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Where Are We Now? Finding Ourselves in Every Decade of Adulthood, Twenties to Eighties
Within the last several months, I have felt a sudden compulsion to address the Holocaust in my life and write a memoir of how the Holocaust impacted my family and me. Until this point, I could not see movies about the Holocaust, I could not read books about the Holocaust. I could not deal with the Holocaust as a child of Holocaust survivors. This turnabout has perplexed me. Because of this new compulsion, I just returned from a Jewish Heritage tour to Eastern Europe, visited
Nov 64 min read
Everything Friends: The Why, The How, How Many or Too Many, Social Media Impact, And, Ultimately, Wisdom As You Age
All of a sudden, or not so sudden with the domination of social media, and everybody in a group sitting on their phones rather than talking to each other, studies about everything about friends and friendships are everywhere. But are they helpful? The Why I was raised by two Holocaust survivors who believed that friends were those who turned you over to the Nazis, and only family members were the people you could depend on and with whom you should surround yourself. Leaving o
Oct 145 min read
His Name was Jihad
His name was Jihad Al-Shamie. He was 35 years old and a British citizen of Syrian descent who entered the U.K. as a very young child, and...
Oct 65 min read
My Young Adult Experience Gives Me Personal Knowledge About What the Issue of Birthright Citizenship May Mean to Those Children Who May Be Affected in the Future
Having been a judge and a lawyer, I am a rule follower. Actually, I’ve always been a rule follower, so it was easy to be a lawyer and a...
Aug 244 min read
Is there Anyone in the World, Including The Pope, Who Does Not Suffer From Imposter Syndrome?
Reading an article in the New York Times, May 1, 2025, about Cardinal Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle, once leader of the Church in the...
May 133 min read
Things I Never Understood, Things I don’t Think I’ll Ever Understand, and Things That Have Become Clearer About Being Jewish and Israel As I Age
Being raised Orthodox Jewish in a Jewish enclave in the outskirts of a borough of New York City, Far Rockaway, to Holocaust survivors, I...
Apr 306 min read
In the Midst of Worldwide Jewish Tsuris (Troubles), This Jewish Grandmother Adheres to Extinguishing the Darkness By Focusing on Light and Moral Clarity
It is not without irony that 2024 has brought us Jews worldwide tsuris (the Yiddish word for troubles), and also upheaval for the rest of...
Feb 11, 20244 min read
Entering the New Year 2024 with Great Trepidation, and Wishing It Was Not So
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA Upon the coming of the new year, for several years, I felt the need to write about my mother’s mantra that was...
Jan 13, 20249 min read
The Truth Is Most Painful
My Mother, a Holocaust survivor, experienced inhumanity to man that I would wish on no one. She raised me with tikkun olam (meaning...
Nov 3, 20235 min read
An American Holocaust Survivor’s Child’s Perspective on the October 7, 2023 Hamas Surprise Attack on Civilian Israelis
So much has been said since the October 7, 2023, surprise attack by the terrorist group, Hamas, on civilian Israelis. As a child of...
Oct 15, 20236 min read
A Holocaust Survivor’s Child Shares National Council of Jewish Women’s Response to Events at The Synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, Principles of Active Shooter Training to Incorporate in Daily Life,
As a child of Holocaust survivors, I was not only horrified, I was and am terrified by the January 15, 2022 terrorist attack on the...
Jan 22, 20224 min read
A New Baby Has Been Born Into Our Holocaust Family
Yesterday, a new baby was born into our Holocaust family. A new baby in the family is a momentous event but to a Holocaust family, the...
Nov 14, 20214 min read
I AM A REFUGEE. I LOVE AMERICA
One Sunday morning, I was watching news reels of Afghan refugees carrying babies. It hit home to me, as I was a baby brought to America...
Sep 26, 20214 min read
Our Great Grandmother's Holocaust Story
My mother, born Feiga (“little bird” or Zipora in Hebrew) Jelen, for whom our granddaughter is named), rarely spoke of the Holocaust....
Nov 25, 202014 min read
Great Grandfather's Holocaust Story
Our granddaughter, in eighth grade, is studying the Holocaust. We took her to Israel for her Bat Mitzvah where our Yad Vashem Museum...
Nov 19, 202010 min read
We Americans Who Are All Immigrants to Our Country Created the Fabric Of Our Society, Wear or Carry or Wave the Red, White, and Blue, So How Can we Show Our Loyalty To America?
The presidential election vote is in and shows that we are clearly divided as a nation. President-Elect Biden’s priority is for our...
Nov 12, 20208 min read
Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg and This Florida Judge’s Immigrant Life Following Her A Decade Later. Para
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a giant among us and her loss has been felt nationwide. The following two quotes I...
Oct 21, 20207 min read
A Child of Holocaust Survivors View of Surviving the Coronavirus, Covid-19
For the very first time in over seven decades, I decided that I would participate in an on line video group of second generation...
May 13, 20205 min read
From A Child of Holocaust Survivors Who Never Knew Grandparents: In 2020, We May Have to Picture Our
Until this date, March 24, 2020, the coronavirus outbreak, dangerous to us Boomers, has meant PopPop and I had to self quarantine, and we...
Mar 25, 20204 min read
Becoming the Matriarch of a Holocaust Survivor Family in 2020, Seventy Five Years after the Holocaust
It is not without irony that 2020 is ushered in with the death of the last living Holocaust survivor from our family. My Mother, GG...
Jan 8, 20205 min read
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