Ellen Geller Kamaras

“Poland is both a former Jewish paradise and a vast cemetery – overflowing with history, scholarship, creativity, and unbearable loss. We mourned children, scholars, and families erased from history. Visiting Poland, however, is an act of defiance and a testament to the resilience of the Jewish people.”  –  Ellen

Why, at 70, did I journey to Poland?

After participating in a Post-October 7 Mission to Israel, I felt I could no longer postpone visiting my parents’ birthplace and the sites of Nazi atrocities. My love for Israel was forged at a girls’ yeshiva in Brooklyn and from the ashes of the Holocaust. Bearing witness to the aftermath of October 7 crystallized something in me. I knew it was time to see the sites of mass destruction connected to my own family and to confront my parents’ history.

I needed to witness the barbarism of the Nazis. Only then I felt I could fully speak about the resilience, courage, and survival of our people during World War II and in Israel today. Only then could I grasp the meaning of the words Never Again Is Now.

Growing up, my parents shared their stories every Shabbat: forced labor camps, hiding in forests, hunger, and loss. My mother witnessed her father’s murder. After liberation, the family reached a displaced persons camp in Munich and eventually rebuilt their lives in America.

My Jewish identity was shaped by my parents’ experiences and by my Jewish education. Israel represented survival and renewal.

Off to Poland

Two large Jewish groups were on the same flight to Warsaw. One group of men had completed daf yomi and they were traveling to visit the graves of revered rabbis. The other group included unmarried young women on an Ohel Sarala mission, paired with childless couples through Bonei Olam. Ohel Sarala facilitates single women donating tzedaka to Bonei Olam, which assists couples struggling with infertility. The single women pray for children for their assigned couple, and the couple, in turn, prays for a match for their single.

Sitting on a Polish LOT flight surrounded by so many observant Jews felt surreal. We filled more than half the plane – a living contrast to the destruction we were about to confront.

Approximately 3 million Polish Jews were murdered during World War II, about 90 percent of the pre-war Jewish population.

Our tour guides emphasized both the rich thousand-year history of Polish Jewry and the Holocaust’s devastation. The trip balanced education with emotion.

Warsaw

Before World War II, Warsaw had the second-largest Jewish population in the world after New York City. Nearly 30 percent of its residents were Jewish.

We visited the Jewish Cemetery, where over 250,000 Jews are buried. It was bitter cold, evoking for me my mother’s accounts of frostbite and Elie Wiesel’s descriptions of freezing camps and deprivation. Seeing the beautiful Hebrew headstones deeply moved us.

The cemetery is a silent witness to both extraordinary cultural vitality and to catastrophic loss. We continued to Heroism Street near the former Umschlagplatz (in German: collection point or reloading point – meaning, the holding areas adjacent to railway stations in occupied Poland where Jews were gathered for deportation to Nazi death camps). Here between 254,000 and 265,000 Jews were deported to Treblinka in 1942. Nine out of every ten Jews in Warsaw were murdered. Nearby, the monument to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising honored those who resisted, choosing fighting over submission.

At the Polin Museum, we traced Jewish life in Poland from medieval times to the present. The Nozyk Synagogue, the only functioning prewar synagogue in Warsaw, reflected both loss and continuity. Before the war, there were more than 400 synagogues in the city..

Lublin and Majdanek

In Lublin, we stayed at the hotel in the former Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva, founded by Rabbi Meir Shapiro, the visionary who created daf yomi.  Standing in the bet midrash, we felt the presence of generations of dedicated talmidim who once filled that space.

At the Grodzka Gate Center, Polish volunteers, some attempting to do penance for their family members, preserve Jewish memory with devotion and respect.

Majdanek was our first concentration camp. It shattered any emotional distance I still had. Once a POW camp, it became a major killing site. We learned about “choiceless choices.” This term was coined by Lawrence Langer in Versions of Survival: The Holocaust and the Human Spirit, to describe the no-win situations and  impossible moral dilemmas faced by Jews during the Holocaust. Seeing the collection of over 56,000 shoes, 6,000 of them small children’s shoes, and the crematoria was overwhelming and revealed the systematic cruelty of the Nazi machine.

