Tisha B’Av – the ninth day of the month of Av – is usually the saddest day of the Jewish calendar, a day of fasting and mourning the destruction of both Temples in Jerusalem, among other tragedies. But last year, our family’s Tisha B’Av was far from solemn. Late in June, my husband, Daniel, received […]
In the 1960s, New York-born secular Jew Sam Zeitlin loved cycling and wanted to follow his passion all the way to the Olympics. He trained incredibly hard and even earned himself the nickname, “Brooklyn Lightning.” He made it all the way to the U.S. Pan American Cycling Team and attended the 1967 U.S. Olympic Pre-Trials, […]
Growing up in Israel was frightening. I was not sheltered like some of my friends. When there was a shooting or explosion, I knew the details. I would overhear my mother sobbing on the phone with her sister. When she got off the phone, she asked me to come to her. She was wisely aware […]
Every day since October 7 has been rough. There are so many people who have lost lives on both sides. It seems much of the world is good at empathizing with the Palestinian pain, but when it comes to Israelis and Jews, it’s another story. So many shout for a ceasefire without mentioning any return […]
I was sitting in my Middle Eastern studies class at my public state school, listening to my professor talk about how sneaky Jewish lawyers stole land from the poor Palestinians after World War II. “The Jewish people were smart and used misleading contracts to take Palestinian properties and land,” he said. “The land was not […]
It was the first week of the war. The second shiva house that I attended. It was held in a Jerusalem hotel, because the hero who had died defending people in the Gaza envelope was a lone soldier from France. His name was Binyanmin Lev. Binyamin’s mom spoke about how Binyamin had left the safety […]
