Her husband’s cousin, Katya Bratslavsky, told Petlakh she had just bought a home in Boynton Beach.

“Which community?” asked Petlakh.

“Lakeridge Greens,” answered Bratslavsky.

What a coincidence, that was where Petlakh’s grandparents used to live.

“Which street?” It was the same street.

“Which house?” No. Impossible. Could it really be her grandparents’ longtime, beloved home?

It sure was.

“I was shaking, out of pure joy, because this house carries so much of my childhood inside its doors,” said Petlakh, 33, who lives in Bellmore, N.Y. “It feels like life has come full circle, so serendipitously.”

The home was formerly owned by Petlakh’s grandparents, Shirley and Milton Kushner, snowbirds from New Jersey who had bought it brand-new in 1996. It was filled with tender memories for Petlakh, who loved swimming in the neighborhood pool, eating with her grandparents at the kitchen table and sleeping on a cot in the second bedroom.

“I spent countless summers there growing up, making memories that would stay with me forever,” she said. “They had no idea how deeply it would root itself in our family’s history.”

Petlakh’s grandfather died in 2005. His wife stayed in the home for 20 more years until shortly before she died, at 99, in February 2025. Petlakh said her final goodbye to her grandmother in the house, as Shirley Kushner sat on her favorite chair in her bedroom, overlooking her beloved patio.

“I knew that this was the end of one of my childhood core memories,” Petlakh said.

Petlakh said her mother and her mother’s sister had trouble selling the house because it had fallen into disrepair.

Shirley Kushner suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and neither Kushner nor her aide was able to maintain it. Water damage and black mold were among several problems that hadn’t been addressed.

Petlakh’s mother and aunt sold the house to a contractor who fixed the problems and renovated it, taking down walls to create an open floor plan and adding a bedroom and a large granite counter in the kitchen.

The house sold quickly, and Petlakh hoped the future owners would love it as she did. A teacher and mother of a 3-year-old son, she decided it was time to move on.

When Bratslavsky delivered the stunning news, memories began to flood back for Petlakh.

Bratslavsky said she was equally emotional.

“It’s like when you’re a little kid and you find a treasure,” said Bratslavsky, an artist and mother of three who lives in Syracuse, N.Y.

Bratslavsky said she and her husband had been looking for a home in Boynton Beach to be closer to his parents. Her husband found the Lakeridge Greens house online and she said she loved it for its contemporary look, new appliances and big patio.

“You could tell someone put a lot of work into this house,” she said.

Bratslavsky discovered one remnant of the Kushner home had survived the renovation: a mezuzah, a little case containing biblical verses affixed to the doorposts of Jewish homes, at the front door.

She removed it and mailed it to Petlakh. She told her cousin to keep it as a family memento and to buy Bratslavsky a new one, which Petlakh has already done.

Petlakh placed her grandparents’ mezuzah in a box of family heirlooms she keeps in her attic. She traveled to the Bratslavskys’ Boynton Beach home in December, the first time she had been back since her grandmother died.

Bratslavsky said she has told the Petlakhs to visit any time and to treat the home like it’s theirs.

“I’m so deeply touched to be able to keep enjoying this beautiful home, not just as a visitor, but with family once again,” Petlakh said.

Being Jewish was something I learned to whisper, not celebrate. But even then, even in the dull gray of Soviet life, there was one place that lived in my imagination with color and light: Israel.

As a Jewish immigrant from the the former Soviet Union, watching the events of Oct. 7, 2023, unfold was both heartbreaking and deeply personal. I was able to escape thanks to the existence of Israel. I grew up in a system that suppressed Jewish identity, where we were second-class citizens marked as “Jews” on our passports. Being targets of discrimination and cultural erasure, we were also targets of ridicule for being cowards.

Though I built a new life in America, embracing its freedom and its opportunity, my heart always held a place for the land where Jews walked tall, defended themselves, and shaped their own destiny.

That’s why Oct. 7, 2023, shook me to my core.

It wasn’t just the scale of the massacre—it was the feeling that Israel’s image of invincibility had cracked. The massacre shattered the sense of invincibility Israel carried for decades. And with that crack came a frightening question: if Israel wasn’t safe, where in the world are Jews truly safe?

I remembered the state-sponsored antisemitism and the silencing we endured in the USSR. Oct. 7, 2023,  stirred the old anxieties I thought I had left behind. The fear was not only for Israel’s physical safety, but for its very role as security for the Jewish people worldwide, including here in the United States.

From across the ocean, I watched the news with disbelief and horror. The sudden breach of Israel’s defenses, the brutality of the attack, the scenes of terror—these images cut deeper than I expected, pulling me back to a childhood shaped by anxiety and uncertainty.

For the first time since the Yom Kippur War, I felt the terrifying question arise: has Israel—the miracle of Jewish strength—lost its deterrence?

Back then, it was quick and ended in a decisive victory. This time, it took longer. But what followed reminded me what makes Israel extraordinary. Even wounded and shocked, the country refused to be broken. Israel rose united and acted with determination. The same spirit that transformed the desert into a home now surged through every corner of the nation.

And yes, I found myself moved by the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s steadiness in restoring deterrence amid chaos, despite Israel’s often tumultuous politics. From my home in America, I watched a country reaffirm why it held status as a regional superpower, not through size, but through unity, courage, intelligence, and an indomitable spirit. It demonstrated again that Israel’s strength does not disappear in moments of darkness—it grows brighter.

As a Jewish immigrant to the United States, I carry a double gratitude: gratitude for the freedom and stability America gave my family and gratitude for the existence of Israel, the homeland that protects Jewish identity with a strength the Soviet Union never allowed us to imagine.

Oct. 7, 2023, was a tragedy. But the response was a revelation.

I felt my pride in Israel surge higher than it had in years—not because the country is perfect, but because it refuses to collapse under the weight of its pain. It rises. It rebuilds. It fights fiercely for its people.

That pride was felt in how quickly the people mobilized, how civilians stood together, how the IDF regrouped and struck back with determination and focus. Yes, there was a crack in the armor, but the spirit? Still unbreakable. The rebuilding that followed proved Israel doesn’t simply win wars–it survives even the moments that try to break it.