Tarnow and Krakow

Arriving in Tarnów, a Chassidic town in Galicia once home to 25,000 Jews, we encountered a landscape of devastation. Forty synagogues were destroyed, including the New Synagogue, often referred to as the Jubilee Synagogue or Franz Josef Synagogue, built in honor of Emperor Franz Josef. One surviving column stands as a memorial in the 15th-century Jewish cemetery. Philanthropist Ronald Lauder helped restore the original bimah, the remaining fragment of the destroyed Alta Shul. Today, one Jew lives in Tarnów, Adam Bartosz, an ethnologist who is the Director of the Regional Museum in Tarnow and is the President of the Committee for the Renovation of Jewish Monuments in Tarnow.

At Zbylitowska Góra, a village in the Tarnow District, we stood before mass graves. A Yiddish inscription reads: “Here lie eight hundred battered heads of children.” We recited Tehillim, struggling to comprehend the magnitude of the loss.

In Krakow’s Kazimierz district, we saw a glimmer of Jewish life slowly reviving. We visited synagogues, the JCC, and memorials. Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest concentration and extermination complex. This site was the emotional climax of our journey. Some wore Israeli flags and walked through the gates, adorned by a replica of the original “arbeit macht frei” – work sets you free. We saw barracks, gas chambers, and rooms filled with victims’ belongings. Piles of shoes, tallitot, suitcases, and hair testified to mechanized murder and forced us into silence.

The industrial scale of murder defies comprehension. We prayed for our loved ones in both camps.

My niece and I found my grandfather’s name in the Book of Names at Auschwitz, connecting our personal family story to the collective tragedy of our people.

Reflections

This journey strengthened my belief that “Never Again” must be active, not symbolic. We must never be helpless again. The atrocities of the Shoah and of October 7 must never be repeated. We must fight Holocaust distortion and trivialization and preserve historical truth.

Just three years after the Holocaust ended, we miraculously reestablished Jewish sovereignty in our ancestral homeland. We are ambassadors of light, resilience, and hope.

Rabbi Label Lam

The wicked son, what does he say? “What is this service to you?” “to you,” – “but not to himself.” Since he has excluded himself from the people at large, he denies the foundation of our faith. Therefore, you should blunt his teeth and tell him: “It is because of this, what Hashem  did for me when I went out of Egypt.”- “for me,” – “but not him.” Had he been there, he would not have been redeemed.  – Pesach Haggadah

At the Pesach seder, we have a sacred obligation to “tell your child” about the Exodus from Egypt. It is of vital importance that each and every child exit that Pesach seder feeling that much more attached and committed to the historical mission of the Jewish People. Therefore, the mitzvah of the evening is expressed in terms of speaking to “your child” and not to children in general. Each one needs his or her own special medicine or lesson.

The “wicked son” as he is titled cannot be totally wicked. Otherwise, why is he at the seder, and why do we even engage him in discussion? Why is he called wicked? He has given up! He has surrendered to negativity. Our definition of failure is not falling down but is staying down. Now the wicked son speaks from his lowly perch, having separated himself from the community of Israel and feeling cynical about the possibility of change.

It is interesting that in answering him, most of the conversation is expressed as an aside. The parent is not talking to him at all but rather to the others, in his presence. Yet the mitzvah of the evening is to “tell your child.” Why are we then advised to speak to the assembled? It is as if saying, “Everyone has free choice! If he does not want to be a part of it he is not a part of it!”

Story from the Cemetery

I heard an unbelievable story not long ago from Rabbi Mordechai Twerski. He had recently met with family members of the Debriciner Rov and they shared with him the following incident. They went to the grave site of their holy relative, the Debriciner Rov, ztl. There they saw a youngish couple praying. Not recognizing them as family members they were curious as to why this couple was there. So they asked them what it was that brought them to this place.

They told the following story: “Twenty-two years ago we were young kids who got married to each other.  After a short while it became clear to us that we didn’t know what we were doing together. Every day was a different disagreement and another fight. We were not getting along at all. After trying and trying we were thinking about divorce. Then my wife was expecting, so we stayed together in the meantime. Having a child did not make married life easier. If anything, it complicated matters. So we decided it was time to get divorced. We didn’t know exactly how to go about getting a Jewish divorce so we went to the Debriciner Rov. After hearing about our struggles in marriage he agreed to help us with the divorce. He instructed us to come back the next day and to bring our son. We thought this was part of the process. When we came back the next day with our son, he asked to see the child. He motioned that we hand him over. We did.

