My Ancestor Played Dead in a Coffin to Make Aliyah (Judean Rose)

The story goes that my two times great grandfather, Mordechai Shmuel Yanovsky, entered Yaffa port playing dead in a coffin, his wife, my two times great grandmother, Taibe Leah, playing the part of the grieving widow. According to my now 96-year-old 2nd cousin one time removed, who is Israeli through and through, our ancestor came into the Holy Land in a coffin because the...

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Returning Home: Berkeley Teen Olah Makes Film about the Aliyah Experience (Judean Rose)

Sisters Millea Kenin, Director of Returning Home, (right) and Chanah Ella Kenin, who stars as Eliana (left).Returning Home is a short film depiction of what it is like to be an American Olah or immigrant to Israel, as a teenager. The challenges are specific. Teen Olim may have a close-knit group of friends they were forced to leave behind in the States, perhaps friends they...

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