The wires were buzzing earlier this week with stories of a terminal lung cancer diagnosis for Paul Newman, who has reportedly turned over $120 million—the entire value of his ownership in Newman's Own—to charity. The morbid headlines alone were enough to cast readers into despair, even though Newman himself has humorously denied the reports. While the idea of Paul Newman dying a painful, difficult death is admittedly hard to bear, the media frenzy surrounding this story is eclipsing an important point: Obsessing over Paul Newman's impending death is time that would be better spent reflecting on his extraordinarily inspiring life.

Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward: just after their marriage, in 1958Despite his legendary good looks (see Adam Sandler's "Chanukah Song" lyrics) and enviably successful Hollywood career, Newman opted for a private life defined by principled conviction and genuine humility. He's been married to his second wife, actress Joanne Woodward, for 50 years, and is said to have described his commitment to monogamy with, "Why go out for a hamburger when you have steak at home?"

Newman's life hasn't been totally charmed; his first marriage ended in divorce, and his only son died of a drug overdose in 1978. Two years after his son Scott passed away, Newman found a way to create something good from an otherwise life-shattering experience. In 1980, he founded The Scott Newman Center, which works to prevent substance abuse through education, and runs a camp for children and families whose lives have been affected by drugs, alcohol abuse, or domestic violence.

Beyond that, he's all but redefined the concept of corporate philanthropy, achieving the seemingly-impossible by donating 100% of the proceeds from his wonderful company, Newman's Own, to various charitable organizations. Together with business partner and friend A.E. Hotchner, with whom he founded the company in 1982, Newman has earned and donated over $200 million.

It doesn't stop there. Newman's Own is much more than just another "celebrity brand," as chronicled in Newman and Hotchner's book, Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good. Unlike "Rocky Graziano's spaghetti sauce, Mickey Mantle's barbecue sauce, Nolan Ryan's All-Star Fruit Snacks, [or] Gloria Vanderbilt's salad dressing," Newman's Own had a mission from the beginning: Newman was intent upon creating a product made with all natural ingredients. He was ahead of his time: As explained in Shameless Exploitation, "at that time, almost all salad dressings, especially the mass-market ones, contained sugar, artificial coloring, chemical preservatives, gums, and God knows what."

Paul Newman: helped to start CECP with the belief that corporate America could be a force for good in society His first product, a simple oil and vinegar salad dressing, paved the way for a product line that now includes all-natural pasta sauce, salsa, lemonade, steak sauce, cereal, and popcorn, not to mention an organic line founded with his daughter in 1993, which includes pretzels, cookies, popcorn, chocolate bars, peppermint cups, peanut butter cups, olive oil and vinegar, dried fruit, fair trade coffee, and pet food.

Newman dedicated himself to creating healthier products and giving all of the proceeds away but, of course, he didn't stop there. Through Newman's Own, he initiated and funds the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, which "provides children with cancer and other serious illnesses and conditions a [free] camping experience of the highest quality, while extending year-round support to their families and health care providers."

He also helped to start the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy, which is the "only international forum of business CEOs and chairpersons pursuing a mission focused exclusively on corporate philanthropy."

Amazingly, this is just an incomplete, hazy snapshot of what Newman has accomplished in his 83 years. Altruistic, creative, entrepreneurial, and dedicated to the common good, Paul Newman is a great symbol of what each of us can achieve when we allow ourselves to be fearlessly—but thoughtfully—guided by our hearts.

Not chick lit: DahliaWe’ll admit this is a totally loaded question. The Book of Dahlia, perhaps the funniest cancer story ever written, is a novel by Jewcy editor-at-large Elisa Albert. You’ve probably seen her on the site, writing about In Treatment, vegetarianism, or the underexplored relationship between Martin Buber and Legally Blond.

Elisa is really, really good at understanding human nature and really, really bad at avoiding controversy. One of the short stories in her first book, How This Night Is Different, explores the age-old question “What happens if it’s Passover and you’re Jewish and you have a yeast infection?” Dahlia, meanwhile, looks at the life of a privileged half-Israeli Beverly Hills kid whose quarterlife crisis is radically compounded by terminal brain cancer. Naturally, because it’s funny and the main character is a girl, the publisher slapped a pink cover on it, but I promise boys will like it too. Me, I found it challenging and tragic and impossible to put down, but I couldn’t be more biased, so let’s see what critics who haven’t ever been to Elisa’s house for Shabbat dinner have to say.

