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 […]

Tu B’Shvat

#TuBishvat Did you know that Israel is 60% desert. But it has over 200 million trees. Israel is one of the only nations in the world that entered the 21st century with more trees than it had 100 years ago.Photo: Yuval Oz

Samuel Beller

Holocaust survivor Samuel Beller was born in 1927 in the Polish town of Oświęcim, also known as the location of the Auschwitz concentration camp. He was in several slave labor camps, ghettos, and sent on a death march before being liberated by American troops. Samuel was the only member of […]

Andor Stern

An unspeakable emotion lighting Chanukah candles with beloved Holocaust survivor Andor Stern. When I came across 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 to […]

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 […]

I’ve been waiting to take this picture for days… From the first day of chol hamoed Sukkot, when I caught a glimpse of a man in a talit go to the ‘arava bush’ – that I’d never noticed before! – behind my house to replenish his lulav, I’ve been determined to […]

Miriam Goldfarb

Holocaust survivor Miriam Goldfarb z’l celebrating Sukkot last fall. Miriam was born in 1926 in Rostov-on-Don, a port city in southern Russia. She lived through the atrocities of the Holocaust and the oppression of communism, but she never lost faith in the Jewish community of Rostov. Miriam participated in every […]

Next Year in Jerusalem

When the shofar is sounded at the end of Yom Kippur, the congregation responds aloud and in unison: “Next year in Jerusalem!”Wishing each of you an easy fast and meaningful Yom Kippur. Next year, may we be together again, next to each other, safely side by side without the need […]

Vigler Triplets

After the birth of our triplets I went through complex medical trauma and almost died. I worked tirelessly and painfully to reach beyond the moments where I felt stuck, the moments I experienced triggers, moments I would want to suppress so I could just feel ‘normal’. A powerful tool in […]

High Holidays in Brooklyn

TASHLICH: In the upcoming days Jews worldwide will be performing a ritual developed around the 13th century known as Tashlich “casting off”, a process of repenting and returning to G‑d.Jews traditionally proceed to a (any) body of running water, preferably one containing fish, and we symbolically throw (cast off) our […]

Shana Tova

Praying for a year filled with blessings and good things for us all. Wishing everyone a very happy, healthy and sweet new year! #shanatova Ksiva vchasima tova – shana tova umetuka