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Sophie is 85 and survived the Holocaust. Caroline is 29 and new to NYC. Here’s how they became fast friends.
(New York Jewish Week) – It’s a sunny Wednesday afternoon, and Sophie Turner Zaretsky has laid out a tray of fruit and cookies, eagerly awaiting her friend Caroline Crandell. When Crandell arrives at Zaretsky’s Upper West Side apartment, just a few minutes after their scheduled meeting time of 3 p.m., the two break into smiles and embrace.
The two women have been meeting every few weeks since the fall of 2022. Like any pair of friends, they discuss everything that’s going on in their lives and families, as well as current events and their favorite spots in the city. But unlike most friendships, there’s a 56-year age gap between the two: Zaretsky, a Holocaust survivor and retired radiation oncologist, is 85, while Crandell, a software engineer, is 29.
“We just talk,” Zaretsky told the New York Jewish Week as she poured tea for Crandell and a reporter. “Whatever comes into our head.”
“She knows all about my dating life,” Crandell added. “I get a lot of advice, which is helpful.”
The pair were matched through the “Caring Calls” initiative, a flagship program of the Wechsler Center for Modern Aging at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan on the Upper West Side. The program was created during the pandemic to help seniors combat isolation. It enlists some 130 volunteers to reach out to everyone over 70 who has attended any type of program or event at the JCC in recent years. Most of the check-ins happen over the phone: Volunteers call a few times a year to say hello and offer everything from tech support to grocery shopping assistance.
“We want to be there for our community as folks age,” Susan Lechter, the director of the Wechsler Center, told the New York Jewish Week. “No one should be lonely in this world. If we can make a difference in any way, we want to be there for our community.”
And some of these relationship blossom into something deeper. Seniors can request a “buddy” for regular phone calls; according to the Wechsler Center, there have been 140 “buddy” matches so far.
When Zaretsky first heard from Caring Calls last fall, she had a specific request: She wanted to be matched with a young person as a buddy. “I talk to old people and I’m tired of hearing about all the issues and problems with aging,” Zaretsky quipped. “I have my own issues; I don’t want to hear anybody else’s.”
Given that most of the Caring Calls volunteers are middle-aged or older adults, Lechter knew exactly whom to tap: Crandell, who was living by herself in a fifth-floor walkup on the Upper East Side, having arrived in New York via California during the Omicron wave of January 2022. In order to meet new friends, Crandell had enrolled in intramural soccer at the JCC, and she also had inquired about volunteer opportunities there.
“My family is very far away and I haven’t had any living grandparents for a long time. I didn’t know anyone when I moved here,” Crandell said, explaining her interest in the Caring Calls program. “I think it’s good to have different generations and different perspectives come together.”
Matched by Lechter, the pair first spoke in October of last year and they hit it off immediately. “I think we spoke for like an hour,” Crandell said, recalling how they bonded over their dislike of cooking and exercise. “By the end of the call we said to each other, ‘Let’s not do the call thing. Let’s meet up.’ I came over a few days later and we’ve been getting together every few weeks ever since.”
Turner Zaretsky and Crandell get together every few weeks at Turner Zaretsky’s Upper West Side apartment, pictured here on May 10, 2023. (Julia Gergely)
The particular afternoon of the New York Jewish Week’s visit, Crandell had brought over a new blend of tea to try. Over their beverages, the two women share lipstick and book recommendations, and swap stories about their childhoods — which were, not surprisingly, vastly different from one another’s.
Zaretsky, born Selma Schwarzwald in 1937, had grown up in hiding in Lvov, Poland; she and her mother posed as Catholics in order to avoid deportation to the Belzec killing center. She moved to England with her mother in 1948, when she was 10, and wasn’t told she was Jewish until she was a teenager.
“It was terrible,” she said of moving from Poland to England. “It’s very hard to be a refugee when you don’t know the language. You feel stupid. You don’t have the narrative. I didn’t have the narrative for England and I didn’t have the narrative for being Jewish.”
After attending medical school in England, Zaretsky moved to New York in 1963 for her medical residency at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx, and found herself alone in a brand new city. In 1970, she married David Zaretsky.
