This month, I am launching a search for anything and anyone related to my maternal grandfather, Michael Berl, who died in the Holocaust. What’s worse (if that’s even possible) is how little is known about him. There is no photo of him. I’m not sure what he did for a living. There is not even […]

Choices Have Both Personal and Universal Consequences The Biblical story of Adam and Eve demonstrates how choices have both personal and universal consequences.   On Yom HaShoah, as we recall the enormity of the Holocaust, we should consider all the personal choices, from the seemingly trivial (such as a childhood taunt) to the significant (such the […]

In “Why I Wrote the Rose Temple,” Mitchell Weitzman recounts how working with his mother allowed him to bear witness to her strength and conviction of faith while also helping heal his own wounds wrought as a child of Holocaust survivors. Unexpectedly, he also comes to view the book not only as an inspiring story of a woman reclaiming her authenticity, but also as a call to action for healing and repairing our troubled world.

Have you ever wondered about the headlines on the day that carries the news of your passing? If you could see them, would you be uplifted? Surprised? Apathetic? Upset? I thought about this last week when I read The New York Times on Sunday, July 3, 2016. The paper ran a story about the passing […]

Holocaust Remembrance Day/Yom HaShoah, May 5, 2016. Jews and others will gather in synagogues, community centers, schools, and other venues to remember those lost in the Holocaust, and to decry the intolerance and hate that enabled the tragedy. “Never again” will be a common refrain. Who is Not Hearing the Message of Yom HaShoah and […]