By Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D JERUSALEM — Last week was Yom HaShoah, Israel’s day to remember the Holocaust. There are fewer each year who tell their stories. For the most part, they were very young. Some did not realize what was happening. Christian families received them, and their parents went elsewhere. Christian Churches helped, including the […]
Israel’s Painful Holidays Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Israel, Opinion
By Steve Kramer KFAR SABA, Israel — If you ever wondered how the U.S. would react should another Nazi Germany threaten the democratic world, stop wondering. You’re seeing it right now in the Middle East…Let’s jump back to 1932, when the U.S. was in isolationist mode and in Germany, the National Socialist German Workers’ Party
Time for Reflection Read More »
Holocaust, International, Israel, Opinion, Steve Kramer, USA
By Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara are said to have demanded that son Yair stop posting on social media, and avoid speaking with politicians. Apparently, those demands came after Yair ignited tensions within Israel and overseas, especially with the United States. Whatever? Yair was last seen walking
A Problem in the Netanyahu Family: Limiting Dad’s Capacity to Manage? Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Israel, Opinion, USA
By Bruce S. Ticker PHILADELPHIA — It happened in Berlin, of all places. On behalf of those poor Palestinians, they chanted “Death to the Jews,” “Death to Israel” and “Tel Aviv, the answer will come.” The day before, an Italian tourist was murdered on Tel Aviv’s boardwalk and a woman and two of her daughters
No Antisemitism Here… Read More »
Bruce Ticker, International, Israel, Opinion
By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Something that never ceases to amaze (and annoy) me is the extent to which various euphemisms are used to describe what happened in the Holocaust to 6 million Jews. Why is everyone — whether individuals, politicians or scholars — so reluctant to use the correct term: murder? For
Died, Disappeared, Perished Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Holocaust, International, Opinion
By Gedaliah Borvick JERUSALEM — Many schools across Israel distribute yahrzeit candles for students and their families to light on the evening of Yom Hashoah. Affixed to the candle is the name of a Holocaust victim and a QR code (a type of barcode) which one can scan to learn about that person. As 6
Heroism in the Warsaw Ghetto Read More »
Gedaliah Borvick, Holocaust, International, Israel, Jewish History, OpinionBy Steve Kramer KFAR SABA, Israel — Israel is currently in an interim period of religious and national holidays which will be over by the end of May. The Knesset is on vacation while hopefully intense negotiations are being held in President Herzog’s residence, seeking to compromise on the proposed judicial system legislation. These negotiations
Israel’s Reaction to Iran’s Plan to Destroy the Jewish State Read More »
Israel, Middle East, Opinion, Steve Kramer, USA
By Alex Gordon HAIFA, Israel — On December 21, 1935, the German writer and publicist Kurt Tucholsky passed away in the Swedish Gothenburg. He was 45 years old. Kurt Tucholsky, a satirist writer, the owner of a brilliant pen, a songwriter, did not write a single line during the last four years of his stay
Heinrich Heine’s Doppelganger Read More »
Alex Gordon, International, Jewish History, OpinionBy Bruce S. Ticker PHILADELPHIA — Nashville’s political version of Bull Connor must have been too busy plotting the expulsions of Justin Jones and Justin Pearson to learn of Republican misfortunes in the preceding two days. Donald Trump was indicted in Manhattan on Tuesday (April 4) for financial crimes sans the “death and destruction” that
CRY RACISM!..And Let Slip the Brand Onto the Republicans Read More »
Bruce Ticker, Opinion, USA
By Jerry Klinger Julius Rosenwald was a first-generation Jewish American. He was born in 1862 in Springfield, Illinois, just a few blocks from where Abraham Lincoln lived. Rosenwald grew up and achieved the American dream. He became very wealthy through hard work, skill, and luck. He was a modest man with a philanthropic bent shaped
Touching the Past, for Today: Louisiana’s Rosenwald Schools Read More »
Jerry Klinger, Jewish History, Opinion, USABy Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D JERUSALEM — It’s Pesach. And Ramadan. It’s also Easter, but the Christians here are below the line of violence, and all is peaceful as far as they are concerned. There has been some killing. Two sisters gunned down in the Jordan Valley, with their mother in a very serious condition. And
Israel Operating on Less Than a Full Tank Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Israel, Opinion
By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — This year’s Passover festival began under the cloud that has enveloped Israel ever since the mass demonstrations protesting the so-called “legal reform” began. Yet preparations for the festival went ahead in the customary fashion, with spring cleaning and food purchases and preparations much as usual. By a quirk
Difficult Times During Passover in Israel Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Israel, OpinionBy Steve Kramer KFAR SABA, Israel — Israel’s political, social, and military prospects have all taken a hit this year following the installation of the current government coalition, headed by the redoubtable Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu. While the right wing, religious, and nationalistic parties won a decisive electoral majority, the difference in the popular
Surmountable Challenges Read More »
Israel, Opinion, Steve Kramer, USA
By Natasha Josefowitz, ACSW, Ph.D. Dear readers, This is the last column I will be writing. I have been writing to you for over 40 years. You may not know it, but I will be 97 and I think my time has come to put down my pen. Thank you for all your comments and
Our Beliefs Impact Our Brains Influencing Our Behaviors Read More »
Lifestyles, Natasha Josefowitz, Opinion