Because Israel is not just a country. It is a promise.

A promise that the Jewish people will never again be powerless.
A promise that even in the face of terror, the Jewish spirit will shine.
A promise that we are, and always will be, a people who rise.

For someone who grew up in a system that tried to erase Jewish identity, Israel’s survival and strength remain nothing short of miraculous. For a Jewish immigrant from the Soviet Union, Israel represents more than just a state; it is a miracle with roots in blood, struggle, and determination. Oct. 7, 2023, threatened to destroy that miracle, but it didn’t. Instead, it reminded us why Israel matters, and how far it has come.

From my home in America, I say with conviction and love: Israel, I am proud of you. Proud of your strength. Proud of your courage. Proud of your future.

Israel may have momentarily lost its deterrence, but it has not lost its spirit. And in that, I find hope.

Yakov Grinshpun was born in the Soviet Union at the end of WWII in a Nazi-controlled Jewish ghetto. He currently resides in Boca Raton and is the author of “A Man of Two Superpowers: From Russia with Hope,” a memoir. 

And many grandparents are younger than you might expect. The average age for a first-time grandparent is around 48 and many between the ages of 45 to 64 are still working.

Grandparents today spend generously on their grandchildren — school supplies and tuition head the list.

This is completely different from the grandmother I had. Today’s grandmother is different, but she still hasn’t chosen to get a tattoo. No, she hasn’t made that choice yet.

What’s in a name

There are many names for grandmothers. In Italy, she’s called Noni; in Greece, Yaya; in Israel, Savtah; and I’m called Bubbe, which is Yiddish. You might even have a special name that your grandchild loves to call you, perhaps Nana or some version of that.

But whatever she’s called, what the grandchild will receive from a loving grandparent is unconditional love.

More grandparents equals more love

An important component of a loving family is the grandparents, something children today have more of.

Many people were not fortunate enough to have four grandparents in the past. A lot of grandparents were lost in world conflicts or due to their children relocating to this new world of scattered people. My grandmother didn’t have a phone, but today, no matter where you live, you can still reach out and be close to your grandchild. In fact, 75 percent of grandparents are currently online, so times are changing.

A grandparents role in the lives of their grandchildren

Some grandparents don’t think they should spoil their grandchildren, but many do just that.

I met Alex Haley, the author of the best-selling book “ROOTS,” and he said, “Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do. Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children.”

An Oxford University study indicated that children whose grandparents are involved in their lives show fewer behavioral and emotional problems.

Today, due to longevity and scientific discoveries, grandparents can, and should be, a vital part of their grandchildren’s lives. Even if they don’t live close by, they can talk to and see their grandchildren via video calls. Additionally, family visits on holidays or birthdays give the grandchild the opportunity to form a loving relationship with their grandparents and this connection will offer a sense of stability and a shield of love that will make them feel secure as they go forward in life.

Keeping grandparents close

The respect and caring for the grandparents that the child’s parents offer will be a model that will mirror and reflect how they behave in later years. As they say, “as you sow, so shall you reap.” Good examples teach a child more than words can ever say.

Framing a picture of the grandparents with their grandchild and putting it on the dresser in a child’s room is an excellent way to keep the grandparents who live a distance away close to their grandchild. A grandparent can watch a program the child likes and then call the youngster and talk about it. Receiving mail from a grandparent with some stickers in the envelope is always fun and something to look forward to. Keeping up the connection with your grandchild is vital.

Remember that grandparents and even great-grandparents have an important role in the family. Share your love and family history with younger generations. They will remember that all their lives and someday those lessons will be passed on to their grandchildren, thanks to you.

Reaching out the hand of love is a gift that will be treasured now and forever and your place in the child’s heart will be secured for a lifetime. Each hug and each compliment will help make your precious grandchild someone to be loved and proud of. So do it and do it today — the sooner, the better. It’s always the right time for a hug.

Judith Levy is the New York Times best-selling author of “Grandmother Remembers,” which has sold 4 million copies to date. Her newest illustrated book, “Great-Grandmother Remembers” is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

While progress on the U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel in October has been slow moving, with both Israel and Hamas accusing the other of failing to uphold their end of the bargain, Trump appeared eager to find ways to speed up the peace process as he stood beside Netanyahu.

When asked by a reporter how quickly Trump hoped to move into phase two of the ceasefire plan, he replied “as quickly as we can” before stipulating that the next phase was contingent upon Hamas disarming.

But later, when asked by another reporter whether the reconstruction of Gaza will begin before Hamas is disarmed, Trump replied, “I think it’s going to begin pretty soon,” adding that he and Netanyahu were “looking forward to it.”

“Look what a mess it is, and it’s been a mess for centuries, really, it’s been a mess for a long time. It seems to be born for that, but we’re gonna straighten it out,” said Trump of the enclave. “We’re already starting certain things, we’re doing things for sanitary conditions and others, but Gaza is a tough place. You know the expression ‘it’s a tough neighborhood,’ it’s truly a tough neighborhood.”

At another press conference following the meeting, which lasted roughly two hours, Trump said that Hamas would be given “a very short period of time to disarm.”

“If they don’t disarm as as they agreed to do, they agreed to it, and then they’ll be held to pay for them, and we don’t want that, we’re not looking for that, but they have to disarm within a fairly short period of time, withdrawing its force,” said Trump. Later, Trump said that the other countries who backed the ceasefire deal would “wipe out Hamas” if the terror group does not disarm.

Following the meeting, Trump also appeared to revive his past proposal for Palestinians in Gaza to voluntarily leave the enclave, a plan that received a chorus of condemnation when he first broached the subject in February.

“I’ve always said it, I said if they were given the opportunity to live in a better climate, they would move,” said Trump, referring to Palestinians in Gaza. “They’re there because they sort of have to be. I think it would be, I think it’d be a great opportunity, but let’s see if that opportunity presents itself.”

Over two months after all 20 living hostages were returned to Israel as part of the first phase of the ceasefire deal, the remains of only one deceased hostage, Ran Gvili, remain in Gaza.

