By Bill Simons
Mother’s Day 2022: for me, it is unlike the celebratory milestones that preceded it. My mother Elaine, age 95, died on January 9, 2022, making me a 72-year-old orphan. Like Mrs. Patimkin and Mrs. Portnoy, novelist Philip Roth’s iconic Jewish mothers, Elaine differed from …
By Shelley Hubal
May 1 of this year marks my third anniversary as Federation executive director here in Binghamton. One of the first meetings I had after starting this job was with Rabbi Rachel Esserman, The Reporter’s executive editor. She stressed to me the importance of writing a colum…
By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
I recently read an interesting book on the sociology of social theory called “Collective Illusions: Conformity, Complicity and the Science of Why We Make Bad Decisions” by Todd Rose. I found the book fascinating, especially when it exposed my biases and my inabi…
By Bill Simons
It was 1973, a time, like our own, of resurgent antisemitism. The residents at 704 Hauser Street in the Astoria section of Queens, New York City, found a swastika spraypainted on their front door. An accompanying note read: “This is just the beginning. We’ll be back.” F…
By Shelley Hubal
When we see the images of Ukrainian people fleeing for their lives with little more than the clothes on their backs, we can’t help but be reminded of the Exodus of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt. As of this writing, more than four million refugees have left their…
