Eighty years ago on the night of November 9-10, 1938, the Nazi government in Germany and Austria perpetrated widespread attacks on the Jews in those countries. In my play THIN EDGE OF THE WEDGE I talk about those attacks:

PZ MILLER:
Two months after we arrived in Munich, I read about an event that the Nazi government had organized before the start of WWII — mass public attacks on Jews throughout Germany and Austria. This event that I had never heard of before became known as Kristallnacht — Night of Broken Glass — also known as Reichspogromnacht. During the attack, the Nazis in Germany and Austria burned synagogues, vandalized Jewish stores, and rounded up Jewish males, sending thousands to concentration camps. Suddenly I realized that I was learning about Kristallnacht while in Munich, Germany, on the exact date of the anniversary of that dreadful night of November 9-10, 1938.

PZ Miller contemplates this before continuing.

PZ MILLER:
For propaganda purposes the Nazis claimed that the attacks carried out on Kristallnacht were spontaneous. Yet when I later got a job in an Army office, I worked with a German woman, Miss Winkler. She told me she had been 17 in Munich when her night school teacher sent all the students home early that evening before the attacks began.

PZ Miller looks around at the audience.

PZ MILLER:
In Arnold Geier’s book HEROES OF THE HOLOCAUST he recounts that on November 8, 1938, one night before Kristallnacht, a German man appeared at the Berlin apartment of Geier’s grandfather. The man said: “Herr Geier, do you remember when you saved a soldier on the battlefield many years ago [during World War I]? I am that soldier. I work with the Chief of Police in Berlin and have kept track of you for a long time. Tomorrow night, police and SS will round up adult male Jews all over Germany. I have seen the list, and your name is on it. Do whatever you wish. My debt to you is paid.”

PZ Miller steps to one side and puts on a German child’s pinafore.

PZ MILLER AS ELFRIEDE MORGENSTERN:
I am Elfriede Morgenstern, and I was nine years old in Frankfurt, Germany, the morning after Kristallnacht. My mother’s parents, Jews born in Poland rather than Germany, had already been taken by the Nazis and shipped back to Poland, eventually to be murdered in the Nazi extermination camp of Auschwitz. My mother, my six-year-old sister Sylvia and I were woken by pounding on the door of Nazi brown shirts demanding my father. Lucky for him he was away on business, and a neighbor who barely knew us — Frau Storch — confirmed that Herr Morgenstern frequently traveled on business. Minutes later my father pulled up in his car in front of the house. He had heard about the attacks on Jews and had returned to check on us. Frau Storch ran to his car and pleaded for him to get away.

Why is this 80th commemoration important in today’s world?

As far right political parties get more powerful in Germany, the U.S. and other democratic countries, all of us must be on guard that we do not allow the trampling of civil rights until it is too late as it was on September 1, 1939, when Nazi Germany attacked Poland and started World War II — and the fate of six million Jews along with millions of others including Roma, homosexuals, mentally and physically handicapped people, and political opponents was sealed.

At the conclusion of the play THIN EDGE OF THE WEDGE:

PZ MILLER:
Some people say that I am obsessed with the Holocaust. Am I? Or am I obsessed with the thought that these horrific crimes against humanity can happen again — anywhere — anytime — to any group of people.

Judith, the Polish Countess, and the Radio Announcer come to stand besides PZ Miller.

PZ MILLER:
All it takes is allowing the thin edge of the wedge to grow so wide until … there is no turning back.

Read more about the one-act play THIN EDGE OF THE WEDGE here.

© 2018 Miller Mosaic LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the author of fiction and nonfiction books/ebooks. Phyllis is available by skype for book group discussions and may be reached at pzmiller@gmail.com

Her Kindle fiction ebooks may be read for free with a Kindle Unlimited monthly subscription — see www.amazon.com/author/phylliszimblermiller — and her Kindle nonfiction ebooks may also be read for free with a Kindle Unlimited monthly subscription — see www.amazon.com/author/phylliszmiller

L’shana tova to all —

In two weeks the Jewish High Holidays will begin with Rosh Hashanah, followed by Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Simchat Torah.