The next phase, which would include Israel and Hamas losing authority in Gaza and the establishment of a “Board of Peace” to oversee the enclave’s future, is expected to begin once Gvili is returned.

“It’s the only one left, and we’re doing everything we can to get his body back,” said Trump of Gvili. “And the parents just said, hopefully he’s alive. And I said I’d love you to think that way.”

Later, Trump also repeated his false claim that no hostages were released from Gaza under the Biden administration. In November 2023, 105 hostages, mainly women and children, were released during a temporary truce.

Beyond pressure from Washington to initiate the next phase of the ceasefire, the pair were also expected to discuss a host of other topics, ranging from Iran’s alleged nuclear capabilities to Israel’s relations with Turkey and Syria.

When asked whether Trump would ask Netanyahu to sign an agreement with Syria amid tensions between the two countries, Trump responded, “I hope he’s going to get along with Syria.”

Following the meeting, Trump said that he was “sure” that Israel and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa will “get along,” an assertion that Netanyahu appeared to back.

“Our interest is to have a peaceful border with Syria,” said Natanyahu. “We want to make sure that the border area right next to our border is safe. We don’t have terrorists, we don’t have attacks.”

Trump also appeared to respond positively when asked whether he expected Turkish forces to be stationed in Gaza, a proposal that Israel has sought to block. (Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been overtly hostile to Israel over the course of the war in Gaza.)

“I have a great relationship with President Erdogan, and we’ll be talking about it, and if it’s good, I think that’s good, and a lot will be having to do with Bibi,” said Trump. “We’re going to be talking about that, but Turkey has been great.”

Later during the press conference, Trump expressed his openness to launching an assault on Iran amid reports that the gulf nation is seeking chemical and biological warheads for its ballistic missiles. In June, the United States joined Israel’s conflict with Iran and bombed three sites in the country, a strike that it claimed had “obliterated” its nuclear capabilities.

“Now I hear that Iran is trying to build up again, and if they are, we’re going to have to knock them down,” said Trump. “We’ll knock them down. We’ll knock the hell out of them, but hopefully that’s not happening. I heard Iran wants to make a deal. If they want to make a deal, that’s much smarter.”

When asked by a reporter whether he sought to “overthrow” the Iranian regime, Trump replied, “I’m not going to talk about overthrow of a regime.” But when asked by a reporter whether he would support an Israeli attack on Iran if the country continues to develop ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons, Trump responded “absolutely.”

The meeting between Netanyahu and Trump also comes as Trump has called for Israeli President Isaac Herzog to pardon Netanyahu, who currently has three legal cases open against him, on charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust.

Responding to a question about the potential for a pardon, Trump claimed that Herzog had said the pardon was “on its way.”

“He’s a wartime Prime Minister who’s a hero, how do you not give a pardon? You know, I think it’s a very hard thing not to do it,” said Trump. “I spoke to the president and he tells me it’s on its way. You can’t do better than that, right?”

Following Trump’s remarks, Herzog’s office issued a statement stating that there had been no talks between him and Trump since the American leader wrote to Herzog advocating for a pardon in November.

“There has been no conversation between President Herzog and President Trump since the pardon request was submitted,” Herzog’s office said in a statement.

At the end of the press conference, before the two leaders entered Mar-a-Lago in an embrace, Netanyahu responded to the only question posed to him: “What makes President Trump such a strong friend to the State of Israel?”

“I think Israel is very blessed to have President Trump leading the United States, and I’ll say leading the free world at this time,” said Netanyahu, reiterating his long-held praise for the leader. “I think it’s not merely Israel’s great fortune. I think it’s the world’s great fortune.”

Trump then took his turn at the question, telling reporters that the Israeli leader could be “very difficult on occasion.”

“Bibi’s a strong man. He can be very difficult on occasion, but you need a strong man,” said Trump. “If you had a weak man, you wouldn’t have Israel right now….Israel, with most other leaders, would not exist today.”

For more info, go to JTA.org. 

At the center of the controversy that has roiled the Republican Party is Nick Fuentes, the antisemitic and white nationalist livestreamer who set off a firestorm after he voiced his disdain for “these Zionist Jews” in a friendly interview with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson in October.

Since then, Vance has failed to meet calls from Jewish conservatives to set a boundary against antisemitic voices within the Republican coalition.

On Dec. 22, in an interview with UnHerd, Vance downplayed the influence of Fuentes and instead argued that the focus on his presence in the GOP was crowding out a larger discussion about anti-Israel animus within the party.

“I think that Nick Fuentes, his influence within Donald Trump’s administration, and within a whole host of institutions on the right, is vastly overstated, and frankly, it’s overstated by people who want to avoid having a foreign-policy conversation about America’s relationship with Israel,” said Vance.

Vance also dismissed claims about the prevalence of antisemitism across the political spectrum, saying that much of what is alleged to be antisemitism is in fact “a real backlash” against Israel.

“Ninety-nine percent of Republicans, and I think probably 97% of Democrats, do not hate Jewish people for being Jewish. What is actually happening is that there is a real backlash to a consensus view in American foreign policy. I think we ought to have that conversation and not try to shut it down. Most Americans are not antisemitic, they’re never going to be antisemitic, and I think we should focus on the real debate,” said Vance.

Earlier this month, Vance also dismissed claims that antisemitism is surging within the Republican Party and said that the “the single most significant thing you could do to eliminate anti-semitism” was lowering immigration to the United States.

A poll released in December by the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, found that nearly four in 10 GOP voters believe that the Holocaust was greatly exaggerated or did not happen “as historians describe.” It also found that roughly equal shares of Democrats and Republicans, around one in five, hold anti-Jewish sentiments.

Vance told UnHerd that while Israel is an important U.S. ally, a sentiment long held by the GOP, the party needed to widen its tent to include diverging opinions on the Jewish state.

