The Good Life

Keeping In Touch, At A Distance

Dani Shetrit — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 21:15:20 +0000

Ways to alleviate emotional distress when families are in crisis.

Stewart Ain

Staff Writer

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Boca Raton, Fla. — When Ben Schwartz’s mother died at home in Australia, he flew to the funeral from his home in Israel but could not afford the airfare for his wife and five children. So while sitting shiva, Schwartz, not his real name, jotted down the names and comments of those who visited so he could share them each evening with his wife and children at home.

Homeland For The Jewish Soul

Dani Shetrit — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 21:12:47 +0000

As the number of delis decline and newfangled ones embrace sustainability, of all things, a nostalgic look back at the heyday of a New York institution.

Ted Merwin

Special To The Jewish Week

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Growing up in Great Neck in the 1970s and ’80s, I listened eagerly to my mother and her cousin Marcia reminiscing about working Sunday evenings waiting tables and busing dishes in Kaufman’s Deli, which was Uncle Herbie’s place on Division Avenue in Williamsburg. I heard about the hustle and bustle, the interactions between the working class customers and the wise-cracking old Jewish waiters, the kibitzing at the deli counter with the jocular countermen in their paper hats.

The Walk Of Life

Dani Shetrit — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 21:10:16 +0000

For a 101-year-old Brooklynite, the secret to longevity is her strolling regimen.

Cynthia Magnus

Special To The Jewish Week

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

‘I’m just an ordinary person,” said Lillian Silverman, 101, who celebrated her July 4th birthday (twice) this month. Born in Brownsville, and a lifelong Brooklyn resident, she walks at least one hour a day in her Borough Park neighborhood. “It’s part of my living — all though the years,” she said.

Fitness comes naturally to Silverman. “I don’t know how to get around except walking. Whoever heard of taking the bus to go to 9th or 10th Avenue?” she said. “I couldn’t think of any other way than walking.”

A Home For Active Retirees

Dani Shetrit — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 21:08:10 +0000

Developers now targeting younger crowd as trend becomes more widespread.

Michele Chabin

Israel Correspondent

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Jerusalem — As her husband Gordon’s retirement neared seven years ago, Dorothy Mandelzweig, who made aliyah from South Africa about 20 years ago, began scouting around for a place to retire.

Longtime residents of Rishon Lezion,
southwest of Tel Aviv, the couple sought an affordable home in a retirement community nearby.

The Mandelzweig’s soon came to the conclusion that communities that cater to active seniors tend to be very expensive, especially in the center of the country, so they widened their search.

My Beloved Is Mine — At Last

Dani Shetrit — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 21:06:16 +0000

Activist lesbian grandmothers marry at first opportunity.

Elicia Brown

Special To The Jewish Week

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

When Connie Kurtz and Ruthie Berman met more than a half century ago, they soon became friends in the way of new mothers everywhere, sharing tips on diapers and formula as they strolled with their babies down McDonald Avenue in Brooklyn. Some 14 years later, in a twist that shocked them both, they fell in love. They divorced their husbands, established a home together and became vocal activists for gay rights.

A Wake-up Call For Caregivers

Dani Shetrit — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 21:03:38 +0000

Former Times reporter’s book is generational guide too dealing with aging parents.

Sandee Brawarsky

Jewish Week Book Critic

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

After years of reporting work, Jane Gross came to believe that she was one phone call away from any piece of information that she needed. Still, even after 30 years at The New York Times on the health and aging beat, among others, she found it very difficult to navigate the system of Medicare and other health benefits when she and her brother, who is also a talented writer, became caregivers for their mother. All of their specialized resources and competence proved useless. In an interview, she wonders out loud how, if they couldn’t figure it out, how could others?

The Good Life (July 2011)

Dani Shetrit — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 21:00:00 +0000

New Paths to a New Stage of Life
Boomers and Their Aging Parents; Never Too Old for Love; Israel Now Catering to Active Retirees

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

The Good Life, July, 2010

Gabriela — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:56:49 +0000

Linking the younger and older generations, from here to Israel.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Bruce Feiler’s surrogate fathers … Young people connecting with Holocaust survivors … Following the kids to Israel.

