My Memories of Frank Gilford and the Yom Kippur War

My Memories of Frank Gilford and the Yom Kippur War

9 April 2021
Israel Memorial Day 2021 - יום הזכרון תשפ"ש | After finishing college in the USA, Frank Gilford and his wife Susan made aliyah in 1978. Sadly, Frank died in an accident during IDF training in 1982. Susan remarried and remained in Israel. She recently contacted me, asking if I could share any memories of Frank and the Yom Kippur War, so that she could relate them at her community's Memorial Day service. In 1973 she and Frank had not yet met. Following is my response. | Frank and I arrived in Israel on September 12, 1973. We belonged to a group of 35 high school graduates from all over the United States, who had been members of the Young Judaea Zionist youth movement. Many of us knew each other from Young Judaea activities in our local areas, and from the…
Instagram à la 1950

Instagram à la 1950

10 February 2021
The photo album had been sitting in my possession for years, patiently awaiting my attention. When I finally got around to scanning it – the last of my mother's albums that I digitized – I was thrilled to find high quality images and delightful captions penned in white ink on the black pages. A 1950s precursor of Instagram or Facebook. At some point in her life, Bernice had the good sense to remove photos from the album that were irrelevant to her story. Only the captions remain on the pages, hinting at what she discarded. Bernice's photo album tells the story of the summer of 1950 – a time of love and excitement in her life. In June, Bernice graduated from Syracuse University, where she had majored in journalism. Not only was she the first person in her family…
My Video Nostalgia Project

My Video Nostalgia Project

16 January 2019
Once upon a time, in the 1980s and 1990s, we did not have digital cameras or smartphones or Skype. We used VHS tapes to visually record and share our experiences. In late 1985, when our oldest child was just a few months old and our home in Israel was under construction, we acquired our first VHS camcorder. It was bulky and heavy, and required the support of one’s shoulder or a tripod. Subsequently we owned smaller and lighter VHS-C camcorders, with improved video quality, but image resolution was still far behind that of today's technology. Over the next two decades, we amassed nearly 200 videotapes of family memories, mostly of our own creation, but also a fair number recorded by others, and including videotapes retrieved from my parents’ house. The collection fills up two large plastic storage bins. A…
Four Generations Meyer-Saltzman-Mishli 1989

Truths My Mother Taught Me

30 July 2010
I did not write this post. The title's "Mother" is my grandmother, Ruth Radman Meyer; "Me" is my mother, Bernice Meyer Saltzman. My mother wrote and delivered this speech in February 1995. Fifteen years later, I am still impressed and inspired every time I read it. This tribute to my grandmother is also a testament to my mother's outstanding abilities as a scholar, writer and parent. I am publishing it this week to honor my mother's memory on her 10th yahrzeit (anniversary of her death). Truths My Mother Taught Me Presented by Bernice Meyer Saltzmanto the Jewish Women's Club of Richmond VATuesday, February 28, 1995 Bernice Meyer Saltzman 1994 One of the blessings of being sixty-something is that you are in the position of learning from people both older and younger than you. Recently the young 39-year-old Rabbi Simeon Glaser of…
Ruth Radman and Leonard Meyer, 1926 (Engaged)

The Courtship of Ruth Radman and Leonard Meyer

29 October 2009
My grandmother's diary takes us into the world of my grandparents in Richmond, Virginia, in 1925. It is amazing to read the teenage Ruth’s words, to sense her consuming love for Leonard as well as the routine of her daily life nearly a century ago. More astounding are entries in which Ruth unknowingly provides glimpses of events and personalities that eventually evolved into memorable episodes and figures in the Radman-Meyer family history.

