Rejection In My Life Has Always Lead to Something Better!

As 2016 is about to begin, I realize that every "closed door" in my life has lead to a much better "open door!"

I still remember the day I was told when my contract was not renewed at a private school in Downey that "God opens doors and closes doors.  Consider this door closed."  I was devasted...but the closing of that door led to three wonderful years of my husband Dan and I living in the wonderful Atherton House which was and is one of the most happy times in my life.

When the Atherton House adventure ended, Dan and did many other things together while enjoying our little apartment on top of a garage at 14th and Ximeno in Long Beach, California.

Teaching skating at Brea and Costa Mesa and Paramount was a special time, and when the "door" at Paramount ended (I did not believe then that I'd ever teach skating again), a great new opportunity opened up for Dan and I to move to San Fransciso and work for JFJ in 1988.  We truly believed then that a new adventure was opening for us that could lead to a lifetime of travel and doing things that others didn't do.

But...

When Moishe Rosen decided that I should not work for JFJ again and told me so at a meeting in early December 1989, I was again devasted, but that "closed door" led to two much happier jobs for me in the San Francisco Bay area (one was teaching skating again).

And...then....

That closed door in JFJ led to Dan and I considering leaving JFJ and that opened up the door to move to Colorado Springs at the end of 1991 which led to nearly 25 years of a life in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  There, Dan and I bought and paid off a home and raised three beautiful children.  I taught skating in Colorado Springs and the kids became accomplished competitive skaters.  We all learned to ski and love the snow.  Life in Colorado was good.

All that skating and training led to my son Joel having an amazing adventure now with Disney On Ice Frozen.  Annabelle is a US Figure Skating Quadruple gold medalist and Rebekah has Five Gold Medals.  I wonder sometimes what those medals might do for their future, but it is great to have those credentials.

Now...

Certain doors have been shut for some of the members of my family in Colorado Springs.  Rebekah has left Colorado Springs for good after our family was banned from The Colorado Springs Conservatory (without explanation), the place that had been her "entire world and life."  I wonder now which direction her life will go, but that door being shut may have been the best thing that could have happened to her and our family.

Further Reading:

• Summary of My Family's Experience With the Colorado Springs Conservatory
• My Thoughts on 11-17-15 Gazette Article Regarding the Colorado Springs Conservatory
• Born Blue Musical Review (by a parent of one of the members of the cast)
• Remembering Born Blue's Preview at The Mezzanine - Wednesday, October 28, 2015
• A Parent's Review of Working - A Musical Put On By the Colorado Springs Conservatory June 18 through June 20, 2015
• My Comments on Linda Weise Receiving an Award for Compassion and Kindness
• My Thoughts and Opinion About the Colorado Springs Conservatory's Partnership With Harrison School District 2 and Mountain Vista Homeschool Academy
• My Thoughts and Wishes for Colorado Springs
• Why I May Not Recommend Moving to Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA
• Colorado Springs Conservatory Unpaid Invoice 
• Unpaid Colorado Springs Conservatory Invoice Update 12-19-15

Sushi Menorah!

Thank you to my friend Lori for sending me this photo. Hopefully  her husband Tom will make this for her next year! (Doesn't look Kosher to me...but so much fun!)

Happy Chanukah 2015

Why I May Not Recommend Moving to Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA

Colorado Springs is so, so beautiful, but I am not sure I recommend moving to this city.

In my family's 40 years here, there have been ups and downs, but the "downs" are outweighing the "ups" at this time, and as I reflect, I believe there is a "dark spiritual cloud" that hangs over this city which causes bad things to happen.

The recent senseless shooting at the Planned Parenthood Clinic on November 27, 2015, has perhaps been the last straw for me.

On a more personal note,  the deep sadness I feel beacuse of Linda Weise and the Colorado Springs Conservatory banning my entire family from even attending a performance (without being given an explanation) is a confirmation that Colorado Springs really is no longer a welcoming place.

The amusing article below is written by someone who I don't know who reflecting about our city, but I think it is appropriate to share with this blog post.

• Moving To Colorado Springs, Colorado – A Strange Experience

Here's another article on Colorado Springs featuring Olympic ice dancing champion Christopher Dean.  It is appropriate to also share thjs with my thoughts that I wrote in this blog post. 

