Today is September 23, 2020 /
Today is September 23, 2020 /
In our tefillot we emphasize that Shavuot is the “Festival of the Giving of the Torah.” The Slonimer Rebbe and author of Netivot Shalom wrote: “However, in addition to marking an essential event and defining moment in the history of the Jewish people, Shavuot is also a time in the year when we receive the Continue Reading »
One of the more challenging aspects of living an inspired life is experiencing meaning during those inevitable stretches that appear to be spiritually vacant. Many of us live our lives eagerly waiting for the next peak moment to arrive. We cross the days off our calendar in anticipation of the next big milestone, event or Continue Reading »
In the yearbook from my 8th grade graduation from Jewish Day School, we were asked to cite a quote we found meaningful. While I no longer remember the quote I chose, one student’s quote remains present until today. “The greatest impacts in life are the ones you never know you make”. My peer quoted his Continue Reading »
On a chilly winter evening in Tel Aviv, a group of women sit in a circle pondering a poem by Lebanese-American poet Kahlil Gibran: “Your children are not your children They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you, Continue Reading »
Angels, the Midrash teaches, attended our nation’s first educational experience at Sinai bearing gifts: two crowns. One was the crown of action, awarded to us for our commitment to do everything G-d asked of us. The second was the crown of understanding, bestowed in recognition of our promise to commit our minds to the comprehension Continue Reading »
Learning Torah as a training ground for developing habits of mind essential to thriving in the 21st century is a seed that needs nurturing. I will illustrate what I mean through two examples: First creative thinking and then paradoxical thinking. PaRDeS is the acronym for Torah interpretation: P’shat/plain meaninig is the straightforward, almost literal meaning Continue Reading »
Imagine a street. There are two synagogues on the street, directly across from each other. It’s 10 a.m. on a Sunday morning, and in both synagogues, the rabbi is beginning a class on the Book of Job. In the first synagogue, 15 people are gathered with their Bibles open. They read the first verse, and Continue Reading »
First there was “Jewish Continuity,” until we realized that we weren’t quite sure what it was that we wanted to continue and that merely “continuing’ was not a sufficient goal. Next came “Jewish Renaissance and Renewal” which spawned an ecosystem of innovation in the Jewish education and engagement worlds. But that catch cry also waned, Continue Reading »
The women’s marches across the country this past week made my soul sing and filled my heart with hope and possibility in the midst of my great anxiety for our children and their families. As an early childhood Jewish educator for much of my career, it rekindled my angst over a cause we spend a Continue Reading »
The Seder is intended to be a personal experience. By now we know the story. We don’t need more historical information or sermons. What we need is a way to personally connect with the Passover story and to each other. We need quality conversations. That is really what a Seder is: an organized conversation around Continue Reading »
