MAZAL TOV!

You’ve kept me informed and entertained for close to a halfcentury

As one even older than The Jerusalem Post (I am 92), I relished every page of your 90 years Magazine. Oh, what wonderful memories it brought back!

I have been a faithful reader and sometime freelance contributor since 1971. I vividly remember trudging with my typewritten articles to the offices in Romema; collecting books which, hopefully, I was assigned to review; writing for the beautifully produced advertising supplements edited by Ruth Beloff – The Good Food Guide; Home & Garden, etc.; talking with awe-inspiring journalists like Sam Orbaum, Judy Siegel, Alex Berlyne, and the devoted archivist Alexander Zvielli.

I was eking out a living in those days and was so grateful to be paid, even modestly, to do the work I loved. And still today – 50 years later – I am so happy to see The Jerusalem

Post on my doorstep each day as I tackle the crossword and word puzzles before my day’s activities begin.

Long may The Jerusalem Post last, flourish and spread information and entertainment for the next 90 years.

DVORA WAYSMAN

Jerusalem

Regarding The Jerusalem Post’s 90th “birthday,” I remember Sam Orbaum’s weekly contest in 1991 in a column called “Noah’s Bark” (a good pun in itself). Every week, Orbaum supplied a topic for readers’ jokes, which were published the following Friday. Being that 1991 was “ancient history,” I sent my jokes in a stamped envelope.

My letter arrived every week in enough time that I managed to acquire a string of honorable mentions until – bingo! – one week, I won the first prize: an encyclopedia printed in a dozen paperback volumes, published circa 1990, making it an up-to-date reference book.

I treasured the prize, but my kids hated it because I decided to quiz them regarding their general knowledge during Shabbat lunch, using the encyclopedia as a guide. I would randomly take a volume, open a page, and ask about a particular concept, name or place – based on several encyclopedia entries.

If “The God of Knowledge” was in my kids’ favor, my hand grasped the “M” volume. Many of the “M” entries dealt with Jewish topics (Maccabees, menorah, mesorah, etc.), so my children were able to answer the quiz quickly and escape outside to join their friends at their youth movement activities. The “Noah’s Bark” contest and my subsequent prize can be blamed directly for this rigmarole.

Congratulations to the Jerusalem Post staff on the milestone birthday. You’ve kept me informed and entertained for close to a half-century, ever since I made aliyah. May you continue to go from strength to strength, in good health and good cheer.

LEAH YERUSHALMI

Jerusalem