French Hill neighborhood. Credit: Rotem Danzig Dear readers, I am here after a long break to post an important update about an older post. In around 2010, I was in touch with a fellow blogger named Michael Elkohen, a self-styled sefardi “kabbalist.” An interview with him appeared on Alan Brill’s Kavana blog in 2012. Michael, whose original name was Elk, also went by the name Tzadok.  Michael put me in touch with his wife, Amanda, who asked to write a guest post for this website. I’ll share more on that in a minute. I met Amanda a couple of times and we staye ..read more

Rabbi Shmuel Tal Rabbi Shmuel Tal, whose yeshiva was originally located in Gush Katif in the Gaza Strip, attempted to form a “pure” community in the new Israeli town of Yad Binyamin. But then Rabbi Tal tried to convince at least one married woman to leave her husband, claiming that she and Tal were the reincarnation of Bathsheba and King David. Yerachmiel Lopin summarizes the events in his blog Frum Follies: Rabbi Shmuel Tal had a scam. As head of Torat HaChaim yeshiva as well as several other religious institutions in the central Israeli town of Yad Binyamin he ..read more

I have written here about doctoral student Lukasz Rzepka’s research on the Jewish community of Ozarow, where both he and my father, Ben Zion Wacholder, were born. My father’s memories of the liquidation of Ozarow are recorded on the website maintained by my niece Shifra Goldenberg. Thanks to Lukasz, creator of the BOZnica series to preserve the memories of the Jews of Ozarow, my father’s story is now available in Polish as well.  Lukasz explained to me the symbolism of the graphic design of the cover:  The whole plant has the shape of a menorah. Man is a flower, pa ..read more

Lukasz holding “Memories” next to a picture of my father Ben Zion Wacholder z”l Several months ago, I wrote about Lukasz Rzepka, the graduate student who, like with my father Ben Zion Wacholder z”l, was born in Ozarow, Poland. After months of preparation, Lukasz has published the first volume of the BOZnica project. It contains my father’s “Memories” of the last days before the liquidation of the town’s Jewish community in 1942, along with a great deal of supplementary material. On Sunday, the eve of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot and my father’s birthday according to a list of r ..read more

Four years ago, when my younger daughter was in 6th grade, I looked for an alternative to the standard ulpana (high school for girls in the national religious sector). After enrolling her in a new program in Tel Aviv, I became interested in innovations in other schools. This ultimately led an article that appeared in last Friday’s Jerusalem Post Magazine. In the article I quote from an interview with Dr. Miri Shlissel, who has held key roles in teaching, administration, teacher training, and supervision within the sector. She lays out the history of the ulpana, and how societ ..read more

Review: Not at Risk by Menachem Gottesman Ph.D. with Leah Leslie Gottesman, M.A. I cried while reading Not at Risk: Education as a Work of Heart, the story of the alternative Jerusalem high school Meled. Meled, which stands for Merkaz Lemida Dati (center for religious learning) was founded by the book’s author Dr. Menachem Gottesman, after his own son was expelled from a yeshiva high school. Gottesman soon found that unlike in the secular system, the national religious Jewish education system offered few opportunities struggling students whether for academic, familial, or emoti ..read more

As long-time readers know, my father Ben Zion Wacholder was born in Ozarow, Poland and survived the Holocaust, living in Germany with false papers hiding his Jewish identity. A few months ago, we received an email from a man named Lukasz Rzepka, who wrote: I’m a doctoral student of theology at The Pontifical University of John Paul II in Krakow, Poland. Two years ago I started course ‘Relationships between Christians and Jews’, that was exceptional experience for me. When I was young I was interested in the history of my city, the people who lived there, memories of ..read more

Update December 4, 2017 from the Chochmat Nashim Facebook page:  Supreme Court Judge Hanan Meltzer said, “There is no such thing in the State of Israel as a road that is closed to women, nor will there be. As far as we are concerned, there should be a police presence day and night and any woman who wants to pass should have a police escort.” The judges suggest that the next step is jailtime and tell the city that they have until Sunday to take down the signs and for the police to ensure they don’t go back up. This article first appeared in the Jerusalem Post’s In Jerusalem ..read more

I first wrote the checklist below ten years ago. I’m republishing it as a new post, for the third time. I’ve also set up a page with the best posts about Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot. Some of the tips below only apply when Rosh Hashanah is on Shabbat or leads into Shabbat. Don’t hesitate to ask if you have questions. You can also post on the Mother in Israel Facebook page. On my Cooking Manager site, I have Rosh Hashanah recipe and menu ideas. Those of us in Israel aren’t used to a three-day Yom Tov (two days of Rosh Hashanah followed by Shabbat). Where ..read more

Tal Tereza. Photo: Yuval Chen Ynet Here is my loose translation of Part II of Ariela Sternbach and Yehuda Shochat‘s reporting in Ynet on a widespread adoption ring, in which American haredi askanim prey on young Israeli women and girls with unwanted pregnancies. 9 years ago, Tal Terezi’s daughter was kidnapped and transferred to an adoptive family.  The authors have received dozens of messages about the baby trade on an enormous scale, and illustrates a serious dysfunction among Israeli authorities. Every case involves young haredi girls with unwanted pregnancies, wh ..read more