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February 24, 2023 Why was Israel eager to help save lives in Turkey? – opinion By Barbara Sofer Dr. Itai Basel reaches for his cellphone to show me photos. Not of his own three beautiful children or the very sick children he takes care of in the intensive care unit in Hadassah Mount Scopus. These […]

February 10, 2023 A return to Club J: A winter in the French Alps with Israelis – opinion By Barbara Sofer The African and Eurasian tectonic plates collided some 35 million years ago to form the 12,000-kilometer-long mountain range called the Alps. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch reputedly said, “When I shall stand before God, the

January 27, 2023 Horseshoe antisemitism: Jew hatred on the far Right, Left – opinion By Barbara Sofer “Horseshoe antisemitism” is a new term for me. I’m trying to catch up on the escalating crisis of antisemitism in the land of my birth, the USA. I have the rare opportunity of hearing two contemporary experts on

January 13, 2023 2023 is a New Year for Birthright Israel – opinion By Barbara Sofer I’m starting off 2023 on the right foot. At 7:30 a.m. on January 1, I’m waiting to meet a cousin named Jordan, like the river, in the dining room of a Jerusalem hotel. She’s the granddaughter of a dear

December 30, 2022 How should Israel feel about the 2022 Qatar World Cup? – opinion By Barbara Sofer Among the creative advertisements – our version of Super Bowl commercials – that supported the World Cup broadcasting on Israel TV was one of an Israeli couple settling in front of the TV to cheer the home

December 16, 2022 Kaunas, Lithuania: Culture celebration confronts Holocaust memory – opinion By Barbara Sofer I’m in Kaunas, a pretty city of 300,000 residents in south central Lithuania. I’ve come for the closing events of Kaunas 2022, a year-long program facilitated when Kaunas was designated a European Capital of Culture. This city is better known

December 2, 2022 JPost at 90: The power of a story – opinion By Barbara Sofer I began writing regularly for The Jerusalem Post at the end of 1999, after responding to a column that so incensed me that I felt compelled to respond. That column celebrated the decision of the writer’s healthy 18-year-old son

November 20, 2022 Memoirs: Sometimes it’s important to look back and not just forward By Barbara Sofer I have two new books on my desk, both by Jerusalem women. They were given to me by their authors because they have a connection to Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America. Both were completed during the

November 7, 2022 Why people with disabilities have trouble with dentists – opinion By Barbara Sofer I’m sitting in the dentist chair trying to be the best patient ever. I want the dentist to tell me I’m doing great. I’m aware that the desire for such praise is silly, but am I not in the

October 21, 2022 Hakhel: Jews, assemble! The once every seven years ceremony – opinion By Barbara Sofer In modern Israel, the ancient Hakhel ceremony is reenacted in Jerusalem every seven years on the second intermediate day of the Sukkot holiday. I wanted to go. I consider myself a youthful septuagenarian but can’t count on being