Leonard Felson

Missing My Dad’s Yahrzeit

When my shul closed during the pandemic, I lost the place where I usually commemorate my father’s death and say Kaddish for him Tablet...

Leonard Felson

The Most Important Holocaust Story Never Told

A new film tells the tale of Emanuel Ringelblum’s ‘Oyneg Shabes’ Archive, a trove of hidden materials that documented life in the Warsaw...

Leonard Felson

Seeing God at Yankee Stadium

When I caught a foul ball at a baseball game, I felt the divine presence—and it changed my whole life The night I caught a soaring foul...

Leonard Felson

Throwing Out the Ten Commandments—the Ones that Once Sat Atop My Cake

I found a memento from my bar mitzvah in my parents’ house. Was it finally time to let go of the past, or was it worth keeping? I was...

Leonard Felson

When "Never Forget" Becomes "I Don't Remember"

My father always told us about how he survived the Holocaust. Now that dementia has taken his memories away, it’s my turn to tell his...

Leonard Felson

The Prayer For My Mother That Made Me A Better Man

I am not a Jew who prays three times a day, in the morning, afternoon and evening as proscribed by Jewish law. Not like my wife’s four...

Essays