“I happen to believe that Israel is an important ally, and that there are certain things that we’re certainly going to work together on,” Vance says. “But we’re also going to have very substantive disagreements with Israel, and that’s OK. And we should be able to say, ‘We agree with Israel on that issue, and we disagree with Israel on this other issue.’ Having that conversation is, I think, much less comfortable for a lot of people, because they want to focus on Nick Fuentes.”

On Dec. 21, Vance also declined to condemn antisemitism on the right at Turning Point USA’s annual convention, instead encouraging the party to widen its tent.

The convention, titled AmericaFest, was roiled by debates over antisemitic figures within the party. Vance told attendees that he “didn’t bring a list of conservatives to denounce or to de-platform,” adding that that party has “far more important work to do than canceling each other.”

“When I say that I’m going to fight alongside of you, I mean all of you — each and every one,” said Vance. “President Trump did not build the greatest coalition in politics by running his supporters through endless, self-defeating purity tests.”

At the beginning of AmericaFest, Vance also earned a 2028 presidential endorsement from Turning Point’s leader Erika Kirk, widow of its slain founder Charlie Kirk. The convention itself was also marked by internal Republican divisions over whether the party should lend its platform to figures espousing antisemitic rhetoric, including Fuentes.

Franklin Foer, a staff writer for The Atlantic, titled his Dec. 22 op-ed “J. D. Vance Fails a Simple Moral Test,” accusing Vance of welcoming antisemites into the Republican coalition.

“By failing to denounce anti-Semitism, Vance has emboldened its adherents to flaunt their prejudices more openly, to dehumanize Jews with greater abandon,” wrote Foer. “He told the Turning Point audience that he doesn’t want to ‘impose any purity tests’ when, in reality, he was granting license to those who celebrate the most murderous purity test of all time.”

Jonathan Tobin, the editor-in-chief of the Jewish News Syndicate, also criticized Vance in an op-ed on Dec. 22 for failing to utilize a “chance to distinguish his national conservative vision from the views of Fuentes and Carlson.”

“By passing on a golden opportunity to draw a line in the sand between his ideas and those of right-wingers who share the left’s hatred for Jews, he’s telling us that he wants their votes,” wrote Tobin.

For more info, go to JTA.org. 

The remains of Lt. Morton Sher, identified earlier this year, were buried in Greenville, South Carolina on Dec. 14 — what would have been his 105th birthday.

Sher was a member of the pilot group known as the “Flying Tigers” — formed to protect China from Japanese invasion following the assault on Pearl Harbor in 1941. He was piloting a P-40 Warhawk when he was shot down by Japanese bombers on Aug. 9, 1943. His mother Celia received Sher’s Purple Heart that same year.

Sher’s squadron put up a memorial stone at the crash site in Xin Bai Village, and a postwar army review in 1947 concluded that his remains had been destroyed and were assumed to be unrecoverable.

Two attempts were made to locate his remains in 2012 and 2019, but neither was successful. A breakthrough came in 2024 when a Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency excavated a crash site in the province where Sher’s plane fell, and then in April 2025, when DNA analysis was conducted. The match was confirmed in June.

Sher was born in Baltimore, Maryland on Dec. 14, 1920, and his family later moved to Greenville where they became members of the Conservative synagogue Congregation Beth Israel. In high school, he was a member of the aviation club and enrolled in ROTC. Sher was a founding member of B’nai B’rith Youth Organization’s Aleph Zadik Aleph chapter in Greenville, according to the funeral home that organized his burial.

“He dreamed of being a pilot,” Sher’s nephew, Steve “Morton” Traub told Greenville’s local NBC station. “This guy did a lot for his country. He was my hero.”

Traub, who never met his uncle, but heard stories and read his letters, was raised by Sher’s father, David.

“I wish I had known him, but if he had, I wouldn’t have been named after him. I feel like I knew Mason because I knew Papa,” Traub said.

For more info, go to JTA.org. 

Witold Wrzosinski, the Jewish director, said he was pushed out on Dec. 10 after seeking a new contract with the Polish Cultural Heritage Foundation, which controls public funds for works in the cemetery. The cemetery languished in neglect for decades after World War II, only recently becoming the center of efforts to preserve the history of Poland’s Jews.

Wrzosinski manages the cemetery’s operating budget for the local Jewish community board, but many restoration projects there also depend on public funds invested by the Cultural Heritage Foundation.

The foundation is led by Michał Laszczkowski, who has ties to the right-wing Law and Justice party that governed Poland from 2015 to 2023 and backed Poland’s newly elected president, a Holocaust revisionist. The party promotes historical narratives about Polish victimhood and resistance to the Nazis while delegitimizing research on Polish antisemitism.

Wrzosinski alleges that the current contract between the foundation and the Jewish community board is “abusive,” limiting the influence of local Jews over projects in their own cemetery.

“The whole composition of the contract left us with no power to control the priorities of the foundation,” said Wrzosinski. “We think, as the Jewish community that owns the cemetery, we should have a say.”

Some 200,000 Jews are buried at the cemetery on Okopowa Street in the heart of Poland’s capital. Founded in 1806, it is one of Europe’s largest Jewish cemeteries and holds generations of cultural luminaries, rabbis and activists, along with about 50,000 Jews who were killed by the Nazis and consigned to two mass graves. One portion remains active for the small Jewish community still living in Warsaw today.

In a meeting with the foundation, Wrzosinski said he presented a new arrangement that would safeguard the Jewish community’s input in restoration and conservation projects.

But he said Laszczkowski rejected the arrangement and said the “mental wellbeing of the members of the Jewish community is not a factor” to him.

Laszczkowski did not reply to requests for comment from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

The Cultural Heritage Foundation has a stated mission to “protect and promote the national heritage of Poland.” Though it is not specifically dedicated to Jewish heritage, restoring some of Poland’s 1,200 Jewish cemeteries has fallen under its purview. In 2017, the Polish government pledged $28 million to renovate Warsaw’s Jewish cemetery and put the Cultural Heritage Foundation in charge of the funds.

At the time, Warsaw’s Jewish community board was happy to sign this agreement, said Wrzosinski.

“Everybody was so excited that so much money was being pumped into the cemetery that they allowed the foundation to have everything,” he said.

