Tefillin at Entebbe

Putting Tefilin right in front of the Entebbe watch tower where the Jewish hostages were taken after an Air France plane was hijacked in 1976 and allowed into the country by the Ugandan president at the time, Idi Amin (Amin Dada).My grandmother’s cousin who was one of the hostages taken […]

8th Night of Chanukah from Russia

Today we lit the menorah in the valley of death. A few days ago, 95 year old Isaac Abramovich told me that when he was a child, his grandfather Solomon would kindle the Menorah with him. But then he was killed by the Nazis at Zmiyovskaya Balka. And there was […]

Andor Stern

An unspeakable emotion lighting Chanukah candles with beloved Holocaust survivor Andor Stern. When I came across that his arm that lit the candles was the same tattooed by Hitler, I realized that this is our revenge, we didn’t fight with tanks and guns, but rather, spreading light, love and kindness […]

Rescued Menorah

This Menorah was rescued from the flames of the Holocaust. Its original home was the Great Synagogue in Katowicz, Poland. Commissioned in the early 1800s, the eagles at the top of the Menorah are the “Habsburg Eagles”, in gratitude for the protection the Habsburg Empire granted the Jewish community.Crafted and […]

Menorah Map

Happy #Hanukkah from the New York Transit Museum! In this clever holiday card, created by local Brooklynite Cheryl Berkowitz, the heart of Downtown Brooklyn is transformed into the menorah.

Chanukah 1932

Chanukah 1932“It was on a Friday afternoon right before Shabbat that this photo was taken. My grandmother realized that this was a historic photo, and she wrote on the back of the photo that ‘their flag wishes to see the death of Judah, but Judah will always survive, and our […]

Hole-iest Menorah

That’s a latke bagels! Check out this one-of-a-kind ‘bagel-norah’ from 2016, standing 10 feet tall with over 400 bagels, featured prominently at Bethesda Row’s outdoor mall. The bagels weren’t just for show, the builders of the menorah wore gloves with consideration that no food goes to waste and the menorah […]

Altman.

“Before the war, we had an old neighbor. Altman was his name,” Galina told me today.“ Each year as the weather worsened he would build a hut in our joined courtyard”. “I had no idea what the purpose was at the time. But he would get all excited once it […]

Sukkot

Succot is the festival of insecurity. It is the candid acknowledgment that there is no life without risk, yet we can face the future without fear when we know we are not alone. God is with us, in the rain that brings blessings to the earth, in the love that […]