He sat with the child, a little baby, in front of us, and he spoke to the child, stroking him affectionately all the while. “From this day forth your life is going to be very difficult. You will be bounced from house to house. You’ll spend one Shabbat with your mother and another Shabbat with your father. Most of the kids in school won’t understand your situation. They might not be eager to play by your broken home. Growing up as a happy child will be a steep challenge for you. Getting married will be difficult as well. It is not your fault. You have done nothing wrong. This is the lot that has been handed you. I want you to know that you will need extraordinary strength and courage and tremendous help from Heaven to attain a normal life.”

The Happy Ending

After his little talk with the child he handed the baby back to us. We were both crying. We looked up at each other and decided then and there, for the sake of the child, to give it another try. That was twenty years ago we had that encounter with the Debriciner Rov. We eventually worked out our differences. We are now happily married, Baruch Hashem. Tonight that child, our son is getting married and we wanted to come here today to express our deep feelings of  gratitude to the Rov.”

Sometimes the wise approach is not to speak directly to a person especially if they have demonstrated they are not ready to listen. Speaking aloud to another is a preferred method to land the same powerful message, but indirectly. The natural defense mechanisms of the one who is feeling so hopeless and defeated are relaxed, the words are less likely to be taken as a personal affront, and hey you never know who’s listening.Rabbi Label Lam is a renowned Torah educator and international speaker; his writings can be found on Torah.org.

Rabbi  Daniel Levy

Recalling the Ten Makot (plagues) that Hashem performed in Mitzrayim is the highlight of every child’s seder. The specific pasuk in which we learn of our obligation to share the story of leaving Egypt with our children uses unique terminology. In Shemot (10:2), the word “hitalalti”  meaning “made fun of” is used. The Rambam explains that in rendering the damage caused by the plagues, Hashem took revenge for all of Paraoh’s wicked decrees against the Jews. He cites the pasuk from Tehillim: “The one who sits in Heaven will degrade them. Hashem will laugh at them.” Essentially, Hashem made a mockery of the Egyptians. According to Rashi and the Rambam, part of Sipur Yetziat Mitzrayim is discussing this irony.

The Be’erYosef (R’ Yosef Salanter) elaborates on this commentary as follows. When Hashem commanded Moshe to warn Paraoh that Egypt would be plagued with locusts and grasshoppers, He prefaced the warning by saying that He would harden Paraoh’s heart. Up until this point Paraoh had been relatively respectful while interacting with Moshe, but by Makat Arbeh (the plague of locusts) Moshe and Aharon were out of Paraoh’s favor. After Makat Choshech (the plague of darkness) Paraoh’s hostile behavior continued as he warned Moshe: “Get out of here. Be careful. I do not ever want to see your face again.”

Paraoh’s Might Fails

Interestingly, in his time of need, the mighty king of Egypt who purported to act like a god, was running through the streets in the middle of the night screaming, “Where is Moshe? Where is Aharon?” The Jews, his former slaves, were laughing at a man they feared and just months ago. As Makat Bechorot ( the killing of the firstborn) descended Paraoh screamed: “Get up and get out and serve your Gd as you requested!”

Let’s recall that Paraoh went to the bargaining table with Moshe numerous times. First, he completely refused to let the Jews go, and then he relented slightly asking, “Who do you want to go?” He agreed to let only the men go and pray before hardening his heart again. But now, a desperate Paraoh not only totally acquiesced, he was ready to send animals for sacrifices! He begged, “Please pray for me not to die, as I am a firstborn.” Is there a bigger mockery than that? Elaborating on these details is an integral part of our fulfilling the mitzvah of Sipur Yetziat Mitzrayim – the obligation to share the story of leaving Egypt with our children.

For a long time, Paraoh believed himself to be a god. After all, the Nile River came to his feet and he provided food to his humble servants and the whole land of Egypt. By Makat Arbeh however, all the grains of the field were destroyed and a terrible famine was felt throughout the land. Paraoh’s pride took quite a hit, as “the mighty provider” proved to be powerless to feed anyone. The once superior Egyptians were now hopeless subjects with nowhere to turn. They came to realize that their “mighty Paraoh” was a phony, a mere mortal, a human being totally helpless to save even himself. He, like all of us, was subject to the mercy of the one true Gd, Hashem. Sharing these amazing insights with our children and depicting how Paraoh’s ego was deflated is sure to enhance our fulfillment of Sipur Yetziat Mitzrayim on Pesach.

