Dhaka Bangladesh: On Low-Income Women, Confinement and Postpartum Depression—by Anaise Williams

Dhaka Bangladesh : On Low-Income Women, Confinement and Postpartum Depression
Anaise Williams
U.S. Fulbright Project

20140306_111533Nothing has changed since before the birth, I just have to take more care and feed another person, she says simply while passing me a cup of cha with ginger. Shopna had her first baby 6 months ago in her family’s Bangladeshi village in Borishal, assisted by her mother and aunt, and returned to Dhaka 3 months after the birth to be with her husband, a furniture maker in the slum. Today I, unintentionally of course, woke her up at 11am while knocking on the locked door to her single room to do a follow-up interview for my project on postpartum depression. read more

Dhaka Low-Income Women, Confinement and Postpartum Depression—by Anaise Williams

Dhaka Low-Income Women, Confinement and Postpartum Depression
Anaise Williams
U.S. Fulbright Project

Nothing has changed since before the birth, I just have to take more care and feed another person, she says simply while passing me a cup of cha with ginger. Shopna had her first baby 6 months ago in her family’s Bangladeshi village in Borishal, assisted by her mother and aunt, and returned to Dhaka 3 months after the birth to be with her husband, a furniture maker in the slum. Today I, unintentionally of course, woke her up at 11am while knocking on the locked door to her single room to do a follow-up interview for my project on postpartum depression. read more

Rabbi Rick Jacobs’ Letter to Delegates at the Presbyterian Church ( USA) General Assembly

Rabbi Rick Jacobs’ Letter to Delegates at the Presbyterian
Church ( USA) General Assembly
June 19, 2014

Copies of this letter are being given to delegates at the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s General Assembly in Detroit, MI, who will be voting this week on several Israel-focused resolutions related to Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS)

Dear Friend,
As the president of America’s largest Jewish denomination, representing 1.5 million North American Jews, it is my honor to join you at your General Assembly. I have come here to Detroit with an important message about strengthening our alliance. I look forward to discussing this matter with you in person, but it is of such heartfelt concern to me, and so many millions of American Jews, that I am taking the extra step to write you a detailed letter. read more

The End of “The Death of Klinghoffer”—by Peter Eisenstadt

The End of “The Death of Klinghoffer”
Peter Eisenstadt

The opera opens, “My father’s house was razed in 1949/when the Israelis passed over our street/the house was built of stone/with a courtyard inside.” This is the “Chorus of the Exiled Palestinians” from John Adams’ opera, “The Death of Klinghoffer.” (It is followed by the “Chorus of Exiled Jews” stateless Holocaust survivors, making their way to Palestine.) The Metropolitan Opera had announced earlier in the year that they would be mounting a new production of “The Death of Klinghoffer” and including the opera in their popular series of “Live in HD” broadcasts streamed live to movie theaters worldwide. In a singular act of cowardice, the general manager of the Met, Peter Gelb, said the other day that because of the fears the production will stir up anti-Semitism in Europe (and not in the US?) the production will still be mounted, but will not broadcast, either in the live in HD series or in the Saturday afternoon radio programs. read more

Oseh Shalom—a poem by Barbara D. Holender

Oseh Shalom
Barbara D. Holender

Giver of peace,
teach us to see ourselves
in the face of the Other,
that we may learn to be
patient with fault
generous with love
sparing with anger.

Help us to understand
that our little lives
are potent with great good,
that we are healers in Your image,
that reaching out in need of You
to

others more in need,
we find You near.

Give us the grace
simply to be kind.

Then peace must surely come
to dwell among us.

Tradition –by Peter Eisenstadt

Tradition
Peter Eisenstadt

The Folksbiene, the National Yiddish Theatre, recently celebrated its 100th anniversary in New York City, by holding a tribute to “Fiddler on the Roof” on its 50th anniversary. The Folksbiene is a venerable organization, as its age would indicate, dedicated to keeping alive the tradition of Yiddish theater for an audience that, with a few exceptions, is not Yiddish speaking, accomplishing this remarkable feat through the use of titles, musical programs, the occasional foray into English, and other stratagems. read more

On Reading A Translated Poem—by Barbara D. Holender

On Reading A Translated Poem
Barbara D. Holender

Yiddish poem,
your bones stick through
your borrowed skin.

Poor immigrant,
your relatives are always explaining you
while your displaced persona cries out
in its own voice,
“That’s NOT what I said.”

How anemic you are–
Back in the old country
your blood sang like wine.

You speak to me
of lost family connections,
but in this exchange
I am the poor relation.

The Tower—A Poem by Barbara D.Holender

The Tower
Barbara D.Holender

Imagine a time when everyone
spoke the same language
and everyone knew what
everyone meant and a word
was a word you could bank on.

That was Almighty powerful
but no cause to smash the tower
and scatter the nations

Some ended up with words

defined by the King or
regulated by the Academie

But here we are free
of definitions and regulations
and specifications

and everyone speaks
the same language and
nobody knows what
anybody means

Pope Francis Plants an Olive Tree in the Vatican Garden—by Ayala Emmett

Pope Francis Plants an Olive Tree in the Vatican Garden
Ayala Emmett

Olive tree planted in the Vatican Garden Photo Courtesy of www.opendemocracy.net
Olive tree planted in the Vatican Garden
Photo Courtesy of www.opendemocracy.net

Pope Francis picked up the peace banner at a time when supporters of a peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians have been in despair and disheartened. No one on either side of the conflict seems willing to meet at home. Yet, in Rome this past Sunday two leaders who signed the Oslo agreement in 1993, Israeli President Shimon Peres, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas joined the Pope to plant an olive tree in the Vatican garden together with Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. Prayers were recited by Jewish, Muslim and Christian clergy and speeches were made in several languages, Arabic, Hebrew, English, and Italian; yet the message was the same in all languages: peace and co-existence. read more

An Israeli (Retired) Soldier’s Thoughts on War and Sgt. Bergdahl—by David Langerman

An Israeli (Retired) Soldier’s Thoughts on War and Sgt. Bergdahl
David Langerman

For three weeks during the Yom Kippur War I lived in the same clothes. There was no distinction between the dirty smelly uniform and my body. Memories of the war in the desert were invoked this week, five days after my surgery, when I finished reading The Yellow Birds, Kevin Power’s novel that draws on his experience in Iraq.

And I felt connected and in awe. I just couldn’t grasp how American soldiers survived Iraq or Afghanistan. For me the war was horrific, but I knew why I was there, it was just a few kilometers from home. I knew that I would go back home and be in the safety and love of family and friends and a job that waited for me. I was then a reserve soldier in the Armored Brigade that was the first to cross the Suez Canal. read more