israeli

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

October 7, 2022 Yom Kippur: Remember the debt Israel owes to its soldiers – opinion By Barbara Sofer Moshe Levy. The name is so common, you might think it’s John Doe or Everyman Israeli. Even a pseudonym. The man on stage is indeed Moshe Levy. I’m in the trendy Tel Aviv nightclub and music venue

September 23, 2022 Rosh Hashanah: Having a Happy Jewish New Year in Israel – opinion By Barbara Sofer This is the season in which every conversation ends with a blessing to our counterparts for a “good New Year.” As we begin 5783, let’s take a moment to examine what that means. “Good” means excellent health,

September 16, 2022 Reviewing the past Jewish year on shuffle as Elul ends – opinion By Barbara Sofer Shuffle play. That’s the mode I’m using on my waterproof headphones, swimming the length of the shore on the Adriatic coast in Italy, from the first lido to the last. An hour swim. With shuffle play you

August 27, 2022 Watching ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ in Hebrew in Tel Aviv – opinion By Barbara Sofer “Summertime, and the living is easy,” says the song. Not always so easy. The media feature massifs of missing luggage with reports of prices of hotels and flights rising together with global temperatures. Photos of melting glaciers.

August 12, 2022 Rehabilitation: A different kind of valor for IDF soldiers – opinion By Barbara Sofer Operation Breaking Dawn hadn’t yet begun – or maybe it had. Maybe he knew but he wouldn’t say. Couldn’t say. I’m in a Jerusalem mall café that specializes in sweet pastries, having breakfast with “B,” a handsome, brawny

July 30, 2022 Arab women take on leadership to improve health – opinion By Barbara Sofer “S.” was 19 when she met her husband for the first time. Family members were present and the couple didn’t speak much. The same happened in the two subsequent short meetings. The man, also young, seemed shy, but “S.”