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Walter Estever Gonzalez

Oct 1, 2026, 6:10 AM

The Shooting Lasted Ten Minutes

W. E. Gonzalez with his nieces Luna and Estrella at the Philadelphia Marathon in November 2012, during the years when distance running was a regular part of his life.

The shooting lasted about ten minutes. It took me seven to finish breakfast. My wife, my mother-in-law, and my father-in-law were sheltering in the safest part of the house while gunfire echoed outside. I had found the spot for them...

Sep 23, 2026, 6:26 PM

The Happy Holiday: Succot Memories and Guests

The Holiday of Joy On Sukkot, we are commanded to be happy!! You shall rejoice in your festival, וְשָׂמַחְתָּ֖ בְּחַגֶּ֑ךָ, with your son and daughter, your male and female slave, the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow in your...

Sep 22, 2026, 1:40 AM

A Jewish Life Saved in 1941, Today We Remember

“A man named Filip came to my grandfather…he’d used the words ‘in good faith’ or ‘në besë (besa),’ which is important to us Albanians,” says 58-year-old Naim Behluli. We’re sitting in one of Prishtinë’s bustling cafes, and although Kosovo is...

Joel M. Greenberg

Sep 17, 2026, 8:30 PM

The Illusion of Certainty

This week, as Yom Kippur approaches, I keep thinking about one line I read in a Torah Anytime Rosh Hashanah booklet, in an article by Rabbi Bentzion Shafier. He suggested looking through the obituary section of a newspaper. Young...

Walter Estever Gonzalez

Sep 17, 2026, 6:51 AM

Seven Passports for a Journey That Never Happened

Walter Estever Gonzalez at approximately four or five years old in El Salvador. This surviving copy comes from a photograph taken for a passport intended for a family journey to Mexico that never took place. (Courtesy of the author)

There is a photograph of me from when I was four or five years old. I am wearing a Mickey Mouse shirt and looking directly at the camera with the seriousness children sometimes have when adults tell them not...

Silas Anastacio

Sep 13, 2026, 11:49 PM

Exclusive: Laura Feldman on CIP’s 90-Year Legacy and Future Vision

Laura Feldman, President of the Congregação Israelita Paulista (CIP), reflects on the challenges of preserving Jewish identity in a changing world, the importance of dialogue, and the legacy her generation hopes to leave as the institution approaches its centennial. Founded...

Hagit Zadok Fefferman

Sep 3, 2026, 5:24 AM

My grandparents told me about Auschwitz at 8; I took baths for a year

A young Hagit with her beloved grandparents, Boris and Rose.

The shiny metal showerhead was staring down at me. From where I stood, it seemed impossibly high above my eight-year-old body. Yesterday, I wouldn’t have given it a second thought. Today I stared back at it with fear. Earlier that...

Sep 1, 2026, 12:15 AM

One of the requirements for entering high school, which in Vienna begins at age ten, was the purchase of a Welt Atlas. I have mine to this day. Bound in red linen with gold letters and covered in translucent plastic, it...

Julian Ungar-Sargon

Aug 31, 2026, 12:12 AM

The Street and the Home, Part I

Vienna, the Ostjude, and the Jewish Shadow Julian Ungar-Sargon, MD, PhD — Former Clinical Director, PA Program, Borra College of Health Sciences, Dominican University, River Forest, Illinois "One can leave Vienna; Vienna does not easily leave the soul." The stone should not...

Alexander Lutsenko

Aug 30, 2026, 3:07 PM

The sunflowers of Ilovaisk and the Jews and Israelis who died defending Ukraine

The sunflowers of Ilovaisk and the Jews and Israelis who died defending Ukraine. The image was created using AI.

On August 29, Ukraine remembers those who gave their lives defending the country’s independence and territorial integrity. For Israelis, the emotional meaning of such a day needs a little explanation. It is not the Ukrainian equivalent of Yom HaZikaron —...

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