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Flourishing in France
Liberal Judaism in France, which just marked its 100th anniversary, is more vibrant than ever before. France's 14 synagogues are all full for Shabbat services, rent large concert halls to accommodate High Holiday demand, and have such popular religious schools that families have to wait in long lines to sign up.
Facts Make You Free
The Holocaust horror stories my parents told me as a young child forced me to shoulder a heavy emotional load. First I contemplated revenge against the Nazis. Later I tried escape into normalcy by blotting out painful memories. As the years passed, I discovered that going to the places where these terrible events occurred eased the psychic burden.
History Held Hostage
In 1998, shortly after joining the staff of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, I was invited to a meeting with the director of the International Tracing Service (ITS). The director had come to Washington in hopes of copying some archival collections I had helped the Museum acquire. When he was asked about access to ITS's massive and secretive Holocaust-era collections, he reported that the International Commission of ITS had decided in principle to open the ITS archives-but not for three to five years, the estimated time required to make digital copies of the millions of documents in its possession. The director declined further discussion.
The Jews Who Lived Among Us
In the early 1930s, about two hundred Jews lived in Siegen, a small city 100 miles north of Frankfurt, Germany. Today there are none, but they have not been forgotten. For more than three decades, Klaus Dietermann, a local schoolteacher, has been obsessed with documenting and restoring the memory of this vanished Jewish community. He wants local residents not only to lament the loss of the town's Jews to the Nazis' horrors, but also to celebrate their noteworthy contributions to Siegen life.
Haiti-Acts of God?
In August, when most rabbis were crafting High Holiday sermons, I traveled to Haiti. Our small delegation, led by American Jewish World Service (AJWS) President Ruth Messinger, had come to assess the country's recovery from the hemisphere's worst earthquake in 200 years-300,000 people dead and more than a million and a half homeless. Even before the January 12, 2010 eruption, Haiti had been among the poorest nations in the world, crushed by corrupt former leaders, debilitating debt, and ill-conceived foreign aid. To help, AJWS had been supporting local grassroots organizations working to promote sustainable development, human rights, women's empowerment, and reproductive health.
Strategic Bedfellows
Some 40,000-50,000 Israelis travel to India each year (many of them "unwinding" in the country after completing military service), and are a very visible presence in the country. In some outlying locations Israelis comprise a dominant percentage of foreign visitors.