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When a cancer diagnosis comes it’s always a shock — and Dr. Loraine Alderman was no exception. What did surprise her, however, was that among the literature she was reading, she wasn’t finding stories about people like herself, even though she fell into the age group of women most likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer.

Raacheli Fried, a Los Angeles native and resident of East Denver, organized a “Tehillim group,” a Psalms group, 11 years ago. People in the group recite Psalms for many reasons, among them a “complete healing,” a refuah shelemah, for sick people. A Tehillim group may also be organized to pray for a single person, as Essie Fleischmann has done.

When Penny Nisson is in synagogue, she prays with the words in the siddur and the melodies of the liturgy. When she is in her art studio, she prays with her paintbrush. Nisson is a spiritual person who loves and lives Judaism. She and her husband Perry incorporate Jewish ritual into their home and they are regulars at East Denver Orthodox Synagogue. Penny Nissan sits in the front at shul, reading, reciting and hearing the words of prayer.

As Shavuot approaches and the anniversary of the revelation of the Torah looms, it is inspiring to contemplate the teachings of those who mastered the Torah on a level that is beyond us. One such master was the Vilna Gaon, the “Genius of Vilna,” Rabbi Elijah son of Shlomo Zalman (d. 1797).

I like the confluence this year of Shavuot falling during Jewish American Heritage Month (inaugurated on the 350th anniversary of Jews arriving in New Amsterdam) — because the classic Shavuot cheesecake is actually an American invention. You know the one — smooth, dense, a light tang and absolutely decadent. A first bite that, like Proust’s Madeleines, is transportive. 

According to Rabbi Sam Spector of Congregation Kol Ami in Salt Lake City, Jews and Latter-day Saints have a lot in common. Brigham Young, who pioneered the move of Mormons to Utah, is often referred to by his followers as America’s Moses. He led his followers “across the Mississippi, across the wilderness, and settled in a promised land that had America’s Dead Sea.” He called it Zion.

Every Holocaust survivor has a compelling, usually terrifying tale. Agi Day’s tale began in 1941 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, when she was one year old. When asked how old she was before realizing the gravity of her situation, Day replies: “Four. I’m a child of war, and children of war experience things very differently than children of peace.”

Ricky Mason remembers his first introduction to what was then known as the Boy Scouts. His mother told him when he was seven years old that he would join scouting four years later and become an Eagle Scout. “My mother told me I was gonna do it, and so that was sort of enough for me,” Mason said.

A little over a year ago, it was unfathomable that Eliya Cohen would be in Denver, Colorado, because a little over a year ago Eliya was being held captive by Hamas terrorists in the tunnels of Gaza. A little over a year ago, it was unfathomable that Eliya would be reunited with his family and longtime girlfriend, Ziv Aboud, who he believed for 505 days had been killed on Oct. 7, 2023.

PASSOVER EDITION 5786 SECTION C PAGE 10 By Jessica Russak-Hoffman Some Jews are opting to personalize their Passover liturgy and accessorize it. Shelley Atlas Serber, a graphic designer in West Hempstead, NY, illustrated the Unofficial Taylor Swift Haggadah, which was penned by Na’ama...