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Personals

Refuge From Cancer

Four years ago, my wife told me not to build a sukkah. She had a good reason. In early September of 2001, Marsha was diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer — a tumor in each breast.

A Critical Question

One of the most important questions we need to ask ourselves, particularly as we approach Yom Kippur, is: How will we be remembered?

And Mari Makes Three

Another woman has come into my relationship with my boyfriend, and she\’s the best thing that\’s ever happened to us.

A week ago, a 22-year-old Japanese foreign exchange student named Mari moved in with us for the month while she studies English in the morning and hip-hop dances in the afternoon.

Their Spirit Survives

It was hard to be in Los Angeles in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, perhaps the biggest natural disaster in our history. I had some previous Red Cross training, and, with some additional fast-track prep on disaster response, I was on my way to Louisiana — first by plane to Houston, then by car to Baton Rouge.

Lodging on one of the first nights was the floor of a church gymnasium. At times, I felt like I was part of a sad \”Amazing Race,\” hurrying throughout Louisiana to provide some assistance to some of Katrina\’s victims.

Remember Sept. 11 the Jewish Way

I\’ve always had a difficult time assimilating tragedy, and although it hit much closer to home for me, Sept. 11 was not much different.

Even though it touched people all around me, and I was definitely affected, it still did not seem as intense or painful as it should have been.

I sought the solace of my friends, and gave it as much as possible, just like everyone else in New York City. And although I knew people who died in the Trade Center, and others who lost close relatives and friends, I still only understood the calamity in my mind. It didn\’t really hit my heart the way it hit others\’.

Then I found a uniquely Jewish way to relate, and was able to come to personal terms with this tragedy.

First Person – A Mother of Wisdom

Calcutta\’s kaleidoscope of teeming streets, sprawling markets and chaotic taxis has always mesmerized me.

At times, it seems as though all 10 million denizens of this eastern Indian metropolis are roaming the city at once, surging in tidal waves, an urban sea of humanity. It was here that Mother Teresa pursued her humanitarian mission for almost 70 years.

My wife, Simone, and I have visited Calcutta (now called Kolkata) often, setting aside time to plod our way through the cacophonous traffic along Chandra Bose Road to the calm oasis of Mother Teresa\’s shelter for children, Shishu Bhavan. We would spend a day or two volunteering, as do so many others from around the world, to care for the youngsters. The volunteers always included Jews, who were welcomed as all others in this basically Catholic institution.

Strasser – I Wanna New Hug

Back in the primitive days of male hugging, my dad was what trend watchers might call \”an early adapter.\” When few of the other Little League dads hugged their sons, my dad clutched my older brother any chance he got, Mr. Focker-like, at the drop of a bat.

First Person – Torn in Two

To the Jews of the Diaspora:
I recently returned from a monthlong vacation to the United States. Since I\’ve gotten back home to Israel, however, it seems as though \”reality\” has smacked me upside the head.

Evicted, Angry and Worried

There is no place like home, and no one knows it better than the former Jewish settlers of the Gaza Strip. Evicted from their beachside villages on the shores of the lapping Mediterranean Sea, they are living this week out of hotel rooms, high school dormitories or in refugee-like tent camps.

Late last week, post-eviction, Ruth Etzion found herself wandering the streets of the Samaria settlement of Ofra, the home of her in-laws. Walking under tall pine trees in an almost trance-like state, Etzion, her husband Yaacov, and their three children reside in a two-room dormitory \”suite\” in the local religious girls school. It\’s a step down from their two-story home on the sandy streets of the isolated Gush Katif settlement of Morag.

But Etzion was content in some ways. For her, moving into the girls\’ school in August brought closure. Exactly four years ago that is where she and Yaacov got married.

First Person – Documenting Hate

In late fall of 1999, I wrote a short story, \”Summertime,\” which I eventually included in my collection, \”Assumption and Other Stories\” (Bilingual Press, 2003). When the book reviews started coming in, most noted that particular story\’s unsettling premise.

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More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.