Barad and Arbeh

After Makat Barad (the plague of hail) descended, Mitzrayim looked like a war zone. The grass was ruined, broken trees blocked all the roads and walkways, and the crops of flax and barley were decimated. The Egyptians experienced tremendous shock at seeing the mass destruction before them, but the fact that wheat and buckwheat remained was a small consolation prize. Miraculously these crops were spared from this horrific plague.

Alas, even this small pleasure quickly turned to sorrow as the plague of Arbeh eradicated all the crops in Egypt. R’ Shlomo Homner, who wrote Sefer Eved Hamelech, describes how the Egyptians prepared salted and pickled grasshoppers for dinner. They filed their storage houses with these delicacies, yet they faced disappointment yet again when the grasshoppers flew away. The Jewish people laughed at the Egyptians and teased them saying, “How many grasshoppers did you eat today?”

In a similar fashion, the wild animals left the land after Makat Arov so that the Egyptians could not benefit from the skins. Measure for measure, Hashem mocked the Egyptians, who ridiculed the Jews during their enslavement in Egypt.

May we merit seeing true justice as Hashem shows us the final redemption and His name is sanctified before the world – Amen!

Place in Sidebar: The Ipuwer Papyrus In the early 19^th century, an ancient papyrus was discovered in Egypt. It was taken to the Leiden Museum in Holland, and interpreted by the renowned British Egyptologist, Sir Alan Henderson Gardiner in 1909. The papyrus was written by an Egyptian named Ipuwer and appears to be an eyewitness account of the devastation wrought by the ten plagues throughout Egypt. Describing the plague of blood, the text in the papyrus states the following:

The Ipuwer Papyrus (Papyrus Leiden I 344), also known as The Admonitions of Ipuwer

2:5-6          Plague is throughout the land. Blood is everywhere.

2:10          The river is blood.

2:10          Men shrink from tasting… and thirst for water.

3:10-13      That is our water! What shall we do…? All is ruin.

Did You Know? 

Ancient Egyptian kings avoided drinking wine because of its resemblance to blood!

Rabbi Yehuda Finchas

Nearly 15,000 nurses across New York City launched a strike on January 12, 2026, making it one of the largest nursing strikes in the city’s history. The strike lasted over three weeks. What does the halacha say about healthcare workers who withhold their labor – not for higher pay alone, but for the ability to provide safe care?

Medicine Demands Fair Compensation

The Gemara establishes that asia d’magan b’magan magan shaveh – “a physician who works for free is worth nothing.” The Rosh explains: “When the doctor does not receive payment, his heart and mind are not meticulous regarding the core needs of the patient.” Hacham Eliyahu Bakshi Doron (Responsa Binyan Av 3:69)  therefore rules: “The public are obliged to pay appropriate salaries to physicians and allow them to focus on their holy work.” Medicine performed under duress is inherently compromised medicine.

The New York nurses’ argument introduces precisely this nuance: the status quo itself was dangerous. If nurses working under a broken system cannot provide necessary care, then the strike changes from abandonment to preservation – fighting for conditions necessary to fulfill the mitzvah of healing.

The Children of Israel Are Servants to Me

Hacham Eliyahu Bakshi Doron discusses medical strikes at length. He explains this halacha stems from the principle that every employee has the right to stand up for their freedom, and the employer has no power to prevent them from doing so. The Shulhan Aruch writes that “a worker may retract even in the middle of the day” (Choshen Mishpat 333:1). Even if already paid, they may cease work, with the money becoming a debt. The reason: “For the Children of Israel are servants to Me” (Vayikra 25:55) and not servants to servants. This prevents employment from becoming a form of inescapable servitude. Work performed under coercion is slavery, forbidden regardless of economic agreements. Hacham Ovadia Yosef, zt”l, (Yechaveh Da’at 4:48) acknowledges that “the minhag hamdina, the custom of the land, is to strike.” But it does not apply in all situations.

The Red Line: Pikuach Nefesh

Hacham Ovadia Yosef, while permitting teachers to strike under certain conditions, draws a sharp line regarding healthcare. In Yechaveh Da’at IV:48, he writes explicitly that the permission to strike applies “except for matters involving life-saving measures, such as hospital services.” Pikuach nefesh (saving a life) overrides nearly every other commandment. Hacham Bakshi-Doron reinforces this in Binyan Av, arguing that a doctor or nurse is bound by the negative commandment, “Do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor.” From this perspective, abandoning a patient in immediate danger is akin to bloodshed. No financial grievance or administrative dispute can justify leaving an ICU bed unmonitored.

