Sen. Joe Lieberman\’s visions of the presidency collided with an unpredictable New Hampshire electorate on Tuesday. Lieberman did better than some polls predicted, but probably not enough to salvage a candidacy that was out of synch with the changing political perspectives of the party\’s core activists.
Recently, I was working at my school office planning a day of classes and interviews when I was notified of an incoming call from New York. It was my cousin, Shion, a hospital chaplain and a fine rabbi.
\”Have you heard the news?\” he asked.
I thought his voice sounded pensive and without waiting for an answer he went on to say, \”There has been a fire, your mother didn\’t make it and your father is in the hospital.\”
Ruth Shuken\’s backyard is a floral wonderland. Shuken, who turns 94 on July 4, strolls through aisles of roses, lilacs and azaleas. Her green thumb has also served her well in cultivating a garden of mitzvahs.\n\nShuken\’s Beverlywood manor, which she has called home for 55 years, is a short drive from Vista Del Mar, the place she has served for more than five decades. Vista Del Mar operates on a $32 million annual budget to assist teens from troubled backgrounds.
Not many artists begin an ambitious new series at 76, but Arnold Mesches did just that after receiving a large box stuffed with FBI documents in 1999. It had taken the Jewish American painter three years and dozens of letters to obtain the 760-page dossier, his FBI file from 1945 to 1972. The papers — obtained under the Freedom of Information Act — chronicle his left-wing activities from the Communist red scare of the 1950s to the Vietnam War era.\n\n
In 1956\’s \”Invasion of the Body Snatchers,\” a mannequin-like figure mysteriously appears on a billiards table, a half-formed thing without hair, face or fingerprints. Meanwhile, a woman insists that her uncle isn\’t her uncle, but an imposter who looks just like him; husbands say the same of their wives and children of their parents.
After years of being talked about in hushed tones as \”the change of life\” — or not being talked about at all — menopause is now in the spotlight. Two recent plays, \”Is it Hot in Here … Or Is it Me?\” and \”Menopause the Musical\” literally put menopause center stage.
\”How will I find anyone alive?\” the 21-year-old security guard asked as he broke down the door and climbed onto the charred ruins of bus no. 19, stepping over body parts and choking on the smell of burned flesh.
Free at last, but at what price? That was the question on some Israelis\’ minds over the weekend after a German mediator helped seal the deal on a long-awaited prisoner swap between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia group.
Now that the race for the Democratic nomination for president is moving south and west, Jewish scrutiny of the candidates is likely to intensify.
When I first met Sarah, she was bent over her walker intently making her way through the gardens of the Los Angeles Jewish Home for the Aging (JHA). While her steps were merely a shuffle, her brown eyes were lively.
I often walk through our Grancell Village and Eisenberg Village campuses to visit with our 800 residents. I frequently ask the question: \”What makes the Jewish Home Jewish?\”
Sarah had a ready answer.