• Christopher Dean's Colorado Springs: 'It feels like you can almost see the end of the Earth'

(On a personal note: Although Colorado Springs is a great place to skate, teaching skating in our city is hard because there are not enough rinks and too many coaches. That's my opinion...)

• Opinion:  It is difficult to make a living teaching skating in Colorado Springs

Remembering Garrett Swasey - Killed in Senseless Shooting in Colorado Springs

I couldn't sleep on the night of November 27, 2015 when I found out that Garrett Swasey was the police officer killed in the senseless shooting in Colorado Springs at the Planned Parenthood Clinic. I was up until 2:00 AM writing out my memories of Garrett.

Enjoy reading my memories and tribute to him at the links below:

• My Memories of Ice Dance Figure Skating Champion Garrett Swasey - Garrett Swasey Was the Police Officer Killed in Colorado Springs Shooting
• Remembering Garrett Swasey the Colorado Springs policeman killed 11-27-15

Hugs to all of us who knew him, skated and coached with him,and laughed with him.

I remember him holding my baby Annabelle sixteen years ago while I was teaching skating lessons at the Ice Arena at Chapel Hills Mall in Colorado Springs.

Garrett is mentioned in my book, MY SKATING LIFE: 50 Plus Years of Skating, when I talk about the magical Plaza Ice Chalet that was once in downtown Colorado Springs.

 More About Garrett Swasey in the News:

• Ice skating community mourns officer's death - From KRDO Colorado Springs Local Television
• Garrett Swasey, cop killed in Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood shooting and dad of two, was once an Olympic ice dancing hopeful - By Keri Blakinger and Larry McShane, New York Daily News, Saturday, November 28, 2015
• I Do Not Recommend Moving to Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA

Review of Maus: A Survivor's Tale - A Graphic Novel by Art Spiegelman

I do not like reading books that remember the Holocaust, but something seems to always draw me back to reading them anyway.

When I visited New York City in October of 2015, I visited a Jewish friend who happened to be discussing "Maus" by Art Spiegelman with her daughter (on the phone) who was away at college.  I believe her daughter may have had an assignment to do on the books, but I'm not sure about that.

While my friend and her daughter discussed the books, my friend brought the books to me, and after I glanced at them, I knew I wanted to read both volumes.  I have always enjoyed comic books, but I knew that these particular comic books were not like any other I'd ever seen.  (My friend was shocked I didn't know about these books.)

The story is told in comic book form and are graphic novels and shows Art "Artie" Spiegelman interviewing his father.  The reader gets to know Vladek Spiegelman as an old and miserable man who lives in New York, but at the same time the reader travels back in time to the time when Vladek Spiegelman was a handsome and strong young man who married a wealthy and beautiful Jewish woman named Anja.

Vladek and Anja were a happy couple with a young son.  Sadly, that son died in the Holocaust when he was a very small child.  As the reader follows Vladek's story, he or she learns how terrible life in Poland was, but how even more terrible was life in Auschwitz.  Vladek suffered from hunger, brutality, and lice.  He was packed into trains and treated worse than an animal.

The Jews in the book are pictured as mice, the Germans are cats, the Americans are dogs, and the Poles are pigs.

This book was like no other book since it drained my soul  G-d seemed to have disappeared completely.  How could such horrible things happen to anyone?  It seems that G-d deserted the Jews in Poland and the people in the camps completely.  Of all the books I've read about the Holocaust, this one was probably that most upsetting.  It almost haunted me.

It also helped me understand why people in the past saved every little thing, even scraps of bread and paper napkins.  What was and is worthless to people today was "like a treasure" for Vladek Spiegelman since those in the camps had nothing: no food, no paper, no toilet paper, nothing...all was taken away from the people in the ghettos and even more was taken away in the prison camps.  It is amazing that he and his wife survived.  Sadly, Vladek's wife, Anja killed herself in 1968 and her diaries were destroyed after that by her husband.  They would have told more details and more stories, but what Vladek did tell his son is huge.

Arthur Spiegelman did an amazing job and his story deserves more than five stars. I will never forget his books.