I want to wish everyone a healthy New Year and share with you my current Jewish social entrepreneurship project — the one-act play THE THIN EDGE OF THE WEDGE, for which I am seeking to have staged readings around the world this November for the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht and then afterwards to have the play presented to high school and college students.

(The play is based on firsthand accounts of survivors and saviors that I published in the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent newspaper in the 1970s after returning from Munich, Germany, where my husband was an officer with the 18th Military Intelligence Battalion and I eventually worked as a Department of the Army civilian for the 66th Military Intelligence Group.)

If you might be connected to people who could help with this project (NOT raising funds — simply connecting to interested organizations), please click here to read my article about the project. And contact me at pzmiller@gmail.com if you would like me to email you the script of the play (4 actors, no scenery for ease of production).

Click here to read about the holidays of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Simchat Torah.

Watch this amazing PBS documentary “GI JEWS: Jewish Americans in World War II” including footage of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps.

And click here to check out the documentary’s page on the PBS site.

“The U.S. military faces a mental health crisis of historic proportions.”

Warning:There are scenes of fighting in this video and in the documentary.

From the website description of the documentary:

Thank You for Your Service takes aim at the flawed mental health policies within the Armed Services and their tragic consequences. The film interweaves the stories of four Iraq War veterans with candid interviews of top military and civilian leaders. Observing the systemic neglect, the film argues for significant internal change and offers a roadmap of hope.

The film proposes the implementation of a Behavioral Health Corps in the military in order to streamline effective care, create accountability at the highest levels and ultimately a reduction to stigma on the issues surrounding mental health. [#bhcnow on Twitter]

Note: There are other military film projects with the same name.

The October 28, 2016, New York Times review stated:

“Thank You for Your Service” starts with a frantic, tear-filled 911 call reporting a suicide. It’s a gut-wrenching moment in a documentary that’s filled with them, and with scenes that make you want to scream in frustration at the bureaucracy faced by combat veterans seeking mental health services.

“We couldn’t have drawn up a more catastrophic way to fail to meet mental health needs than the blueprints that were followed in this war,” a retired Navy psychologist says about Iraq. The facts bear him out: Over the past decade, the number of suicides among veterans has soared.

The documentary reports:

If a soldier commits suicide 121 days after discharge it is not counted as a suicide in the United States military.

Paul Rieckhoff, founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), wrote a CNN opinion piece March 11, 2018, after the March 9, 2018, killings at the Pathway Home for veterans in Yountville, California. The title of the piece was “Yountville shooting: The casualties of America’s war at home” and he concluded:

The road forward after war is never easy, and never a straight line, but it’s out there. For individuals — and for our nation. And it’s easier to navigate if we do it together.

That includes you, whoever you are, reading this piece. Veteran or not. Ten tours overseas or none. We all have an obligation to look out for our fellow citizens. And especially those who heroically step up into the breach to serve our country like Christine, Jen and Jennifer did. Not just on the front lines overseas, but here at home. This is your moment. America’s future needs you.

I highly recommend this documentary, especially for Americans who have no connection to active duty military personnel or veterans. It is imperative that we all support the efforts to provide our veterans better mental health care while on active duty and afterwards.

If you have any doubt that we all need to do this together, watch the documentary THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE.

Click here to watch THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE on Amazon (free with an Amazon Prime subscription).

© 2018 Miller Mosaic LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller) is the author of the short story SOLOMON’S JUSTICE, which is inspired by the real-life Los Angeles County Veterans Court (see www.SolomonsJustice.com).

