Over a year ago a classmate from Loomis-Chaffee, Jim Rice, invited me to come speak at his congregation. This week that invitation came to fruition as I spent three days at Temple Beth El in Bloomfield Hills, MI. My visit started with a lovely lunch and a tour of the building. Temple Beth El is … Continue reading Yom HaShoah 2018
My husband and I planned a vacation which happened to fall over Yom Kippur this year. I realized we would be in Paris over the holiday and looked into the possibility of attending Kol Nidre services. By looking at MavenSearch.com I was able to identify every synagogue in Paris and picked a reformed congregation that … Continue reading An American Jew in Paris
This is very hard to watch. (I suggest an "R" rating and that it not be shown to children.) But if you want to really understand the face of racism and white supremacy, please watch - to the very end. This is raw and it is real and it is shocking. This is what is … Continue reading Thoughts after Charlottesville
Today (Tuesday April 25, 2017) I will be a guest on Vermont Public Radio on Vermont Edition. It is a special program for Yom HaShoah. I encourage everyone to listen at noon, but if you only have a few minutes I should be entering the conversation at about 12:25. Here is a link for people … Continue reading Radio Broadcast
For Holocaust Remembrance Day I am sharing some pictures of my mother's family members who did not survive Hitler's hatred and evil. Pictured above are Flora and Louis Spier (my mother's maternal grandparents). Below are Franz Robert Spier and Justine Spier-Bendien (my mother's aunt and uncle). This card tells us that Franz Robert Spier was … Continue reading Yom HaShoah
I have to confess that I haven’t been working on “Scraps of Hope” for a while. First there were some family problems that drew my attention away from my book. Then I was sick. I spent two months in bed recovering, and just when I thought I was healthy enough to get back into the … Continue reading Back to Work
Last night I went to see the Handel Society of Dartmouth College perform Annelies by James Whitbourn based on Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl I really had no idea how someone could put the diary to music. I was wondering if we were about to see Anne Frank: The Musical and if … Continue reading Annelies: Your Words are Still Powerful and Necessary
Sending thoughts of love and compassion to my friends, followers and all the citizens in The Netherlands who have lost so many this week.
During my visit to Holland to do research for my book I visited the different places my mother lived in Amsterdam during the war. Each one had a different feel and a different set of circumstances in the 1940’s and also now in 2014. Please come with me for a “walk” from house to house. … Continue reading Walking through the “isms”
