Speaking and presenting at local study groups

In September of last year, I was asked to replace the rabbi, who was not available, at a study group of Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple in Beachwood, Ohio. The group has been meeting for 37 years, and I was invited to present selections from Anne Frank’s writings. I chose writings that expressed Anne’s belief in God and her sense of being Jewish which evolved while she was in hiding.  The study group then discussed their reactions--they were in awe at the clarity and maturity of Anne’s writing.

On February 18 at 8:00 in the evening, I will be speaking at the monthly Shabbat dinner of the Jewish Secular Community of Cleveland. The group meets at the First Unitarian Church in Shaker Heights.

A thank you note from the Cleveland-area Mensa group

In August of last year, I spoke to 25 members of the Cleveland -area Mensa group. The thank you note stated this:

Thank you for your thoughtful and informative presentation and for sharing this inspirational story. It was amazing and quite moving to hear the actual voice of Miep Gies on the interview you did with her in 1997. It was also very effective when you put the events in the context of your own lifetime and timeframe--how close we truly are to what we think of as only historical events.

A tree grew in Amsterdam

Anne Frank’s legacy lives on in movie, film, book, musical, sitcom and saplings

An old tree was recently felled by high winds and rain, not an unusual event during dramatic summer thunderstorms in August. However, the final moments of this 160-year-old horse chestnut tree were photographed and broadcast around the world. This was the Anne Frank Tree, the tree Anne wrote about that was in the back courtyard of the canal-side building in Amsterdam where she and her family and four other Jews hid for more than two years.

Looking out of the attic window, Anne was able to keep track of the tree's seasonal changes that helped her develop a close connection with nature she had not had before and which she could now experience only through curtains and windows. "Our chestnut tree is in full bloom. It's covered with leaves and is even more beautiful than last year," Anne wrote in her diary on May 13, 1944.

Read more of this story in Cleveland Jewish News.