Sy Karfiol recounts Holocaust childhood to spellbound audiences By Dan Pine Jun 30, 2022 Sy Karfiol was just a toddler in 1942 when Nazi soldiers stormed the diamond district in Antwerp, Belgium, and arrested his father, a Jewish diamond merchant. He was too young to remember the arrest and his father’s immediate deportation to Auschwitz. He was too young to remember his desperate mother leaving him in the care… Read More
Health Migraines are a pain. Here’s how to manage them A 56-year-old woman came to Samaritan House Clinic, where I am a volunteer internist, complaining of recurrent headaches. My first thought was that she… By Dr. Jerry Saliman Jun 28, 2022
The Matzo Chronicles My 50-year high school reunion was strange, fun — and bittersweet The number 50 has symbolic and practical significance in Jewish thought. It spans the days between the Exodus from Egypt and Shavuot, when the Torah was… By Karen Galatz Jun 22, 2022
Bay Area Two Holocaust survivors celebrate long-delayed b’nai mitzvah together Sonia Apfelblum and David Diamond stood beaming on the bimah, having just chanted Torah for their b’nai mitzvah. Cheering family members and friends threw… By Dan Pine Jun 21, 2022
Act Two Did our tea-making savvy sink in the Boston Harbor? On the pantry table in the basement of my Glasgow student residence, a caddy filled with black leaves sat next to an earthenware teapot, and I just… By Janet Silver Ghent Jun 15, 2022
Bay Area SFCJL’s virtual memory care earns recognition from Fast Company Driving through the mountains. Walking on the beach. Feeling the wind on your face. These are some of the tactile experiences being brought to patients… By Lillian Ilsley-Greene May 17, 2022
First Person Would my 1971 ‘missed abortion’ be criminal in a post-Roe world? In the summer of 1971, a year and a half before Roe v. Wade, I had a missed abortion. That’s an incomplete miscarriage, in lay terms. It was not a choice.… By Janet Silver Ghent May 11, 2022
Seniors Reduce cognitive decline by engaging with music In August 2021, Tony Bennett (singing alongside Lady Gaga) gave his final performance at the age of 95 for an audience of 6,000 at Radio City Music Hall.… By Dr. Jerry Saliman May 6, 2022
Act Two That’s what old friends are for — especially as we age Every couple of months, I drive across the Dumbarton Bridge for lunch with the remainder of my Alameda women’s group. Twenty-six years ago, we numbered… By Janet Silver Ghent Mar 17, 2022