My Visit to My Great-Grandfather Adolf Regenstreich's Grave in Ozone Park, Queens, New York 10-16-15

While I was in New York City for the About.com Expert Event annual conference, I decided to take the time to seek out the grave of my great-grandfather (my father Arthur Schneider's grandfather and his mother, my Grandma Fannie's father).

Adolph Regenstreich

Until recently, all I knew about Adolf Regenstreich was that he was the father who came from Romania of my Grandma Fannie Ragin Schneider.

My Grandma Fannie was one of the youngest of 8 children   The names of Adolf's children were Rachel (always called Rae), Theodore (nickname was Teddy), Molly, Dorothy, Clara, David (Dave), Fannie, and Sidney

The oldest sister was named Rae (short for Rachel) and Rae was actually Grandma's half sister since Adolf's first wife, Golde, died when she was very young.  Adolf remarried Esther after Golde died and Esther, like Adolf, died of tuberculosis when she was very young.  I seem to remember Grandma telling me that her older sister Rae and her other older sister Molly did most of the cooking!

When the siblings (with the exception of Teddy) moved to California, they changed and shortened their last name to Ragin. (My uncle Bobby told my husband that Adolf Regenstreich real name had been Abraham Jacob Levine, but to protect his family, he changed his name to Adolf Regenstreich so he could somehow avoid having to serve in the Romanian-Austrian army since men with Jewish sounding names were drafted first.)

Fannie Ragin (Regenstreich)

Rae's grandaughter, Luci Rollins Janssen, connected with me and my father recently.  She found us after searching through ancestory search websites!

Rae Regenstreich Rollins

During a very recent trip to Luci's home, I was shown a photo of my great-grandfather's gravestone and also given a copy of his death certificate.  He died in 1914 in New York City.

So....early on Friday morning, October 16, 2015, I made a call to find out exactly where in the Acacia Cemetery Adolf Regenstreich was buried.

First I was told abruptly, "Call back Monday," but when I told the person that answered the phone that I would not be in NYC Monday, I received a call from Susan (on her day off) who ran the office at Acacia Cemetery.  Susan "bent over backwards" to help me find my great-grandfather by asking someone named Marcia who was answering the office phones to search for my great-grandfather on the microfiche records. Susan then gave me detailed directions over the phone on how exactly to find Adolf in the very huge cemetery which is the largest Jewish cemetery in New York City!

After I talked to Susan, I got on a subway train in mid-town Manhattan and took a hour plus long subway ride to Ozone Park, Queens.  When I got off the train, I met and linked up with my study partner, Dena Leff, from Partners in Torah (Dena lives about 30 minutes from the Acacia Park cemetery), and together we found Yassir 41 where Adolf Regenstreich was burried. Dena explained that that area was a section of the Acacia cemetary that was for a certain synagogue.

We stepped into a huge space and began searching for Adolf's gravestone.  It seemed like a hopeless thing to do, since there were so many graves in that space.

For a moment, I thought I found the gravestone, but realized the grave I found was for someone named Harry Regenstreich, not Adolf.  (Was Harry a relative?  Maybe...I took a photo of Harry's gravestone which said he was 25 years old when he died in 1902.  My father says that Grandma Fannie's oldest brother Teddy stayed in NYC to take care of a relative or brother...was Harry Regenstreich related to that person?)

I just kept searching and searching and walked by gravestone after gravestone.  I was about to give up, but finally, I found Adolf Regenstreich's stone!  It was huge and was in the very center of Yassir 41, on the left and only 13 spots from the center entry!

I shook when I saw his stone and grave.

Jo Ann and Her Study Partner From Parners in Torah Dena Leff at Jo Ann's Great Grandfather's Grave

After taking many, many photos, Dena read some Hebrew prayers outloud and then she told me that I was supposed to talk to my great-grandfather and tell him about his family, so I began to talk and talk and told my great-grandfather about my Grandma Fannie and I told him all about his other children, Grandma's brothers and sisters, who I got to know well when I lived with Grandma in the late 1970s.




