First Person

In Israel, keeping an appointment made 80 years ago

Rabbi Israel Becker of Tucson (left) and former Chief Rabbi of Israel Meir Lau in Tel Aviv in May

One winter night in the mid-1960s, when I was a young teenager, the stage was set for a very important meeting in Israel this past May. Unbeknownst to me, the true genesis for this meeting had begun some 80 years ago. On that winter night, a man arrived at… Read more »

Greece, Israel mission sparks visions of future

Holocaust memorial stars on the railroad tracks at Salonika, Greece

We sang “Happy Birthday” in Hebrew to 9-year-old Miriam in the Athens Jewish Community School;  we talked with teenagers Gala and Tal at a summer camp near Salonika;  we listened in Tel Aviv as Yuval who lost both arms and Tzipi who was paralyzed told us how they used their abilities… Read more »

Praying for three boys whose plight hits close to home

Racheli Frenkel, center, mother of kidnapped teenager Naftali Frenkel, stands with the mothers of the other abducted teens, Eyal Yifrah and Gilad Shaar, outside her home in Nof Ayalon in central Israel, June 17, 2014. (Yossi Zeliger/Flash 90)

KARNEI SHOMRON, West Bank (JTA) — Four days into the search for three kidnapped Israeli teens, I attended a group prayer session dedicated to their safe return. Dozens of women gathered together to read responsively psalms seeking God’s mercy and intervention before the start of our morning Jewish studies… Read more »

At prayer vigils, Israelis gather in moment of unity over kidnapping

Israelis at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv praying for the release of three kidnapped Jewish teenagers, June 15, 2014. (Gideon Markowicz/FLASH90)

GIVAT SHMUEL, Israel (JTA) — On the rolling green fields of a suburban Tel Aviv park, hundreds gathered to pray for the imminent rescue of three kidnapped Israeli teenagers. Rabbis delivered speeches, singer Yonatan Razel performed two pieces based on liturgical invocations of God’s mercy, and a prayer was… Read more »

At Shavuot, celebrating the giving of the law — and the mother-in-law?

What does my mother-in-law have to do with my married life, columnist Edmon J. Rodman recalls foolishly asking soon after he was married 32 years ago. (Edmon J. Rodman)

LOS ANGELES (JTA) — In the Ten Commandments, the Torah tells us to “Honor your father and your mother,” but on mothers-in-law, it’s mum. That is until we come to the two-day holiday of Shavuot and read the Book of Ruth, which records the relationship between Ruth and her… Read more »

Restoring my German roots

Gabrielle Selz

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. (JTA) — Four years ago, I applied to re-obtain German citizenship on behalf of my son and myself. Neither of us was born in Germany. I was born in sunny California and my son on Long Island. But I had learned that under the German Constitution, “Former… Read more »

Visiting Kiev’s wounded in Jerusalem

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Artem Zaptotski, from Lutsk, in western Ukraine, sits in Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, sharing his room with a French Hasid. Seeing that I speak Hebrew and wear a kippah, the Hasid asks if he should encourage Zaptotski to put on tefillin. No, I tell him. Zaptotski… Read more »

Rings and things: Remembering loss, moving toward life

LOS ANGELES (JTA) — During shiva for my mother, my father gathered my brothers and me to share a letter in which she expressed some musings and last wishes. The letter also said that as the sole daughter, I had inherited her jewelry box. In the room in which… Read more »

On Purim, answering to a higher grogger

Besides blotting out the name of Haman, would these groggers also wake one to the needs of the hungry? (Edmon J. Rodman)

LOS ANGELES (JTA) — On Purim, can we really blot out the memory of an evil like Haman, who threatened our very existence, with a noisemaker? When in a popular Purim song we sing “Hava narishah-rash, rash, rash,” “Wind your noisemakers,” all that “rashing” does momentarily make the darkness… Read more »