Her Kindle fiction ebooks may be read for free with a Kindle Unlimited monthly subscription — see www.amazon.com/author/phylliszimblermiller — and her Kindle nonfiction ebooks may also be read for free with a Kindle Unlimited monthly subscription — see www.amazon.com/author

I was a reporter and editor for the Jewish weekly newspaper the Jewish Exponent in the early 1970s when the first screenings for the Jewish genetic disease Tay Sachs were offered. My husband and I joined others in being tested, and the Exponent carried numerous stories of the fatal prognosis of a Tay Sachs child.

In the years since then many, many more genetic diseases can be screened for, and it is important that prospective parents undergo these tests. (I wrote about genetic screening including for the condition of Fragile X Syndrome — not a specifically Jewish genetic disease — in my blog post “Genetic Screening During Pregnancy.”)

Now during Rosh Hashanah synagogue services for the Jewish new year a friend handed me the September 30th issue of the Los Angeles weekly newspaper the Jewish Journal. The issue included a full-page ad about GeneTestNow.com with the headline “A Message From Your Local Rabbis About the Importance of Gene Testing in Our Community”

The GeneTestNow.com ad begins:

As rabbis, we are concerned about the complete health of our communities — spiritual as well as physical. So we are heartened that more and more people are learning about the importance of gene testing.

Since GeneTestNow.com — a free, locally based nonprofit founded by concerned members of our community — was launched four years ago, there have been significant strides in this grassroots effort to spread awareness and education about gene testing.

Later in the GeneTestNow.com ad is this important sentence:

For couples with any degree of Jewish ancestry, screening for the portion of the 40 potential conditions specific to your Sephardic, Ashkenazi, Persian, or North African Jewish heritage is imperative.

Click here to see the list of diseases on the GeneTestNow.com site separated into “Ashkenazi Jewish Genetic Diseases” and “Sephardic/Mizrahi Jewish Genetic Diseases.”

I would hope that this initiative is being implemented in Jewish communities throughout the world as well as encouraging screening for non-Jews for other genetic diseases.

And while Jewish men and women stationed with the U.S. military all around the world may not have as easy access to these screening tests as other Jews, it is important for Jewish military personnel to know about these tests.

In this Jewish new year of 5777 I wish everyone a year of good health and success. GeneTestNow.com is an important platform for achieving that good health.

© 2016 Miller Mosaic LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller) is the author of the short story SOLOMON’S JUSTICE, which is inspired by the real-life Los Angeles County Veterans Court (see www.SolomonsJustice.com).

Her Kindle fiction ebooks may be read for free with a Kindle Unlimited monthly subscription — see www.amazon.com/author/phylliszimblermiller — and her Kindle nonfiction ebooks may also be read for free with a Kindle Unlimited monthly subscription — see www.amazon.com/author/phylliszmiller

As we start the Jewish New Year with good wishes for family and friends, I want to share important information from a pamphlet distributed at my synagogue — “What Jewish and Interfaith Couples Need to Know About Jewish Genetic Diseases.”

As the information says: “All couples with ANY Jewish ancestry, including interfaith couples, should have pre-conception carrier screening for all Jewish genetic diseases.”

While this information provided by the Jewish Genetic Disease Consortium is relevant for all people with Jewish ancestry, it is particularly imperative to share with Jewish military personnel who may be serving on active duty in places with a very small Jewish population and who may not know about this important topic:

Talk to Your Doctor About Jewish Genetic Disease Screening

If you or your partner have any Jewish ancestry, or are an interfaith couple, it is important that you ask to have pre-conception carrier screening for the Jewish genetic diseases.

If you are already pregnant, it is important to discuss screening with your doctor as soon as possible.

Tell you doctor about:

Your plans to become pregnant

All family heritage, whether Ashkenazi (German, French or Eastern European), Sephardic (Mediterranean) or Mizrahi (Persian/Iranian or Middle Eastern).

Any family history of genetic diseases.

If you have been screened before, and your test results are available, bring them to your appointment.

If you do not have a doctor, or if your doctor does not offer genetic screening and counseling, you can contact a hospital based medical genetics program or an online genetics program that offers education, counseling and screening. Screening resources are listed at JewishGeneticDiseases.org. You can also search for a genetic counselor in your area at nsgc.org.

