I walked into the conference late, during a lunch session. A rabbi was speaking to an audience about his human rights work and how he disseminates it via blogging. The crowd, Jewish newspaper and magazine types, were someplace else, however. Yes, they were in the room. But all of them were engaged in some other […]
It should come as no surprise that I’d be into Purim in a big way. After all, my parents, having blessed me at birth with the fusty name of Marla Estelle, also bestowed upon me the incredibly unoriginal Hebrew moniker, Malka Esther. Yes, as in Queen Esther, heroine of the Purim story. So let’s just […]
JCC looks to bring youth games to Rockland by Marla Cohen For four years, Marcie Schlanger, 19, participated in JCC Maccabi Games, playing basketball for the Rockland delegation. She traveled to Houston, the Washington D.C. area, St. Paul, Minn. and Stanford, Conn., competed against Jewish teens from across the globe, and made lasting friendships with […]
This was my absolute favorite promotional piece for Super Sunday (and I did plenty of Super Sundays in seven years). I don’t know how we got this many kids to do exactly what was needed at exactly the right time, but my hat goes off to the talented photographer Jeff Karg on this one — and […]
I am starting to think about The Dress. Not just any dress, but the dress that my daughter will wear to shul when she becomes a bat mitzvah. The dress, of course, must be perfect, pretty and in Lily’s case, not pink. It also must be different, dazzling and make her feel divine. That’s a […]
My son Facebooked his cousin, Annie, a day before Hurricane Ike slammed into the Texas coast to find out how it was affecting her and her family. He was excited in that way the weather announcer gets when a big storm is brewing. He sensed something big was about to happen. Annie, the child of […]
In the middle of the summer, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser came home. They did not return to Israel in triumph. They came home in two black boxes. For two years, Jews everywhere had prayed for their return. They prayed and wished and hoped. Some added the names of other Israeli soldiers taken over time. […]
Last Father’s Day I had a dad. This Father’s Day, I have memories. And I’ve been sorting through them ever since he died in January. My husband warned me that in morning minyan they might ask me to share some thoughts about my dad. Fortunately, this only happens on the yahrtzeit, which is seven months […]
In the first weeks of saying kaddish for my father, the sun still hung below the horizon when I’d wake to go to minyan. I’m just now out of sheloshim, the first thirty days of mourning proscribed by Jewish law, and now, instead, the morning sky is the cold milky white of late winter. Watching […]
Rubin Josephs, philanthropist and developer, dies at 82 by Marla Cohen Rubin “Ruby” Josephs, philanthropist, developer and Holocaust survivor, known in equal measure for his generosity, his determination in business and the inability to accept the word “no” for an answer, died on Feb. 27 at his home in Piermont where he had lived since […]
