I felt like I came late to the party. I was exposed to COVID so many times before I was finally diagnosed with it the week of October 11^th. My mom had it and was hospitalized for two weeks. Some of my siblings had it; they waited it out at home and were okay. I wasn’t admitted to the hospital until October 19^th, and my experience was – shall we say, interesting. I learned a lot and am still processing what happened.

I really don’t know where I picked up the virus. I had traveled to the Midwest to spend Yom Tov with my parents, and shortly after I returned to Baltimore, I attended a friend’s wedding – masked, of course. I work in a health care facility, and we had some COVID cases, so it is kind of crazy that it took so long for me to get it. In the building where I live with my roommates, there were people who had Corona, but we didn’t catch it. We were being really careful.

Choosing a career is the most momentous decision (aside from marriage) that young people have to make. While many in our community gravitate to certain common occupations, career paths are not always straightforward. The twists and turns of life – not to mention the bumps and mountainous climbs – often play a role in deciding what we want to be “when we grow up.” The young men depicted here are entrepreneurs. Although they may have not yet arrived at their final career destination, one thing is for sure – these ambitious young men made some unconventional choices. I had the privilege of “virtually meeting” each of these young, single men, whose career callings reminded me of Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken.” They each took the road less traveled by, and to them, it has made all the difference.

When I asked Rochel Berman if I could interview her, after being tipped off by a mutual friend about her fascinating story, she immediately took me up on my offer – with a disclaimer. She didn’t think her life was anything fantastic. Now that I know her life story, though, I’d say it could be the subject of a movie or a book. What do you think?

Déjà Vu

Rochel Berman was born and raised in Buenos Aires. Her parents, both natives of Poland, were Holocaust survivors. When they met and married in Paris, her father had papers to go to America, and her mother had papers to go to Argentina. They decided on Argentina, where they eventually did very well.

This year’s Sukkos is bound to be like no other in our memory. Thinking it would be fun to take a sentimental journey to “Sukkos past,” I polled some connections here in Baltimore and around the world asking them to share their warmest, fondest, cutest, funniest, and scariest sukkah memories.

The havoc COVID-19 has wreaked is no laughing matter, yet you can’t help but chuckle at the lifestyle that has become our new global norm. Wearing masks, keeping each other at (triple) arm’s length, and constantly sanitizing our hands are understood, even, to some extent, by two-year-olds. I polled people around the world – and closer to home, in Baltimore – about any new-norm experiences that provided them with the much-needed comic relief we could all use, especially in these times.

Ethel Fischer had a problem. Her lift had left, and she herself was about to board the plane – on her way fulfilling her lifelong dream of aliyah. But how, during these pandemic times, would she say goodbye to a whole host of friends from many stages of her life? How would she show her gratitude to the wonderful people from diverse segments of the community with whom she had worked? Should she take out an ad? Call for a Zoom meeting? Arrange a drive-by goodbye? I suggested writing this article as an alternative, and Ethel took me up on my offer. I penned this just hours before she left.