Lee Chutkow accepts an award certificate from Elder Rehab coordinator Sharon Arkin, recognizing his nine semesters of continuous participation. (Courtesy Arkin) Lee Chutkow, M.D., 92, has a goal: To reach his 100th birthday. In pursuit of that goal, Chutkow, a retired psychiatrist, classical music maven, and Shakespeare and poetry buff, keeps his mind and body active through the Elder Rehab program at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Five years ago,… Read more »
L-R: Iosif Beskin, Gregory Tselnik, and Raisa Moroz examine advance directive documents at a workshop. (Courtesy Raisa Moroz)
This summer, Jewish Family & Children’s Services conducted a series of workshops on advance directives and ethical wills for the 40 Russian-speaking Holocaust survivors in the Tucson community. Nearly half attended. “It is not in Russian culture to talk about final days or what would happen with a person… Read more »
New research suggests Americans may be picking up paint brushes over remote controls. Two-thirds of adults in a recent survey say they seek to use their creativity more in life, and 77 percent would rather give up their Netflix subscription for a year than their favorite creative hobby. The… Read more »
Laurence Kutler competes in the 171-mile bicycling leg of the March 6-8 Ultraman Israel endurance challenge. (Courtesy Laurence Kutler)
As if completing a 320-mile race in three days isn’t enough, doing it in 36 hours is an enormous challenge. Included in that are a 6.2-mile swim through chilly mountain waters and cycling 171 miles across a desert at the lowest point on earth, not to mention running a… Read more »
Judith Viorst (Photo: Debbie
wagner)
As a mother of three active boys, bestselling author Judith Viorst never had the luxury of waiting for the muse to strike. “I just put my tushy on the chair and wrote” when the kids were napping or at preschool, she told the AJP recently. “If every once in… Read more »
Driver Mark Contreras has worked for HandiCar, Inc. for 11 years. Jeanne Fischer is one of his regular passengers. The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s free transportation service is available for seniors and disabled passengers traveling to Jewish cultural, religious and community activities around Tucson. (Photo: Debe Campbell/AJP)
For some local Jewish seniors and the disabled, transportation can’t be taken for granted. Without a vehicle, a driver’s license, friends or family to take them places, or the ability to afford a ride service, life can be confining. Isolation can lead to depression and affect general well-being. When… Read more »
Elise Bajohr, program manager for older adults and adults with disability services at Jewish Family & Children’s Services, talks with a client. (Courtesy Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Southern Arizona)
As people grow older, family relationships and resources change. “Solo seniors” is a term for older adults who feel that they do not have a significant other to act on their behalf if or when needed. Reasons vary and may include lack of family and friends in close proximity,… Read more »
Handmaker residents Sarah Segal (left) and Marcie Sutland with Congregation Or Chadash fifth-grade student Alex Strizver on Jan. 27. Courtesy Nanci Levy/Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging)
Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging recently celebrated Tu B’Shevat, known as the New Year for the Trees, with representatives of three local synagogues. Rabbi Batsheva Appel of Temple Emanu-El led a talk about the holiday on Friday, Jan. 18; Rabbi Stephanie Aaron of Congregation Chaverim led a Tu… Read more »
Residents work on an art project as part of Handmaker’s “Around the World” program. (Angela Salmon)
Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging offers a variety of enrichment opportunities for residents, many of them open to the public. Monthly Handmaker Lectures Each month from October-April features lectures by a rabbi, Judaic studies professor or other local Jewish educators on a topic of their choosing, related to… Read more »
Kathy Hamel lifts weights at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. (Courtesy Tucson Jewish Community Center)
Whether you want to stay fit, learn a new artistic skill or enjoy concerts and lectures, the Tucson Jewish Community Center’s jam-packed schedule has you covered. Some classes are designed specifically for seniors; others are “open to everyone ages 18-100.” Here are some options for those with a yen… Read more »
Anne Lowe (Micheal Romero)
Between heading local organizations or sitting on boards, volunteering with humanitarian efforts or creating art, Anne Lowe, 70, finds time for everything and shows no sign of stopping. For nine years, she served as Northwest Jewish Connections coordinator (later Northwest Division director) and outreach director for the Jewish Federation… Read more »
Honey Manson
Honey Manson loves the people of Tucson. Along with the warm weather, they are her favorite thing about the city. Unfortunately, the hard water of Arizona has been less kind to her. A plumbing leak caused by corrosion recently left her and her husband without water for five hours.… Read more »
Ellen Saltonstall
A middle school, elementary and special education teacher for 42 years in rural Vermont, Ellen Saltonstall pioneered Holocaust studies in her school district. “There aren’t many Jewish people in Vermont,” she notes. She won a scholarship for an educators’ tour to Israel in 2009 where she had a chance… Read more »
Jennifer Rowley
I don’t know if I want to do it anymore,” I said to my friend Darren. And by “it” I meant live. Three weeks later, I was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer and given a 40 percent chance of surviving more than five years. At 34 years old, I felt… Read more »
Last year, AARP Arizona conducted a telephone survey of adults 45 and older across Tucson in efforts to help make the city more age-friendly. AARP accepted the City of Tucson into its Network of Age Friendly Communities in October 2016 as the 122nd community. Tucson is the first Arizona… Read more »
Elaine McLain displays her certificate of conversion on Aug. 9, 2017, with the members of the rabbinic beit din, from left: Rabbi Dr. Howard Schwartz, Rabbi Avraham Alpert, Rabbi Dr. Bennett Blum.
Before moving to Handmaker in 2015, Elaine McLain lived all over the country, and “did everything imaginable,” she says, including marrying and being widowed twice, raising three children — and, on Aug. 9, converting to Judaism. (See related story, page 7.) Jewish ethics were the first thing that attracted… Read more »
There are many benefits to learning a foreign language, such as boosting brain power, enhanced memory, and even stalling the onset of dementia and Alzheimer’s. A 2012 study by Swedish and German researchers shows that the language centers of the brain actually grow as a result of learning a… Read more »
Handmaker will host a series of six art talks by docents from the Tucson Museum of Art beginning this fall. The talks, organized by Ellie Eigen and the Tucson chapter of the Brandeis National Committee, are open to those who have signed up for the series through the BNC,… Read more »
Germany has agreed to increase its funding for social welfare services for Holocaust survivors by $88 million. The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany in its announcement Tuesday said the increase brings global allocations by Germany for 2019 to $564 million. The Claims Conference and representatives of the… Read more »
Aug. 16 will mark the 75th anniversary of the commissioning of the USS Intrepid, the World War II-era Essex class aircraft carrier that is now home to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City. To mark the occasion, the museum is putting out a coast-to-coast… Read more »