Whether you are currently single, dating, engaged or married, you may be thinking about having children or adding to your family.

If you or your partner have any Jewish heritage, you need to consider genetic screening.

If both of you are carriers of the same disease, it is best to have this information before pregnancy. A genetic counselor can discuss your options for building a healthy family.

Click here to learn more at www.jewishgeneticdiseases.org

And please share this information.

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I have been cleaning the parts of my self-cleaning oven that do not get self-cleaned in preparation for the Jewish spring holiday of Pesach (Passover). And, while this is not a very fun activity on a day off from work, I did realize that I am immensely grateful for the freedom in the United States to be able to celebrate Pesach openly without fear of government reprisals.

And this thought led me to being grateful for our U.S. military men and women who protect this freedom from attack by other nations. The reason our troops were uppermost in my mind?

As a fan of the TV drama series “Downton Abbey” I had just finished reading the two nonfiction books by the Countess of Carnarvon — LADY ALMINA AND THE REAL DOWNTON ABBEY: THE LOST LEGACY OF HIGHCLERE CASTLE and LADY CATHERINE, THE EARL, AND THE REAL DOWNTON ABBEY. Lady Almina’s time covers the First World War and Lady Catherine’s time covers the Second World War — the descriptions of the horrors of both wars are not spared by the author.

And, as I scrubbed my oven, I thought about what the world would be like today if Nazi Germany had won WWII. I wondered whether, even in the U.S. now, would there be Jews free to celebrate the holiday of Pesach.

As Pesach is a holiday that celebrates the Jews’ freedom from bondage in Egypt, it is definitely an appropriate time to give thanks to the active duty men and women protecting our freedoms in the U.S. It is equally important to say thanks to the veterans who have previously served.

P.S. If you would like to know about the holiday of Pesach, click here to read this chapter from my Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION.

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the author of fiction and nonfiction books/ebooks, including HOW TO SUCCEED IN HIGH SCHOOL AND PREP FOR COLLEGE and the romantic suspense spy thriller CIA FALL GUY, as well as newly written books not yet published. She can be reached at pzmiller@gmail.com

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With the approach of Pesach, this is a good time to remember that much of our freedom in the United States depends on our military personnel, including Jews, who serve in harm’s way.

Thanks to Project MOT, Pesach holiday packages were sent to deployed Jewish troops, and here is one thank you that Project MOT received this year:

Dear Project MOT,

Thank you for the wonderful Pesach Care Package, I really appreciate it! I especially loved the kosher jelly fruit shaped candies. My Bubbie had those out at Passover every year and they brought back wonderful memories.

Thank you for your love and support to Jewish troops deployed overseas. You remind us why we chose to serve.

Wishing you a wonderful Passover with family and friends.

First Lieutenant Micah
Kabul, Afghanistan

Click here to contribute to Project MOT.

And if you want to read more about the holiday of Pesach, click here for the Pesach chapter from the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION.

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Thank you for the wonderful, thoughtful Purim Care Package. Purim was one of my favorite holidays growing up with my family’s Havurah. The care package brought back the great memories of those times. I shared the snacks and candy with my office and we have already used the birthday card to celebrate one of the team member’s birthdays. What a great idea to include blank cards!

On a more serious note, the work and support you all are doing is so important to the other Jewish American troops and myself serving abroad. As we currently see in the state of global affairs, Judaism is once again under attack by many hateful voices and your support counters that vitriol.

My deployment continues to be an unbelievable learning experience. I work for a Brigadier General who has been tasked with stopping Gross Violations of Human Rights, preventing Extrajudicial Killings and combating Corruption. I am responsible for keeping him safe and ensuring that he is able to accomplish his mission of making Afghanistan a better place.

Thank you again for your support. I hope to meet some or all of you when I get back home this fall!
___

Click here to read the Purim chapter in the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION.

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