From Ohio To The Old City

Dani Shetrit — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:48:15 +0000

It takes a retirement village
for an Israel bar mitzvah.

Adam Sosnik

JTA

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

It was a bar mitzvah for the ages — or, rather, the aged.

A handful of residents from an Ohio retirement community visited Israel for a 12-day mission culminating in a group bar mitzvah in Jerusalem’s Old City.

For some of the octogenarians at Cedar Village in Mason, near Cincinnati, it was their first bar/bat mitzvah.

“I never dreamed this could happen to me,” said Ethel Regberg, 86, who was among those celebrating their first bar/bat mitzvah. Her husband, Paul, 87, had a bar mitzvah, too.

How To Retire, Happily

Dani Shetrit — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:46:49 +0000

Ten tips from the Sun Belt
on staying active, fit and appreciated.

Amy Klein

JTA

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Scottsdale, Ariz. — Most working stiffs imagine retired life to be heaven. But not everyone who has been there would agree.

“A life of incessant recreation and indolence is enough to drive any business entity like you or me mad after 3.5 years,” columnist Stanley Bing wrote in the June 23, 2006 issue of Forbes. “No, in order to make your ostensibly golden years work for you, you have to pursue a strategic plan as rigorous as any you implement when your hair was as full and bushy as your ambitions.”

Have Guitar (And Family), Will Travel

Dani Shetrit — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:45:11 +0000

Staff Writer

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Among the recent arrivals to Israel is Harvey Brooks, 65, a well-known bass guitar player who once played alongside such musical legends as Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, the Doors and B.B. King. He says he caught the Zionist bug from his wife of 21 years, who for years took her daughters to Israel on backpacking trips and whose eldest daughter now lives here.

Through repeated visits, he became comfortable in Israel, and last summer he and his wife made aliyah from Tuscon, Ariz.

Following The Kids To Israel?

Dani Shetrit — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:43:19 +0000

There’s a push on to recruit
the parents of those making aliyah.

Michele Chabin

Israel Correspondent

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Jerusalem — Aaron Press used to love to watch the ponies run at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, home of the prestigious Preakness Stakes, the second jewel in horse racing’s Triple Crown.

But, alas, there no are no racetracks in

Israel’s capital city, his new home.

Press, 86, smiles warmly in the apartment he shares here with his son, daughter-in-law and twin grandsons, who made aliyah with him two weeks ago.

Law Students Aiding A Special Clientele

Dani Shetrit — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:21:03 +0000

Hebrew University lawyers-to-be helping
Holocaust survivors through legal morass
to get reparations.

Sharon Udasin

Staff Writer

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Seven decades after she endured four years of unspeakable hunger, freezing temperatures, lice epidemics and perpetual fear of death in the Romanian ghetto of Dej Maturin, Penina Katzir once again felt naked, forced to reopen her wounds from the Shoah and answer the probing questions of an Israeli government-appointed psychiatrist.

Words Are Their Bond

Dani Shetrit — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:15:33 +0000

Recording histories helps Selfhelp young leaders
connect with Holocaust survivors.

Amy Spiro

Special To The Jewish Week

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Elisabeth Sudfeld has a love story to tell. Amid the horrors of the Holocaust, concentrations camps and losing her family, she found, lost and later reconnected with her husband Alex. They were married for 60 years.

Gary Phillips met and fell in love with his wife as the war was ending in a prison in Berlin. She was an Auschwitz survivor and he had been imprisoned for most of the war. They spent the next 58 years together.

Surrogate Fatherhood

Dani Shetrit — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:13:24 +0000

When Bruce Feiler was diagnosed
with bone cancer, he reached out to six
of his friends to play an ongoing role
in his young daughters’ lives.
A gender twist on ‘It Takes a Village.’

Steve Lipman

Staff Writer

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

In the Book of Genesis, Jacob wrestles with an angel one night and comes to a standstill. The angel leaves a mark on Jacob’s thigh to commemorate his struggle. Forever after Jacob walks with a limp. I, too, have a mark on my thigh…

From Bruce Feiler’s Cancer Diary, July 13, 2009

Bruce Feiler’s artistic muses are a pair of birds.