Michele Braun
Women of Valor: Revisiting Biblical Role Models
Focusing this contemporary lens on Deborah and Yael reveals a story of women acting so outside of expected norms that I stand in awe and am compelled to magnify their adventures for our own times.
The Binding of Isaac: What if God Had Approached Sarah First?
In a scant 19 lines, Genesis Chapter 22 reports that God once instructed Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering. This notorious incident, known as the Akedah or the Binding of Isaac, is read every Rosh HaShanah and has inspired an unknowable number of sermons, essays, artworks, and interpretations.
Mediterranean Memories Begin with Roasted Eggplant
Michele Braun shares her recipes for eggplant done 3 different ways.
Shabbat as Alternate Time, Especially During the Pandemic
Friday’s sunset could be no different than Thursday’s, a time marker notching off another day or another week, but Shabbat requires us to mark a more substantial difference, Regularity is key to keep track of our lives between other Jewish times and when days blur into each other.
Slaughter Does Not Honor Anyone: Remembering that Fateful Day in Pittsburgh
As I was leading Torah study at our synagogue nearly a year ago, an evil man murdered my friends and co-religionists because to him, Jews are strangers and dangerous.
