Category
November 4, 2004
Our Two Worlds
Why is it that the Torah tells us that Abraham is sitting in the opening of the tent?
Last Call
As President Bush moved closer to re-election, one Kerry fan said he already had a new bumper sticker in mind for his car: \”Hey, We Tried to Warn You.\”
And They Lived Happily Ever Apart
Being together day after day for 14 years sadly lost its luster.
Patriot Paranoia?
By chance, Bet Tzedek Legal Services sponsored a program on the American Patriot Act just about the same time readers were beginning to get their copies of Philip Roth\’s \”The Plot Against America.\”
Will Sharon Share Rabin’s Fate?
Nov. 4 marks the ninth anniversary of the single-worst moment in Israel\’s history: the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. With hindsight — although many recognized it at the time — it is clear that the Rabin murder achieved the goal of its perpetrator.
Will IDF Soldiers Oppose Gaza Orders?
A group of prominent rabbis has called upon Israeli soldiers to refuse orders to evacuate Jews from Gaza. If the Gaza disengagement plan goes through the Knesset, many soldiers will face a bewildering dilemma, as they must choose between the orders of their commanding officers and the orders of their religious authorities.
Jew in the Jungle
In 2002 I wrote \”Tropical Depression: Lost in Paradise,\” an essay about my misadventures as a newly minted
expat. It was published about six months after I arrived from San Francisco to tiny, rural La Fortuna de San Carlos, Costa Rica.
Relocating to Central America seemed like a good idea at the time. The previous year, I\’d spent an idyllic six-week vacation here. So why not make the move? It was only after I arrived that I remembered that \”Vacation Life\” and \”Real Life\” aren\’t the same. By then, it was too late to turn back. I had an empty bank account and a bungalow full of stuff I\’d paid dearly to ship from the States.
I also failed to anticipate the experience of being the only Jew in town. I\’d always lived in communities that were primarily non-Jewish, and since my level of observance tended to ebb and flow, it wasn\’t a problem. There were always shuls, Jewish organizations and businesses available to me when I wanted them.
Religious Tensions Spark ‘Campfire’
\n\nSitting in a booth at Milky Way restaurant, Joseph Cedar, a lean young man in jeans and baseball cap, hardly looks the part of an Orthodox Jew, who is also one of Israel\’s most perceptive filmmakers.\n\nHe is in town for a couple of days to talk about his latest movie, \”Campfire,\” which will be screened Nov. 8 and Nov. 11 at the AFI Film Fest (see sidebar).
Shoah Tale Rescues a Rescuer
Working as a Catholic social worker in the underground network Zegota during World War II, Irena Sendler headed an operation to smuggle Jewish children out of the Warsaw ghetto. Over 16 months, her volunteers spirited youngsters out in sacks, suitcases or body bags, through sewers, basements and subterranean passageways. Because Sendler eventually hoped to reunite the children with their parents, she scribbled their names and locations on scraps of paper and buried them in jars in a garden. She did not reveal the names even when she was captured and tortured by the Gestapo, whose beatings broke her legs and feet, and left her permanently disabled.\n\nIn all, she helped rescue approximately 2,500 Jews — more than twice the number saved by Oskar Schindler — although her equally heroic deeds remained obscure for decades after the war. Sendler remained a historical footnote, in fact, until three teenagers a continent away discovered her story and turned it into a play in 1999.
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