Mark Naseck, holistic healing teacher and new immigrant to Israel, celebrates Simchat Torah in Tzfat, Israel, on Oct. 1, 2010. Mark Naseck is an internationally known lecturer, practitioner and teacher in the holistic healing arts.… Read more »
Robert Sarver is the principal owner of the Phoenix Suns basketball team. He founded the National Bank of Arizona in 1984 and is currently chair and CEO of Western Alliance Bancorporation. He is also a director of Meritage Homes Corporation and SkyWest Inc. He lives in Paradise Valley, a… Read more »
Kerri Strug is a retired Olympic gold medal gymnast, best known for completing a vault on an injured ankle at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. She is now a program manager in the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.… Read more »
NEW YORK (JTA) — In contemporary Jewish discourse, the worlds of the synagogue and the worlds of service and advocacy sit far apart. The former is a place of introspection, of prayer and of relationship with God. The latter is a place of action and engagement in the world.… Read more »
The Koren and "Lev Shalem" machzors are among the many High Holiday prayer books that have been published in the past year. (David A.M. Wilensky) SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. (JTA) — New Jewish prayer books typically come in waves, the rarest of which bring new High Holidays prayer books, or machzors. The current wave has seen five new machzorim in a one-year span. Following on the heels of last year’s release of the official Conservative… Read more »
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Among the familiar customs of Rosh HaShanah is the dipping of apple pieces in honey — but what is its origin? King David had a “cake made in a pan and a sweet cake” (II Samuel 6: 15, 19) given to everyone. Hosea 3:1 identifies the… Read more »
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — Yom Kippur, the fourth quarter of the High Holidays, is coming and time is running out. Our seats are waiting, the gates are closing. Each year we look for a new way to prep for the day: Could football offer a strategy? Though Yom Kippur… Read more »
NEW YORK (MyJewishLearning) — For most adults, the central experience of Yom Kippur is fasting. By abstaining from food and drink, we exercise control over our bodies and do not give in to our most basic impulses. This makes it pretty easy to feel the “affliction” that the Torah… Read more »
NEW YORK (JTA) — On his way to converting to Christianity, philosopher Franz Rosenzweig attended Yom Kippur services and was so moved that he decided to remain Jewish. One look at the most famous prayer for the occasion makes it hard to believe that he did not abandon Judaism… Read more »
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Breaking the fast has its own set of traditions. Ashkenazim usually break the fast with something salty, like herring, because they believe fish restores salt lost by the body while fasting. Herring also was the cheapest fish in Eastern Europe, where the custom originated. Egg and… Read more »
(JTA) — For Lee Weissman, a Breslov Chasid in Irvine, Calif., the recent onset of Elul caps a spiritual journey he began a month ago with the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Weissman, a teacher at the Tarbut v’Torah Community Day School in Irvine and a… Read more »
Noah Pensak (left) and Jacob Meyer donate books to the Ocotillo Learning Center library. (Courtesy Ocotillo Learning Center) It started as a novel way to teach Jewish children about philanthropy, social justice and tikkun olam (repairing the world). Today, the mitzvah project has become a cherished part of the Bar and Bat Mitzvah scene. Yet for each child who chooses to take part in this burgeoning tradition,… Read more »
Gertrude Shankman, a Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging resident, and Adam DeLuca in front of the B’nai Tzedek triptych, currently on display at Handmaker. The painting includes a poem by DeLuca. (Bryan Davis) Eighteen-year-old Adam DeLuca has participated in the B’nai Tzedek Tucson teen philanthropy program since 2007. Now starting his freshman year at the University of Arizona, DeLuca has also embarked on a lifetime of giving. “Before I joined B’nai Tzedek I understood that charity was a good thing,” DeLuca… Read more »
(Tel Aviv) — Working out can help you shed pounds — but that’s just the beginning. New research from Tel Aviv University has found that “endurance exercises,” like a Central Park jog or a spinning class, can make us look younger. Exercise unlocks the stem cells of our muscles.… Read more »
Fran Donnellan If you’re a baby boomer lucky enough to have aging parents, chances are you’ve been noticing changes in your parents’ activity level, health, diet or mental state. You want to help, but you’re not always sure how. You need information, but don’t always know where to turn. In this… Read more »
Sharon Arkin (Sheila Wilensky) In her 40s, Sharon Arkin had an epiphany. “I can still do the kinds of things I did when I was 18,” she realized. “I’ve never really changed very much.” Arkin, who turned 72 last month, maintains a list of activities that might stagger an 18-year-old. She’s a clinical… Read more »
Tucsonan Bobby Present, right, defeated Barry Danser of London, left. (Courtesy Bobby Present) Tucsonan Bobby Present competed in the Maccabi Games in Vienna, Austria, this summer, playing in the masters tennis men’s 55+ category — and doing well until an injury forced him to default for the first time in his tennis career. “It was unfortunate timing,” he told the AJP, because… Read more »
Marilyn Heins, M.D. Which mother is the better (or worse) parent? Good parenting is not a contest but let’s examine the stereotypes of Tiger Mother vs. Jewish Mother. Amy Chua’s book “The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” is on my shelf but my parenting files were curiously empty of any references… Read more »
Laura Kafif, the house mother at Sava A Child’s Heart, visits with one of her charges, Zeresenay Gebru, as he recovers from heart surgery at Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, Israel, May 31, 2011. (Sheila Shalhevet/JTA Photo Service) Just two days earlier, 8-year-old Salha Farjalla Khamis said goodbye to her parents and four siblings in her village on the African island of Zanzibar. Now, in a hospital in the Tel Aviv suburb of Holon, tears roll silently down her cheeks as she watches an Israeli nurse attach… Read more »
(StatePoint) — To make sure your home stays cool while your energy bills stay low this summer, check that your air conditioning system is operating properly. If you have a central air conditioning system, be sure to get it checked by a professional. Consumers may be unaware that the… Read more »
