HEADLINES | 7
SPECIAL PULLOUT | B1
READING LIST
SENIOR LIFESTYLE
Local’s book is suggested reading
Seniors talk COVID vaccines, scams and a lifetime of love
FEBRUARY 5, 2021 | SHEVAT 23, 5781 | VOLUME 73, NUMBER 10
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Arizona’s Phoenix-area Jewish leaders anticipate changes from Biden administration COVID-19 spike further complicates Jewish I community’s loss NICOLE RAZ | STAFF WRITER
NICOLE RAZ | STAFF WRITER
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usie Mannis Sigman is one of the lucky ones. She was able to say goodbye to her mother — albeit over FaceTime. “It was a real blessing, especially knowing how many families have not had that opportunity amid these horrible circumstances,” Sigman said. Her mother, Barbara Mannis, died at 83 on April 23 in Scottsdale, soon after the coronavirus pandemic upended daily life across the country. Mannis didn’t have COVID-19, but the coronavirus pandemic affected almost everything about what came next: a virtual funeral, a shiva unlike any Sigman had seen before and — since she lives alone — a long grieving period without anyone to hug. Dealing with the COVID-era loss was made easier by having a guide for what to do next, Sigman said. “My parents had prearranged their funeral plans, which was a godsend,” Sigman said. “It would have been so much more challenging — it just would have been really, really hard to have to navigate all of that.” As difficult as things were last spring, families are now faced with even starker circumstances due to the state’s dramatic rise in COVID-19 — now the leading cause of death in Arizona. Local mortuaries and cemeteries are feeling the strain. Green Acres Mortuary and Cemetery in Scottsdale is forced to delay services, an issue that’s of particular note to Jewish families that want to bury their loved ones within SEE FUNERALS, PAGE 2
n the two weeks following President Joe Biden’s inauguration, several leading members of Phoenix’s Jewish community say they are cautiously optimistic about the new administration when it comes to dealing with COVID-19, anti-Semitism and immigration. But there remains skepticism about what the future holds in terms of the U.S.-Israel relationship. With more than 440,000 Americans dead from COVID-19, Heather Ross, a clinical assistant professor at Arizona State University’s School for the Future of Innovation in Society and Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation, is hoping the new administration will be able to improve the vaccination process and implement protective measures against the virus soon. Ross expects to see a “significant difference” in the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines with Biden at the helm. “The residents of Arizona, and here in the Greater Phoenix area, have been led to believe for many, many months that when it came time to get vaccinated, that would be orchestrated by Maricopa County. And when the Arizona Department of Health Services swept in and started setting up separate vaccination pods and locations SEE BIDEN, PAGE 3 and rules — it’s been extremely
Joe Biden is sworn in as the 46th president of the United States. DOD, US ARMY SGT. CHARLOTTE CARULLI VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONSs
Grandchildren of Holocaust survivors keep stories alive Adena Astrowsky, author of “Living among the Dead: My Grandmother’s Holocaust Survival Story of Love and Strength,” started 3GAZ to keep stories like her grandmother’s from being forgotten. To read more, go to p. B9. PHOTO COURTESY OF ADENA ASTROWSKY
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NATIONAL
JScreen hosts virtual events for annual Jewish Genetic Screening Awareness Week
ISRAEL
Israel to honor Ethiopian Jews who perished in Sudan en route to Israel
INTERNATIONAL
Rabbi, cantor hang mezuzah at Israel Diamond Exchange office in Dubai