JPost.com - Barbara Sofer Reporter

The Human Spirit: Religious times are a-changin’

Thu, 23 May 2013 14:05:17 GMT

The accusations against the Women of the Wall grow more and more fantastic.

The Human Spirit: Local journey

Thu, 09 May 2013 14:57:21 GMT

Tour guide Adi Yaakobi, 25, a bare-headed sabra from Bat Yam, places a thick book in the center.

What’s in a baseball cap?

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:43:56 GMT

The history of hats and their importance.

In honor of Israel’s 65th birthday

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 16:01:38 GMT

65+1 new reasons why I love Israel 2013... in no particular order

No longer on the fringe

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 13:26:20 GMT

Everything you ever wanted to know about 'techelet,' the dye created from the Murex trunculus to color ritual garments.

‘Kol dichfin, kol ditzrich’: All with special needs

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 20:12:01 GMT

Participants of ‘Darkaynu’ post-high school program may have special needs, not needy; full participants this Seder.

The Human Spirit: Good deeds day

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 11:49:20 GMT

Let’s do Passover shopping on March 5. We might find fellow shoppers a little more considerate.

Hassidic women going beyond the comfort zone

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 13:59:47 GMT

1,700 women global emissaries of the Chabad movement congregate at the Crown Heights Lubavitch World Headquarters for the once-a-year Shluchos conference where they share stories of struggle and success

The Human Spirit: Power of prayer in Washington

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 20:55:57 GMT

No matter your political leanings, being in a room with US president is exhilarating, and the current president is, of course, among the world’s most charismatic.

The Human Spirit: A kidney just like mom’s

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 13:24:24 GMT

For some people, the satisfaction of saving a life is so great that, having given up a kidney, they spend their time encouraging others to do the same.

The human spirit: Knock-out

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 13:59:51 GMT

Akiva Finkelstein, a religious yeshiva student and talented boxer, should be a poster boy for any international organization dedicated to equality and international cooperation.

Chance encounters

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 12:23:40 GMT

A story of friendship, love, divorce and the rabbinical court in Jerusalem.

The human spirit: Let's not extol intermarriage

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 14:35:14 GMT

"It’s been a bad week for those of us who still believe that Jews should marry other Jews."

The Human Spirit: Sigd signals

Thu, 22 Nov 2012 12:39:44 GMT

Nearly 200 women and men celebrate an Ethiopian festival for Nishmat’s Maayan Program.

The Human Spirit: When Bubbe and Zayde write back

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 12:40:59 GMT

Here’s a little tip for you from your Zayde and Bubbe from our political days: Downloading isn’t political activism. Clicking “like” on Facebook isn’t political activism.

The Human Spirit: Adi Hudja’s high heels

Thu, 25 Oct 2012 13:04:31 GMT

In 1948, 1970, 1975, 1976, 1979, 1981, 1984 and 1997 terrorists struck Ben-Yehuda Street because it is the happy heart of Jerusalem.

The Human Spirit: At home with Zionism

Thu, 11 Oct 2012 16:38:37 GMT

But there was always another theme that ran like a current through our household: Israel above all.

The Human Spirit: Story-filled temporary dwelling

Sun, 30 Sep 2012 10:35:19 GMT

As we enter our succot, those temporary dwellings, let us place the telling and retelling of the stories who came before us at the heart of the conversation.

The Human Spirit: Funny on the way to the forum

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 14:01:20 GMT

I decide against trying to convince the astute agent that I have been mistaken for a Swede.

The human spirit: Prisoners of Zion

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 13:43:17 GMT

The subject of loyalty is deeply embedded in every American Jew’s consciousness, but the time has come for every single one of them to demand Jonathan Pollard’s release.

The Human Spirit: We owe an apology

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 12:21:48 GMT

As their husbands have refused to grant these women divorces, their lives have been put on hold for decades.

The Human Spirit: Daily Talmud

Thu, 02 Aug 2012 15:48:20 GMT

Day by day, page by page, a group of women in Jerusalem study the Talmud.

