(Interview with Lynn Joffe, Vol. 78, #3, Spring-Summer 2023) EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION ‘A fizzing, fulsome and fiercely funny heroine, and a novel charged with music, energy, bounce, juice and joy. Like a Jewish Molly Bloom, let loose on history. I love the way
(Author: Karen Milner, Vol 78, #3, Spring-Summer 2023) National Chairperson’s Report – SAJBD National Conference, 3 December 2023 We are not living in normal times so this is not going to be a normal Chairperson’s speech. Instead, this is a speech from
(Author: Lyonell Fliss, Vol 78, #3, Spring-Summer 2023) Prologue In 1969 man reached the moon. The same year I reached freedom. To me these two journeys looked similar. The year 2019 was very special for me: it marked the semi-centennial of my escape
(Author: Stuart Buxbaum, Vol. 78, #3, Spring-Summer 2023) This is the second part of a story chronicling the experiences and events during World War II (1939-1945) in which three uncles of the sisters Arlene Rubin (nee Egnal) and Denise Buxbaum
(Author: Eugenie Freed, Vol 79, #3, Summer 2023) Belshazzar the King made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. (The Book of Daniel, 5:1) FROM THE CHRONICLE OF VASHTI Belshazzar King of Babylon was
(Author: Bernard Katz, Vol. 78, #3, Spring-Summer 2023) Jewish Presence Sephardi tradition maintains that Jewish settlement in the territory that is now Portugal dates to Roman times after the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. Evidence of Jews living in Portugal
(Author: Gwynne Schrire, Vol. 78, #3, Spring-Summer 2023) The wandering Jews have always been on the move, usually fleeing persecution, prejudice and poverty, searching for security and a better economic future. They first moved into the Democratic Republic of the Congo in
(Author: Zita Nurok, Vol. 78, #3, Spring-Summer 2023) The year is 1948. In our small town of Roodepoort a powerful weather event is about to be unleashed. My mother, elder brother and I see ominous signs in the sky one November