Special Sections

Hundreds of thousands of Jewish camp alumni — and their parents — have long known that those halcyon weeks spent at Jewish summer camp don’t just cement lifelong friendships, they strengthen Jewish identity. Now they have it in writing. A new study on the long-term impact of Jewish overnight… Read more »

Philanthropist Harold Grinspoon, right, visits one of the camps his founddation is helping. Photo: Harold Grinspoon Foundation)

When Frank Silberlicht became the executive director of Camp Young Judaea in Wimberley, Texas, in 1998, he had no idea that his job eventually would change from getting a camp up and running to being the CEO of a midsized nonprofit. But over the past decade or so, as… Read more »

The 6th Annual Gootter Grand Slam weekend will take place March 26 and 27. The event has raised more than $1.5 million to endow the Steven M. Gootter Research Chair for the Prevention and Treatment of Sudden Cardiac Death at the University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center. In 2010,… Read more »

The American Red Cross Southern Arizona Chapter will offer free CPR and first aid training on Saturday, March 19, as part of Gabrielle Giffords Honorary Save-a-Life Saturday. Red Cross chapters will hold classes at more than 100 locations across the country to honor Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and all those… Read more »

After the January shootings in Arizona and the calls for greater civility and moderation in the national discourse; after an acrimonious back-and-forth over the Jewish legal approach to death and organ donation; and after still more calls for a gentler, more civil public discourse, Rabbi Moshe Tendler stood up… Read more »

It was probably not what Dr. Lynn Polonski had in mind for his 15 minutes of fame. It must have been a bittersweet moment when he found himself at the bedside of America’s most famous Congresswoman, ready to operate and relieve some of the damage caused by the Jan.… Read more »

Shari Gootter with her retired guide dog, Harper

Tucsonan Shari Gootter recently sent an e-mail to friends and colleagues promoting Harper Appreciation Day — a celebration of her retired guide dog on his 14th birthday on March 8. Gootter, whose sight is limited due to uveitis and secondary glaucoma, works as a clinician at Emerge! Center Against… Read more »

Leonard Joffe, M.D.

Dr. Leonard Joffe, ophthalmologist and retina specialist, will present “Age-Related Macular Degeneration and Recent Advances in the Management of this Condition” at a Hadassah education meeting and brunch later this month. Macular degeneration is one of the hottest research topics in ophthalmology and many advances in its treatment have… Read more »

Anita “Sarge” Kellman isn’t in the military, although her recent book is entitled “It’s a Beautiful Day for Boot Camp”; it’s the subtitle, “Empowering Cancer Survivors with Physical and Mental Toughness” that reveals Kellman’s true calling. A Tucson wife and mother, Kellman has worked in the medical field for… Read more »

A 1905 postcard ashows a badkhn insulting a bride at her wedding ceremony. (Mel Gordon Archives)

BERKELEY, Calif. (JTA) — The Chmielnicki massacres weren’t particularly funny. From 1648 to 1651, nearly 100,000 Jews were slaughtered throughout Ukraine by Bohdan Chmielnicki and his roving bands of Cossacks. It was arguably the worst pogrom in history, leaving hundreds of Jewish communities in ruins. Yet according to Mel… Read more »

Handmaker, which operates a memory care assisted living unit and adult day programs, has launched the Adventure Bus, an outreach program for people with early stages of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of cognitive memory impairment. Made possible through a compelling needs grant from the Jewish Federation of Southern… Read more »

Tel Aviv — Scientists today agree that there are five molecules that are known to affect or cause Alzheimer’s disease, which plagues an estimated five million Americans. The potency of these molecules is linked to environmental factors such as diet and lifestyle. Professor Daniel Michaelson of Tel Aviv University’s… Read more »

Terry Perl

Terry Allen Perl started his career in 1969 operating summer camps and day programs for the physically and mentally challenged. The Baltimore native joined Chimes International, a multi-service agency for the disabled, as its first residential director in 1971. His four-decade career at Chimes, he says, helped define his… Read more »

Sandy Heiman (left) and Myra Dinnerstein

While sickness, care-giving and other negative scenarios have long been associated with aging, there’s another side to the story. “There’s a certain amount of freedom getting older. I decided it was a good thing, although I had approached it with a certain amount of trepidation,” says Tucsonan Sandy Heiman,… Read more »

Ashlee Hall models antique wedding gown

The Jewish History Museum, 564 S. Stone Ave., will host a style show of vintage and antique wedding dresses on Sunday, Feb. 13 at 1:30 p.m. The story of the Jewish bride who originally wore each dress will be told. Included are an 1880s gown from the Arizona pioneer… Read more »

Bride Rebecca Kunsberg is veiled by her mother, Linda Kunsberg (left), and the groom’s mother, Beanie Rohtbart, in the ‘bedeken’ ceremony, witnessed by Rabbi Robert Eisen (far left) and groom Ted Goodman. (John Hursh - Focus On Events Photography)

Rebecca Kunsberg, 31, daughter of Andrew and Linda Kunsberg of Tucson, and Theodore Goodman, 33, son of Beanie and Markus Rohtbart of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., and Don and Gloria Goodman of West Bloomfield, Mich., were married on Nov. 14, 2010 at Westward Look Resort with Rabbi Robert Eisen of… Read more »

Components of a rainwater harvesting system found at a foreclosed property in Tucson

Looking for a green home has become easier, thanks to an upgrade to the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) that lets realtors mark options in eco-friendly categories such as lot design, water and energy efficiency, and indoor air quality. In Tucson, looking for some green features or evaluating the potential… Read more »

One of more than a dozen watergardens at Gail Barnhill’s home in Tucson

For years, I’d longed for a gurgling watergarden pond brimming with blooming waterlilies, frolicking goldfish and darting dragon and damselflies but had no idea how to go about it. Fourteen years ago I finally had it with the “wishing and hoping” and bought a 300-gallon Rubbermaid stock tank, dug… Read more »

Tucsonans Evan and Michelle Glazer were screened through Scottsdale’s Jewish Genetic Diseases Center.

When Ted Glenn heard that his chances of being a carrier of a life-threatening genetic disease were one in six, he knew what he had to do: get tested. Like all Ashkenazi Jews (with origins in Eastern Europe), Glenn has a high probability of carrying one of 11 genetic… Read more »

JFCS LEAH program coordinator Ilana Markowitz (Sheila Wilensky)

Domestic abuse is still “a big secret” in the Jewish community, says Carol Sack, Jewish Family & Children’s Services vice president of financial resource development. Too many people still believe that “it’s such a shanda, or shame, for Jewish women to walk through our door,” she says, “and the… Read more »