Congregation Sha’are Shalom in Kingston, Jamaica. (photo from Jamaica Tourist Board) It was a muggy Friday afternoon just hours after my family and I had touched down in Jamaica for a two-week vacation, and the plan was to attend evening…
Theodor Herzl, during the First Zionist Congress, in Basel, Switzerland, 1897. (photo from mfa.gov.il) Sometime before 1223, the first bridge spanning the Rhine River at Basel was constructed, funded through a loan to the town’s bishop by a Jewish moneylender.…
Israeli artist Ya’acov Agam’s Holocaust memorial is located in Woldenberg Park. (photo by Adina Horwich) On Friday, June 2, about 20 minutes before Shabbat candlelighting, I checked my email. I saw one from Cynthia Ramsay, editor of the Jewish Independent.…
Ahrida Synagogue is one of the two still-functioning synagogues in the Balat neighbourhood of Istanbul. (photo by Deborah Rubin Fields) On my first trip to Israel just after graduating high school, I met a similar-aged Turkish Jew. He was also…
Flame Towers, in the capital city Baku, reflect the forward-looking economy and the ancient Zoroastrian roots of the Azerbaijani people. (photo by Pat Johnson) It is a Muslim-majority country where Jews proudly draw visitors’ attention to the fact that their…
One of the ways to prepare a child for a vacation is to start small. For example, take them to a local aquarium or other nearby attraction to get them used to the idea of touring. (photo from Dawn M.…
A bunker in Tirana, Albania, that is now the Bunk’Art art and history museum. (photo by Deborah Rubin Fields) Albania is a country of great contrasts. It has stunning, clean beaches, so gorgeous that locals refer to them as the…
Rabbi Chanan and Tuba Chernitsky and their family before the couple had another baby this past spring. (photo from lubavitch.com) In the fall of 2019, my husband and I traveled to Newfoundland to take in its beauty and bounty. Both…
Sar-El volunteers from Canada, the United States, England, Germany and the Caribbean at a base not far from Sderot in 2018. (photo from Ed Rozenberg) This past July, I found myself shlepping boxes full of medical supplies and loading them…
Unemployed tour guide Hannah Rosenberg is now serving up hot dogs for about $12.50 Cdn an hour. (photo by Gil Zohar) For Anglo tour guides who have been unemployed since March 2020, the Israeli government’s recent decision to impose a seven-day…