This was a very memorable experience, and was made even "more memorable" because Dena was there.  In the approximately 14 years I've studied with Dena and Partners in Torah, Dena and I have only met face to face three times:  In 2007 when she organized a "Spur of the Moment Bar Mitzvah" for my son Joel, in 2014 when my daughter Annabelle and I attended her daughter Shira's wedding, and on Friday, October 16, 2015 when I visited my great-grandfather's gravesite.  Dena and Partners in Torah made that experience so, so meaningful!  And...all three experiences were the best learning experiences ever!

Before we left, Dena instructed me to put a rock on top of my great-grandfather's gravestone to show that he had been visited.

Duggar Scandal Thoughts

I have been following the Josh Duggar scandal.  Here are my thoughts:

For a time, I enjoyed watching the Duggar (19 Kids and Counting) reality show since unlike other reality TV shows, there was no arguing.  They just seemed like a very happy family and I enjoyed seeing how everyone liked being together.

I admit, at first, I very much enjoyed watching the Duggar family on reality TV.  It was fun to watch them go grocery shopping, organize clothes, eat together, play together, shop together, or even watch them do laundry!  I was fascinated that their house was so clean and that smiles and hugs were present.

I think I may have wished at times too that I'd been able to have more children.  Or...maybe because I unschooled-homeschooled my children, that I liked seeing the Duggar family being there for one another and how much they valued their time together.

The Duggar's life reminded me of my life before my husband got hurt in 2005.  We jumped from one adventure to another, like Peter Pan did in Neverland.  Life for the Duggars, like Auntie Mame said in the Broadway musical, Mame, was "a banquet."  The Duggar's showed that a happy family life was so important and was what mattered.

I stopped watching the show in time.  Maybe I stopped watching because of the feeling that that the Duggar's religious beliefs were better than others, or maybe I just stopped watching because the show became repetitive or boring, or maybe I just was no longer interested in what the Duggars were up to...

Anyway...as the scandous news about Josh Duggar has surfaced, I keep thinking about Josh's wife and kids.

Josh and Anna's life seemed almost perfect and their loving family's life seemed perfect too.  Josh was the Executive Director of the Family Research Council, which meant he probably had a lot of money, and he and Anna were and are the parents of four beautiful little kids.  What could have been better?  Why did Josh's past have to surface at all?

I can't help but think about what it must be like to be in Anna's shoes right now.  She has every right to be angry.  I wonder if she is getting any sleep?  Is she feeling betrayed?  Is she thinking of making any drastic decisions?  Is she scared?  Wow...what is Anna Duggar going through?

Now, perhaps, Josh's life is ruined?  Who would ever hire him or even buy a car from him?  He has publicly admitted he messed up.  

What has happened to the Duggar family also makes me realize that being as open as they were about their family's life was and is probably not a very good thing.  They wanted the world to see that God had blessed them because of their faith, but they are not perfect and now the entire world knows.

For the Duggars, life will go on.  This time in their lives where so much anger surrounds them will pass.  They will pray and continue to be a family and they will seek God.  In other words, life will go on, but there will be no more episodes on TLC showing their life and many people will miss them.

Even though I stopped watching the show, I admit I may miss hearing about the Duggar;s adventures...

Happy Purim 2015!

Review of "Edith's Story: The True Story of How One Young Girl Survived World War II"

I don't like to read stories about the Holocaust, but I began reading a sample of  "Edith's Story: The True Story of How One Young Girl Survived World War II" and could not put the book down.  It only took me two days to read it, in fact.

Edith van Hessen was a happy child and teen growing up in Holland.  As I read about her, I was reminded of my own daughter,  Annabelle, who seems to make friends wherever she goes.

Edith was good at sports. She attended an exclusive private school, played the piano, loved to write and had a wonderful and loving mother and father, grandmother, and two brothers.  Her home was a home filled with love.

She even wrote that she ice skated with her friends in Holland and learned the Fourteen Step, an ice dance that I know well.  Edith, like all young teens, looked forward to a happy life and future.

Just like Anne Frank, she kept diaries and wrote a lot of letters.  Parts of her diary entries and letters are woven together throughout her book.

Before Germany invaded Holland, Edith's oldest brother moved to the USA when it seems that it might be dangerous for the family to stay in Holland because they are Jews, but the rest of the family did not really want to leave the comfortable life they had in Holland.

