Postcards from the past

     For one of those small tastes of yesterday that reminds us all just how much was lost from 1933 to 1945, check out the line of 'new year's' post cards on Hagalil.com's site. From the Neustadt synagogue (1925) to the Jewish cemetery in Sarajevo (1920s), from Rabbi David Mannheimer's Shabbat service with Russian POWs in 1915/16 to Ephraim Moses Lilien's Dedication (Widmung) in 1900 when he was in Berlin...
     These little memorials to better days remind us to treasure the here and now, to savor our own Goldene Medina while we can.
     Shana Tova!

New White Rose "pop quiz"

     I just spent a most enjoyable afternoon putting together a new "pop quiz" about the White Rose. There are no trick questions.
     Give it a shot, and then let me know what you think! Click here to take the quiz.

The "Love-Hate" part of our work

     Today I stumbled across a Web site with attached forum that initially made me angry. I know the person behind it. Met her at the Orenburg conference in September 2007.
     She's insecure, the kind of insecure that feels the need to elbow her way into the middle of every picture. The kind of insecure that babbles incessantly, so that people tend to run the other direction when they see her coming. The kind of insecure that isn't above rearranging the name tags on the tables so she can sit on the dais.
     We were stuck on a train with her for twenty-two hours. Oy. No fun. All of the above, plus she wouldn't stop trying to prove her superiority. Finally had to ignore her, which was hard. She was in our "reserved" compartment, after all. Have I already said "Oy"?