Dirty Jewess – FROM KOŠICE TO BROOKLYN

Rivkah Lambert Adler • The Jerusalem Post

Silvia Fishbaum fought her way to freedom and a new life in America

After World War II, two Holocaust survivors settled in Czechoslovakia and had three daughters. The youngest, Sophia, “was known as the little rabble-rouser.” Born with an impulsive nature, Sophia, now known as Silvia Fishbaum, fought, practically from birth, against the limitations of her life as a member of the only Jewish family in a small Czechoslovakian village. Her memoir, Dirty Jewess: A Woman’s Courageous Journey to Religious and Political Freedom, tells the story of her life and her adventures.

Though Fishbaum’s mother worked hard at it, keeping Shabbat special and maintaining a semblance of the preciousness of Judaism was a constant challenge in rural Czechoslovakia. Even as a child, she was already accustomed to being publicly insulted for being a Jew. In Chapter 6, she describes a particularly offensive encounter with an old man on a tram in the relatively large city of Košice.

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From Forbidden Fruit to Milk and Honey

Phil Jacobs • Jewish Links of NJ

Food is at the heart of Jewish life and culture. “From Forbidden Fruit to Milk and Honey” spotlights food in the Torah itself, as it explores themes like love, compassion, social justice, memory, belonging, deception, life and death. Originally an online project to support the food rescue charity, Leket Israel,the book comprises short essays on food in the parsha by 52 internationally acclaimed scholars and Jewish educators, and a verse-by-verse commentary by Diana Lipton.

From Forbidden Fruit – Book Event

 

Author Diana Lipton will be speaking on Wednesday 13 June in Beer Sheva, in English, about her book, From Forbidden Fruit to Milk and Honey.

 

 

 

Details about the Kehilat Be’erot event can be found at this link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdkmbN2wNJgQnRKKAUIhNOlbI4KUl6tqARgpGJmbkMW7Yvh5g/viewform

Registration is required.

Memoirs of a Hopeful Pessimist

Debbie Weissman • Times of Israel

In the mid-20th century, the great American Jewish theologian Abraham Joshua Heschel credibly wrote “Judaism today is the least known religion.” But recent decades have seen Christians making impressive efforts to fill in the knowledge gap. For many years, I have had the privilege of teaching groups of Christians who come to Jerusalem from throughout the world. Many of them are priests, pastors and nuns on sabbatical; some are lay people. They come from anywhere from a week to a year and my involvement varies, depending on the length and depth of the program. The programs are held at Christian institutions in and around Jerusalem.

I teach them about Judaism and about Israel. I give introductions to the Christians who visit our synagogue on Friday nights for prayers, and we sometimes also provide them with home hospitality for Shabbat dinners. It is fascinating to note what questions they ask. In one case, a young woman was surprised that our sanctuary was not decorated with pictures of Moses. Once, I told a group of seminarians that they were imposing Christian questions on Judaism; what interested them almost exclusively were

Memoirs of a Hopeful Pessimist

Sidra DeKoven Ezrahi • Tikkun

“Reading Debbie Weissman’s memoir leaves us with some hope… whose teaching and writing in Israel and the Diaspora and commitment to dialogue between people of different faiths have had a world-wide impact…. An insight into the principles by which Debbie guides her own behavior can be seen as she adopts a modified version of Levinas’ teaching that we should see the “face of God in the Other.” “It would be enough,” she says, “if we could just look at the Other and see a face no less human than our own.”

Walking the Exodus

Review by Rabbi Ari Enkin • Torah Book Review 

“A modern-orthodox woman’s journey to re-trace the steps of the Exodus.  Loaded with pictures, personal stories, and sprinkled with divrei Torah. One of the most fascinating and captivating reads I have ever gotten my hands on. Highly Recommended. I hope I find the time to read every page.”

New Book – Walking the Exodus