In a high-profile case, Maria Altmann won her seven-year battle to recover from Austria five famous paintings looted by the Nazis and now valued at $200 million. The art works were seized in Vienna in 1938 from Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, a wealthy Jewish sugar magnate and Altmann\’s uncle.
Thanks to Valerie, two best friends were reunited after more than three decades apart. More importantly, Glenn and Val had found each other. Their love was intoxicating, with family and friends commenting how happy each was to have found his/her soul mate.
My senior students suffer from short-term memory loss, a condition less severe than Alzheimer\’s and dementia but nonetheless frightening. They can recall exact moments from decades past, but in the present, from one moment to the next, many don\’t remember who or where they are. Sort of like elected officials.
Perhaps what\’s at issue is my own life: I\’m a word person. For more than 20 years I\’ve made my living by writing and editing. Getting the words right is what I labor to achieve, all day every day. It\’s a struggle that often leaves me in despair.
Moving from a familiar home and letting go of things owned for years can feel like an additional loss. It\’s not just the loss of the objects that has an impact; it\’s the connection with the past that these objects symbolize.
The pain and anguish of infertility has been passed down from matriarchs Sarah, Rebecca and Rachel to women today. But while our traditions have given us words to say and ways to act during other lifecycle events — death, birth, marriage — there is little guidance for how to help a friend or loved one deal with the loss of a pregnancy or the pain and despair of infertility.
It happens every year, said Daryl Schwarz — who opened this 100 percent-kosher market in 1989 — only lately it\’s been getting worse. Large supermarket and discount chains are able to undersell kosher specialty markets on the very products that, traditionally, have been the Jewish stores\’ lifeblood.
In another development in this complex and contentious legacy of the Hitler regime, California courts are also dealing with a demand that actress Elizabeth Taylor return a prized van Gogh painting.
Aviel Atash was the entire world for his mother, Rachel.
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