Medicine as Mitzvah, Not Merely Profession

Hacham Bakshi Doron writes that the medical worker is not a servant of the hospital, but is a servant of Hashem – tasked with the mitzvah of healing. “Medicine is not a profession but a mitzvah, the most sublime mitzvah of saving lives. If they are forbidden to strike, they are indeed slaves – but slaves to the Holy One, Blessed be He.” A caregiver devoted to saving life is no servant to man – “there is no freer person than one who serves Hashem.”

Some argue medical strikes ultimately improve healthcare by forcing better conditions. This must be absolutely rejected. The principle is ironclad: ein dochin nefesh mipnei nefesh – we do not push aside one life for another. There is no halachic justification for withholding lifesaving care from patients before us, even to save more patients in the future. Each nefesh has infinite value; mathematical comparisons are meaningless.

Conclusion

Nurses and physicians are entitled – indeed obligated – to demand conditions that allow them to practice medicine responsibly and with yishuv hada’at. A system that exhausts its caregivers violates human dignity and ultimately endangers life. Yet the red line remains immovable: wherever pikuach nefesh is present, the duty to heal overrides every tactical consideration. The halachic mandate is disciplined protest – one that preserves emergency care, protects the vulnerable, and refuses to turn human lives into bargaining chips. In this balance, halacha affirms both truths at once: the caregiver is not a slave to institutions, and the patient is never abandoned. Rabbi Yehuda Finchas is a worldwide expert, lecturer, and author on Medical Halacha. He heads the Torat Habayit Medical Halacha Institute. He is the author of “Brain Death in Halacha and the Tower of Babel Syndrome” and “Nutrition and Hydration in Halacha.” To contact Rabbi Finchas, email rabbi@torathabayit.com.

As Iran trembles, Reza Pahlavi Steps Forward as the Self-Declared Bridge

between Revolution and Democracy

Dave Gordon

Once a distant figure in exile, Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi has emerged as a rallying symbol for many Iranians demanding change. His name echoes through the streets during protests, reflecting a growing following inside and outside of Iran.

The son of the late shah fled to the United States after the 1979 Iranian Revolution and has leveraged his royal pedigree and a flurry of media appearances over the past year to raise his political profile.

Pahlavi’s Intended Role

“I think I’ve earned their [my followers’] trust and respect,” he said. “And, that puts me in a position to be impactful in that [leadership] role… I’m not shying away from that responsibility.”

Pahlavi aims to become a transitional leader should the current regime in Iran collapse.

“My role is to see to it that this process culminates in a temporary governance, while the Constitutional Assembly deliberates what exactly will be the rule of law of the land,” he said,  touting both secular and democratic values.  

U.S. Reactions

Washington remains cautious: As of Jan. 8, President Trump appeared reluctant to meet with Pahlavi. In mid-January, White House envoy Steve Witkoff met with Pahlavi – until now, the only high-level American government official to do so, the news website Axios reported. According to polls cited in the article, one-third of Iranians support Pahlavi, while another third do not. 

“Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi has re-entered Iran’s political imagination,” wrote Ali Siadatan, an Iranian Canadian educator, in the National Post. “Today, his support extends beyond traditional royalist circles, reflecting not nostalgia for the past but a search for continuity amid collapse.”

From the outside, the Iranian government’s hold on power appears at its weakest point since the shah was overthrown in the 1979 revolution. With street protests and violent government crackdowns the U.S. is keeping a sharp eye on events. On Jan. 26, the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group arrived in the Indian Ocean, putting it closer to assist in any possible U.S. operations targeting Iran. The USS Gerald Ford is on its way to join the USS Abraham Lincoln.

Iranian Expats Weighs In

Should there be a power vacuum, Pahlavi is “the only alternative,” said Salman Sima, a former Iranian political prisoner who fled Iran to Canada and has organized numerous protests supporting Israel against Hamas. “It is really obvious these days, [that Pahlavi is] the only name you can hear from inside Iran.”

Sima believes the crown prince is a unifying figure who has found support among progressives and conservatives. “He doesn’t take a side, he doesn’t say ‘I’m going to be the shah,’ or ‘I’m going to be the president,’ or ‘I’m going to be the prime minister.’ All he said was a free election must be determined by the people of Iran.”

