June 3, 2022 Shavuot: A modern Jerusalem story of kindness – opinion By Barbara Sofer In the Scroll of Ruth, read and discussed on Shavuot, the heroine happens to glean in the field of relative-by-marriage Boaz, who happens to visit the field on her first day. The question arises, of course, as to the role […]
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May 20, 2022 COVID-19 postponed my college reunion – opinion By Barbara Sofer I was in such a hurry to make aliyah long ago that I missed my graduation from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. But now I have a second chance, 50 years later. Actually 51. Postponed because of COVID-19. In 1971, after
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May 6, 2022 Holocaust survivor Rena Quint answers remaining questions – opinion By Barbara Sofer Rena Quint is speaking in person to three groups and then by Zoom to people in the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, India and Hong Kong. One more group, Jerusalem adults, want her to come to a meeting at night, but she’s too
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April 29, 2022 75 reasons I love Israel (in no particular order) – opinion By Barbara Sofer Back for the 18th year in a row, new reasons I love Israel. Remember that when we were crossing the sea after the Exodus, some looked down and only saw the mud. They missed the miracle. 1. Israel’s
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April 15, 2022 Passover massacre: 20 years later, Israel’s terror response has changed By Barbara Sofer I was with my family in Tiberias that night, the eve of Passover 2002. I noticed that extra guards were reinforcing the hotel entrance. That’s before I heard there had been an attack in a hotel in Netanya. Even
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April 8, 2022 Organ donation in Israel: Sharing the good – opinion By Barbara Sofer Naama Ullman Alfasy has seven children and one kidney. She recently gave the other kidney away to a stranger. Naama is a young friend, 47, the youngest daughter of a close friend closer to my age. I was with them
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March 25, 2022 Elad Riven Youth Awards: Teens who care – opinion By Barbara Sofer Worried about the next generation? Catch a rerun of the Education Ministry’s Elad Riven Youth Awards for Volunteering, broadcast on Educational TV on March 6. I was privileged to attend this year’s ceremony because our granddaughter Oriya Rahamim was one
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March 11, 2022 When wearing a kippah in Jerusalem is dangerous – opinion By Barbara Sofer On a vacation in Italy, my husband and I were walking through a piazza in Rome, when a stranger came up behind us and whispered to my husband in Hebrew. “Take off your kippah or put on a hat.
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February 25, 2022 The Western Wall: A chance to preserve history, ensure the future – opinion By Barbara Sofer I always feel inadequate trying to describe to those outside our Jewish tradition the milestone moment a boy puts on tefillin for the first time. The word phylacteries is no help. How do I explain the
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February 11, 2022 Should I downsize, or right-size my life? – opinion By Barbara Sofer What’s nagging me is the thought that as a grandmother I’m supposed to be downsizing, not expanding. It starts with a leaky food processor. I can’t remember when we bought ours, a top-of-the line machine that has long served us
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