Bittersweet Serendipity While Cycling Near Shaar Hagai

14 June 2009
The plan for yesterday morning's bike ride was a loop from the Latrun Monastery to Shaar Hagai and back -- in the same area as last week's Israel Trail hike, but on different trails. After cycling for about 40 minutes, we reached our intended turn-around point. We paused to catch our breath at a junction on the steep climb up Givat Hatul, and did a quick rethink of our route choice. We decided that instead of turning off the trail, we would walk/push our bikes a short distance further to the top of the ridge. From there we could ride on flat or downhill trails. When we reached the top of the ridge, we were surprised and delighted! An amazing vista point overlooking Shaar Hagai. What a view! Engraved plaques present maps and history of the Burma Road and…

Shana Tova to the Wonderful Women in My Life

9 September 2007
As Rosh Hashanah approaches and I reflect on my blessings, I especially give thanks for the wonderful women in my life. For many years, I considered my mother my best friend -- we could talk for hours, we corresponded voraciously, she was my pillar of support when the stresses of raising young children, financial obligations, and the hectic pace of my life wore me down. When she died seven years ago, I was bereft. But over the years that void in my life has been filled by the friendships and relationships with many women whose lives intersect mine. My women friends of the Ladies Group, the "Anglos" of Maccabim and environs, with whom I meet once a month and share good conversation in English and good nosh. My women friends of Congregation Shalhevet Hamaccabim, with whom I meet every…

In Memory of Joe Benadon

29 October 2006

ג’ו, תסלח לי על כך שלא באתי לבקר אותך במשך כל החודשים הארוכים שבהם שכבת בביה”ח הרצוג. לאחר הביקור הראשון הרגשתי שאינני רוצה לזכור אותך כך. העדפתי לזכור את הבן אדם שהיית פעם – מוכשר, יצירתי, עליז, מצחיק, ומלא חיים.

בזכות הקשר המשפחתי והחברי של רעיה ויובל, אני זכיתי לבלות במחיצתך גם באירועים משפחתיים וגם בבילויים של סתם כיף.

כיצד אני זוכרת את ג’ו? שבת בבוקר. יום יפה. מרימים טלפון למשפחת בן-אדון ומזמינים לבקרבקיו בחצר אצלנו במכבים. לרעיה קצת קשה להיכנס לפעולה בשבת. אך ג’ו, בהתראה קצרה, מקים, מתניע ומוציא את כולם לדרך. עוצרים באבו גוש לקנות פיתות, חומוס וטחינה גולמי. מגיעים למכבים וג’ו ישר נכנס איתי למטבח ותופס פיקוד. הוא תוקף וחותך את הירקות ויוצר סלט עשיר וטעים. ואז הוא ניגש להכין את הטחינה – המומחיות שלו – עם חבילה שלמה של פטרוזליה טריה ולימונים שאני דואגת לספק. הבראוניס שבתנור לקינוח מעלים ריח של שוקולד. יובל ורעיה בחוץ. יובל מטפל בבשר על הגריל ורעיה בתנוחת מנוחה ליד השולחן.

הילדים שלנו תמיד אוהבים את המפגשים האלו. הם נצמדים לשולחן האוכל, מרותקים וצוחקים מהסיפורים והבדיחות של ג’ו. תמיד הוא מגיע עם רעיון לפטנט ומתיעץ עם יובל המהנדס כיצד ניתן להפוך את הרעיון לדבר עובד. פעם הוא מחפש דרך לבנות מוצג לתערוכה. פעם הוא מתאר מוצר שהוא רוצה לייצר ולשווק. ופעמים רבות הוא מספר סיפורים מהחיים שקשה להאמין שהם לא בדויים. כמו הסיפור על איך שפעם קשר רגליהם של זבובים עם שערות ראשו. וכדי להוכיח שהדבר אשפרי, הוא מניף יד, תופס זבוב ומשחזר את הניסוי, לתדהמת הסובבים אותו. ואני במיוחד אוהבת וזוכרת את הסיפור הסודי על הצ’ופצ’יק של הקומקום של בן-גוריון.