After Laszczkowski rejected Wrzosinski’s proposed new contract, Wrzosinski said at a meeting of the Parliamentary Commission for National Minorities that the Jewish community would end its agreement with the foundation. Laszczkowski in turn threatened to sue and cut off public funds from the cemetery if Wrzosinski stayed at the helm.

Then the Jewish board turned on Wrzosinski, with four out of seven members voting to remove him. They also suspended his member rights and blocked him from communal Hanukkah celebrations, though that ban has already been reversed after a backlash.

Wrzosinski said his fellow board members were intimidated by Laszczkowski’s legal threats. Polish Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich said they took issue with Wrzosinski’s public announcement, which did not have their consensus support. Some members wanted to keep their negotiations with the foundation private, he said.

“Witold absolutely thought he was saying what was important, but the problem was not even so much what he said, but the fact that he did it without conferring at all with the rest of the board,” said Schudrich. “The board had discussed this previously, but never came to a decision to raise this issue at a public government commission.”

Wrzosinski has directed the Jewish cemetery since 2020, becoming a key figure behind its renovations and rising profile. He began working at the largely abandoned cemetery in 2006, when it looked more like a forest, and led an effort to clean, decode and index the tombstones. He and his colleagues are documenting the graves in an online database, allowing descendants around the world to trace where their family members rest. Wrzosinski has found seven of his own relatives among the graves.

Wrzosinski said the Cultural Heritage Foundation could fall vulnerable to outside forces, including nationalist political leaders, since it was not contractually accountable to local Jews.

He pointed to a 2018 project under the Law and Justice government, which directed the foundation to build the Mausoleum of Jewish Fighters for the Independence of Poland — a reconstruction of a structure originally planned in 1939, just before the outbreak of World War II. Many local Jews see the mausoleum as a political design. It features a large Polish eagle and a Star of David, appearing to intertwine Polish nationalism with Jewish memory.

“People didn’t really feel it’s natural, or that it meets any actual need of the community. It just feels artificial and sent from above,” said Wrzosinski.

That same year, the Law and Justice government passed a notorious law that banned accusing Poland or the Polish people of complicity in Nazi crimes.

The mausoleum was built on a part of the cemetery that hosted some of its oldest graves. During construction, the tombstones were removed and stored in a back area. Wrzosinski said the foundation promised to return them, but after years of pressure from the Jewish community, the stones remain out of sight.

“This is wrong according to the halacha, according to the Jewish law,” he said. “If you know where tombstones are coming from, you shouldn’t keep them far away from that place, and you shouldn’t keep them in mud, somewhere in the back, if you took them from the actual area of the cemetery where people are buried.”

Wrzosinski’s dismissal has ignited a fierce outcry among Polish Jewish historians and museum professionals. Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, the chief curator of Warsaw’s POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, circulated a petition to reinstate him. Within a few days, it has amassed nearly 700 signatures from across the globe.

“The abrupt dismissal is both incomprehensible and deeply troubling,” said the letter. “The preservation of Jewish heritage and memory — especially in a place so profoundly marked by history — requires expertise and knowledgeable leadership. Such leadership should be protected and supported, not discarded.”

Schudrich said a resolution to the dispute within Warsaw’s Jewish leadership could be on the horizon.

“The board of the community and myself, along with Witold, are working on coming to an understanding so that we can continue to work together,” said Schudrich.

For more info, go to JTA.org. 

The slate of movies, red carpets, receptions, talks and meet-and-greets will continue to be staged mostly in Boca Raton and Delray Beach but there will also be a showing in Lake Worth Beach and a series of screenings in Deerfield Beach.

Les Rich — who co-founded the festival along with Wendy Honig and Arleen Roberts — says, “This year we’re going to expand to Deerfield. It’s kind of an experiment, but we’re going on five days in Deerfield at the Paragon Theater. They renovated the theater and it’s really good and I think we’ll do very well there. And maybe we’ll expand beyond that. I mean someday maybe we will change the name to the Florida International Jewish Film Festival.”

The schedule and ticket prices are available at JFilmBoca.org.

Screenings will take place:

• Feb. 21-28 at Cinemark Bistro Boca Raton and XD
• March 1-15 at Movies of Delray
• March 18-22 at Paragon Theater Deerfield

PROLOGUE

That’s not all that is happening. Even though the festival runs Feb. 21-March 22, there are some big events jumping off in January, including a sneak peek Big Reveal on Jan. 14 at the Movies at Delray.

“We do this every year … for free, we have the Big Reveal,” Rich explains. “People come, they can see trailers of all the different films that we’re going to show in the festival. And our patrons go and they choose which film they want to sponsor and we give the patrons first dibs on what films they want to go to. And then thereafter, like a week or two later, we’ll open for ticket sales to the general public.”

There will also be a Cinebash Opening Celebration on Jan. 26 at The Wick Theatre & Museum Club in Boca Raton.

“We’re going to have a dinner and we’re going to show the world premiere of a film called ‘Tovah’ about Tovah Feldshuh,” Rich says. “And at this event Tova Feldshuh will be coming and we’re going to give her a Lifetime Achievement Award. It’s going to be a really big event at the Wick Theatre. They’re intending to make a big national event out of it. It’s a really, really good documentary by a filmmaker named David Serero. So David Serero is also a famous opera singer. And I will try to get between David and Tovah to do a little singing together. That’s my goal.”

CLOSE-UP ON THE FEELINGS

Along those lines, nurturing the community is the main goal of the motion picture celebration, explains Honig.

“One of the things that we do with the festival is we entertain, we educate, we inspire,” she says “Okay, that’s all good. So do most film festivals. The one thing that we do that sets us apart from other festivals is that we embrace community. We know that there’s a need for events, parties, get-togethers, eating together, being together, and it’s really terrific when that happens because we’re building community and relationships.

It’s one thing when you just show a movie. I can show a movie and you go to the movie quietly with your popcorn and then you leave. We’re not like that. It’s a very different feeling. They get to meet and greet with movie stars, with different speakers.”

