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Debra Doppelt Karplus, a registered occupational therapist, is also a freelance writer who writes regularly for Advance for Occupational Therapy Practitioners, The Dollar Stretcher, Prime Life Times, and Grandparent Magazine, as well as travel articles for the News-Gazette. She is proud to be a longtime member of Sinai Temple of Champaign–Urbana in Champaign, IL, where she serves on the building committee, the chevrah kadisha committee, and has taught Jewish genealogy to the Hebrew school students. Visit Debra's blog

What I Learned From Researching My Family Tree

Debra Doppelt Karplus

My interest in Jewish genealogy goes back to 1992, but it was a librarian at my local public library who put me on the path to research my family history.

 

What Being a Practicing Reform Jew Means to Me

Debra Doppelt Karplus

When an acquaintance asked me: “Are you a practicing Jew?” I answered “Yes,” but the question got me thinking about what it means to be a practicing Jew.

Why Be in a Chavurah Group in Your Synagogue?

Debra Doppelt Karplus

When we were new to our synagogue, it was forming chavurah groups. As soon as I discovered one would be for members with b’nei-mitzvah-aged children, we joined up.

The Things Other People Say to Small-Town Jews

Debra Doppelt Karplus

I have many friends in town, but most are not temple members. They’re unaffiliated Jews, church-goers, or, as one friend succinctly put it, “believers but not belongers.”

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The Union for Reform Judaism leads the largest and most diverse Jewish movement in North America.