My War Experience (Second Lebanon War)

16 August 2006

After 30+ years of living in Israel without being closely touched by the hostilities and violence that so frequently affects lives here, I experienced first-hand the loss of a friend’s child, who was killed on the first day of the war.

I cannot truly sense what it was like to be a resident of northern Israel this past month. To live in fear of a rocket hitting my home, my yard, my office, my car, or my neighborhood schools and stores. To keep a handbag and essentials constantly at hand, ready to grab and run down to the shelter the moment the siren wails warning of an imminent rocket attack. To evacuate to another town in the center or south of the country, where family and friends would put me up indefinitely. This was not my “war experience.”
 
I spent this past month living in another fear. The dread of a phone call, or a friend at work, and even my own son Doron, telling me that the son of a friend or neighbor had been killed in Lebanon. My personal horror began the day the war began. I had just returned home from work that Wednesday, July 12, when a friend called and asked, “Are you sitting down? She repeated her question again, “Are you sitting down?” My heart began to pound. “Carleen’s son Yaniv,” she said, “He was killed in the tank that was exploded this morning.” I started to shake. I felt as if a knife had been plunged into my brain. I broke down and cried.
 

Dvar Torah: Pinchas – in memory of St. Sgt. Yaniv Bar-On

14 July 2006

In mid-July 2006, Congregation Shalhevet Hamaccabim was planning to hold its annual special kabbalat shabbat service honoring our recent high school graduates, soon-to-be army inductees. Like Carleen and Asher Bar-on, I have a daughter who was about to begin her army service. In honor of the occasion I volunteered to deliver the d’var torah — something I had never done before. I chose a theme that was appropriate for our soon-to-be soldiers, and had already prepared my text when we learned that the Bar-on’s middle child, Yaniv, had been killed on the Lebanese border. By Friday I had rewritten the ending, and my d’var torah became a message to a kehila in mourning. I delivered the d’var torah again (in English) at an evening service during Yaniv’s shiva.

D’var Torah, in memory of St. Sgt. Yaniv Bar-On, of blessed memory

This week’s Torah portion, Pinchas, relates an important event in the history of the people of Israel – the chosing of Yehoshua to succeed Moshe as the people’s new leader.

The Israelites are encamped at Shittim. They are soon going to enter into the promised land. But as we know, Moshe will not be leading the people. The time has come for a new leader.

ַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל-מֹשֶׁה, עֲלֵה אֶל-הַר הָעֲבָרִים הַזֶּה; וּרְאֵה, אֶת-הָאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר נָתַתִּי, לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל. וְרָאִיתָה אֹתָהּ, וְנֶאֱסַפְתָּ אֶל-עַמֶּיךָ גַּם-אָתָּה, כַּאֲשֶׁר נֶאֱסַף, אַהֲרֹן אָחִיךָ.

God tells Moshe to go up the mountain and look upon the land, which He is giving to the people of Israel. God reminds Moshe that he will die, like his brother Aharon, before he enters the land.

וַיְדַבֵּר מֹשֶׁה, אֶל-יְהוָה לֵאמֹר.
יִפְקֹד יְהוָה, אֱלֹהֵי הָרוּחֹת לְכָל-בָּשָׂר, אִישׁ, עַל-הָעֵדָה

Moshe, a true and great leader, does not argue with God. He does not focus on his own fate. Instead his concern is to make sure that the Jews will still have someone to lead them after he is gone. He asks God to select a worthy leader for the people, one who will lead them like a shepherd.

And who does God select?

וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל-מֹשֶׁה, קַח-לְךָ אֶת-יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בִּן-נוּן–אִישׁ, אֲשֶׁר-רוּחַ בּוֹ; וְסָמַכְתָּ אֶת-יָדְךָ, עָלָיו.

Why is Yehoshua selected? Because “he is a man in whom there is spirit.”

That sounds like a very small requirement for someone who is about to assume such an important role as leader of the Jewish people.