Another thing they are bringing back is the Movie Shorts Program, which will be on Feb. 1 at Movies of Delray

“We have a short film competition and people vote for which short film they like the best,” Rich explains. “And this year it’s a really good selection of short films that we have.”

Honig adds, “During COVID Les created the largest program of Jewish short films to keep people entertained. And I think to this very day, it probably is the largest of all online Jewish short films programs.”

OPENING CREDITS

Rich remembers that the trio has been involved in producing film festivals here in South Florida for decades.

“Wendy actually started many, many years ago,” he recalls. “Probably almost for 20 years now. She started up in Palm Beach. She worked at the Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival. Then Wendy and I worked at the Palm Beach International Film Festival many years ago.”

• Honig and Rich ran a Jewish sidebar showcase at the Palm Beach International Film Festival, which shut down in 2017.
• Then from 2017-2023 they ran the Boca Raton Jewish Film Festival at the Adolph & Rose Levis Jewish Community Center. That festival has been rebranded and is run by the JCC.
• Honig also ran two screening committees of the Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival, one in Boynton Beach and one in Palm Beach Gardens.
• Arleen Roberts was on the Screening Committee at Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival, Palm Beach International Film Festival and all the versions of the Boca Raton Jewish Film Festival. When the Boca International Jewish Film Festival started in 2024, she became a director.

“There’s a tremendous amount of people moving into the South Florida area,” Honig adds. “They’re moving into Boca, they’re moving in all over the place. If you go to downtown Boca, you realize how many people are moving in. There is such a great need for them to have a festival like this. You know, not everyone plays golf, not everyone plays pickleball. There are people that really love this and love coming together and meeting people and making friends and having parties and doing events together.

I think it’s a very important thing. So for the very nominal fee of a ticket, they get to come in and they get to see these speakers and the movie stars and make friends. It’s just such a wonderful time.”

HOT FLICKS PICKS

Here are, in no particular order, just a few of Honig and Rich’s BIJFF highlights.

“ADA: MY MOTHER THE ARCHITECT”

Honig — “We are 501c3 and we give money to Jewish and Israeli charities. And one of the charities that has partnered with us is The Technion, which is the technical university in (Haifa) Israel. We will be having a film called ‘Ada: My Mother The Architect.’ And Ada graduated from The Technion and Ada’s daughter made the film and … will be at the film (screening). And also we’ll have a speaker from Technion speaking. And afterwards they’re doing a dessert buffet at the theater.”

“LUCKY STAR” AND “LOST IN TERRITORIES”

Honig — “We also have a lot of comedies. And this year, I have two that I really love. One is called ‘Lucky Star.’ It’s a French film (titled ‘La Bonne Étoile’). And the other one is ‘Lost in Territories.’ It’s hilarious.”

“PARTING THE WATERS”

Rich — “We’ve got a film about … Michele Kuvin Kupfer, an Israeli Olympic swimmer. She’s originally from Palm Beach, Florida. It’s called ‘Parting the Waters.’ So that’s another film that’s going to be very, very popular.”

“LABORS OF LOVE: THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF HENRIETTA SZOLD”

Honig — “We have five showings of ‘Labors of Love: The Life and Legacy of Henrietta Szold.’ Henrietta Szold founded (Jewish women’s service organization) Hadassah. You probably know of Hadassah Medical Center in Israel. But more than that … she founded nursing in Israel, midwifery, she had a thousands of children from Germany (and Nazi-occupied Europe) brought over to the Youth Aliyah program. They would put up children … in kibbutzes. So it was really fantastic, saved their lives. Henrietta Szold was amazing. But I’m going to tell you what makes it exciting. The filmmaker will be there for two of the showings. And the filmmaker is Abby Ginzberg.”

Honig says that Ginzberg is the granddaughter of the love of Szold’s life, who married another woman. “The granddaughter decided to make this film about the person who loved her grandfather. And what she says, which is really, I think, pretty wonderful is, if Henrietta Szold had married her grandfather, she’d be making matzo ball soup. She’d be, you know, cooking and cleaning. Instead, she changed the world.”

Rich adds, “The Hadassahs are going to put on a big Hadassah event. That’s going to be March 1st and March 2nd. It’s going to be in Movies of Delray and Movies of Lake Worth. So that’s going to be a very big event because the Hadassahs are huge in Southern Florida. They are really going to be flocking to this film.”

“AARON SAPIRO: THE JEW WHO SUED HENRY FORD”

Honig — “So … that is something Jews don’t know about. There was a Jew that sued Henry Ford, I didn’t know this. And (Ford) had to shut down his anti-Semitic, The Dearborn Observer. I think he also had to shut down one of his plants and he had to issue a public apology. Everyone knows that Henry Ford was antisemitic, but they didn’t know about this one courageous man, who was a lawyer, stood up and actually won.”

Rich  — “We’re having Robert Watson…he’s a local professor … from Lynn University. So he’ll … be discussing the film, antisemitism and the historical context and be interviewing the filmmaker Gaylen Ross. That’s what we do. We get speakers, some of them are local, some of them national. We’re more and more trying to get the speakers to come in, just to add some interest to all the films.”

“JERUSALEM ’67”

Honig — ” ‘Jerusalem ’67’ is the first feature film about the Six-Day War in Israel. The film is about a woman, who was sort of a hero, that fought in the war. She was the first, or one of the first women, who were able to pray at The Wailing Wall. Usually the men were there. She was very courageous; had to choose between her kids and the war and she rolled up her sleeves and went to war.”

“THE EVERYTHING POT”

Rich — “Our closing film, which we’ll be announcing fairly soon, we’re going to have a star — Lisa Edelstein. It’s a film called ‘The Everything Pot’ and that’s going to be our closing film at the Movies of Delray. And ‘The Everything Pot’ is a comedy. Do you remember the show ‘House’ on television? He was a doctor. He had a girlfriend; That was Lisa Edelstein.”

Honig — “So ‘The Everything Pot’ is a zany, quirky movie … where this woman, she gets an invitation to a wedding of a former person that she worked with that was much younger than her. And Linda’s (character) is happily married at this point in the film. She buys the (wedding couple) an everything pot. The wedding is canceled and they want their pot back. At one point she climbs over a fence … trying to get the pot back and she falls into their yard. It’s very cute.”

