President Francois Hollande landed in Israel yesterday for what would be the longest visit of this French president in a foreign country. The visit could not happen at a more opportune time. Just last week, negotiations between the western nations and Iran broke down when France refused to approve the concessions that the other western … Read more
A terrible tragedy occurred on Friday. Sraya Ofer, a 61 year old retired colonel in the Israeli Army was axed to death by Arab terrorists in his home in the Jordan Valley. His wife Monique managed to crawl towards the highway and call for help, but it was too late for her husband. Monique was … Read more
The news in Israel is focusing on two subjects right now: Syria and Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur, otherwise known as the Day of Atonement, is the holiest day of the year when Jews all over the world spend the day in fasting and prayer. This year, though, marked the 40th anniversary of the Yom Kippur … Read more
I hosted a crowd at my home for the Rosh Hashanah holidays. Add that to me, my husband, kids and grandkids, and we were quite a house full. Lots of people to house, feed, and keep happy. The basement was set up with guest beds and a crib. My daughter offered to move out of … Read more
I just dropped my son Avraham off at the main entrance to our community. He groaned when he saw the crowds standing near the guard booth, knowing he had a wait ahead of him for a ride. He was on his way back up north to his Israeli yeshiva program combining military service with Torah … Read more
We have just returned from our annual summer vacation with our children and it was wonderful! We hiked in the rivers and valleys of the Galilee and the Golan Heights, splashed in the streams and springs of the North and just enjoyed our time together. When the children were young, all of our children went … Read more
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 nothing to say about me. Me? I … Read more
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 from the land, in the first and … Read more
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 got a little too … Read more
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 September. Then just this morning, Netanyahu announced a new unity coalition … Read more