1.Home at Last

Like many of my friends and family, I have finally retired the yellow ribbon and dog tags that were part of our lives for more than 800 days.

"The body on the stretcher was Ran Gvili—the last missing soldier, the final name in a chapter that an entire country had been desperate to close. He was draped in an Israeli flag, surrounded by men in uniform. Relief and grief arrived together, the way they always do in these moments. He was no longer missing. He was no longer a question that kept families awake at night. He was home.

"Yasar Darom was established under the office of the Chief Military Rabbinate, with a mission both sacred and strategic: to ensure that every fallen soldier receives a proper kevurah—buried with a name, with dignity, with a grave that a family can visit—and to deny the enemy any opportunity to use Israeli remains as bargaining chips or propaganda tools.

"Since Oct. 7, Yasar Darom has been everywhere. In the burned homes of the Gaza border communities, where entire families were erased in minutes. At the Nova site, sifting through the wreckage of a music festival that had become a killing field—where young people who had come to dance beneath the desert stars instead met monsters at dawn. In open fields and bomb shelters and safe rooms that had not been safe at all. Inside Gaza itself, in territory that wanted them dead for the act of reclaiming the dead.

They have recovered hundreds of bodies—soldiers and civilians alike—sometimes days later, sometimes weeks, sometimes piece by piece, often under fire. No one was abandoned; no one forgotten," writes Dobi Safier in "The Men Who Bring Them Home" in Tablet Magazine.

2.January 27th

The liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau on January 27th and International Holocaust Remembrance Day (which is on that date each year) comes with a weather challenge for a Northeast community like ours. With that in mind, the Federation board met on Tuesday and the opening remarks and first item on the agenda was commemoration. We made the obvious connection to the atrocities of October 7th the day after the last hostage was finally laid to rest. The alarming rise of antisemitism around the globe makes recognizing the lessons of the Holocaust more critical as we commemorate the victims and honor the survivors.

3.Lies of Omission

History is only as accurate as the stories we tell and the witness we bear. It is dangerous indeed to play with words, the record will show. J.D. Vance omitted mentioning Jews in his Holocaust Remembrance Day statement, incensing Jewish critics on both sides of the aisle.

“Today we remember the millions of lives lost during the Holocaust, the millions of stories of individual bravery and heroism, and one of the enduring lessons of one of the darkest chapters in human history: that while humans create beautiful things and are full of compassion, we’re also capable of unspeakable brutality,” Vance tweeted Tuesday. “And we promise never again to go down the darkest path.”

Like our J.D. (stands for Jews Dropped from mention?) four different BBC anchors went on with 6 million people (when four anchors fail that way, it is a policy and a script no doubt) and in a not-at-all United (failing) Kingdom, antisemitism will sadly continue to grow at a faster clip than most places.

4.Tree Huggers

It's 5:00 somewhere. And, we trust, it's tree-growing weather elsewhere. As New England freezes under a lingering blanket of white, a holiday for the trees can still be celebrated. Just make sure it's indoors.

Tu BiShvat, which marks the “New Year of the Trees,” begins at sundown on Sunday, February 1. Find recipes, events, crafts and more in JewishBoston's link, "Tu BiShvat."

5."Remember, Rebuild, Renew"

I simply had to go. After the Tree of Life massacre, despite restrictions because of the pandemic, I paid a visit to the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. Like Gaza, Lebanon, Ground Zero or the Pentagon, once you have been there it looks and feels different. I felt that when I watched the last episode of The Pitt. I was moved.

"Since the January 2025 premiere of The Pitt, starring Noah Wyle as Jewish Dr. Michael 'Robby' Robinavitch and set in a Pittsburgh E.R., it felt possible that the Tree of Life Shooting, the antisemitic massacre that took place in the city in 2018, would be featured on the show.

"The award-winning HBO Max series didn’t disappoint. In episode 3 of season 2, co-written by Noah Wyle, Dr. Robby comes face-to-face with a survivor of the shooting that took the lives of 11 Jewish congregants." Read more here: "The Pitt Pays Tribute to the Tree of Life Shooting in an Incredibly Moving Way"

6.Fifteen is My Limit on Schnitzebgruben

Everybody has a favorite Mel Brooks moment. What is your favorite line?

(See one of mine in the heading and acted out in the second video below.)

"Any Mel Brooks documentary is expected to be Jewish. But HBO’s Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man! — Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio’s four-hour, two-part documentary series about the iconic comedian and filmmaker — is an overflowing treasure trove of Jewish tidbits and jokes. The movie finds Jewish influence in every part of Brooks’ life, not just in the places you’d expect (like his rabbi-mohel role in Robin Hood: Men in Tights and the Yiddishkeit of Spaceballs).

"Mel Brooks made being Jewish cool — and the many admiring Jewish talking heads in the documentary say so, from Jerry Seinfeld to Adam Sandler to Sarah Silverman to Josh Gad, who is working with Brooks on a Spaceballs sequel. Brooks, now 99, continues to instill in us all a great pride in being Jewish."

Read more in Kveller's "Mel Brooks: The 99-Year-Old Man! Is a Super Jewish Documentary About the History-Making Comedian."

7.National Sunday Supper Month

The last in our January series, "this month encourages families and friends to gather every Sunday for a homecooked meal, companionship and to rejuvenate connections to the ones we love.

"Though the Sunday Supper is a waning tradition, it was once an opportunity after a hectic week for families to gather to spend time together and share stories about their week. National Sunday Supper Month and the Sunday Supper Movement resolve to bring back this family tradition."

To help you along, I share some recipes below. Stir that pot, braise that meat and invite the gang.

Food Network: "33 Best Sunday Dinners the Whole Family Will Love"

Good Housekeeping: "58 Best Sunday Dinner Ideas for a Laid-Back Meal With the Family"

Delish: "50 Sunday Dinner Recipes the Family Would Never Risk Missing"

For Your Calendar

Sunday, March 15, 1:30 PM

The second installment of the Speakers Series comes to our community when we host Aviva Klompas at the New Bedford Whaling Museum. Please save the date.

Klompas is a co-founder and CEO of Boundless. She has made a name for herself as an outspoken advocate for the Jewish people and as a leading Israel educator. Before launching Boundless, she served as the director of speechwriting for Israel's Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York City and as a senior policy advisor in the Ontario government supporting efforts to resettle Syrian refugees in Canada.

A prolific writer, Aviva has written articles that have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Foreign Policy, The Jerusalem Post, and other international publications. She is also the author of two books. Her first, Speaking for Israel, reflects on her time as a speechwriter for Israel and offers an honest and entertaining insight into Israeli diplomacy. Her second book, Stand-Up Nation: Israeli Resilience in the Wake of Disaster, released in 2024, details Israel’s remarkable and longstanding work in international development. More can be found in this Hadassah Magazine profile, “Aviva Klompas Is Reimagining Israel Education.”