My mother, Fryda Bierman, was born in Lodz, Poland. The date of her birth was Dec. 15, 1929, which we later learned was an error. When her birth certificate arrived much later in life, we found out she had been born in January of that year. She refused...
When President Donald Trump announced that he would recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the results were entirely predictable: renewed violence and bloodshed in a part of the world where such horrors have been all too common over the 70 years since...
By Jonathan S. Tobin, JNS
• Published May 23, 2018
When a Hamas spokesman acknowledged that 50 out of the 62 Palestinians reported killed during the May 14 assault on Israel’s border with Gaza, that fact alone should have fundamentally altered the debate over what happened. Though the international...
Broad Jewish support for anti-BDS bill The process to pass the Anti-Discrimination Against Israel Act in Missouri has been an adventure from the beginning of the process. Jenny Wolkowitz created a coalition of professional and lay Jewish leaders who...
Imagine, for a moment, you live on a kibbutz in Israel along the border with Gaza within eyesight of the fence separating your home and family, including your three young children, from Gaza.Imagine you awake one morning and look out your kitchen window...
When we were small, we were taught there were “bad words” we should never say. In elementary school we tested them out bit by bit, knowing that our parents and teachers would punish us if they actually heard us using “bad words.” By our teen...
April brought the following headlines regarding the U.S.-North Korea standoff on nuclear weapons: • “Kim Says North Korea Needs No More Nuclear or Long-Range Missile Tests”• “North Korea’s Kim Promised to Open Dismantling of Nuclear Site...
As Hamas continues to exploit protests to foment violence against Israel, finding a way to help the people of Gaza in any meaningful way becomes more and more challenging. All parties interested in bringing change to Gaza need to face the reality that...
By Rabbi Ruhi Sophia Motzkin Rubenstein
• Published May 14, 2018
EUGENE, Oregon — A destitute widowed immigrant does what it takes to scrape by so she and her aging mother-in-law can survive. She deals with invisibility; she deals with unwanted attention; she performs manual labor; and she eventually marries up,...
By Rabbi Carnie Shalom Rose
• Published May 10, 2018
One of the best known and most beloved sections of the Passover Haggadah includes the words: “In every generation a person must see her/himself as emerging from the servitude of Egypt.” This well-worn quote serves as a rhetorical device reminding...
The 70th Anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel is an ideal time to reflect on the remarkable nature of Israel’s birth and what it means for the Jewish People in the years ahead. The following essay reflects on the conditions that made...
As a retired educator and member of the education advisory committee for the Holocaust Museum and Learning Center, I want to thank the Jewish Light for “Keeping Memory Alive,” the inspiring front page April 18 article on the importance of the Holocaust...
