Steve Lipman

The theme of this latest entry into the growing and increasingly respected field of graphic novels about the Holocaust is amply expressed by the pair of nouns in the book’s title: color and memory. It was released in time for Yom HaShoah last month.

Sheina Vaspi, a world-class one-legged skier from Israel, says she was not born to hit the slopes. In fact, she did not take up skiing till she was 16. Vaspi, now 24, was Israel’s first representative four years ago in the Paralympic Games. Four years later, she is again the only Israeli at the Paralympics, which end March 15.

Three words you thought you would never hear: Israel’s bobsled team. Israel — not known for snow — had one in the Olympics this year. For the first time. It made headlines away from the track — for a robbery. For boos. For a bad error on the last day. And for a welcome by fans and fellow athletes throughout.

A banner over the front gate of a small Jewish building in the heart of Cracow, Poland, four years ago next week, became a symbol of timeless Jewish chesed — lovingkindness — of direct involvement in a refugee crisis. “Early, early” on Feb. 24, 2022, Jonathan Ornstein, executive director Cracow’s JCC, learned on the internet and from friends’ text messages that the Russian Army had invaded neighboring Ukraine for the second time in eight years.

On the day before the National Football League championship game last Sunday, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold was studying his playbook and reviewing game films. He was reviewing the plays his team could use the next day against the New England Patriots. He was studying the defensive formations and personnel alignments the Patriots could send on the field. He was preparing to put himself into the best mental state for victory.