On this Sunday night, I am sitting in my apartment four blocks away by scooter to Penn State’s iconic Old Main. You have seen it on television. Contemplating my forthcoming cancer surgery, I cannot help but express my gratitude. My gratitude extends the length and breadth of the Borough of State College under the inspiration […]
Search Results for: miriam p schmerler
My father Isadore Solkoff
Obituary notice ISADORE SOLKOFF, 1902-1989, Friend of Jabotinsky, Briscoe, and other early Zionist leaders UNION, NEW JERSEY, January 15, 1989: Isadore Solkoff was buried at the Temple Binai Abraham Cemetery. In an Orthodox Jewish service officiated by Rabbi Phillip Goldberg of the United Hebrew Community of New York, the mourners were reminded of Solkoff’s work […]
“In my little village, everybody looked like you.”
The Village of Stories by Richard Kopley, Edgar Allan Poe scholar at Penn State Many years ago, on a bus in New York City, a little old lady in a babushka stared at me. I looked away, and then back, and she was still staring. I rose to get off, and she stared as I […]
Travel barriers for individuals with disabilities
The following was published in June of 2010 shortly before my mother died. It appeared in my monthly column From Where I Sit, produced on a monthly basis for Voices of Central Pennsylvania, my spiritual home here in State College, PA. The column appeared regularly for over a year, written sometimes between hospitalizations but submitted on time […]
Teach It Diligently to Your Children
Background for the ongoing story, did I return from the Democratic Convention and Tokyo in time to coach when my first child Joanna was born? See Part 1: https://joelsolkoff.com/?p=604 ++++ I remember clearly that astonishing first visit to the obstetrician, the one where I saw for the first time a sonic image of my first child inside […]
Portrait of my grandfather and namesake an intensely emotional journey from 1916 when the photograph was taken
My grandfather played the saxophone and clarinet in the orchestra pits of movie theaters (many of them great palaces) to entertain audiences when the silent movies were playing. His name was Salvatore Pellecia. My mother, a Hebrew school teacher, named me after him—translating “Salvatore” into “God helps” and then debating between “Joshua” and “Joel Ezra” […]
Self: Cultural identity Judaism
The following appeared in Brit Shalom of State College, PA’s quarterly publication The Center Scroll, January/February 2011 Teach It Diligently to Your Children I remember clearly that astonishing first visit to the obstetrician, the one where I saw for the first time a sonic image of my first child inside her mother’s womb and […]