Iranian expat Dr. Amir Hamidi is the Chairman of the Board of Telo-Revers Anti-Aging Medical Laboratory. He is an internationally recognized expert in global terrorism, cybersecurity, and law enforcement. Regarding Pahlavi he said, “This isn’t a personality contest. In a national liberation moment, the real question is who can unify people, lower the temperature between factions, and keep the transition focused on democracy and the rule of law. He has been consistent on the essentials: a secular state, equal citizenship, rejection of revenge politics, and a future decided only by the Iranian people through free elections.”

The former Justice Department special agent, who also served as country attaché in the United Arab Emirates, added that Pahlavi has recognition across generations and across the political spectrum inside and outside Iran.

Hamidi claims that Pahlavi supports “any figure who places Iran’s sovereignty in the hands of its people, not in the hands of armed factions, foreign powers, or one-party ideologues – and Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi has repeatedly said exactly that.”

Road Map

In July 2025, Pahlavi led a public whitepaper officially called the Emergency Phase Booklet. A whitepaper is an in-depth report to help readers understand a complex topic and present a problem-solving solution. The whitepaper included consultations from a wide array of experts. For starters, Pahlavi calls for Iranians “to be fully involved in the progress of our nation, as opposed to a very corrupt mafia that has been ruling our country all these years.

“I always believe that it’s important for people to have a road map to recovery, to understand what will happen post‑regime. What’s the alternative? How are we to re‑establish a process that will stabilize the country, bring about the opportunity for economic growth and investment?”  

Under Pahlavi’s leadership, Hamidi said, “people will have a true opportunity for prosperity, and for that, we have a very comprehensive project of what is to be done short term, mid‑term and long term.” Hamidi sees great potential when the regime falls: “Imagine just the amount of talent that exists within the Iranian diaspora,” he said. “Iran is not just simply an oil‑rich or gas‑rich country – imagine tourism just as an industry, and everything that can open up.

“I’ve talked to industrialists, economists, entrepreneurs, Iranians, and non‑Iranians that are waiting for this opportunity, once Iran is open again as a last untapped frontier,” Hamidi stated. The concern, of course, is that the country have healthy circumstances in order to be reintegrated in the free world, so investors feel comfortable and secure about their assets.

Pro-Israel, Pro-Holocaust Recognition

Reza Pahlavi, like his father, is aligns with Israel and the Jewish people, framing that stance as both historical and moral. He argues that Iranians reject the Islamic Republic’s genocidal anti-Israel and anti-Semitic policies and says a future democratic Iran should restore friendly ties with Israel and its neighbors, which he has labeled potential “Cyrus Accords.” He frequently invokes the legacy of Cyrus the Great – who allowed Jews to return to Judea after the Babylonian Exile. He cites the biblical connection between Persians and Jews, describing their relations as a “Biblical relationship” stretching back 2,500 years.                                                                                                                                                       He acknowledges shared values of human rights and religious tolerance. Pahlavi has insisted that, because Tehran denies the Holocaust, he has a particular duty as an Iranian leader-in-exile to honor its victims and reject denialism. He portrays the Islamic Republic as a driver of global anti-Semitism and terrorism, and cast himself and his movement as allies of Jews. 

In April 2023, Pahlavi traveled to Israel to carry a message of peace and friendship from the Iranian people, renew ancient bonds, and explore economic and technological cooperation, especially Israeli water technology that he argued could help remedy Iran’s severe water crisis. He attended the Yom HaShoah ceremony at Yad Vashem, declaring it his duty to honor Holocaust victims on behalf of Iranians, and stating that the current regime “doesn’t represent the Iranian people.”

During the trip he prayed at the Western Wall and met senior officials. For many Iranian Jews in Israel, his presence and rhetoric were a symbolic reconnection to an era when Jews felt protected under the Pahlavi monarchy, and as an affirmation that they remained participants of the Iranian story. 

Iran and Nukes

After a recent White House meeting with Netanyahu in February, President Trump insisted that Iran nuclear talks must continue. Trump has not restored the JCPOA, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or the “Iran nuclear deal.” Instead, he has initiated a new round of negotiations under a maximum‑pressure framework.

The Crown Prince responded that nuclear weapons are “not a real estate deal that he [Trump] can cut with a regime that is very corrupt.” Pahlavi bristled at the notion of military intervention, “We don’t need to have an army coming into Iran. We have the boots on the ground already – the Iranian people who are there.” 