The van Hessens know they are Jewish, but they are secular Jews who celebrate "St Nicholas" day. They have friends from all sorts of religious backgrounds, and life in Holland is good.  They actually could have moved easier than some since her father worked for an American company based in Ohio. 

Also, the USA will not allow Edith's grandmother in the United States since the grandmother was from Germany and the US will no longer allow Jewish Germans into the USA, so the family decides to stay since they don't want to leave the grandmother behind.

Just in case they might possibly change their minds, they did obtain passports and Visas, but those were burned up after the Germans invaded Holland.

At first the van Hessens don't believe Hitler will actually do the same things in Holland as he did in Germany, but they soon find out they were wrong. It happened slowly, but soon they had to sew yellow stars on all of their clothing, Edith can't go to school with gentiles, they can't ride bikes, they can't ride buses, their car is taken away, they can only shop at certain times, and things keep getting worse and worse.  Jewish friends are suddenly told they must vacate their homes.  It is a very scary time.

The van Hessen family decides to have Edith and her brother Jules hide since young people are being "called" and being "called" could mean that they could be sent to work camps or to unknown places.

It is the right time for Edith and her brother to hide.  Edith and her brother obtain false identification cards without the Jewish "J" and different names. Jules goes to a different place to hide than Edith.

Edith lives with a gentile family in an area where no one knows her and takes on the name "Netti" (a gentile girl whose parents are ill) and helps her hosts keep their home clean.  She is very lonely during that time and misses her family so much.  She is visited by a gentile friend that gives her letters from her parents that are supposed to be burned after they are read, but she keeps the letters anyway.  These letters are treasures now since they are what made Edith's book so very dramatic.

During the hiding period, Edith does get to travel to see her father one last time while he is the hospital recovering from cancer surgery, but knows it will be the last time she will ever see him.  She also does see her brother one time, just before her brother tells her about his plan to leave Holland and head for Switzerland (I or was it America?).

The brother who had false identification is caught though before he has a chance to escape and is eventually sent to a death camp.  Her family's home is eventually taken by the Germans.  Her mother and grandmother, and friends and other relatives are eventually sent to death camps and die there. Her father dies in the hospital, but Edith says that later she believes he may have committed suicide rather than be sent to a German death camp.

Edith "hides" under the false gentile identity for about three years.  

After the Germans are defeated and things return to "normal," Edith leaves the gentile family and returns home and finds her bedroom almost intact, although her family's house was stripped and everything else was gone. In her room she also finds photos and memories.

Edith is reunited with her brother,who moved to the USA and also her cousin who both served with the Allies during the war She goes on with her life and eventually goes to college, participates in sports, gets married, has children and goes to America.

She forms a new family and life goes on, but she always misses her parents, brother, grandmother, and other friends and family who died in the Holocaust.

This book really affected me and seemed to be more powerful a read that Anne Frank's diary. In fact, when Edith had twin babies in 1950, she shared a hospital room with Miep, the woman who helped hide the Frank family! She tells Miep, when Miep mentions that Mr. Frank is trying to publish Anne's diary, that she doubts anyone will read it...

It is awful to think such a sad thing happened to such a young and sweet girl.  I cried and I will cry again when I think about Edith's story.  I hope nothing like the Holocaust will ever happen again...

Review of "Jew in the Pew" - A Book by Jenny Berg Chandler

I recently read a book on my Kindle Fire by Jenny Berg Chandler called Jew in the Pew: A Memoir.

I discovered the book when I typed in "Jewish" into the search book box in the Kindle Store and I was intrigued.

I also wondered if I could perhaps relate to this author and, of course, books that tell people's individual stories always attract my attention these days since I recently published the story of my skating life.  I have recently wondered if the manuscript draft I've written about my crazy and mixed up spiritual journey should also be published, but a friend suggested I hold off since that story seems to not have an ending quite yet.

Anyway, back to Jenny Berg Chandler's story: 

Jenny grew up in a reform Jewish home in Philadelphia, but her family was torn apart when her parents divorced after her mother suddenly became a believer in Jesus.