The New Yorker calls Dahlia “one of the most likable characters in recent fiction.” The LA Times is less enthusiastic, calling the novel “a story that somehow feels mushy” but adding that it rallies as Dahlia gets sicker, ultimately coming to “a sweet and poignant close.”

And The San Francisco Chronicle is just in love:

The Book of Dahlia may sound unbearably sad, and it can be, but it's also very funny, filled with scathing criticisms and lyrical bursts of profanity. Often, the humor and sadness are so tightly entwined as to be nearly indistinguishable. Dahlia's father, for instance, insists on optimistic misinterpretations of doctors' words: "Not worst possible place, not necessarily worst possible tumor, he jotted in his notebook while the head of Neurology went on to explain that it actually was the 'worst possible' tumor."

I was expecting the Jewish press to treat Elisa as a sort of prodigal daughter, but they were just as excited about the book. At the Forward, Melanie Weiss thinks Dahlia’s character flaws—and she has many—ultimately make the novel succeed:

Our intimacy with her flaws makes us care about her, and her story, and her deeply human responses to any number of really tough scenarios. As Dahlia’s physical condition deteriorates, we are very much there, and it’s a remarkably affecting read. That appears to be Albert’s particular genius: She cultivates an emotional bond even with her heroine, not despite Dahlia’s human defects but because of them.

Sarah Weinman at Jbooks.com looks at the most complicated, least sentimental part of what's ultimately a pretty complicated and unsentimental novel:

The most fractious relationship Dahlia has, and thus the most pivotal one Albert depicts, is with her brother Danny, a prominent young Manhattan rabbi. Here is a painful portrait of a younger sister's hero worship slowly evolving into contempt as a result of her brother's lousy and cruel treatment. Other works would put a shiny bow and have Danny and Dahlia arrive at a heart-tugging reconciliation before her untimely death. Albert knows better.

Haaretz is less enchanted with Danny’s role, calling him “the one fault of Albert's otherwise fine, nuanced novel.” But like everyone else, they're bursting with praise, though they do note—somewhat chauvinistically?—that Dahlia might have been happier in Israel.

Ha, wasn't it humiliating for Scientology when that clip of Tom Cruise being all wild-eyed and talking about orgs and DPs and whatnot surfaced online? Now everyone will think Scientologists are crazy! Good thing no embarrassment like that could ever befall the Jews.

Oh, wait. Oops. It turns out that Hebrew Hammer writer/director Jon Kesselman made a top secret Jewish indoctrination video that makes Tom look saneish. Whether he's curing cancer, curing 9/11, or just walking on water, for Jon Kesselman, it's all about KJW: Keep Judaism Working. Oy.

Careful how many latkes you eat tonight, ladies (and Happy Hanukkah, too). A new Dutch study published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, has shown that a carcinogenic chemical called acrylamide is produced in starchy foods that have been baked, fried, roasted, and grilled.

In the study, researchers from the University of Maastricht in Maastricht, the Netherlands looked at data from 62,000 women and established a direct link between consumption of this chemical and incidence of ovarian and endometrial cancer.

The study showed women who had high intake of acrylamide were more than twice as likely to develop ovarian or endometrial cancer as those who ate a smaller amount.

While indulging in pan-fried potatoes over the next week won't kill you, you might want to think twice about how often you eat potato chips and fries from now on.

To make your latkes a tad healthier this Hanukkah, consult our handy list of oils and choose the best option for you.

This year, as with every year around this time, you hear a lot of people wishing each other health and happiness. And I believe that people are sincere in this wish, but unfortunately, being healthy and happy requires some work of the wishee. Being healthy means, among other things, going to the doctor.
If This Is What You Need: to get you motivated to put these things on your calendar, I say go for it.
I’ll be the first to admit that doctor’s appointments are about my least favorite activities. The examinations and questions make me uncomfortable and unhappy, and even with insurance, the cost stresses me out. But even though I dread my doctor’s appointments, I’m diligent about going simply because I’m terrified that if I don’t keep on top of my health I’ll find out I have some serious condition that requires lots and lots of time with doctors in hospitals, paying lots of money for procedures that hurt. So if you’re like me, I strongly suggest that you make your annual appointments ASAP.

