Tune in by radio or on-line at 1 pm PST to Fresh Air to hear historian Robert Satloff, author of the book “Among the Righteous: Lost Stories from the Holocaust’s Long Reach into Arab Lands.”

The book, now out in paperback, is about the Arabs who protected or aided Jews in North Africa where Nazi Germany, Vichy France and fascist Italy exported anti-Semitic policies during World War Two. Satloff is executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

In other news, Israelity Bites reports that photojournalist Alexandra Boulet, who focused much of her work on Gaza (and, recently, Afghanistan), has passed away after spending 106 days in a coma caused by a brain aneurysm in June. Inna lillahey wa inna illeyhey rajioun - We belong to God and to God we return. May she rest in peace.

And the always insightful Velveteen Rabbi, pauses on the day after Sukkot. As we head into the last days of Ramadan, I found her words of lingering with God very relevant and lovely:

“I love the idea that after seven-times-seven-weeks of spiritual work, what God wants most is for us to linger just a little longer… and I’m unsettled and ultimately inspired by the notion that however holy our words may be (and Jewish tradition loves words, no doubt about that!), the silence — the ineffability — the pause in time — the blank parchment that contains them is even holier.”

[Photo credit: Alexandra Boulet]