Today is April 19, 2024 /
Today is April 19, 2024 /
When I heard her compliment, I said to myself, incredulously: “Me?! If she really knew me, she wouldn’t have said that.” And just like that －I became a grasshopper. According to the midrash, the spies returned from checking out the Land of Israel on the 9th of Av. Standing in front of the nation, they argued against entering Continue Reading »
I’ve always loved the 49-day countdown (count-Up, really) to Shavuot. The building anticipation towards Matan Torah, eagerly breathing in the blooms adorning homes and synagogues, Yom Tov tastebuds rewarded with blintzes and cheesecake, staying up ‘til first light awaiting the arrival of the Torah. Up until this year, the CountUp has reminded me of the Continue Reading »
An educational consultant recently told me that teachers often teach what they feel most comfortable teaching, and not necessarily what their students need to learn. I know I was guilty of this for many years, though I always rationalized to myself that what I was doing was for the well-being of my students. I think Continue Reading »
Well-being has become the god of today. Everything we do is evaluated in terms of whether it promotes or diminishes our personal well-being. Does our daily routine offer us more health, happiness, and prosperity? Will it maximize our sense of personal satisfaction, diminish stress, and enhance our sense of meaning? Does it detract from or Continue Reading »
For almost 20 years, I’ve been taken by the idea that the Haggadah is constructed as the movement from silence to words to song – the enactment of freedom through the very modality through which we express it. Meaning, at the beginning of the Haggadah, there are no stories, no tales, no history lessons. There Continue Reading »
