The French Jewish historian Pierre Vidal-Naquet died. The scenes that he was witness to: the deportation of his parents to Auschwitz, being hidden in Vichy southern France, gave his later political activism all the more force. He was a leading opponent to the Algerian war; a passionate opponent of Holocaust Denial, and a very early proponent of a two state solution for Israel/Palestine. Read his obituary in the Guardian:http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,1840740,00.html
Obituaries often make me pause and consider the alternate lives we all could have led and the different struggles we could have faced. It is also a call to arms to fight for a life well lived.
I was happy to celebrate 3 special birthdays in the Sukka at Temple EmanuEl this past Monday. A perfectly beautiful day for such a momentus occasion. I hope that every year in the future brings the same happiness and excitement.
Posted by: Doreen Blumenthal | October 11, 2006 at 05:06 PM