People in My Neighborhood: Meet Celia

It was a little difficult to write about Celia Ulanovsky.  I knew her as a neighbor—as a lovely, modest, always pleasant, incredibly kind woman. But when I spoke to her, to get a bit of background, a little more of who she was, I was met with “Oh, there’s really...

Let’s Make a Difference – July 10, 2012

Yesterday was a fast day, the 17th of the Hebrew month of Tammuz, which ushers in a 3-week mourning period for the first and second temples, thousands of years ago.  Our sages have long laid the blame for the destruction of the Second Temple and the subsequent exile...

People in My Neighborhood: Meet Nomi

I spoke to Nomi Teplow the other night and it gave me a little twinge in my heart when I realized it was Sunday night and the women’s choir was assembling in her living room.  And I wasn’t there…  The past two years I stopped going to choir practice when life...

Politics in Israel – May 8, 2012

What a topsy-turvy week this has been for Israeli politics.  Just a few days ago, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made it clear that he was moving towards early elections, and initiated legislation in the Knesset to send Israel to the polls the first week of...