for keeping a busy family organized
(jolopes/stock.Adobe.com)
(StatePoint) When it comes to busy families, things have a habit of becoming scattered quickly. Here are five ways to keep everything and everyone organized, all the time. 1. Centralize information. Hang an erasable calendar or family to-do list in a high-traffic area of the home where everyone can… Read more »
It’s always Hanukkah in this picture-perfect Italian town
This is one of the nearly 200 menorahs at the Museum of Lights in Casale Monferrato (Foundation for Jewish Art, History, and Culture at Casale Monferrato and in Eastern Piedmont - Onlus)
It’s always Hanukkah in this picturesque town in northern Italy’s Piedmont region. Jews have lived in Casale Monferrato for more than 500 years, with the community reaching its peak of 850 members at about the time Jews here were granted civil rights in 1848. The town still boasts one… Read more »




