The Books My Grandparents Kept

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Some of you may know that I’m a descendent of Holocaust survivors… and not just one grandparent — four of my 6 grandparents were/are survivors. *Are because my [step]-Nana survived […]

Fulfilling A Higher Calling

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“Please take off your badge as you leave,” the security officer mumbled to me under his breath. After attending the 2025 International Lion of Judah Conference in downtown Atlanta, I […]

When Do I Say Kaddish?

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Some years ago one of my elderly relatives remarried. Her new husband Shimon, was a Holocaust survivor whose relatives had been deported from France and murdered in Auschwitz, but he […]

Just In Case

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My wife and her family taught me how to encounter death. Before I met them, I had experienced predictable loss, like grandparents who died after living full lives. No one […]

Time Has Stood Still

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Today is October 7, 2023. It has been October 7, 2023 for 365 days for many of us. Time has stood still. First we learned about the atrocities inflicted upon […]

One Year Later

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YAFO, Israel – A visitor (of which there are very few these days) might comment on how relatively normal life looks in Israel, even after a year of war. The […]

Taking a Risk for a Sweet Year

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The thing about honey is, it isn’t simple like sugar. Cultivating sugar cane requires a great deal of effort, tending to the fields in blazing heat, processing and extracting the […]

Why Do We Say This Special Psalm In Elul?

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When we returned to my mother’s flat after she died, her siddur was lying on the table where she always sat when she davened in the morning. The bookmark was […]

Life is for the Living

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One afternoon when I was in my early twenties, I was sitting with my dad by his and my mom’s townhome pool in Scottsdale, Arizona, lamenting over the fact that […]