Though the JCC initiative is the first time either Zaretsky or Crandell have participated in a formal matching program, Zaretsky has a history of “adopting” people who look like they might need it. A number of years ago at a dinner at the United Nations, which she attended in place of her son who often worked with the organization, Zaretsky was seated next to the ambassador from Malta. “He didn’t know people in New York, so being the Jewish mother that I am, I had to introduce him to everyone to make sure he could live a good life here,” she said. They’re still friends to this day, Zaretsky said, and she has been known to advise him on certain geopolitical issues when the General Assembly meets.
“I have found that young people nowadays are so educated and so aware, but they still need a little bit of TLC — at least this one does,” Zaretsky said, nodding towards Crandell. “But I do, too.”
Indeed, former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has described a “loneliness epidemic” that peaked, not surprisingly, at the height of the pandemic. Older adults, disproportionately women, have been especially vulnerable, although a Harvard studying 2021 found that older teens and young adults were the hardest hit by the social isolation brought on by the pandemic.
“I feel like in the society we live in right now, isolation and disjointed community is common,” Crandell said. “Everything’s online, every single person has been affected by technology and feeling pretty isolated, no matter what age. Any opportunity to meet people in person or just connect with someone goes a long way.”
This type of relationship is exactly what the program aims to achieve, said Lechter. “We were determined to create more intergenerational opportunities,” she said. “We’re hoping that it becomes more frequent.”
By the time Crandell needs to head to her soccer game, several hours have passed. “I come thinking I’m just stopping by, but it turns out we have hours of things we need to discuss,” Crandell told the New York Jewish Week. “I always lose track of time.”
Like any good Jewish mother, Zaretsky sends her off with a care package of snacks to take home and a plan for when they’ll meet up again — this coming Friday, for Shabbat dinner.
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At a synagogue meeting about how to beat Mamdani, Sliwa faces calls to exit NYC mayor’s race
NEW YORK CITY — More than 100 people gathered Sunday morning in the basement of Fifth Avenue Synagogue, a Modern Orthodox congregation on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, to discuss one thing: how to stop Zohran Mamdani’s march to City Hall.
“Fifth Avenue Synagogue invites you to attend a parlor meeting to discuss DEFEATING MAMDANI PLAN B,” the invitation read.
Synagogue president Jacob Gold had invited Mamdani’s two competitors in New York City’s mayor’s race, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa, to join the event. Only Sliwa RSVPed yes, speaking to the group before taking questions from the mix of members and guests of the synagogue.
Over coffee and bagels with egg salad, attendees voiced their appreciation for the Guardian Angels founder, who was wearing his signature red beret — but their overwhelming message was one that he did not want to hear.
“We all love you, we want you to win,” said synagogue president Jacob Gold, who was standing by Sliwa at the podium. “But you’re at 15%, and Cuomo’s at what percent? And Mamdani’s at what percent?”
No one answered, but everyone knew the numbers: Cuomo netted 28% of the vote in the latest poll, which was also the first to show Mamdani crossing the 50% threshold.
“Let’s cut to the chase — you want me to drop out,” Sliwa interjected.
“No!” Gold replied. “I want you to merge with Cuomo.”
Many others in the room joined Gold in yelling out “No” in unison. But a smattering of voices told Sliwa he had sized the situation up correctly.
A number of attendees spoke up during the Q&A period, pleading their case that Sliwa, who is polling third, should team up with former Gov. Andrew Cuomo against Mamdani.
“Merge!” attendees blurted out at various points, as well as “Unite!” One suggested Sliwa could take a position in Cuomo’s administration. Another posited that Sliwa could take over as mayor once Cuomo runs for president of the United States in a couple years.
But Sliwa has resisted calls to drop out before and did so again during the synagogue meeting. “It’s not happening,” he said.
The pleas to unite with Cuomo did not necessarily reflect loyalty to the former governor, whom Gold said might visit the synagogue next week: The phrase “Plug your nose and vote Cuomo” was uttered more than once. Instead, they came as part of an attempt to overcome a sizable lead by Mamdani, the Queens state lawmaker whose harshly critical views on Israel and democratic socialist politics are anathema to many in Orthodox Jewish communities.
“He’s an antisemite, period!” one man yelled out.
Once Sliwa left after concluding his Q&A, other speakers took to the podium including Hank Sheinkopf, a veteran political consultant; former Lieutenant Governor Betsy McCaughey, who’s behind an anti-Mamdani independent expenditure committee called Save NYC; and Jason Meister, a former Trump advisor who’s heading Defend NYC, a super PAC aimed at thwarting Mamdani’s campaign.