The actual war to fight, he insisted, is the ideological war, that has been the root of much of the unrest in the region for fifty years.

The Eye of the Octopus

“Radicals have always tried to recruit people out of desperation and ignorance, to brainwash them into one way of thinking,” Pahlavi said. “One of the key sources of this radicalization is the regime in Tehran. That’s where the eye of the octopus is. [The West has] been fighting the tentacles, but as long as the eye of the octopus is sitting there, you’re not going to eliminate the problem.” It starts with who bankrolls the terror sources:  “Follow the money trail,” he said, “Follow the funding. Once they’re gone, all of that disappears. The funding disappears. The root of the ideology disappears.”  That, he suggests, is how you get past the octopus, and back to the country beneath it: an Iran known less for sponsoring militias abroad than for the diversity and openness of its own society. “The beauty of Iran is the diversity of its culture,” Pahlavi said. “That’s the whole beauty of Iran, a nation state that for centuries had this mosaic of ethnic groups and different faiths living side by side.”  

Michele Shrem

This month we are discussing whether families should discuss finances with their children. Should the kids know about financial struggles that are going on in the household? When I was growing up, money was always a hushed subject.  But, these days should our children still be in the dark? Should families be open about their finances? Should children be told about family financial struggles? Let’s see what our community members have to say.

Sarah

When I was growing up we never knew anything about finances or any struggles. Everything was discussed behind closed doors. And, it was the same with other topics such as religion and politics. There was a sealed lid on family finances that was not opened until much later on, maybe when I was a teenager. I did learn how to handle a bank account through my mom. She took me to the bank to open an account when I started to babysit. I was lucky that she showed me how to save from a young age. Now, instead of saving for a special toy, I can save for a nice vacation!

Anonymous

As a Certified Financial Planner, I feel that shielding children from money discussions is a form of educational neglect. You can’t expect a young adult to have a credit card or to sign a lease if they have never even looked at a utility bill. They will have no conception of money and how to use it properly. I think it is a good idea to discuss finances early and often. You can start with the concept of earning, saving, spending, and giving, even at a young age. If a six year old does a household chore, you can give them a quarter to put into a piggy bank. Then, when it starts to add up, you can take them to a store to spend a little of it. You can also have a home tzedakah box to show them how to give, and even bring them to the organization to deliver the box. I also believe that children should know about struggles going on in a household. There is no need to make them feel nervous, but they can become more resilient. If you can’t go on a vacation one year, you can tell them why. You can suggest a weekend trip instead, and let them know that in the future, they will hopefully go on a larger vacation. When children are in the dark, they can imagine worse-case scenarios. If they know, they may even be able to help by assisting in the home, or not asking for high-priced gadgets.

Jojo

I am very cautious about treating children like adults. I In the current world, that is probably a very old-fashioned thing to say. I feel that discussions should be age-appropriate. I would not want my child to feel anxious. A home should be a very safe and supportive place for them. I advise against sharing serious financial struggles like a job loss for instance, unless they are at least in their teens. I don’t think that children younger than that can understand that problems are solvable, and that the problem may not be permanent. Financial instability can feel like a threat to a child’s safety.

Kelly

When I was growing up, money was very tight, and I knew that my parents struggled through the years. Because they kept me in the loop, I do pretty well for myself now, and I credit my parents for teaching me these skills. Now, I passed that down to my kids so they know the costs of things. I want them to be prepared and understand the value of a dollar. To me, total transparency is the way to go. If the water gets shut off, they should know why, because it builds hunger and a drive to never be in that position themselves.

Mrs. E

I don’t think that children should ever know about family financial hardships. I want my children to play and learn, while my husband and I share the burden. I would never even think of it as a topic for the dinner table. If my kids think that I’m scared, that will be the end of their childhood. My husband and I will hold onto the stress. As adults, I feel that we can handle stress better. There is plenty of time for them to stress about things later on in life. 

Diane

As a teacher of middle school students, I find that many of them have not had any discussions about finances at home. Kids actually do need help to understand why they have different things than their peers. There is a middle ground approach. You don’t need to tell them if you are broke, but you can tell them that certain things will take priority for a little while. This way, they can understand some of what is going on and understand the concept of a budget, without feeling inferior to their classmates and friends.

