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Remembering Dr. Ruth: An Unexpected Jewish Icon
Dr. Ruth Westheimer was one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. A dynamo, she was always full of energy, quick with a joke, and offered great advice.
When I was walking with a female friend who complained about going to too many parties, Dr. Ruth turned to her and said: “You’re not going to meet someone in your apartment.”
I interviewed Dr. Ruth a few times, and ran into her on occasion when I went to the theater. She was extremely proud of her documentary, Ask Dr. Ruth, which can be seen on Hulu. Westheimer died at the age of 96 on July 12.
The film includes old footage of her saying that what two consenting adults do in “the privacy of their bedroom, living room, [and] kitchen floor is all right.”
A licensed sex therapist who taught at Columbia University, she rose to fame with radio and TV shows in which she helped people discuss their personal sexual difficulties. She also maintained that short people were the best lovers. She was someone who said there was no such thing as “normal,” and said those who are gay deserve “all the respect” in the world — at a time when that was not a popular opinion. The film shows her saying she hoped for a cure for AIDS, and that it was wrong to blame any one group.
Born as Karola Siegel on June 4, 1928, she originally lived near Frankfurt, Germany. She was put on a Kindertransport — a program to save German children from the Holocaust — and lived in an orphanage in Switzerland during World War II. She got letters from her parents and grandmother, but when the letters stopped, she knew something was terribly wrong.
Dr. Ruth’s family was murdered by the Nazis, with her father dying in Auschwitz in 1942 and no exact record of her mother’s death.
She sailed to the British mandate of Palestine, and went to a kibbutz in 1945 at the war’s end. She changed her name from Karola, to her middle name of Ruth. She lost her virginity to a man named Kalman on a haystack, as she described in her film.
Signing the guest book at the Yad Vashem Museum in Israel, she held back tears, saying “German Jews don’t cry in public.”
Perhaps it was due to the loss of her parents that she wanted to spread love to so many and influence people to pursue happiness.
When I knew her, she was always running to the next event or appearance. When I asked her why she scheduled so many events, she told me: “As long as I’m alive, I am going to work and I love having things to do and talking to people.”
She was very much like the world’s cutest grandmother — but that also belies her past.
Westheimer was a sniper in the Haganah. Though an injury to her feet when a cannon fired on her building nearly resulted in the amputation of her legs, she healed and was able to ski and dance.
She was married three times, with her last husband, Fred, being the long-time marriage. She studied at the Sorbonne. In 1956, she came to America.
“Somebody who talks so much about sex has to stay away from politics,” she said in her film, though she said abortion should remain legal.
She read romance novels to learn English. She took great pride in her grandchildren — Leora, Ari, Ben, and Michal. At the age of 42, she got her doctorate from Columbia University’s Teachers College and would go on to write numerous books.
Dr. Ruth was a huge personality, and could make anyone laugh and appreciate her wisdom. Whenever I saw her, she was smiling, and you could tell she loved life and helping others.
Her blend of chutzpah, charm, and brute honesty made her a quotable and prominent celebrity. She was humble and didn’t move to a hugely expensive apartment, even though she could have, choosing to remain in Washington Heights. It was her decision to appear on WYNY, a New York City radio station that helped launch her career with a show first called “Sexually Speaking.” She also did some acting.
Despite her painful past, Dr. Ruth is a great example of a nice person achieving great things in life.
The author is a writer based in New York.
The post Remembering Dr. Ruth: An Unexpected Jewish Icon first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘The world needs more Trumps’: US president receives a hero’s welcome in Israeli parliament
(JTA) — The Israeli government will wage a campaign to promote President Donald Trump as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize, the a top lawmaker announced Monday as Trump visited the Knesset to mark the ceasefire deal he brokered between Israel and Hamas.
Trump received a lengthy standing ovation — over two minutes — when he first arrived in the parliament after landing in Israel on Monday, just after the 20 living hostages who remained in Gaza returned to their country.
A series of speakers then lavished him with praise, emphasizing his devotion to the hostages and the peace that may follow in the region. Trump was scheduled to leave Israel Monday afternoon for a peace summit in Egypt.
