February 12, 2021 Considering conversion: From Texas church songs to Israel hassidic tunes By Barbara Sofer She used to be the minister of song in a Texas megachurch, but now she’s an aficionado of hassidic melodies in Israel. I’m thinking of this remarkable story as the women of the Chabad movement mark the 33rd anniversary of the […]
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January 15, 2021 By 2065, Israel will be most crowded nation on earth – good news By Barbara Sofer I’m one of those optimists who see our national birthrate as an expression of positive values, willingness to take on responsibility and confidence. I sit down to read the recent Gregorian New Year’s supplement of the
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December 31, 2020 Thankful for getting the coronavirus vaccine – opinion By Barbara Sofer Dear Bill, I have been enjoying late-night Zoom participation on the University of Pennsylvania committee to prepare for our reunion. Because I live outside of the United States, the 50th reunion is a golden opportunity to connect. I attended my high school 50th
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December 18, 2020 Sewing circle ‘Chicks with Sticks’ knit their mitzvahs By Barbara Sofer Theirs wasn’t an official aliyah pilot trip. Naomi May, a retired Atlanta Torah day school assistant principal, and her husband Saul, a retired professor of biochemistry, were ostensibly visiting their daughter and grandchildren in Efrat. But aliyah was on their minds,
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December 4, 2020 The miracle story of a man who had a rod through his head – and survived By Barbara Sofer I thought I knew the details of this miracle story, which made its way around the world. You can find it on sites abroad like that of the NBC’s Today Show, the Daily
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November 20, 2020 Removing an immigrant’s Jewish standing By Barbara Sofer Last week, the Supreme Court was scheduled to begin discussing a case with potential impact on all immigrants to Israel and their children. The decision was postponed for a month at the request of the State Attorney’s Office, which represents the rabbinate and Religious
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November 6, 2020 A wedding when less is more By Barbara Sofer On a Sunday afternoon, I find myself standing on an outdoor stairwell that leads from the third floor of the oldest building of Hadassah-University Medical Center to an outdoor utility plaza that is attached to the second floor. Below me, the hospital carpenters
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October 23, 2020 Meeting the Druze women who make masks in the coronavirus age By Barbara Sofer Virucidal. Metallic nano-particles. Proprietary zinc coating, whatever that means. These are the terms used to describe the Israeli cloth face mask I’ve been wearing for protection. I follow the news: the mask has reputedly aced trials in German
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October 9, 2020 From the backwoods to Israel’s Torah By Barbara Sofer If you met this young mom in her sukkah in the city of Modi’in, her blond hair chastely covered, singing holiday songs with her husband and children, it would be hard to guess that Bracha Simcha Cramer grew up in the backwoods of
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September 25, 2020 ‘Living with’ By Barbara Sofer We all remember the Sbarro massacre on August 9, 2001, when 15 people were murdered, including seven children, and 130 people wounded in downtown Jerusalem. Last week’s Magazine featured a photo of the blackened eatery. At the reopening ceremony on September 12, 2001, the day after the