Related Blog Posts on Holocaust and Jewish Life Around the World

The opening chapters of Genesis introduce and establish one of the most enduring elements of Jewish religion, spirituality, and culture: the power of food.

Being a Jew in the Diaspora, I'm unsure that we'll ever get one answer to what it is that we're supposed to be doing. We're scattered, eclectic.

The events of October 7th left an indelible mark on Israeli society, reshaping the nation in ways that have yet to be fully realized, and will be felt for generations. The solidarity so many Jewish communities around the world have expressed, along with emotional, financial, and actionable support, have been sources of hope and resilience.

Growing up in Seattle, I was fortunate to be surrounded by the city's vibrant Sephardi Jewish community. Seattle, with its large Sephardi population, was the perfect place to grow up immersed in the language and flavors of this unique Jewish culture.

Brady Corbet's "The Brutalist" opens with Hungarian architect, Jewish Holocaust survivor, and soon-to-be freshly minted U.S. immigrant László Toth in the shadowy depths of a ship headed into New York Harbor.

Since 1945, there have been over 440 Holocaust-related films and miniseries, and that's not counting documentaries. Hulu offers the latest, a new limited series, "We Were the Lucky Ones."

What does it mean to remember? It is to live in more than one world, to prevent the past from fading, and to call upon the future to illuminate it. 

I've been reflecting on the story of America's founding - the narrative many of us learn as children in the United States. I've recently learned a different version of that story - one that I now recognize intertwines with my own. My identities as Cuban American and Jewish have been shaped by Indigenous stories in America and in Cuba; particularly the themes of beginnings, loss, transformation, and change.

Beejhy Barhany (she/her) is an entrepreneur and activist who was born in Ethiopia, raised in Israel, and currently resides in New York. Today, she is the chef and owner of an eclectic Ethiopian restaurant in Harlem, New York, Tsion Café, that incorporates cuisine from the many places that have influenced her journey.

As I boarded the plane to Israel in the summer of 2002 for my first year of rabbinical school at HUC in Jerusalem, my mother said, "Please, just don't meet an Israeli." As soon as the plane touched down at Ben Gurion airport, I knew that I was home. A few months later, I met that Israeli. From our first conversation, he understood that I was studying to be a rabbi, and I understood that he wanted to live only in Israel.