“The world needs more Trumps,” said Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, who said he would work with U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson to rally world leaders to nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. (Nominations for the prize, which was awarded for this year on Friday, in January.)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he would nominate Trump to become the first-ever non-Israeli to win the Israel Prize. Listing Trump’s pro-Israel bona fides, he repeated a sentiment that he has shared before: “Donald Trump is the greatest friend that Israel has ever had in the White House.”
And opposition leader Yair Lapid, too, praised Trump. “The fact that you were not awarded the Nobel Peace Prize is a grave mistake by the committee, but they will have no choice, Mr. President, they will have to award it to you next year,” he said. “Peace will not come by waiting. It will come by building, by reaching out and by daring, once again, to believe. You, Mr. President, have done the unimaginable. We will be eternally grateful.”
Israelis have celebrated Trump for pressing for the ceasefire deal that resulted in the release of the hostages. Signs praising him have popped up at rallies around the country.
The post ‘The world needs more Trumps’: US president receives a hero’s welcome in Israeli parliament appeared first on The Forward.
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Trump heralds ‘the historic dawn of a new Middle East’ in speech to Israeli parliament after hostages returned
In Jerusalem on Monday, President Donald Trump celebrated the implementation of a viable ceasefire in Gaza with the return of the last living hostages after two years in captivity.
“This is the historic dawn of a new Middle East,” Trump told the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. “After so many years of unceasing war and endless danger, today, the skies are calm, the guns are silent, the sirens are still, and the sun rises on a Holy Land that is finally at peace, a land and a region that will live, God willing, in peace for all eternity.”
Ahead of his address, Trump met with several freed hostages and the families of Israelis who were held by Hamas in Gaza.
On the anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, Trump recognized its impact. “The United States of America grieved alongside you, and we mourned for our own citizens who were so viciously taken that day,” he said in his speech. “And to all the families whose lives were forever changed by the atrocities of that day, and to all the people of Israel, please know that America joins you in those two everlasting vows: Never forget, and never again.”
Hamas killed almost 1,200 people in Israel on Oct. 7 and kidnapped about 250. Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip, where the hostages were taken, have since killed at least 66,000 Palestinians, the Gaza Health Ministry says, and left much of the enclave in ruins.
Trump noted that Israel’s military had accomplished what it could. “Israel, with our help, has won all that can be won by force of arms,” he said. “Now, it is time to translate these victories against terrorists on the battlefield into the ultimate prize of peace and prosperity for the entire Middle East.”
Trump has received multiple standing ovations and sustained applause during his speech. He was briefly heckled by two members of the Knesset who held up a sign that said “Recognize Palestine.” They were quickly removed.
Acknowledged at the Knesset before Trump’s speech were special Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, credited with helping to shape the deal, and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, among others. As Ivanka Trump made her way into the chamber, the Knesset broke into applause. She also received a standing ovation when Trump mentioned, during his speech, that she had converted.
Trump’s popularity in Israel
In his introduction of the president, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “Donald Trump is the greatest friend that the state of Israel has ever had in the White House.”
Trump was the fourth U.S. president to address the Knesset — and only the second Republican, following George W. Bush’s 2008 speech on Israel’s 60th anniversary. He was also the third president to do so after brokering a peace agreement between Israel and its neighbors: Bill Clinton spoke in 1994, a year after the signing of the Oslo Accords, and Jimmy Carter in 1979, after brokering the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt. The late Richard Nixon also visited the Knesset during the first-ever U.S. presidential trip to Israel in 1974, though he only spoke at a reception held in his honor.
Netanyahu has addressed a joint session of Congress four times – the most of any international leader.
But Trump made history in Israel by being the first American leader to address representatives of a nation that credits him more than its own leadership with ending the trauma of its longest war. The speech also comes five years after Trump brokered four normalization deals between Israel and Arab states, known as the Abraham Accords. “There’s never been an event like it,” Netanyahu told Israeli reporters as he walked into the chamber Monday.
Leading up to Trump’s speech, the speaker of the Knesset, Amir Ohana, said, “Mr. President, you stand before the people of Israel not as another American president, but as a giant of Jewish history, one for whom we must look back two and a half millennia into the mists of time to find a parallel, Cyrus the Great. You, President Donald J. Trump, are a colossus who will be enshrined in the pantone of history.”
That sentiment was also evident at the weekly Saturday night rally for the hostages in Tel Aviv, where boos erupted at the mention of Netanyahu’s name by Witkoff — in sharp contrast to the enthusiastic applause and cheers for Trump.