Despite its grief, the Jewish world also took time to celebrate the lives lived by a constellation of figures who made lasting contributions to film, architecture, politics and Jewish scholarship and letters.

In chronological order, here are obituaries of 18 notable Jews who died in 2025.

Marion Wiesel

Marion Wiesel (born Mary Renate Erster), a Holocaust survivor and humanitarian, married the writer and human rights activist Elie Wiesel in 1969, and was the translator of many of his award winning and influential books on the Holocaust, including the final edition of “Night.” Following Wiesel’s 1986 Nobel Prize win, the couple founded the Beit Tzipora Centers in Israel, an educational program for Ethiopian-Israeli youth, which Marion Wiesel went on to lead for a number of years. “In the alignment of stars that helped make Wiesel the international icon he became, his marriage to Marion was among the most significant,” wrote Joseph Berger in his 2023 biography “Elie Wiesel: Confronting the Silence.” She died on Feb. 2 at 94.

Jacqueline van Maarsen

In 1942, Anne Frank immortalized her friendship with Jacqueline van Maarsen, writing that she “is now my best friend.” While the pair were forced apart during the war, never to be reunited, van Maarsen went on to write multiple books about Frank, including 2008’s “My Name is Anne, She Said, Anne Frank.” In 1986, van Maarsen also began lecturing on the Holocaust and antisemitism at schools. “In her books and during school visits, Jacqueline spoke not only about her friendship with Anne but also about the dangers of anti-Semitism and racism, and where they can lead,” the Anne Frank House said of van Maarsen. She died on Feb. 13 at age 96.

Leonard Lauder

Leonard Lauder built his Jewish family’s business, The Estée Lauder Companies, into a cosmetics empire, serving as its president from 1972 to 1995 and as CEO from 1982 through 1999. But beyond his entrepreneurial prowess, Lauder also was a major patron of the arts, at one point donating a collection of paintings to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York valued at more than $1 billion. “The number of lives he touched and positively impacted across all his endeavors is immeasurable,” his younger brother, Ronald, said. “His passion and generosity have inspired us all, and there are no words to express how much he will be missed.” He died on June 14 at 92.

David Schaecter

After losing 105 relatives during the Holocaust, David Schaecter went on to spend his life pushing for restitution, Holocaust education and vigilance against antisemitism. In 1989, Schaecter founded the Holocaust Memorial in Miami Beach and in 2000 created the Holocaust Survivors’ Foundation USA, which often took a more aggressive stance than other Jewish organizations in pursuing restitution of goods looted during the Holocaust. “I am here to remind everyone that there are still thousands of survivors alive today who are in desperate need, and who cannot be forgotten,” Schaecter told the Senate Special Committee on Aging on April 30. He died on Sept. 4 at 96.

Ruth Posner

After Ruth Posner escaped the Warsaw Ghetto along with her aunt as a child, she went on to flee to the United Kingdom at 16 where she began an illustrious career as an actress and dancer. She was a founding member of the London Contemporary Dance Company and worked for the Royal Shakespeare Company, and also starred in films including “Leon the Pig Farmer” and “Love Hurts.” In 2022, she was awarded a British Empire Medal for her commitment to Holocaust education. She died on Sept. 21 at 96.

Aron Bell

Aron Bell was only 11 or 12 when he and his older brothers formed the famed Bielski partisans, a group that saved more than 1,200 Jews from the Nazis during the Holocaust. The brothers’ tale of defiance also inspired several adaptations of their story, including the books “The Bielski Brothers” by Peter Duffy and “Defiance: The Bielski Partisans” by Nechama Tec, which was later made into the 2008 film “Defiance” with actor George MacKay portraying Bell. “If you were in the company of those three brothers, you felt like you had a whole army behind you, you were fearless,” said Bell in his 1996 testimony to the USC Shoah Foundation. He died on Sept. 22 at 98 at his home in Palm Beach, Florida.

Katherine Janus Kahn

Katherine Janus Kahn’s vibrant watercolor illustrations in Jewish children’s books helped shape the imaginations of generations of Jewish children. Beginning with her paper-cut illustrations for “The Family Haggadah,” which became a bestseller when it was published in 1987, Janus Kahn later went on to illustrate more than 50 books for Kar-Ben, a publishing house for Jewish children’s books. Among her work for Kar-Ben was the “Sammy Spider” franchise, which includes more than two dozen books about Jewish holidays, prayers and practices. ““We are profoundly grateful for her legacy, and for the countless stories and memories she leaves behind,” said Kar-Ben. She died on Oct. 6 at age 83.

Rabbi Moshe Hauer

Rabbi Moshe Hauer, the executive vice president of the Orthodox Union since 2020, was widely respected across denominations and was considered an exemplar of Modern Orthodoxy’s historical blend of religious and secular expertise. In 2023, he testified about antisemitism on college campuses at a hearing of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, which prompted several investigations. “Rabbi Hauer was a true talmid chacham, a master teacher and communicator, the voice of Torah to the Orthodox community and the voice of Orthodoxy to the world,” the Orthodox Union said after his death. He died on Oct. 14 at 60.

Susan Stamberg

When Susan Stamberg first got behind the microphone at the newly minted National Public Radio in 1972, some board members feared she was “too New York” for Midwest audiences. But Stamberg nevertheless became one of the station’s “founding mothers,” helping to craft its intimate, often humorous and consistently eclectic voice. Stamberg was the co-anchor of “All Things Considered” for 14 years, before pivoting to cultural stories. “I think all of that is very Jewish, the telling of stories, but also the seeking of opinions and also being open to the range of opinions that are out there,” Stamberg told the Jewish Women’s Archive in 2011. She died on Oct. 16 at 87.

