The specter that haunts Europe

September 22, 2019 is the 100th anniversary of a terrible pogrom in Fastiv, Ukraine, near Kiev. I know because my family survived it to become refugees who just barely made it into the United States before changes in immigration law would have made it more difficult, if not impossible.

What’s so funny about peace, love and empathy?

For a long time, empathy was thought of as an emotion, or a willful behavior — in the same category as kindness or compassion. As such, it was subject to whatever societal biases we have for “the softer things.” And while it may turn out that kindness and compassion also have a biological basis, it is crystal clear that empathy does.