AppointmentS, you say? In the plural?

Yep. There are a bunch of things to get checked out every year. Check with your doctor to see if all of these apply to you (pap smears, for instance, are recommended yearly for women under 30, and and then less often as you get older, and colon screening isn't necessary until you're fifty) but you really should investigate.  Sucks, but just do it.

1. Get Squeezed
Breast health is my number one issue right now because my mother was recently diagnosed with breast cancer, and that makes her the fourth woman in three generations of her family. She was diagnosed because of something that was found in a mammogram, which only reinforces everything I’ve always heard about mammograms: they work, and you need to get one every year. Starting when you’re forty this should be something that you keep up with no matter what. Until you’re forty, practice monthly breast self exams (alas, being felt up by your boyfriend doesn’t count).
Boobs: If you wanna keep 'em, get 'em squeezed
For more information on the importance of mammography, click here.
For information on getting a free mammogram click here.
For instruction on how and when to conduct a breast self exam, click here.

2. Get Poked
Colon cancer is one of those cancer’s we’d really rather not discuss. Colons are gross, right? You know what’s grosser? Dying. From the time you turn fifty you should get one of three tests that screen for colon cancer every year. Every ten years you should get a colonoscopy. For more info on what tests you should ask for (and yes, you may have to ask for them) click here.

3. Get smeared
Girls, you need to go to the gynecologist every year for your annual pap smear. This may be my single least favorite activity of all time, but I hear cervical cancer is a bitch (and frankly, if there’s any part of my body that I want in tip top shape, it’s my cunt) so I grin and bear it. While you’re there, I suggest being tested for STDs, too (assuming you’re sexually active) because some of them, like clamydia, might not have any symptoms, and so can just hang out in your cooch for ages if you don’t catch them early. For more info on the importance of Pap smears, and how often to get them click here.

4. Get scraped
Is there anything worse than the sound of plague being scraped off your teeth? Blech! But it turns out going to the dentist is not just about checking for cavities and and gum disease. Because so much enters the body via the mouth, lots of things can be diagnosed early by looked closely at oral health. For more information on the Mouth-Body connection, check out this website. I was especially surprised by this:

Many diseases and conditions can affect your oral health. For example, people with weakened immune systems may be more likely to get fungal and viral infections in the mouth. The immune system (the system that protects the body from illness and infection) can be weakened by disease or as a side effect of cancer chemotherapy drugs or by drugs that are taken to prevent the rejection of transplanted organs or bone marrow. Medications taken for other conditions also can affect the health of your mouth. For example, many drugs cause dry mouth, which can increase your risk of dental decay, oral yeast infections and other oral infections.

Your oral health also can affect other medical conditions. For example, if you are diabetic, an infection in your mouth can disrupt your blood-sugar levels and make your diabetes harder to control. Researchers also are exploring the role of periodontal (gum) disease as a potential risk factor for various medical conditions, including heart disease.

So do yourself a favor and make an appointment to see a dentist every six months.

5. Get screened
Heart disease is the number one killer in the US. Half of all Americans will die of heart disease. If you’re like me and hate being a member of a the mainstream, or if you just don’t want to die anytime soon, I highly suggest getting screened for heart disease, a process that can be as quick as 15 minutes, and can help you see how to make changes in your diet and lifestyle that can save your life. For information on what happens at a screening, and where to be screened, check out Heart Screen Now.

6. Get charged
The smoke alarms in your house or apartment need to be checked once a month, and the batteries should be replaced every year. For more info check out this directive from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, or this rapping British firefighter.

If you think you might have trouble remembering all of this stuff, I encourage you to sign up for a free service that will remind you to set up appointments. I like MyHealthTests.

This stuff might not seem spiritual, but unless you want to become a spirit, you’ve got to stay alive, and to stay alive, you’ve got to keep on top of your health. So this year mark your spiritual beginning by having a bunch of doctors make you uncomfortable. Then take yourself out for a drink and congratulate yourself for being so damn on top of things.

It's as if cancer developed a marketing strategy:

A virus contracted through oral sex is the cause of some throat cancers, say US scientists.

HPV infection was found to be a much stronger risk factor than tobacco or alcohol use, the Johns Hopkins University study of 300 people found.