Many Israelis credit Trump alone for securing the release of the remaining hostages and ending the two-year conflict with Hamas in Gaza, while blaming their longtime leader for the failures surrounding the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and prolonging the conflict. Some have also accused Netanyahu of showing little empathy toward the families of the hostages and of undermining negotiations for their release.
Trump repeatedly pointed to the massive crowds in Tel Aviv as proof that Israelis were eager to end the war and bring the hostages home.
Nonetheless, Trump struck a positive tone toward Netanyahu, praising his leadership and crediting him for his cooperation in reaching this moment. “He’s not the easiest guy to deal with, but that’s what makes him great,” Trump said about him in the Knesset. That endorsement could boost Netanyahu’s standing with the Israeli public ahead of an election year. Netanyahu was invited by Trump to join him on his ride from Ben Gurion Airport to Jerusalem Monday, giving the prime minister rare one-on-one time and an opportunity to shape the tone and content of the remarks.
Three members of Netanyahu’s coalition boycotted Trump’s speech, criticizing the terms of the deal and saying there’s no reason for celebration.
‘My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker’
When Trump first campaigned for president in 2016, he vowed to broker the “ultimate deal” to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. His first term, however, was marked by a series of pro-Israel moves, including relocating the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. His ambitious peace plan, rolled out in January 2020, stalled amid Israeli political deadlock and rejection by Palestinian leaders. He then pivoted toward securing normalization agreements with Gulf states.
During the 2024 presidential election, Trump renewed his pledge to deliver peace in the Middle East, vowing to end the ongoing wars in Gaza and Lebanon while further isolating Iran.
“My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier,” Trump said at his inauguration.
Ten years after he launched his first White House bid and nine months after returning to power for a second term, Trump managed to eliminate an immediate nuclear threat from Iran, backed Israel in crushing Hezbollah as an Iranian proxy in the north, and last week oversaw the adoption of the first phase of a permanent ceasefire-for-hostages deal that could end the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and potentially bring regional peace.
Trump insists that his 20-point post-war plan would enhance Israel’s standing in America and globally and expand the Abraham Accords, though uncertainty remains about the next phases – disarming Hamas and establishing a coordinated Gaza reconstruction effort.
At the Knesset, Netanyahu reiterated his commitment to the deal, saying, “Mr. President, you are committed to this peace. I am committed to this peace. And together, Mr. President, we will achieve this peace.”
The post Trump heralds ‘the historic dawn of a new Middle East’ in speech to Israeli parliament after hostages returned appeared first on The Forward.
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‘The world needs more Trumps’: US president receives a hero’s welcome in Israeli parliament
The Israeli government will wage a campaign to promote President Donald Trump as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize, the a top lawmaker announced Monday as Trump visited the Knesset to mark the ceasefire deal he brokered between Israel and Hamas.
Trump received a lengthy standing ovation — over two minutes — when he first arrived in the parliament after landing in Israel on Monday, just after the 20 living hostages who remained in Gaza returned to their country.
A series of speakers then lavished him with praise, emphasizing his devotion to the hostages and the peace that may follow in the region. Trump was scheduled to leave Israel Monday afternoon for a peace summit in Egypt.
“The world needs more Trumps,” said Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, who said he would work with U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson to rally world leaders to nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. (Nominations for the prize, which was awarded for this year on Friday, in January.)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he would nominate Trump to become the first-ever non-Israeli to win the Israel Prize. Listing Trump’s pro-Israel bona fides, he repeated a sentiment that he has shared before: “Donald Trump is the greatest friend that Israel has ever had in the White House.”
And opposition leader Yair Lapid, too, praised Trump. “The fact that you were not awarded the Nobel Peace Prize is a grave mistake by the committee, but they will have no choice, Mr. President, they will have to award it to you next year,” he said. “Peace will not come by waiting. It will come by building, by reaching out and by daring, once again, to believe. You, Mr. President, have done the unimaginable. We will be eternally grateful.”
Israelis have celebrated Trump for pressing for the ceasefire deal that resulted in the release of the hostages. Signs praising him have popped up at rallies around the country.
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The post ‘The world needs more Trumps’: US president receives a hero’s welcome in Israeli parliament appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.