The Human Spirit: Protect and defend

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 12:15:58 GMT

Barbara Sofer discusses the safety of children and the sexual abuse epidemic that has suddenly come over the world.

The Human Spirit: Russian paradigm

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 12:32:48 GMT

Despite the long silence of Russian Jewry, as the psalmists would say, the soul will sing and not be silent.

Overcoming hurdles

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 12:36:25 GMT

Radiologist returns to his homeland, Kenya, from Israel to help impoverished population.

The Human Spirit: Ya'ala Yali

Thu, 31 May 2012 12:54:28 GMT

“I was finally hit by that school bus, and I’m doing just fine," Yali Derman says.

The Human Spirit: Bucking authority

Thu, 17 May 2012 17:04:47 GMT

For Pilcer, this is personal. Rabbi Yehoshua Ben-Levi has been protecting his family, he says. Now he must protect the tzaddik.

The Human Spirit: Marching for Zion

Thu, 03 May 2012 15:33:35 GMT

The Salute to Israel Parade on Fifth Avenue in New York has always held a precious place in my heart.

The Human Spirit: Storytelling and the ‘Titanic’

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 17:23:45 GMT

Ours is a complex, nuanced, rich tradition, not hagiography, whether in the cold water of the Atlantic or the splitting waters of the Re(e)d Sea.

The Human Spirit: The nameless war

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 13:53:35 GMT

What do you call the latest battle with the Palestinians in Gaza? A mini-war, a flare-up, an escalation?

the Human Spirit: A winning season

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 14:28:15 GMT

If kippa-wearing athletes can make it to the championship in Texas, they should be able to do it in Israel, too.

The Human Spirit: Mother's day

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 17:30:33 GMT

We mark Mother’s Day on the anniversary of Henrietta Szold’s death even though she was not a biological mother.

The Human Spirit: My cousin's question

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:18:41 GMT

"Why isn’t the etiology ever examined of why the Arabs were friends of the US prior to when we became staunch allies of Israel?"

The Human Spirit: Rose-colored lenses

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:51:08 GMT

Contact lenses with red centers to cover the pupil and filter incoming light help Sophia Sevaks cope with a hereditary vision disorder.

The Human Sprit: Learning from each other

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:49:53 GMT

There is no way to undercut the devotion it takes to bring up 10 children, as is common for haredim.

The Human Spirit: What do religious women want?

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 16:31:10 GMT

Discrimination and violence against women is an easy subject for diverse sectors of Israeli society to agree on.

The Human Spirit: Shabbat in Harlem

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 18:25:10 GMT

Jews fled to the Bronx, Brooklyn and the Upper West Side. By 1930, 5,000 Jewish residents remained of the hundreds of thousands who had lived in Harlem.

The Chabad army at ease

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 16:52:16 GMT

How the International Conference of Shluchim in Brooklyn turns the spotlight inward on the experiences of each hassid.

The human spirit: Riding through the long night

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:47:14 GMT

Yarden Frankl and his wife Stella focus on how good the present can be, regardless of what life throws at them.

The Human Spirit: That mysterious dollar

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 16:58:46 GMT

How a Rebbe's dollar bill - a token of blessing, strength and success - gave hope to Aviva Schalit as she waited for the return of her son.

The Human Spirit: Sisera's mother

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 16:14:53 GMT

How does a mother react when children she has burpedm diapered, at whose funny faces she has smiled, whose tears she has wiped, turn out to be mass murderers?

The Human Spirit: Ruth Gruber turns 100

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 12:10:29 GMT

The esteemed writer and my personal heroine Ruth Gruber celebrates her 100th birthday.

The Human Spirit: Without words

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 16:11:41 GMT

Yuri Grossman works as a chef’s assistant in the food services of Shapell’s – Darche Noam Yeshiva in Jerusalem for more than a decade, and even though he speaks no English, he can nonetheless teach us all some lessons.

