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Florence Berger, 83, Cornell professor and practitioner of the art of Jewish matchmaking
(JTA) — Florence Berger, as a much-admired professor at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration, once wrote a scholarly article about the executive-search industry. “Sensitivity to the interaction between persons and organizations is a major characteristic of executive recruits who are able to make the proper match between candidate and client,” she wrote.
Berger, who died July 13 at age 83, applied the same philosophy in a side gig that arguably made her better known than her scholarship: As an amateur matchmaker, she reportedly arranged more than two dozen matches that resulted in successful marriages, from the children of her academic colleagues to family members to couples she met on sabbatical in Japan and France.
Berger “is the kind of old-fashioned matchmaker who used to exist all over but is now regarded as a kind of archaic angel,” wrote Melanie Thernstrom in a 2005 New York Times Magazine article, “The New Arranged Marriage,” which focused largely on Jewish matchmakers, or shadchaniot. “Once Florence inscribes someone in her head, she doesn’t cross him or her off until he is wed.”
“I am fearless when it comes to matching,” Berger agreed in the same article, which also described some of her rules for dating and matchmaking. She tended not to match anyone under 30, suspecting that they wouldn’t be sufficiently “marriage minded.” And she made the couple promise to go out twice, “regardless of how they felt on the first date.” (Aleeza Ben Shalom, the star of the hit Netflix dating series “Jewish Matchmaking,” has a similar rule, which she calls “date ’em till you hate ’em.”)
And if there was a secret to Berger’s success, beyond persistence, it boiled down to something rather obvious: “finding partners with similar values and backgrounds.”
Born May 3, 1940, Florence Cohen grew up in West Hempstead on Long Island. She married her own high school sweetheart, Toby Berger, in 1961. (Toby Berger, an electrical engineering professor at Cornell and a nephew of the legendary New York Times reporter Meyer Berger, died in 2022.)
Florence attended Goucher College, then earned a master’s degree from Harvard University and a Ph.D. from Cornell University. As an assistant professor at Cornell, she taught courses in organizational behavior, human relations skills and hospitality industry training.
When she served as assistant dean of students at Cornell, “the art of being a Jewish mother was professionalized — keeping everyone safe, well-fed, making them feel welcome, and managing it all,” her son Larry told the New York Times.
In 1999, Berger received Cornell University’s highest teaching award, the Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow Award for Distinguished Teaching.
Berger’s persistence in bringing people together was evident in the 2005 Times profile. When she learned that the reporter was not herself interested in a match, Berger responded: “Don’t be so sure about that!”
“I know this will make you angry,” Berger wrote Thernstrom as she continued to suggest matches, “but … I’ve made some people angry on the way to making them happy.”
Berger, who was residing in Charlottesville, Virginia at the time of her death, is survived by her son Larry and daughter, Elizabeth Mandell; her sister, Trudy Cohen Labell, and four grandchildren.
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Washington Warns UK, France Against Recognizing Palestinian Statehood
Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy leaves Downing Street, following the results of the election, in London, Britain, July 5, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Toby Melville
i24 News – The United States has warned the UK and France not to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state at a UN conference scheduled for June 17 in New York, the Middle East Eye reported Tuesday.
France and Saudi Arabia will co-host this conference on the two-state solution, with Paris reportedly preparing to unilaterally recognize Palestine. France is also pressuring London to follow this path, according to sources from the British Foreign Office.
French media reports indicate that French authorities believe they have the agreement of the British government. Meanwhile, Arab states are encouraging this move, measuring the success of the conference by the recognitions obtained.
This initiative deeply divides Western allies. If France and the UK were to carry out this recognition, they would become the first G7 nations to take this step, causing a “political earthquake” according to observers, given their historical ties with Israel. The Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer threatened last week to annex parts of the West Bank if this recognition took place, according to a report in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
In the United Kingdom, Foreign Secretary David Lammy publicly opposes unilateral recognition, stating that London would only recognize a Palestinian state when we know that it is going to happen and that it is in view.
However, pressure is mounting within the Labour Party. MP Uma Kumaran, member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said that the government was elected on a platform that promised to recognize Palestine as a step towards a just and lasting peace. Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding, believes that there is no legitimate reason for the United States to interfere in a sovereign decision of recognition, while highlighting the unpredictability of US President Donald Trump on this issue.
The post Washington Warns UK, France Against Recognizing Palestinian Statehood first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Police, Shin Bet Thwart Suspected Iranian Attempt Perpetrate Terror Attack
A small number of Jewish worshipers pray during the priestly blessing, a traditional prayer which usually attracts thousands of worshipers at the Western Wall on the holiday of Passover during 2020, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Jerusalem’s Old City, April 12, 2020. Photo: Reuters / Ronen Zvulun.
i24 News – The Shin Bet security agency and Israel Police thwarted another Iranian attempt to recruit Israelis, according to a statement on Tuesday, arresting a resident of East Jerusalem for allegedly carrying out missions for the Islamic Republic.
Iranian agents recruited the suspect, who in turn recruited members of his family. He is a resident of the Isawiya neighborhood in his 30s, and is accused of maintaining contact with a hostile foreign entity to harm the state by carrying out a terrorist attack against Jews.
The suspect had already begun perpetrating acts of sabotage and espionage, including collecting intelligence about areas in Jerusalem, including the Western Wall and Mahane Yehuda Market. He also hung signs, burned Israeli army uniforms, and more in exchange for payment totaling thousands of shekels.
He was also charged with planning a terror attack in central Israel, including setting fire to a forest, and was told to transfer weapons to terrorist elements in the West Bank.
The suspect’s sought the help of family members, including his mother. A search at his home revealed sums of cash, a spray can used in some of his activities, airsoft guns, suspected illegal drugs, and more.
His indictment is expected to be filed by the Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office.
The statement said that the case is yet another example of Iranian efforts to recruit Israelis. “We will continue to coordinate efforts to thwart terrorism and terrorist elements, including those operating outside Israel, while attempting to mobilize local elements in order to protect the citizens of the State of Israel,” the Shin Bet and Police said.
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Pro-Russian, Anti-Israeli Hackers Pose Biggest Cybercrime Threats in Germany
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt holds a chart showing the development of antisemitic crime, during a press conference on Figures for Politically Motivated Crime in the Country, in Berlin, Germany, May 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
Cybercrime in Germany rose to a record level last year, driven by hacker attacks from pro-Russian and anti-Israeli groups, the BKA Federal Crime Office reported on Tuesday as the government said it would boost countermeasures to combat it.
“Cybercrime is an increasing threat to our security,” said Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt. “It is getting more aggressive but our counter-strategies are also becoming more professional,” he said.
Some 131,391 cases of cybercrime took place in Germany last year and a further 201,877 cases were committed from abroad or an unknown location, a BKA report said.
The actors behind the hacker attacks on German targets were primarily either pro-Russian or anti-Israeli, said the BKA, adding targets were mostly public and federal institutions.
Ransomware, when criminals copy and encrypt data, is one of the main threats, said the BKA, with 950 companies and institutes reporting cases in 2024.
German digital association Bitkom said damage caused by cyberattacks here totaled 178.6 billion euros ($203.87 billion) last year, some 30.4 billion euros more than in the previous year.
Dobrindt said the government planned to extend the legal capabilities authorities could use to combat cybercrime and set higher security standards for companies.
The post Pro-Russian, Anti-Israeli Hackers Pose Biggest Cybercrime Threats in Germany first appeared on Algemeiner.com.