They emphasized the importance of a major get-out-the-vote effort, citing their belief that Mamdani could still be beaten if voter turnout reached 45%. McCaughey distributed leaflets about Mamdani’s support for a law that she said could cause voters against him if they were aware.
“He’s the only candidate who backs rigorous enforcement of Local Law 97, which will force one million Homeowners like you to foot the enormous cost of converting oil or natural gas heat to electric heat throughout your building,” part of the leaflet reads, with “DO NOT VOTE FOR MAMDANI” in big red letters.
Sheinkopf urged attendees to combat the presence of Mamdani’s tens of thousands of volunteers by campaigning against him.
“The only thing that matters here is communicating with people and getting in the street. The rest of it is nonsense,” Sheinkopf said. “Sure as we’re in this room, I need your help to hit those doors and get in the street and get on those phones. Because if we do, we have the potential to win this thing.”
Ultimately, however, the biggest push from the attendees themselves was their attempt to talk Sliwa into a coalition with Cuomo.
“Everybody’s talking about it privately,” said Daria Fane, an attendee who is not a member of Fifth Avenue Synagogue, but frequently attends services there and at other Upper East Side congregations.
“We sit around the dinner table talking about it — where’s New York City going, and what are we going to be able to do?” Fane said in an interview following the event. “And one of the little truisms that always comes up is that Curtis Sliwa should drop out. If it’s just a two-way race, Cuomo would have a better chance of winning.”
She added, “We’ve had this conversation since before Eric Adams dropped out.”
During the Q&A, a woman who said she was wearing a red hat in support of Sliwa asked that he not “put down Cuomo” in the next debate, as he had done in Thursday’s. “You need to both go against Mamdani — Mam-dummy,” she said, getting some laughs with a derisive nickname.
But Sliwa did not entertain the idea of a coalition with Cuomo, and doubled down on his criticisms of the former governor.
“I was raised in America — one man, one woman, one vote,” Sliwa said. “I never heard of one man, one woman, and the rest of you drop out.”
“Andrew Cuomo needs to get out on the campaign trail. He’s spending all of his time trying to get me to drop out. It’s not happening. I’m out there to get my vote out,” he said, which was met with more shouts of “Unite!”
“But then you’re going to be a spoiler!” someone in the crowd said, which drew some boos.
“You guys would make the best government ever,” an attendee chimed in, appealing to the idea that they “unite” rather than using the term “drop out.”
Sliwa did not hold back from criticizing Cuomo, skewering him for signing cashless bail legislation reform as governor. He also came out hard against Mamdani, telling attendees that they must convince their Mamdani-supporting “children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren that they are committing a shanda,” the Yiddish term for “shame.”
Sliwa did defend Mamdani, however, when an angered attendee recalled when Mamdani asked Cuomo during the debate if he’d ever visited a mosque.
“Cuomo should’ve said, ‘Have you ever been in a synagogue?’” she said.
A mix of cheers and chatter erupted; Sliwa shook his head. “Excuse me — he has been in a synagogue,” he said, correcting the record.
Mamdani attended a mayoral candidates forum in the spring at B’nai Jeshurun, a non-denominational synagogue on the Upper West Side, as well as High Holiday services at the progressive Brooklyn congregation Kolot Chayeinu and the “God-optional experimental Jewish community” Lab/Shul. Last weekend Mamdani spoke at Congregation Beth Elohim, the biggest Reform synagogue in Brooklyn.
Even with Sliwa not budging on his position, speakers including McCaughey and Defend NYC’s Meister said a major voter turnout could swing the election against Mamdani. With the election on Nov. 4, however, time is not on their side, leaving some attendees wondering if it’s too little, too late.
“I don’t know,” said Monique Silberman, a member of Fifth Avenue Synagogue. “It’s last-minute — this whole thing is last-minute.”
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US Says It Hit Colombian Rebel Vessel as Trump Calls Petro ‘Illegal Drug Leader’
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attends a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on US President Donald Trump’s budget request for the Department of Defense, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, US, June 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
US forces attacked a vessel associated with a Colombian leftist rebel group, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Sunday, the same day President Donald Trump called Colombian President Gustavo Petro an “illegal drug leader” and said payments to the South American nation would cease.
