My wife and I made aliyah as a mature couple in our fifties with experiences and associations derived from our personal backgrounds of life in the United States. We found contemporary Israel to be very "American" in many aspects of daily life. On the other hand, we found very many things, from the profound to the mundane, to be decidedly different,...

Ian Fine, Chairman of Yachad’s English- Speaking Branch Soldiers greet supporters at a look-out near Gaza Up Close and Personal With the IDF Gaza Division  Remember when "Zoom In" described an actual activity? Members of the English-Speaking Branch of Yachad did, as they "zoomed in" for a visit to the IDF soldiers stationed on the Gaza border – the soldiers whose very job it is to "zoom in" on potential threats to Israel. The July 26 VIP visit was...

Beryl was born on October 27, 1940 to the family Juter in Cape Town. She married Geofery Baleson and they came on aliyah with two young daughters in 1977. Her husband, who was working at Teva Pharmaceuticals, passed away in 1982. She brought up her two daughters alone until they were able to fend for themselves. I met Beryl in 1987 and when we deci...

Voices workshop in Tsfat at the home of Yehudit and Reuven Goldfarb. Susan Rosenberg, Voices veteran secretary and John Michael Simon, former designer and producer of the Voices anthologies at a workshop National President Judy Koren L. with Haifa member Iris Dan, R. a winner of the Reuben Rose competition Watching and listening to veteran poets of Voices Israel Group of Poets in English reading their early poems and sharing their memories of the organization in the 1970s and 1980s, it was hard to believe that these vibrant inspired people had been part of the organization for 40-50 years. But as this writer, also a former President of Voices and now...

Two years ago I had occasion to participate in the Shabbat service of Rabbi Yosef Greenberg, who is the rabbi at Chabad Anchorage, Alaska. He gave a sermon on that week's Parsha (portion), which was Re-eh, the fourth Parsha in the book of Devarim, Deuteronomy, in which we are commanded to bring sacrifices and come for a pilgrimage festival. However...

1968 80 agorot “Fallen Freedom Fighters” stamp  The story of a philatelic typo It has been said that every writer needs an editor, to which it should be added that everyone needs a proofreader, especially in the modern era of the mischievous auto-correct feature. However, avoidable printing errors are certainly not limited to the present. I show here an example of what surely was a subtle but av...

I ended my last article, ESRA Magazine 209, with the question to readers as to how my partner, sitting in the South seat, brought home a somewhat ambitious small slam in Clubs on the following hand:         North            ♠ A 7 6 4         ♥ 5 4 West    ...

Varda Mendelsohn Belaynesh, the youngest participant, with Varda Some of the sewing students at the party A Tribute to Varda Mendelsohn  Varda Mendelsohn has been the sewing teacher for our Ethiopian sewing centers in Netanya for the past 26 years. These centers were started by Merle Guttmann, our amazing Life President, when the first Ethiopian immigrants arrived at the caravans in Beerotaim, a moshav near Netanya. The inspiration for the first c...

One of many digital displays Jewish books and artifacts I have lived in Israel long enough to remember the1978 opening of Beit Hatfutsot, the Nahum Goldmann Museum of the Diaspora. With enormous excitement, I spent a day wandering around the newly opened building, overwhelmed by what was then the last word in modern museums. I visited Beit Hatefutsot many times after that, particularly to show it off to...

Is it life, or a game? With-out, it, life, is not the same. Two halves an interval, Perhaps, extra time. You score a goal, With the ball, over the line, 90 minutes, Seems like, 90 years. Full of hope and joy, Happiness and tears. Then comes the whistle, The final score. Did you, lose or win? Or was your life A draw?