Tova Ben-Dov

Tova Ben-Dov devoted six decades of her life to the Women’s International Zionist Organization, serving as the president of World WIZO from 2012 to 2016. She also served as the vice president of the World Jewish Congress, a member of the executive committee of the Jewish Agency for Israel and a member of the International Council of Women according to JNS.“For 60 years, Tova devoted her heart and soul to WIZO—a lifetime of love, leadership and giving to women, children and families in Israel,” said World WIZO chairperson Anita Friedman. She died on Oct. 17 at 88 in Tel Aviv.

Arthur Waskow

Rabbi Arthur Waskow first became one of the most notable progressive rabbinic voices in 1969 when he created the “Freedom Seder,” a version of the Passover Haggadah that blended contemporary liberation struggles with the ancient passover story. Throughout his career, Waskow authored more than two dozen books that offered a Jewish perspective on civil rights, economic injustice, nuclear arms control and climate change. He was arrested more than two dozen times at protests. He died on Oct. 20 at 92.

Mark Mellman

At the height of his illustrious career as a pollster and political consultant, Mark Mellman was the go-to pollster for Democrats as well as a wide variety of firms and interests, including the NBA’s Washington Wizards, United Airlines and both Pepsi and Coca-Cola. In 2019, he founded the Democratic Majority for Israel, a group he said was formed to “strengthen the pro-Israel tradition of the Democratic Party, fight for Democratic values and work within the progressive movement to advance policies that ensure a strong U.S.-Israel relationship.” He died on Nov. 21 at 70.

Carrie Soloway

Carrie Soloway, a Jewish psychiatrist in Chicago, came out as a transgender woman at 70-years-old, a milestone that formed the basis for her children’s hit Amazon TV series “Transparent.” After the show’s 2014 premiere, Soloway visited the White House under then-President Barack Obama and became friends with trans elected officials, while “Transparent” blazed a path for modern LGBTQ Jews exploring their identity. “She loved the show and us and the character, but sometimes she wasn’t in the mood to be everyone’s favorite trailblazer,” her son, Joey, said after her death. She died on Nov. 21 at the age of 88.

Tom Stoppard

Tom Stoppard was in his 80s and had already won four Tony Awards during his prolific career as a playwright and screenwriter when he finished “Leopoldstadt,” which portrayed a Jewish family dealing with rising antisemitism in Vienna, and a young writer, much like him, who only earned of his Jewish forebears as an adult. His final work won the Tony for best play after it opened on Broadway in 2022. Stoppard’s other era-defining plays include “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead” (1968), “Travesties” (1974), “The Real Thing” (1986) and “The Coast of Utopia” (2007). “I just live my life and let the Jewishness take care of itself,” Stoppard told the New York Times Magazine in 2022. He died Nov. 29 at 88.

Frank Gehry

Frank Gehry, born Ephraim Owen Goldberg, was one of the most influential talents in the history of modernist architecture. Among his most acclaimed works, which feature his signature sculptural style, are the Bilbao Guggenheim, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, DZ Bank Building in Berlin and oversized fish sculptures he said were inspired by the carp his grandmother would turn into gefilte fish. In 1989, Gehry won the prestigious Pritzker Prize, considered one of the top awards in the field of architecture, and in 1999 won the Gold Medal from the American Institute of Architects. While Gehry identified as an atheist throughout his adult life, he told the Jewish Journal that “there’s a curiosity built into the [Jewish] culture” that influenced his career. He died on Dec. 5 at 96.

Rabbi Eliezer Diamond

Rabbi Eliezer Diamond taught at the Jewish Theological Seminary for over three decades, where he also published several texts on the Talmud and left an indelible mark on generations of rabbis and Jewish scholars. In 2003, he published “Holy Men and Hunger Artists: Fasting and Asceticism in Rabbinic Culture.” “Wherever I am, God is there too. I hope that I will return home soon,” wrote Diamond in his last post on Facebook, where he detailed his long struggle with cancer. He died on Dec. 11 at 73.

Rob Reiner

Rob Reiner, a beloved Jewish film director, actor and liberal activist, left his mark on modern American comedy and drama with his generation-defining classics from the 1980s and 1990s, including “When Harry Met Sally…,” “The Princess Bride,” “Stand By Me,” “A Few Good Men” and “This Is Spinal Tap.” The son of legendary Jewish comedian Carl Reiner, he also starred in the ’70s sitcom “All in the Family” and became a prominent Democratic Party activist later in life. Reiner, 78, and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, 70, were found dead in their California home on Dec. 14. The couple’s son, Nick, has been charged in connection to their killing. Days after his death, Reiner gave a pre-recorded address at a virtual Holocaust survivor event where he told attendees, “If ever we needed to be resilient, it’s now.”

Norman Podhoretz

Norman Podhoretz was 30 when he was appointed to run the American Jewish Committee’s thought journal Commentary. Over his career, he charted a path from Jewish liberal to pro-Israel neoconservative, serving as the godfather to a movement that long dominated late- and post-Cold War conservative politics. He made waves in 2016 for endorsing Donald Trump in his first run for president. “He was a man of great wit and a man of deep wisdom and he lived an astonishing and uniquely American life,” his son, John Podhoretz, wrote in a remembrance for the magazine announcing his father’s death. “And he bound himself fast to his people, his heritage, and his history.” He died on Dec. 16 at 95.

For more info, go to JTA.org.

The event featured two Israel artists, Orit Fuchs and Yigal Ozeri, along with Shai Zemack, who owns the Zemack Contemporary Art gallery in Tel Aviv. The three engaged in a panel moderated by art concierge, Estelle Ohayon, that focused on how their art and work has been marginalized since Oct. 7, 2023.

StandWithUs Southeast partnered with Ariel Penzer Milgroom, founder of Art World for Israel (AWI) for the event. The goal was to highlight the importance of supporting Jewish and Israeli art around the world — an idea that stemmed from university students.

“The impetus for working with art and using it as a language to tell the positive story of Israel, came from the Southeast campus StandWithUs Emerson Fellows,” said Sara Gold Rafel, executive director of StandWithUs Southeast. “Students from numerous universities exhibit artwork on their campuses to demonstrate that art can be used as a powerful educational tool about Israel, to combat antisemitism and one that unites people.”