Esther Merves, 54 Springfield, Va. Job: Adjunct professor at George Washington University and standardized medical patient, both part time Previously: Full-time staff research scientist at GWU A doctor of sociology, Merves was laid off from her full-time position several years ago. After fruitlessly searching for another fulfilling full-time job, she is “still in the process…
Gail Pierris, 62 New York City Job: Executive assistant to the business manager of DC9, the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades Previously: Executive assistant at the New-York Historical Society Pierris has degrees in museum education and art history, and has worked in everything from travel and publishing to finance. She enjoys the perks…
Burt Gitlin, 58 North Bergen, N.J. Job: Actively looking Previously: CEO of Bond Bedding, a small custom mattress and box spring company Gitlin was CEO of Bond Bedding in Hudson County from 1999 to 2012, when it closed due to the economic downturn. Since then, he has volunteered in the wake of Hurricane Sandy while…
Jane Trigere, 64 South Deerfield, Mass. Job: Textile artist and community volunteer Previously: Director of the Hatikvah Holocaust Education and Resource Center in Springfield, Mass., now closed. After leading the Hatikvah Center from 1997 to 2000, Trigere earned a master’s degree but was unable to find another job in the museum/arts administration field. She has…
Until recently, Howard Sharfstein, an attorney who has had a decades-long career at a white-shoe law firm, had never meditated. “I never took the time to sit and be mindful,” he said. “I never took the time to consider my life values or life goals, or the meaning of relationships or faith.” In a little…
Donald Sylvan, 64 Toronto Job: Executive Director, Hillel Ontario Previously: President and CEO of JESNA, the Jewish Education Society of North America Early this year, Sylvan moved to Canada to direct the umbrella organization that oversees Hillels at colleges in Ontario. He’d recently left the helm of JESNA, which he led for over seven years,…
Rabbi Charles Rudansky brings Irving Silver a challah each time he visits. It’s their tradition: Rudansky carries the bread, wrapped in plastic, under his arm as he gets into his red Corolla. Before driving to Silver’s apartment in Manhattan, he lifts the lid of his soup-to-go cup and digs in. The smell of squash fills…
My 92-year old grandfather, a Holocaust survivor from Lodz, Poland, sleeps in my childhood bedroom in Los Angeles. He has adorned its walls with photos of the dead: his wife, wearing a borrowed gown in a postwar wedding portrait; a daughter, beaming at her high school graduation, and other friends and family members. There are…
100% of profits support our journalism
