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Sept 19, 2025 Builders of Jerusalem award highlights Hadassah’s impact – opinion By Barbara Sofer Call it a busman’s holiday. On a beach vacation, I find myself reading Henrietta Szold: Hadassah and the Zionist Dream, by Francine Klagsbrun (Yale University Press, 2024).  As much as I’ve read about Szold (I even put on a one-woman play […]

Sept 5, 2025 Should Israelis think twice before visiting Europe? – opinion By Barbara Sofer The first question our friends asked about our vacation in Italy wasn’t how the weather was. They wanted to know how we fared in Europe at this time of protests. Had anyone shouted at us or even attacked us?  On

Aug 22, 2025 Facing the grisly truth: How teeth help identify the victims of Oct. 7 – opinion By Barbara Sofer On the final day of the recent Hadassah Hope and Healing national conference in Aventura, Florida, three Israeli doctors were scheduled to speak a final time, also giving the audience of 500 mostly women a chance

July 18, 2025 Eytan Gittler: The lone soldier saving Israeli civilians under Iran missile fire By Barbara Sofer “My American English came in handy,” says Eytan Gittler, 29, a young man who grew up in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.  He’s at our shared workplace, Hadassah’s offices in the Jerusalem Ein Kerem hospital, where he is

July 4, 2025 Generations of resilience: A family’s Shabbat after Operation Rising Lion – opinion By Barbara Sofer The Shabbat after Operation Rising – roaring – Lion, we are celebrating a family gathering at our home in Jerusalem. Our teenage grandchildren from around the country are at the Shabbat table. They’re delighted to see one another.

June 22, 2025 An existential war: Operation Rising Lion and memories of the Gulf War – comment By Barbara Sofer Thursday, June 12, 2025, was a big night in the Jerusalem Pais Arena. Our city’s beloved Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem basketball team faced arch-rivals Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv at home. Some 11,000 keyed-up fans arrived

June 21, 2025 Chalkida: The little Greek town that could – save its Jews By Barbara Sofer Lily Costi knows for sure that her family goes back at least five generations in Chalkida, Greece. “You can see their graves in the Jewish cemetery. Before that, I can’t be certain,” she said.  In Chalkida, the Jewish cemetery

June 6, 2025 Lost and found: Tefillin return after two years – opinion By Barbara Sofer Our grandson Naveh lost his tefillin two years ago. They were a prized possession, ordered from a scribe whom he had met early in his bar mitzvah preparation process and had given them to Naveh with a blessing before

May 23, 2025 Period between Passover, Shavuot a time of education and contemplation – opinion By Barbara Sofer In his new book, Judaism: A Love Story, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin quotes the speaker at his elementary school graduation, who in turn quoted the famous parable of the great Chofetz Chaim, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan.  “Life is like

May 9, 2025 Israel’s ‘Ten Days of Deliverance’ were more difficult this year – opinion By Barbara Sofer On Tuesday afternoon, an organization called Yad L’Banim held its annual ceremony in Jerusalem to begin Remembrance Day. Yad L’Banim is an organization of bereaved Israeli parents. I am privileged to be invited to this most emotional of ceremonies