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Deborah Fineblum

Deborah Fineblum

Deborah Fineblum is a freelance writer and book author who made aliyah on July 4, 2013.

“We’ve heard about antisemitism around the world but thought there was nothing to worry about here,” says Australian Ronny Krite, who was on the scene on Dec. 14 in the midst of mayhem.
Launched in February, “Yizkereim: Honor Israel’s Fallen” has already collected more than 21,000 acts of chesed (“kindness”), be it public service, prayer, Torah learning or tzedakah (“charity”) by a Jew somewhere in the world in the memory of the fallen.
From prisoner to Holocaust survivor to refusenik, recognizing and reliving the roads from bondage.
This Passover may be different than all other nights in more ways than one.
Purim is a unifying force in Israel. Religious and secular, Ashkenazi and Sephardi, Likud and Labor, rich and poor, young and old come out to party in the streets, march in parades and show off their costumes at school.
“The distance we’re bridging isn’t just the miles; it’s generations of misunderstanding and fear, skepticism and hostility that we’re working to overcome,” said Harold Berman, the teacher in the radio show “The Teacher and the Preacher.”
Jerusalem’s Hadassah Academic College is leading the way in high-tech training for Israel’s underserved minority communities.
For some retirees, it can come down to choosing to spend their golden years overlooking the Mediterranean instead of a golf course in Boca Raton. For others, it’s a matter of following the kids—or more to the point, the grandkids—to Israel, or the fulfillment of a lifelong dream to live in the Jewish state.
For many, the IDF lone soldier experience is a family affair. Stacie Stufflebeam of Pittsburgh—whose four sons are a mix of past, current and future lone soldiers—says, “These kids reach a level of maturity that American kids just don’t.” Rabbi Ari Korenblit of New York, a father of three lone soldiers, says, “There is such a powerful sense of fulfillment, and still the reaction of a parent whose child is potentially in harm’s way. What helps me sleep at night is faith.”