Onnie Schiffmiller, at The Blogs

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Mar 14, 2024, 8:57 PM

Cooler Heads Needed

This is the blog piece I never could have imagined writing. For years, decades, I felt personally tortured by the refusal of Haredi communities (the Haredi world is composed of many different communities) to participate in Israel's draft. How could...

Nov 7, 2023, 12:14 AM

What Do We Tell Our Children?

Hi everyone, I hope that you are all well. Many of you continue to check on us. All I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you. We feel so loved. People keep asking me how we are. I...

Oct 30, 2023, 3:01 PM

Last night I participated in a discussion about the "matzav" (the situation). Aren't euphemisms wonderful? They help us avoid the undeniable truth. In this case, matzav refers to war. Yes, in previous years, when it came to Gaza, we...

Oct 25, 2023, 12:54 PM

Transitioning from the Sprint to the Marathon

I wrote the update below at about 4:00 PM yesterday. I stepped away from my computer for what I thought would be just a few minutes. At 5:00, Hamas launched a barrage of rockets and our sirens wailed. We...

Oct 22, 2023, 2:44 PM

Ayeka – Where are You?

In the Shabbat following the massacre of Jews in Israel, we read the story of Adam and Eve. After eating the forbidden fruit, they attempt to hide in the garden. G-d calls out, "Ayeka?" (Where are you?) G-d knows...

Oct 3, 2023, 6:11 PM

It’s About Family

I am a product of the 1960s/70s Conservative branch of Judaism. My parents set a high standard for Jewish communal involvement, and our synagogue was my second home. Young girls in our community were permitted, even encouraged, to read...

Dec 14, 2021, 10:42 AM

Minister Liberman, you don’t want us to retrain

A woman reads a newspaper while floating in the Dead Sea, May 20, 2017. (Yossi Zamir/Flash90)

We're the ones who dispel visitors' 'apartheid' claims by showing them real Israelis - like hijab-clad women studying with kippa-clad men, in a college cafeteria

May 16, 2018, 1:39 PM

The Imagery Is Real

Before you continue reading, please close your eyes for a minute. Let your shoulders drop. Take a few slow, deep breaths. Uncurl your toes. Relax. Let your body go limp. Now imagine a beautiful place; an agricultural village where...

Apr 17, 2016, 5:55 PM

The Good Land: Dear Rebecca*

Dear Rebecca, You are named after a woman who would only be 87 today. Less than a century between you, but it’s hard to believe you were born into the same world. In many ways you weren’t. For your great grandmother,...

Mar 23, 2016, 4:19 PM

The Good Land – We Should All be Queen Esther

Tonight begins the Jewish holiday of Purim. The story is a serious one. A decree went through the 127 provinces of the Persian empire of King Achashverosh sentencing the Jewish people to death. While we now celebrate our miraculous...

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About Me

Onnie Schiffmiller is a tour guide and the owner of Israel with Love. She made aliyah with her family from New York in 2003.