A reader’s story: Uncle Morris dies in New York

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 15:08:05 GMT

But what about a minyan, the minimum quorum of 10 needed for proper Jewish burial?

The Human Spirit: Identity and freedom

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 16:57:32 GMT

whenever I’m privileged to address Birthright groups, I make a point of wearing one of my many beautiful Jewish stars.

The Human Spirit: Visiting Pearl Harbor

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 16:21:30 GMT

How well we in Israel know the dangers of overconfidence, and the failure to gauge the enemy's determination.

The Human Spirit: The long journey from tukul to bar

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 16:43:51 GMT

Given the opportunity and committed to working hard, Eli Mantson realized his dream to become an Israeli lawyer.

The genuine article

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 22:04:36 GMT

Greg Myre and Jennifer Griffin, a married couple who covered Israel for seven years for AP, ‘The New York Times’ and Fox News, tell their own story.

The Human Spirit: New light

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 16:22:02 GMT

I felt that Tinkerbell had sprinkled those familiar stone walls, moats and towers with her fairy dust and turned them into the Magic Kingdom. But ours is real. The hi-tech, modern art sculpture plays off against stones.

The Human Spirit: Kidney give-away

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 16:10:37 GMT

Judith Abrahams can't pinpoint exactly when she decided to give away her kidney, but she can tell you about the wonder and joy of it.

Expressions with an Orthodox twist

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 17:15:41 GMT

The Human Spirit: Women's theater attracts Jewishly educated audience; playwrights can count on familiarity with biblical characters, text, subtext.

The Human Spirit: For Our Good Health

Fri, 27 May 2011 16:44:25 GMT

The benefits of volunteering go beyond a good feeling.

The Human Spirit: Gilad’s guitar

Fri, 13 May 2011 16:13:51 GMT

The story of a young IDF soldier’s guitar and how it ended up in the hands of Sandy Cash after his death in the Yom Kippur War.

The Human Spirit: Top 63+1 reasons I love Israel

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 16:19:31 GMT

The top sixty-three-plus-one new reasons I love Israel, in no particular order.

Bronya Shaffer’s Women’s Seder

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 16:11:07 GMT

On 14 and 15 Nisan, 11 women will tell the story of the Exodus from Egypt in great detail.

The Human Spirit: Continental justice

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 14:09:57 GMT

The legal troubles facing Efraim Zuroff and Melanie Phillips are an obvious attempt to silence eloquent advocates of the Jewish people.

A taste of home

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 15:45:46 GMT

Contemporary Jewish eateries abroad have become outposts of Israeli culture, often in both menu and style.

The Human Spirit: Conversion without tears

Fri, 04 Mar 2011 08:53:20 GMT

Often converts are sent back to their countries of origin; occasionally they are jailed for illegally pursuing conversion.

Stop preaching to us about the IDF conversions

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 16:22:07 GMT

A recent article arguing against the expansion of the program of converting to Judaism during military service is bizarre and inexplicable.

The Human Spirit: Long-distance learning

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 16:20:05 GMT

WebYeshiva’s Torah classes over the Internet goes beyond watching and listening. In real time, students send in questions, comments and challenges from all over the world.

The million woman Mother’s Day march

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 16:24:50 GMT

Aviva Schalit should demand to cross into Gaza to see her son – and a million of us women should be standing behind her, on the Israel side, amplifying her plea.

The Human Spirit: Let’s hear these ladies out

Fri, 07 Jan 2011 15:36:43 GMT

Women who signed statement urging Jewish girls not to date, marry non-Jewish men should come forward on variety of other women’s issues.

The Human Spirit: A roll this side of heaven

Fri, 24 Dec 2010 15:23:18 GMT

The notion of anyone suffering from actual food shortage in modern Israel feels counterintuitive. But hunger is here

The Human Spirit: Accepting help graciously

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 15:37:37 GMT

Being a nation in a global community means having reciprocal relationships with other nations. Sometimes you give and sometimes you receive.