After the divorce, and from the time she was eight to fourteen, Jenny's family (mother and siblings and grandparents) lived in a Jewish neighborhood in Philadelphia, but also attended a Messianic Jewish congregation, and seemed to only have messianic Jewish friends.  Messianic Judaism was their entire world it seemed.  They were totally absorbed in it, and to outsiders their involvement could have seemed a bit cult-like.  The family did all the Jewish holidays and from their point of view, they were Jews who believed in Yeshua (Jesus).  In other words, they did not fit in with the regular Jewish community, but were not really "standard Christians" either.

All was good until at the age of fourteen, very suddenly,  Jenny's family was thrown out of the messianic Jewish world.  Jenny does not really know what happened, but she did know that the people that had been part of Jenny's and her family's close knit messianic world would no longer associate with her or her family.  It must have been a horrible time for Jenny and her family, but life went on.

Instead of just going the "plain Jewish route" and giving up believing in Jesus, Jenny's family did what most believers in Jesus would do: the went to church and became very involved and Jenny also went to a Christian school.  The family made new friends and became part of mainline evangelical Christianity, but together, at home and isolated from other Jews, maintained some Jewish traditions.   Their messianic Jewish past, and their reformed Jewish past was still part of her family's life, but after Jenny got married, Jenny sometimes felt that those memories were buried or tucked away. 

Jenny grew up and married a Baptist.  She and her husband became involved at church and were very involved and part of the church going world, but Jenny realized as time went on that she missed being Jewish.  How much she missed being Jewish didn't take over her thoughts and being until her family moved to Florida when her children were pre-teens. 

"Jew in the Pew" tells Jenny's story of how she decided to bring being a Jew and Judaism back into her life and into her family's life.  The book is told in an entertaining style and in a journal-like form, and is so open that the reader feels he or she IS Jenny since the reader is taken into Jenny's home, her thoughts, and into her personal life.

The reader gets a chance to celebrate and learn about every Jewish holiday with Jenny and her family.  I felt like I was really there during Purim, Sukkot, Shabbat, Passover, and other holidays.  I traveled with Jenny to a synagogue and to other Jewish gatherings.  I was in the kitchen cooking Jewish foods and baking challah.  That was fun!

It is obvious from reading the book that Jenny has an incredibly close family and that although many of her family members are messianic Jews, that Jenny is very much Jewish and that she is also Christian because she believes that Jesus is the Jewish messiah.  Like a chameleon, Jenny can become either, but is the most comfortable with other messianic Jews.

I found myself relating to Jenny since my desire to give my children a Jewish identity is so very strong and my desire to seek God as a Jew and be part of the Jewish community is also so very strong.  Also, Jenny's feeling that she really does not belong inside a gentile church is so true for me.  Home for me is with the Jewish community.  I will never feel comfortable in a church setting.

For Jenny, home is with Messianic Jews or with the regular Jewish community, but she can fit into a church too.

I did not know until I read Jenny's story, how very Jewish messianic Jews are.  That world almost seems like another branch of Judaism in fact!  Getting thrown out of that community was almost like a divorce for Jenny's family and it was refreshing to read about Jenny's reconnection to that community and her connection with the Jewish community in Florida and also about the healing relationships in her own family that seemed to be helped by Jenny's desire to connect with "all things Jewish"

Whatever a Jewish person believes does not change the fact that he or she is Jewish; that line of thinking is made very clear in Berg Chandler's book.  Jenny Berg Chandler's book shows how strong Jewish identity can be in a very gentile world.  It made me grateful that I've been able to worship G-d the way that works for me (for me I just can't do it  in that "other world"), but I see that Jenny figured out how to worship God and be a part of two worlds at the same time.

I learned too that every Jewish person must find his or her own way to worship God.  Jenny found a good balance, and I believe I may have found what works for me.  I recommend Jenny's book to any Jewish person who may struggle with Jewish and/or Christian issues, those who are inter-married, and to anyone interested in understanding what it may be like to be Jewish in America.  It's an easy read.

Note:  I was intrigued that Jenny enjoyed connecting with a group called "Jewish Java" in Florida.  I wish such a group was in Colorado where I live!  I also thought it was neat to read how Jenny's daughter went on a Birthright Israel trip since my son, Joel, got to go on one early last summer.  I can see that Jenny was able to pass on a sense of Jewish identity on to her children, and I've been so glad I've been able to do that with my family too.