When the pandemic began, I was shocked and disoriented at how abruptly our lives were shuttered. Restaurants, theaters, “non-essential” stores and businesses of every variety were suddenly closed. In short order, satellite images showed how the planet’s measurable heat, light and pollution plummeted in an instant when the tumult and consumption of human life […]
Reading is one of life’s great pleasures and for a lot of people, retirement means more time to read. But for some older readers, vision loss or other health issues can limit the ability to read a physical book. Before starting library school, I was vaguely aware of the options for readers with visual […]
I moved to Milwaukee in my mid-20s, for love, and knew very few Jews for the first three years. I worked in the nonprofit sector and we lived on the east side of Milwaukee. When I was pregnant with my first child, I started swimming at the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community […]
An oft-repeated joke is of a passionate golfer who was battling the urge to play on Yom Kippur. Succumbing to his urge, he played early in the morning so he could still attend services. Miraculously, he scored a hole-in-one on every green — afterwards realizing in agony that he could not brag to anyone […]
Franklin D. Roosevelt is widely remembered as a strong leader who boldly led America out of the Great Depression and to the brink of victory in World War II. Yet when it comes to the Holocaust, some defenders of FDR’s record want us to believe he was not responsible for keeping Jewish refugees out […]
For Chanukah, I give you the gift of knowing whether you can remember old things like I do. If you can appreciate four or more of these eight items, you win. I remember rolling up the window. I still roll up the window. I suspect younger folks are raising the window, since there’s nothing […]
Even before the pandemic, our society’s mental health was not always strong, and since the onset of the pandemic, it’s gotten worse. What happens when we have a society of people interacting with one another in a state of stress, anguish, anxiety and depression? The results are not so positive. We do sometimes take […]
A wise friend advised me to share my values in this space. I said, I think the work should stand for itself. I was told, that’s nice but some may want to know, so share your values. Okay, so as my grandfather used to say, here goes nothing. Here are some of my values. […]
Zionism is a movement that says the Jewish people have value. Only two out of every 1,000 people on earth today are Jews. They are outnumbered by at least some people among the remaining 998 either who want Jews and Judaism destroyed, or who don’t care if they are. Israel is the only place where we can be sure Jews’ safety is priority one, not priority 10,001. I believe anybody opposing Israel’s existence as a Jewish […]
Israel’s supporters should feel confident that standing up for the world’s only Jewish state, while acknowledging there are difficult challenges, is the right thing to do. A growing number of university professors across the country along with so-called progressive politicians and activist speakers are advancing the antisemitic Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, because they […]