Author with painting donated by
Alexander for the author’s building.
I was surprised to see paintings of ships on the walls of an apartment building in Arad and wondered who the artist was. And then I met Alexander Bainov. He introduced himself to me while I was working in our building's flower garden. He thanked me for making the area look better with flowers, and gave me a beautiful painting of vases for me t...
My father’s childhood home in Mueddersheim around 1939
My father, (centre) in WW1 army uniform
with parents and six siblings
The Jewish cemetery in Heinsberg today
Writer with sons reciting Kaddish at the Schwarz cemetery in Gladbach
In 2016, after a life-time of refusal, I decided that the time had finally come to explore my parental heritage and embark on a roots trip to Germany, where my parents were born and raised. My father and mother were German-Jewish refugees who reached safe haven in Canada in 1939, three months before the outbreak of the War and obviously just ...
Kissing the tzitzit (prayer shawl) through my anti-COVID-19 cloth facemask is a strange sensory experience and quite disconcerting. The ritual kissing of the tzitzit during the morning recitation of the Shema's third Scriptural paragraph has, it seems, also been affected by the rules and regulations imposed upon synagogue worship during the era of ...
Hanzi and Joel Brand,
members of the Aid
and Rescue Committee
in Budapest
Peretz’ visit to the American JOINT
Children’s home, Budapest, 1948
Members of the Aid and rescue Committee:
Left to right: Peretz Révész, Hanzi Brand,
Rudolf Israel Kasztner, Nathan Komoly and
Zvi Goldfarb, 1942
Occupation of Budapest by the conquering
Russian Army, January 1945
Photo by Peretz Révész
Children’s home in Pécs, Hungary, 1945
Standing up to Evil: A Zionist's Underground Rescue Activities in HungaryBy Peretz RévészReviewed by Katalin and Jacques Mouyal Peretz Révész was born in 1916 in the small town of Holiĉ, in Slovakia, a place where Jews and Christians lived a peaceful life.His father, a lawyer, was deputy to the town chairman and the chairman of the sports club.Pere...
Photo by Maja Petric on Unsplash
The recipes this issue are particularly easy ones. When you're in the mood for something quick and delicious, a simple sauce of burst cherry tomatoes and pasta fits the bill perfectly with fresh winter veggies on the side for crunch. And, on an optimistic note, I've included a favorite chocolatey cake with a meringue-like frosting - children of all...
Faces from far and near
Love and appreciation from Netanya
A very different ceremony was held this year due to the pandemic.We couldn't personally introduce our donors to their students as we do each year.However, what we could do was invite so many more ESRA members and overseas members, donors and friends and our Zoom event took place with over 100 participants. Our students led the ceremony with o...
The winners are... The year 2020 presented us with difficult challenges in the work of students with the children in the neighborhoods. We were determined to continue to address these children, especially at a time when schools were not operating, and children were spending long days at home in front of the computer or phone. Some did not connect t...
The Israeli Intelligence Community: An Insider's Viewby Ephraim LapidGefen Publishing House, 2020Paperback, 272 pages$29.95 from Gefen or $28 plus $5.95 shipping from AmazonReviewed by Shlomo Liberman Brig. Gen. (Res) Dr. Ephraim Lapid is in a unique position to write about the Israeli intelligence community. He served in leading capacities in the ...
I have occasionally mused about how I might be remembered. I look at my children and grandchildren and see them as my gift to the world, a gift that will carry on after I'm gone. But is it enough? What about all the things I've worked for during my life? Will my efforts simply cease? Well actually, they don't have to. There is a way that I ca...
NEW HOMEBlanche Blumberg | Tel MondBIRTHSOn your granddaughterRennie & Zeev Rafaely, on EdenOn your grandsonRhonda Abramson, on JonathanOn your great grandsonSusan KurnedzBARMITZVAHOn your grandsonHannah GillmanRina and Richard Stein, on Yair NirENGAGEMENTSDoreen & Willie Malkinson, on ShaniMalkinson to Marom TzabariANNIVERSARYCecily and Av...