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Name:

David Golomb

Married to:

Susha (Rubel) and I met on Yom Ha'Atzma'ut, 1968

 in my living room in a student dorm in Jerusalem.

 We went to Florida that September, were married on

 January 1, 1969 in Miami Beach, then returned to

 Jerusalem for another 3 1/2 years. This New Year's

 Day will be our 35th wedding anniversary.

Family:

16 years after we were married, in 1985, we had a

 daughter, Miriam Abigail (named after my mother,

 Miriam and my father, Gilbert, for those who

 remember my parents). She is now a High School

Senior at the North Carolina School of the Arts, where

 she is training in ballet (she's been dancing since

 she was 9). She will soon begin auditioning for

 companies, apprentice companies, etc. for the  ears

 ahead.

Where I live now:

We lived in Jerusalem until 1972, when I finished my

 BA in Semitic Linguistics at the Hebrew University of

Jerusalem, and where Susha completed most of her

 BA in Sociology.

Then we moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts,

 where Susha completed her BA at Boston University

 (Anthropology), and I began course work at Harvard

 University in Near Eastern Languages. In 1975, we

 moved to Columbus, Ohio, where Susha did an MA

in Anthropology and a PhD in Rural Sociology at Ohio

 State University. In the meantime, I began teaching

 Hebrew there, finishing my PhD at Harvard along the

 way (1978). In 1985, we moved to the Philadelphia

 area, where our daughter was born, and I became

 Professor of Hebrew at the Reconstructionist

 Rabbinical College (RRC), a liberal seminary

 preparing women and men for the progressive

North American rabbinate. I'm now "counting the

days" until retirement.

What I do:

I'm in charge of the Hebrew program at RRC. As part

 of my duties, I teach the Biblical and Rabbinic

 Hebrew components, and Talmudic Aramaic (for the

 10 years before I came to RRC, I also taught Modern

 Hebrew, but, fortunately, others do that for me now!)

. In addition, every 3 years I teach a graduate seminar

 in Aramaic to students at the University of

 Pennsylvania. Years ago, I became interested in

 Aramaic, and ended up specializing in what is known

 as Targum, paraphrastic Aramaic versions of the

 Hebrew Bible. My main contribution over the years

 has been to demonstrate the nature of this genre of

 rabbinic literature and to show how it works.

Betar:

Keith Masnick and I joined together in 1959, I went on

 the Machon in 1963, and served until the 1967 Six

 Day War, when I left to go to Israel as a volunteer.

Betarim:

The people my age I was with in Sydney included

 Keith, Michael Price, Liz Snyder, Moshe Aaron, Helen

 Myers, Larry Levin, Richard Sekel, Leo Rogovin,

 Peter Cohen (Gad Keeda), Bish and Ros, Adam

 (formerly Ari) Graycar, Shula Rosenfeld, Brian

 Plerman, Geoff Williamson, Renee and Ina Klein,

 and I'm embarrassed that I'm leaving so many others

 out. Madrichim included Alfie van der Poorten, Clive

 and Naomi Kessler, Heather Cohen, Danny Rosing,

 Bob Sitsky (similar embarrassment!). The shelichim

 were Shimshon Feder and Yerucham Yarden (alav

 hashalom).

People in touch with:

After we moved to the US in 1972, I lost contact with

 everyone. In 1991, I had a sabbatical at Tel Aviv

 University and reconnected with those who had

 stayed -- Peter, Leo, Bish and Ros, Heather and

 Danny, Shimshon, Yerucham, and I have

 subsequently maintained email contact with Peter

 and Bish, and with Keith Masnick, who now has me

 on his email joke list (and from which I will never

 escape). When people have come to the US, we've

 been able to get together, and we've seen Peter,

 Danny, Adam, and John Goldlust briefly, and to take

 Bish and Ros, and Heather and show them the

 sights in and around Philly. We've also hosted

 Miriam Barasch's daughter, Tammy, when she was

 here. In one of those "life's little ironies," Keith has

 been coming to an optometrists' convention in NY for

 years and became great friends with someone who,

 it turns out, lives about 20 minutes away from me

 and whom he's been visiting regularly, while all the

 time we were literally "down the street." Similarly,

 Harry Stuart lives in the area, and he, Elaine, Susha,

 and I get together every so often for Sunday

 breakfast at Ben & Irv's Deli. I've also recently been

 in email contact with Helen and Bob Chong (Myers)

 in NZ. Finally, after 35 years, we went, all three of us,

 to Sydney, ostensibly to give a paper at a conference

 of the Australian Association of Jewish Studies, but

 really for me to see it again, to try to see people, and

 to show Susha and Miriam where I grew up. While

 there, we saw Shula, Keith, Ina, Richard, Eddie

 Adamek, Adam Graycar, and Jules Wynhausen, if all

 too briefly.

Contact:

I'd love to hear from any and all who might remember

 me and wish to be in touch. Needless to say, if

 anyone is in the US, especially on the East Coast,

 we'd love to see old friends, put them up, and show

 them around.

Note: David has supplied us with his email

 address and phone numbers. If you wish to

 contact him, please email Harry Stuart or Aaron

 Ninedek and we will forward details.