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 »
Special Sections
Purim feature: Badkhn Belt? Jewish humor was born in 1661, prof says
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 debuts Adventure Bus program
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 »
Good diets fight bad Alzheimer genes
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 »
Retired CEO parlays caring career into new leadership roles
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 »
Longtime Tucson friends explore many facets of ‘Becoming Older’ via blog
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 »
Models to wear vintage bridal gowns in museum show
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 »
Under Tucson sunset and grandmother’s lace, couple takes their vows
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 »
Buying or selling a green home 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 »
Add music and color to your backyard with watergardens — yes, in Arizona
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 »
For Tucsonans, Jewish genetic diseases screening means quick trip up I-10
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 sees economic woes trigger rise in domestic abuse
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 »
Document evokes family’s life in 18th-century Germany
It was very rare for Jews to own property in Germany in the 1700s, but retired physician Edward Loebl has documentation that his family did. Passed down from generation to generation, the signed and sealed notification of property ownership was written in German and unintelligible to Loebl until recently.… Read more »
Since 1946, annual family reunions have kept the Paley clan connected
It was a miracle that inspired the Paley clan to gather in 1946. Eight cousins had fought in World War II and all returned home safely. It was a reason to rejoice and ever since, the Paleys have been meeting annually to celebrate their family and tell the stories… Read more »
Special Taglit-Birthright trip to Israel sparks Tucson-Phoenix romance
Before she left on Mayanot Israel’s 2010 Friendship Trip, a Taglit-Birthright Israel trip for young adults with special needs in late July, 20-year-old Tucsonan Rachel Goodman was satisfied with her professional life but not her personal life. “I was fretting about not having a future that I wanted,” she… Read more »
Plant vegetables, herbs now in beds or containers for Passover harvest
Even as the lights of Chanukah dwindle, we continue to connect to our ancestors and rededicate our land. It’s not too late to plant a winter garden and enjoy eating greens into the spring, including bitter herbs for the Passover Seder. While seeds have a low germination rate when… Read more »
The Obama White House — and Washington — celebrate Chanukah
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Chanukah is a story of a people standing alone to keep its lights aflame. This year in Washington, the message was of a people standing with friends — and even the not-so-friendly — to douse terrible flames. President Obama hosted the annual White House Chanukah party… Read more »
At site of Nazi power, a chanukah menorah at Brandenberg Gate
BERLIN (JTA) — Icicles formed on Rabbi Yehudah Teichtal’s beard as he helped set up the towering menorah in the center of Berlin. It wasn’t just any menorah among the thousands that the Chabad-Lubavitch movement erects every Chanukah in public locations around the world. Teichtal, the Chabad rabbi in the… Read more »
Cocktail party recipes, tzedakah box craft can help get Chanukah glowing
There is something about small lights glowing in the vast darkness that renews our childlike wonder: sparklers, flashlights, birthday candles. And we all remember “Lite-Brite,” the little black box of our childhood with the multicolored plastic pegs that, once plugged in, illuminated our designs. For Jews, there are the… Read more »
Chanukah on Christmas Avenue: Raising a Jewish family in Winterhaven
I live in a neighborhood known for its Christmas displays. No one is more surprised about this than I am. And, to my even greater surprise, I have found living here to be a moving experience. The one thing I have known for certain my entire life is that… Read more »