In August 1942, the Gestapo arrested Walter and Elisabeth Blumenthal, an elderly Jewish couple in Berlin. As they were driven away on a truck, a neighbor noticed Walter tossing something from the vehicle. The neighbor later retrieved the object: a brown leather wallet, elaborately embossed in gold with the initials WB.
Chanukah, the Festival of Lights, is a time to recall the miracle that occurred more than 2,000 years ago, and celebrate the discovery of the small amount of oil that burned for eight days, the amount of time needed to prepare pure oil from the local olive trees to rekindle the flame. That miracle is the focus of the Chanukah celebration that begins at sundown Friday, Nov. 29. Was it also a miracle that this event occurred at this time, since the months of November and December are the usual time for the olive harvest?
In early November this year, we joined Faith Willinger, our Florence-based food-journalist friend, on a trip to Naples and the Campania area of Italy. One of the highlights of our trip was spending several days at the hotel-restaurant La Caveja, located in the small village of Pietravairano, just a one-hour drive north of Naples.
Venice is the famous city of romance, where boatmen serenade visitors with operatic arias in gondolas that glide through canals under charming bridges. Old buildings reflect in the water like an impressionist canvas of shimmering colors. Pink, red and orange blossoms hang from flower boxes on apartment windowsills, reflected in the water as exotic water lilies.
It takes a certain amount of chutzpah for a Jewish population numbering less than 1,000 to field a Jewish museum. But if anyone has chutzpah, it\’s Ireland\’s tiny Jewish — mostly Orthodox — community. The Irish Jewish Museum, founded in 1985 by Dr. Chaim Herzog, then president of Israel and son of the former chief rabbi of Ireland, ambitiously exhibits artifacts about Irish Jewish history and life as well as about Jewish life in general.
Nearly twice as many residents as last year intend to participate in the We Stand With Israel trip next month, Federation Executive Director Bunnie Mauldin said,adding that \”despite what\’s going on politically or war with Iraq on the horizon, our aim is the same.\”
The trip is an opportunity for people to show their support.
Anne Frank\’s house, a fabulous 17th century synagogue and an excellent heritage museum give Amsterdam special appeal for Jewish visitors. But they are all sites whose very existence reflect the city\’s incurable split personality, making for a sightseeing experience that constantly provides food for thought.
Idaho will draw some more welcome attention as the home of the Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial and Park, in the heart of Boise, the state capital.
Rabbi wanted in tropical paradise. Unique opportunity to serve a multicultural congregation in the oldest Jewish synagogue in continuous use in the Western Hemisphere. Position offers competitive salary, three-bedroom house, sandy beaches and sandy synagogue floors. Knowledge of Hebrew, English, Spanish, Portuguese and Papiamentu preferred.
A bombed-out building transformed into a discothèque; the central section of an apartment building that is bizarrely absent — these are just some of the visual images that preserve the memory of Berlin\’s complex and turbulent past.
Having studied abroad in Jerusalem between intifadas, I thought I had seen the attractions and sites of the land, but the ministry offered a view a student on a budget never imagined: Gourmet Israel, eight days of cutting-edge kosher restaurants and winery tours.
