Israelis angels and their Palestinian passengers

In the midst of a terror wave which has deepened the divide and hatred in the country, some Israelis give renewed hope for a better future – they go into Palestinian territories in their private cars, pick up Palestinian civilians and bring them to Israel for medical treatment.

Linda Lovitch got JerusalemOnline.com

It's cold at the Barta checkpoint in Wadi Ara in the north of Israel. For many, this is the gateway to honor in their lives, for others, it is the gateway to life. Every week,     Amjed, a Palestinian takes his daughter to various therapies and doctor appointments around Israel. When he crosses the checkpoint to Israel, there is always an Israeli waiting there to transport him wherever he needs to go – the checkpoint angels.

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See how teen pals found each other some 50 years later

By Hillel Kuttler for JTA

The “Seeking Kin” column aims to help reunite long-lost relatives and friends.

As a librarian, Oren Kaplan researches obscure facts and utilizes databases to track down information.

So when the Haifa resident read a recent “Seeking Kin” column about someone in his city, Menahem Orenstein, who hoped to locate a long-lost childhood buddy, Kaplan decided to put his experience to work.

Within a week, Kaplan had located Orenstein’s old friend, David Bak, living in Stockton, California, about 70 miles east of Oakland. That’s Bak, not Beck (remember the names).

Orenstein and Bak, who worked together at a Haifa auto repair shop in the late 1960s while attending technical high schools, expressed delight at reconnecting and hope to meet within a year.

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We Palestinians hold the key to a better future

Bassem Eid for The Times of Israel

I am a proud Palestinian who grew up in a refugee camp and raised a large family. I want peace and prosperity for my people. I want an end to the misery and the destruction.

After 66 years of mistakes and missed opportunities, it is time for us Palestinians to create the conditions for peace and to work for a better future. It is time that we stopped pretending that we can destroy Israel or drive the Jews into the sea. It is time that we stopped listening to Muslim radicals or Arab regimes that use us to continue a pointless, destructive, and immoral war with Israel.

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American Jewry's Great Untapped Resource: Grandparents

They’ve got time, money, and love to spare, and there are more of them than ever. Why isn’t the Jewish community enlisting their help?

Jack Wertheimer for Mosaic


In The Best Boy in the United States of America, the Jewish educator Ron Wolfson pens what amounts to a love letter to his grandparents, whose wise and benevolent influence has continued long after their demise to shape his life, his values, and his loyalties as a Jew. Wolfson’s story has elicited paeans of confirming praise from readers eager to share their own grateful memories of grandparents like his.

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Shabbat not well attended? Five questions to ask

by Donald H. Harrison for the San Diego Jewish World

SAN DIEGO – If the Shabbat services at your synagogue are not well attended, then you should ask five questions in reexamining how they are conducted, according to Rabbi Steven Wernick, chief executive officer of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.
Wernick served as scholar in residence Jan. 22-23 at Congregation Beth Am, and also had meetings at other area synagogues including Congregation Beth El and Tifereth Israel Synagogue.

At the latter synagogue, Wernick met with a group of leaders including Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal and members drawn from Tifereth Israel’s Board of Directors, Sisterhood, and Men’s Club.

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