Trump‘s comments marked a new low in relations between Bogota and Washington, which have frayed since Trump returned to office in January and since his administration launched a series of strikes on vessels allegedly transporting drugs in the Caribbean.
Hegseth wrote on X that the Pentagon had destroyed a vessel and killed three people on Friday “in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility,” which includes the Caribbean.
He said the ship was affiliated with the leftist rebel group National Liberation Army and was involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, without offering evidence to back the claim.
The Pentagon said it had nothing to add beyond Hegseth’s initial post.
COLOMBIA CONDEMNS TRUMP‘S REMARKS
Colombia’s Foreign Ministry condemned Trump‘s remarks as offensive and a direct threat to its sovereignty, and vowed to seek international support in defense of Petro and the country’s autonomy.
“These accusations represent an extremely serious act and undermine the dignity of the president of Colombians,” it said in a statement.
The post from Hegseth came hours after Trump lambasted Petro on social media and said the United States would stop large-scale payments and subsidies to Colombia.
“President Gustavo Petro, of Colombia, is an illegal drug leader strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs, in big and small fields, all over Colombia,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“The purpose of this drug production is the sale of massive amounts of product into the United States, causing death, destruction, and havoc,” Trump wrote.
Reuters could not immediately establish which payments Trump was referring to. Colombia was once among the largest recipients of US aid in the Western Hemisphere, but the flow of money was suddenly curtailed this year by the shuttering of USAID, the US government’s humanitarian assistance arm.
The US State Department referred questions to the White House, which did not immediately respond to a query.
FRAUGHT RELATIONS
Last month the United States revoked Petro’s visa after he joined a pro-Palestinian demonstration in New York and urged US soldiers to disobey Trump‘s orders.
The US administration’s deadly strikes on boats in the Caribbean have also outraged Colombians. Many legal experts and human rights activists have condemned the extraordinary series of military actions, with Amnesty International describing it as murder on the high seas.
Earlier this month, Petro said one of the strikes hit a Colombian vessel, an allegation the Trump administration denied.
Petro condemned the most recent bombing, saying the boat belonged to a “humble family,” not the National Liberation Army. He also hit back at Trump‘s remarks.
“Mr. Trump, Colombia has never been rude to the United States… but you are rude and ignorant to Colombia,” Petro responded on X. “Since I am not a businessman, I am even less a drug trafficker. There is no greed in my heart.”
Colombia is fighting its own longstanding drug problems. Last year, Petro pledged to tame coca-growing regions in the country with massive social and military intervention, but the strategy has brought little success.
In September, Trump designated countries such as Afghanistan, Bolivia, Burma, Colombia and Venezuela among those the United States believes to have “failed demonstrably” in upholding counter-narcotics agreements during the past year.
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Trump Urged Zelensky to Cut a Deal with Putin or Risk Facing Destruction, FT Reports
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy meets with U.S. President Donald Trump (not pictured) over lunch in the Cabinet Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., October 17, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
US President Donald Trump urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to accept Russia’s terms for ending the war between Russia and Ukraine in a White House meeting on Friday, warning that President Vladimir Putin threatened to “destroy” Ukraine if it didn’t comply, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.
During the meeting, Trump insisted Zelensky surrender the entire eastern Donbas region to Russia, repeatedly echoing talking points the Russian president had made in their call a day earlier, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Ukraine ultimately managed to swing Trump back to endorsing a freeze of the current front lines, the FT said. Trump said after the meeting that the two sides should stop the war at the battle line; Zelensky said that was an important point.
The White House did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the FT report.
Zelensky arrived at the White House on Friday looking for weapons to keep fighting his country’s war, but met an American president who appeared more intent on brokering a peace deal.
In Thursday’s call with Trump, Putin had offered some small areas of the two southern frontline regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in exchange for the much larger parts of the Donbas now under Ukrainian control, the FT report added.
That is less than his original 2024 demand for Kyiv to cede the entirety of Donbas plus Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south, an area of nearly 20,000 square km.
Zelensky’s spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside business hours on whether Trump had pressured Zelensky to accept peace on Russia’s terms.
Trump and Putin agreed on Thursday to hold a second summit on the war in Ukraine within the next two weeks, provisionally in Budapest, following an August 15 meeting in Alaska that failed to produce a breakthrough.