Special Sections

Gootter Foundation to honor Glicksman at gala dinner

Elliot Glicksman

The Steven M. Gootter Foundation will present its annual Philanthropic Award to Elliot Glicksman at the 12th annual Gootter Gala on Friday, March 3 at the Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa. Glicksman, a lawyer in Tucson, “has supported the Gootter Foundation since its inception 12 years ago. As… Read more »

Bilgray scholar takes holistic approach to healthy aging

Rabbi Richard Address

How should we be thinking about and preparing for the likelihood that we will live longer lives than our ancestors? Rabbi Richard F. Address, D.Min., founder of the Jewish Sacred Aging project, will discuss new ways to approach life’s “third age” as this year’s Albert T. Bilgray scholar-in-residence. Address… Read more »

Series to address risks of mismanaging meds

Mismanagement of common prescriptions and over the counter medications can lead to dangerous complications, including dizziness, falls and loss of appetite. Accidental poisoning deaths from medications are on the rise and older adults are more vulnerable to addiction and death from pain medications. The Tucson Jewish Community Center, the… Read more »

‘Joe’s Violin’ documents Holocaust survivor’s gift to South Bronx schoolgirl

Joe Feingold and Brianna Perez in the Oscar-nominated short documentary ‘Joe’s Violin.’

Filmmaker Kahane Cooperman hasn’t written an Oscars acceptance speech yet, but she likely will before the Academy Awards ceremony on Feb. 28. Not to jinx things or appear overconfident, Cooperman told JTA in a telephone interview, but “on the chance it happens, for fear of leaving someone out.” Her… Read more »

For Jewish Arbor Day, why not plant an almond tree?

The Prunus amygdalus, or almond, is native to the Middle East and will grow well in Southern Arizona. (Jacqueline A. Soule)

Jews around the world have been celebrating Tu B’Shvat at this time of year every year, for about 3000 years. Since the Jewish calendar is lunar, the date varies in Western eyes, but on the 15 of the month of Shevat, this Jewish Arbor Day, also called “New Year… Read more »

Pennsylvania Jewish camp unites local couple

Allison Richter (nee Lachter) and Michael Richter at Capital Camps in Waynesboro, Pa. in 1991. (Courtesy Allison Richter)

As a kid, Allison Richter of Tucson spent many happy hours canoeing, shooting arrows, hiking and crafting at Camp Pearlstein, now called Camp Daisy and Harry Stein, in Prescott. Her parents never thought she would bring home a husband. She didn’t, of course, but those summers began a beautiful… Read more »

How the Israeli army wages war on waistlines

Officer Yaara Bareket oversees stretches at the Wingate army base in Netanya, Israel, Dec. 13, 2016. (Andrew Tobin)

NETANYA, Israel (JTA) – One fit young soldier scales a rope. Two others practice hand-to-hand combat. A large group marches across the sand. But those were just the inspirational photographs on the walls. The actual soldiers crowded in the one-room building here on the Orde Wingate army base were… Read more »

UA Cancer Center and Tucson J team up for education series

The University of Arizona Cancer Center is partnering with the Tucson Jewish Community Center to deliver a free, four-part educational series on cancer starting in February. Classes will focus on trends in research and clinical care, from precision medicine to novel drug development to the new frontiers of immunology.… Read more »

Europe’s Jews prepare public Hanukkah events to ‘drive out darkness’

A menorah in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Dec. 16, 2014. (Carsten Koall/Getty Images)

  AMSTERDAM (JTA) — Before Monday’s attack on a Christmas market in Berlin, Rabbi Yehudah Teichtal had planned to invite hundreds of people to the traditional lighting of the first Hanukkah candle at a large menorah erected at the city’s Brandenburg Gate monument. But he decided to change his original… Read more »

Hanukkah gift ideas for newcomers to the tribe

(MyJewishLearning via JTA) — Do you have friends or family members who are new to the tribe? Maybe they recently converted, married a Jew or became newly interested in their Jewish roots? Or maybe you’re the newbie and are wondering what to put on your wish list. Whatever the… Read more »

6 new Hanukkah kids’ books to help enlighten the holiday

(JTA) — From a new audio version of “Hanukkah Bear” — a holiday favorite by National Jewish Book Award winner Eric A. Kimmel — to a novel for young teens set during the Festival of Lights, there is a fresh crop of Hanukkah books that are sure to delight… Read more »

Why I light my menorah in the window — and you should, too

The new Hanukkah stamp provided an unexpected source of inspiration for a writer. (Courtesy of U.S. Postal Service)

  LOS ANGELES (JTA) — In the weeks before Hanukkah, with anticipation of the holiday brightly filling my mind, the darkening news of rising anti-Semitism in the U.S. began to filter in. As I pictured our menorahs burning in their usual place —  the front windows of our home —… Read more »

This Jewish woman’s research may save millions of lives

Joanna Slusky, a professor of molecular biosciences and computational biology at the University of Kansas, at work in her lab. (Sarah Mullinax)

  LAWRENCE, Kan. (JTA) – Joanna Slusky places a test tube into an incubating shaker, flips the switch, and it begins to quiver. So does she. “I’m excited,” she said, showing off another gadget in her lab, a contraption that stirs solutions using a magnetic coil and a metal… Read more »

Estate planning and elder law benefit all ages

If a trip abroad were in your future, you’d undoubtedly make careful plans, from financial arrangements to who’ll take care of your house and dependents during your absence. But despite the realities of aging and death, many of us are less proactive when it comes to estate planning or… Read more »

Elder Rehab, Russian-style, aids local senior

Yevgenia Kiseleva, who learned gymnastics in an orphanage in Latvia, displays her agility at age 77. (Courtesy Sharon Arkin)

Searching for a program that helps people with memory loss stay physically and mentally active, Natalija Kuznecova had one very specific requirement: she needed to find a program with a Russian speaker for  mother, 77-year-old Yevgenia Kiseleva, who has been in the United States only four months and speaks… Read more »