The Human Spirit: Hoop Dreams

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 15:16:47 GMT

"After the first moment it didn't matter that they were Arabs and we were Jews."

The Human Spirit: For Sarah, Rivka, Rachel and Leah

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 12:23:23 GMT

Jews and Arabs, religious and secular, teens and seniors, women and men marched shoulder to shoulder.

The Human Spirit: For those who gave their lives

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 16:21:13 GMT

Barbara Sofer spoke at the AACI Memorial Ceremony for Americans and Canadians who gave their lives for Israel.

Remembering the Sabbath

Sat, 23 Oct 2010 21:24:34 GMT

Judith Shulevitz brings up the idea that raising your consciousness of the value of Shabbat is important whether or not you actually keep it.

The Human Spirit: Talking about the intifada

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 16:19:57 GMT

How much of the horror do we need to share with the enthusiastic young people who come here?

Flora’s immigrant absorption

Fri, 17 Sep 2010 12:22:15 GMT

My first Jerusalem neighbors paved the way for me – and my two roommates at the time – to get acquainted with this country and eventually make our lives here.

The Human Spirit: Where we draw the line

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 16:45:09 GMT

It is one thing to embrace intermarried couples and encourage the non-Jewish partner to explore Judaism; it is quite another to endorse it outright.

The Human Spirit: August Challenges

Fri, 06 Aug 2010 16:13:51 GMT

Summer in Israel can be cruel and for parents of children with special needs, finding summer activities can be unusually tough. Fortunately, some good people who turn life’s cruelties into opportunities have come to the rescue.

The Human Spirit: Unbridled love

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 15:20:05 GMT

Anyone who has lived here for a while knows that there are abundant acts of kindness that go unnoticed.

The Human Spirit: Eleven months of Kaddish

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 16:16:21 GMT

Although I often engage in verbal fisticuffs to defend women’s rights in Judaism, I knew that I wouldn’t want to fight for my right to recite the prayer.

The Human Spirit: Women and children

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 18:31:41 GMT

Whether it’s a Gaza-bound flotilla of so-called women activists or a cell block full of women prisoners, they should be dealt with no differently than a mixed gender or all-male party.

The Human Spirit: Just one Jewish people

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 22:46:10 GMT

American and Israeli Jews are one in the same: A people with strong identification with the underdog, one that cares about human rights.

The Human Spirit: Prize winners

Fri, 14 May 2010 19:38:50 GMT

The remarkable story of a young haredi woman winning several scholarships on her way to a doctorate in sciences at the age of 26.

The Human Spirit: 62 reasons I love Israel

Fri, 30 Apr 2010 16:23:47 GMT

Righteous of the Nations who saved Jews in the Holocaust can move here, no matter their age or health.

The Human Spirit: To a relative abroad

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 23:03:26 GMT

You’re tired of defending Israel? What about the Peretz family or the Ezra family?

The Human Spirit: Let my people go

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 16:50:16 GMT

The late Delysia Jayson’s kitchen was the command center for Keren Klita.

The stranger among us

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 19:17:52 GMT

Why, you would ask, should we care about a couple of Dutch Christians who want to bind their fate to that of the Jewish people?

The Human Spirit: Making the right decision

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:55:45 GMT

At the recent dedication of Ohel Ari, named in memory of Ari Weiss who was killed in action in 2002, the appreciation of the young man, his family and his community shone through and has set the bar of valor high.

The Human Spirit: Thinking about Haiti

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 17:18:46 GMT

In recent weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to hear the personal stories of a number of the doctors and nurses who made us Israelis and Diaspora Jews so proud.

The Human Spirit: Picking up the scent

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:05:45 GMT

The tale of a man’s decades-old search for the writings of the grandfather he never got to meet and his triumphant find in the last synagogue in Tajikistan.

The Human Spirit: Sight and insight

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 00:09:48 GMT

A Brooklyn woman's blindness leads her to leave the Christian Science church after more than four decades and seek out Judaism. The great news is she regains her sight.