In the Zone

Being in different time zones makes it challenging for us three sisters to schedule brainstorming Zooms (SchmooZooms) to choose a topic we all agree on. When we finally do Zoom, we follow a simple rule: If any topic works for only two of us, then it goes into a file of Unwritten Schmoozes for possible future resuscitation.

Another guiding principle: If we ever head toward something like conflict (baruch Hashem, that hasn’t happened yet!), we remember our parents, Nachum and Rose Stark a”h. That’s when we take a step back.

During our latest SchmooZoom, as ideas flew across video cyberspace, we came up with a topic that worked for us all: Zones.

We hope you won’t zone out as we move out of our comfort zone, bemoan no-parking zones, and drive in a family no-fly zone.

Emmy Leah moves…

Out of Her Comfort Zone

Zikaron b’Salon — Remembrance in the Living Room — is an Israeli program where Shoah survivors, and more recently, their children, share their or their parents’ stories to a group gathered in a home setting.

Our mother, Mrs. Rose Stark a”h, survived Auschwitz. For years, she told her own story, in speech and writing, about the nightmare night when her young husband, baby, parents, in-laws, three sisters, and their families were murdered. About her year of torture, slave labor, and death marches; her recovery in Sweden; rebuilding her family in America. With her gift for language (she spoke eight!), she moved audiences and readers.

Since her petirah, I’ve spoken and written about her experiences. So when Zikaron b’Salon asked me to speak, I felt… comfortable.

I’d speak in my hometown, Bet Shemesh, and in English. It’s never easy to discuss the Shoah, but I was still comfortably in my comfort zone: speaking in my native language to religious English-speaking women, sitting on a comfortable couch, perhaps with comfort foods (burekas? cheesecake?) after my talk. Focusing on my mother’s strength and resilience, the evening would be… comforting.