Special Sections

(Jewish Exponent) — On seder night, many of us will return home. Maybe not home to the house in which we grew up, but home to our extended family or to our family of choice. We will come back once again to the same scene — the familiar aroma… Read more »

Rabbi Robert Eisen

The holiday of Passover that many of us are eagerly anticipating is known by many names, each of which reflects a different dimension of what we will be celebrating. While we are usually more concerned with who may or may not be present at our seder table (finding the… Read more »

Whether you weave in one, a few, or all 10 of these tips, consider honoring the matriarchal roots of Judaism this Passover with a little girl power fun at your seder.   Add an orange and coffee bean to your seder plate. The orange represents both inclusion and solidarity… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — I am not one of those people who looks forward to Passover each year. I dread it. I love my carbs and I absolutely loathe the constant cooking and dishwashing that somehow always accompanies the holiday. Since my husband and I started hosting our own… Read more »

NEW YORK (JTA) — Seated in his Lower East Side office, in front of a large portrait of company patriarch Aron Streit, Alan Adler avoids becoming too nostalgic. “It’s like I tell my family members: none of you own a car from 1935, why do you think a matzah… Read more »

LOS ANGELES (JTA) — What did I really learn at the seder table? That is, besides discovering that the white horseradish was way hotter than the red and that my very worldly uncles couldn’t read a word of Hebrew. It’s a question worth considering as we invite new generations… Read more »

BOSTON (JTA) — When Deborah Bodin Cohen immersed herself in rabbinical school in the early 1990s, she expected to spend a year in Israel as part of her studies with Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. What she didn’t know was that a decade later, the experience of living… Read more »

Tracy Salkowitz

Did you know that there is no word for charity in Hebrew? The word most commonly used is tzedakah, but it doesn’t mean charity, it means justice. Think about it for a moment and it makes sense. So many of the commandments are about doing what is right and… Read more »

Passover surrounds us with beauty. The spiritual concepts of struggle, freedom and renewal are timeless and universal. Our wishes for freedom include all people and not just Jews. Our family traditions keep the spirit alive and connect us to all the generations that have come before us. The cleaning… Read more »

Nothing sets the mood quite like water in the garden. The faint sound of trickling water can draw one to a private oasis where flashes of light shimmer over the arching flanks of koi. Sunlight dancing on the spray of a waterfall or fountain releases diamond-like glitters of light.… Read more »

Eating disorders are associated with a higher rate of mortality than any other mental illness, a fact that may not be widely known among the general population. As many as 20 percent of people suffering from anorexia will prematurely die from complications related to their disorder, according to a… Read more »

Ari Ne'eman

When Ari Ne’eman was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome at age 12, his life changed. Administrators at the Conservative Jewish day school that Ne’eman had attended for years said they were not comfortable serving an autistic student, so he ended up transferring to a “segregated special-ed school.” Later, instead of… Read more »

Bari Ross

Continuing strife in the Middle East, the worldwide growth of terrorism, economic struggles from a complex global marketplace … there is no shortage of stress inducers in today’s world. We can dwell on the dark side, or focus our thoughts and actions on what’s good in the world and… Read more »

Mindy Bernstein, executive director of the Coyote Task Force, a local behavioral health agency, landed in Tucson in 1976. She wasn’t sure then what her path would be, but she never imagined a career in mental health advocacy. “I’ve been working in public behavioral health since 1986,” Bernstein told… Read more »

Two Faces of Haman: Why do we like trying them on? (Masks and photo by Edmon J. Rodman)

LOS ANGELES (JTA) — Who is the Haman in your life? The person, who like the bad guy in the Megillah Esther that we read on Purim, schemes to bring you down. When we get to the place in the Megillah where Haman is forced to lead Mordechai though… Read more »

Campers create a brochure for their proposed startup company at Camp Inc. (Courtesy Camp Inc.)

When his new camp opened last summer, Greg Kellner suspected he needed a morning ritual different from the traditional flagpole gathering at many Jewish overnight camps. Kellner, the director of URJ Six Points Sci-Tech Academy in Byfield, Mass., a Jewish science-themed camp in the Reform movement’s network, knew his… Read more »

Omri Margalit, an Israeli serving as a counselor at Tucson’s Camp J, with Tucsonan and fellow counselor Rachel Fox in 2009 (Courtesy Rachel Margalit)

For the Margalit family, the Tucson Jewish Community Center was the setting for a true camp love story: a Tucson camp counselor meets and falls for a visiting Israeli. Rachel Fox and Omri Margalit met at the JCC’s summer camp as teenagers serving as counselors. Rachel, a University of… Read more »

Bonnie Golden, Temple Emanu-El president and yoga teacher, and Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon lead a yoga routine at the Old Stone House on the David Yetman Trail during Temple’s Wandering Jews Shabbat hike on Nov. 1.

There’s a passage in the Talmud that asks “Why didn’t you take advantage of all the beauty I’ve provided for you in the world?” says Rabbi Thomas Louchheim of Congregation Or Chadash, one of several local synagogues that includes hikes and other opportunities for congregants to worship in the… Read more »

Golf has long been considered a sport of luxury and expense, but a local organization has turned the game into a tool to teach children how to live life with specific ethical values. The First Tee of Tucson, the local branch of a national organization, provides children ages 5-17… Read more »

The Coalition for Jewish Education of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is accepting scholarship applications for a Jewish camp experience this summer. Any student currently attending Tucson Hebrew Academy or a religious school program in Southern Arizona is eligible to apply for this need-based scholarship. Funded by the… Read more »