Mike

I like to have family meetings once in a while in order to talk about several things with my kids, including chores, issues they are having inside and outside of my home, and, of course, finances. I want my kids to see where the money goes. I try to be honest with them. For instance, if we overspent on groceries, and they can’t go to the movies.  Then they can see the math for themselves. They mystery of why I said “no” is then understood with logic.

Lisa

I knew growing up that my parents struggled. I could feel the tension in the air. My parents did not talk about it, and my imagination made it ten times worse. I think families should be in a situation together. As a kid left to guessing, I can tell you that it made me anxious and scared. Years later I found out that it was not as bad as I had thought. If I had known, all those years of worrying could have been avoided for me.

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Ultimately, the line between helpful and harmful financial transparency is drawn at stability. Money discussions are helpful when they serve as a lesson for future independence. They become harmful when they serve to vent parental stress or become a source of childhood fear. By treating money as a neutral tool rather than a secret shame, families can equip the next generation with something money can’t buy: the wisdom to manage it well.

Michele

Jack Gindi

If you’ve been following my work, you know that last year I lost my eldest son, Shaun.

Nothing prepares a parent for that sentence. Nothing prepares you for waking up in a world that looks the same but feels entirely different.

A little more than a year has passed. I’ve learned that time doesn’t heal grief. It teaches you how to carry it. Some days feel steady. Others still knock the wind out of me. What has surprised me most over this past year is how many parents are walking this same road. In the United States alone, an estimated 60,000 to 80,000 families lose a child or young adult every year.

We are living through a quiet and deeply troubling moment in this country. After decades of steady progress, child and youth mortality rates have reversed course. In the last five years, deaths among children and young adults have risen drastically – driven by fentanyl, mental-health crises, gun violence, and despair. One public-health researcher called the shift “a red flashing light.” Behind every number is a family standing in the aftermath, trying to breathe through the unthinkable.

I know that place.

What I want to share here isn’t advice. It’s simply what helped me survive the first year after Shaun passed, moment by moment, breath by breath.

Earlier that day, before I knew Shaun had passed (November 20, 2024), I recorded a short video and posted it online.

“Don’t build a home in hardship. Don’t make mourning your address. Don’t let yesterday steal your tomorrow.”

At the time, I had no idea those words would become a lifeline, first for me, and later for others. After Shaun’s passing, I couldn’t imagine ever standing in front of a camera again. I wasn’t trying to get back to “normal.” That life no longer existed. My work, my health, and my sense of purpose all had to change.

Grief doesn’t just break your heart. It disorients you. It pulls you out of your body, out of your relationships, and out of any sense of direction. In the first months after Shaun’s passing, I gained weight, slept poorly, and felt the edges of myself blur. I wasn’t broken. I was overwhelmed.

What helped me wasn’t trying to fix my grief. It was giving myself something steady to return to.

L.I.F.E

I leaned on the same L.I.F.E. Mapping process I had originally built for families. It helped keep me going when everything felt unstable. I used it to notice when my body was taking the hit of grief and needed care, to stay connected to what I was feeling instead of shutting down, and to make sure I didn’t disappear from my family and friends.

Doing this didn’t make the loss easier. It helped me to keep living while carrying the loss.

Some days, “mapping my life” meant nothing more than getting outside and walking. Other days it meant sitting quietly and letting the tears come. Sometimes it meant reaching out instead of pulling away. And sometimes it meant remembering that even in grief, life still asks for presence, not perfection.

What I’ve learned this year is that grief doesn’t want to be rushed, but it’s not a place to live. Mourning is necessary. Pain needs processing. But if we don’t gently orient ourselves, if we don’t check in with our bodies, our inner world, our relationships, and our sense of meaning, grief can quietly become isolating.

For anyone walking a road of grief now, please hear this. You are not weak for feeling lost. You are human. And you don’t need a grand plan to survive. Sometimes a simple reminder, a daily check-in, or a steady structure is enough to get you through the next hour.

I don’t have your answers. I only have my story. But I believe this deeply. Our greatest heartbreak can also become a doorway to new meaning. Love doesn’t leave us when our loved ones pass on. It changes form. It asks us to carry it differently.

Shaun still walks with me – in my life, my work, my choices, and the families I support. His life ended in shock and pain, but it continues with purpose.

If you’re reading this as a person who has lost someone you love, or fears losing one, know this: You are not alone, and you don’t have to figure life out all at once. Stay connected. Stay honest. Take care of your body. Lean on others. And don’t let grief be the place where you live. Onwards, one breath, one day at a time.