My valentine to American Jewish men

Suzanne Levy

(JTA) — On Valentine’s Day, I’d like to sing the praises of American Jewish men. I’m aware it’s a rather large group, but that’s the point: The United States is a sea of plenty for Jewish men. Whereas in Britain, where I grew up, there are only about 300,000… Read more »

Jewish day school? Not for one observant Jewish family

WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. (JTA) — “I’m sorry, but we’ll have to pass.” That was not the answer I wanted to give. It certainly was not the answer my friend expected to hear. You see, my friend’s son attends a local Jewish day school. My son does not. But the… Read more »

How living in Switzerland taught me about anti-Jewish bias

NEW YORK (JTA) — During the height of the recession, I moved to Switzerland. I had already lived in France, Japan, India and Israel, and traveled much of the rest of the world. I’d gone global for work, love, spirituality and cultural infatuation, but this last time was for… Read more »

The first step out of an ultra-Orthodox world

(JTA) — The call came one evening in August. I was in Jerusalem staying with my oldest sister, Goldy, for the summer. “It’s for you,” Goldy shouted from the kitchen. “Aunt Fraidy!” Aunt Fraidy had been my host in my last year of high school. My parents, concerned about… Read more »

Putting aside historical slogans, protesting for a better Ukraine

KIEV, Ukraine (JTA) — As I stood as one of the few Americans among the masses of protesters at Kiev’s Independence Square, the frigid cold reminded me that this was my fourth year trying to survive a harsh Ukrainian winter. The crowd seemed be warming up thanks to the… Read more »

Born in a DP camp, baseball’s historian adopts America’s national pastime

Major League Baseball's official historian, John Thorn, pictured holding a royal decree knighting his great-grandfather, says the past enhances the present in sports as well as family matters. (Hillel Kuttler).

CATSKILL, N.Y. (JTA) – The past escorts John Thorn home from the moment he greets a visitor at a 139-year-old railroad station, crosses the Rip Van Winkle Bridge and arrives at his residence, a county historical landmark. Clad in a facsimile jacket of the defunct Negro Leagues’ Kansas City… Read more »

Santa, the Easter bunny and raising a Jewish child

NEW YORK (JTA) – Last spring, I found myself averting my eyes when my 4-year-old mentioned something about the Easter bunny in front of my dad. We were at my parents’ home in Michigan for Passover and my son said, “When I get back to Brooklyn, the Easter bunny… Read more »

Seeking Kin: Unraveling the mystery of the late Yehuda Cohen

The “Seeking Kin” column aims to help reunite long-lost relatives and friends. BALTIMORE (JTA) – Wearing a black jacket and hat with a white shirt buttoned up to the neck, the bearded man sings of poverty and hunger, homelessness and being alone, a family lost. Yet through the pain,… Read more »

Neshama Carlebach: How I became a Reform Jew

Neshama Carlebach onstage at the Union for Reform Judaism's biennial in San Diego, Dec. 14 2013. (URJ)

(JTA) — I grew up Jewish. Simply Jewish. My late father, Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, raised us in an observant Orthodox household. Our lives were filled with beautiful ritual and we celebrated the wonder of a familial spiritual connection. That said, we also danced along the fine line of progressive… Read more »

Jerusalem blanketed by biggest snowstorm in half a century

Young people sit a cafe table set up amid the snow on Jerusalem's Jaffa Road on Dec. 15, 2013. (Hadas Parush/Flash 90)

Only about 20 minutes outside of the city did it begin to appear — patches of white on the rough hills abutting the road, sprinklings of flakes on the pines. By the time our bus reached Mevasseret Tzion, near Jerusalem, the snow was blanketing the ground, building up in… Read more »

For new dad, a stronger bond from a cut foreskin

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Natan Zaidenweber thought the mohel was kidding. His wife, Linda Raab, thought it was some kind of religious formality and didn’t give it a second thought. But the mohel, Cantor Philip Sherman, was serious. Though most fathers demur when he invites them to perform the bris… Read more »