If there is one thing Israelis have learned — from the two and a half years of the present intifada and from all the battles that preceded it over 54 years — it is that there are no surgical wars.
The World Union is the umbrella organization for 1,500 Reform, Reconstructionist, Liberal and Progressive congregations in 44 countries and, Regev estimated, touches the religious, educational and social lives of approximately 2 million Jews.
The self-described raconteur refuses to label herself a stand-up comedian. But Rhea Kohan\’s wit has, over the last decade, made her a sought-after personality in the local Jewish community, and she refuses to charge money for her humorous hostessing.
When Susan Samueli met her future husband, Henry, at a dance at Stephen S. Wise Temple in Los Angeles in 1979, she never could have anticipated how different her life would be today.
That was 24 years and three children ago, before Samueli became a household name in much of Southern California, as Henry co-founded Broadcom, the leading provider in broadband high-speed communications technology. It was way before Broadcom went public, and the Samuelis, with Henry serving as chief technical officer, became multimillionaires nearly overnight.
ead in by a uniformed maid, Michele Bohbot glides into the marbled entrance hall of her Beverly Hills mansion with her long, dark hair swaying and her tall, well-toned body suggesting a balletic athleticism. She wears elegant casual clothes that she designed herself — loose green linen pants and a laurel-colored ruffled tank top — and her French accent completes this portrait of chic.
But Bohbot is far from a European dilettante. The 43-year-old mother of seven (ages 21 to 5) is the president and sole designer of Bisou Bisou, a global fashion line she started herself in 1989 that now takes in more than $80 million in annual sales, a figure expected to increase following an exclusive distribution deal with JCPenney. She also teaches yoga at her home, is writing her autobiography and bakes her own challah for Shabbat.
Every day before Dina Goldstein (not her real name) leaves the house to take her two young children to day care and herself to work, she grabs two bagels and two boxes of orange juice. After buckling the kids into the car, she gives them the bagels and the juice, and they eat breakfast in the car on the way to school.
\”I just don\’t have time to get them ready, myself ready and feed everyone before I leave the house,\” said Goldstein, who works as a religious day school teacher.
Like Goldstein, many women find maintaining a family and a job overwhelming.
The World Brief, news, media, info, updates from around the world.
Israelis hit the pinnacle of tension in the hours before the U.S. attack on Iraq, when the order came for every person to open his gas mask kit, twist on the filter, adjust the straps to fit his head and then carry the mask at all times. Recalling the first Gulf War, when Iraqi missile attacks followed the U.S. invasion in swift succession, they anticipated sirens screaming in the middle of the night.
During the first Gulf War, the Tel-Aviv area was the target of most of the Iraqi missiles, and people left the city in droves for safer locations abroad or in the country\’s periphery.
Although there has been a small exodus this time, most people are staying put. But they are keeping their ears cocked and, in the meantime, allowing themselves small luxuries that they think will calm them down.
As the U.S. military pounds Iraq, Jewish communities in Muslim countries may become increasingly vulnerable.
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