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Van Wallach

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Jun 12, 2018, 8:29 AM

Marty and Sandy, Setting Me on the Jewish Path

As written on a Chabad website, “One act, says Maimonides, can change a life, and transform a world. How so? Our acts trigger a chain of consequences -- psychological, spiritual, and historical -- that reverberate in incalculable ways.” I know...

May 7, 2018, 11:01 PM

My Path to Jewish Learning Runs through St. Agatha’s

I recently attended a wedding at St. Agatha's Roman Catholic Church in Milton, Mass. Before the ceremony began, I used the Bible in the back of the pew in front of me to catch up with my Orthodox Union...

Apr 25, 2018, 9:20 AM

Teachable Jewish moments in “The Death of Stalin”

The film "The Death of Stalin" is getting rapturous reviews for its stellar cast and comic touches about the machinations of Joseph Stalin's cronies in the days before and after the tyrant's death in March 1953. I found it...

Mar 7, 2018, 5:02 AM

‘Dunkirk’ and ‘Son of Saul’: The Struggle to Remain Human

I saw triple-Oscar winner "Dunkirk" last week and liked it: the structure, the realism and the evocation of a vast historical episode all worked for me. Some reviews found it hampered by the lack of character development, the amped-up...

Sep 14, 2017, 7:14 AM

Israel +35 Years, part 5: bringing Israel back home

I'm not much of a shopper. On vacations I spend more time thinking about gifts for friends and family members than anything for me. All I remember buying during my 1982 trip to Israel was a "Yiddishe Momme" carrying...

Sep 11, 2017, 5:20 AM

Israel + 35 Years, part 4: Adventures in DIY travel

Tours are an easy way to see a country, especially if you don't speak the local language. In 1982 the guide and driver on my first visit to Israel took care of disruptions due to the invasion of Lebanon....

Sep 4, 2017, 9:02 AM

Israel + 35 Years, Part 3: Spinning at the Tomb of David

(Part 1 of this series can be found here.) In 1982, I struggled with how I defined myself as a Jew. Was I cultural (Woody Allen movies, bagels, Sunday New York Times, seders with girlfriends' families on Long Island, high...

Aug 29, 2017, 7:16 AM

Israel + 35 Years, Part 2: Getting in Tune with Hebrew

From a base of zero Jewish education as a kid in Mission, Texas, I tried hard to learn as an adult. Over decades, I built my Hebrew skills from non-existent to rudimentary. Intensive ulpan in 1991 and classes focused...

Aug 23, 2017, 6:09 AM

Israel + 35 years: part 1, at the Hummus Cafe

I knew my 2017 Israel experience would sharply differ from my 1982 trip when I sat outside a hummus cafe on Tel Aviv's Levantin Street. Peering in from my table, I saw written on a wall the Hebrew words...

Mar 28, 2017, 6:25 AM

The Back of the Picture, 50 Years Later

While scanning old family photos recently, I found one of me around age 8, stuffed into a sports coat and bow tie. Flipping the photo over, I saw that somebody had jotted on the back, "Fat little Jew." The comment...

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About Me

Van "Ze'ev" Wallach is a writer in Westchester County, NY. A native of Mission, Texas, he holds an economics degree from Princeton University. His work as a journalist appeared in Advertising Age, the New York Post, Venture, The Journal of Commerce, Newsday, Video Store, the Hollywood Reporter, and the Jewish Daily Forward. A language buff, Van has studied Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Yiddish and Hebrew, although he can’t speak any of them. He is the author of "A Kosher Dating Odyssey."