Related Blog Posts on Jewish History and Torah Study

B'midbar Haiku

Helene Kohn
Haiku based on the week's Torah portion.

Extraordinary Ordinary Heroes

Rabbi Deborah Bodin Cohen
Simcha Blass, Helen Suzman, Eddie Jacobson, and Abby Stein all contributed to our world in different ways. Yet, they shared traits - commitment, integrity, resolve and an inner sense that they could make a difference.

Women of Valor: Revisiting Biblical Role Models

Michele Braun
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.

Crypto-Foods: the Triumph of Survival

Crystal Hill
During the Spanish Inquisition, there were plenty of ways that one could be identified as a Jew. One way people would identify their neighbors as Jews was observing whether they would eat non-kosher food that was popular with the Christian population such as pork, sausage, or fish without scales.

Envisioning Home

Cantorial Soloist Marjorie Hochberg
Some of the best stories from our tradition involve a question presented on one level that is answered on a completely different and surprising level.

Cuban American and Jewish: Exploring the History and Intersections of My Communities

Susy Gallor
I've been reflecting on the story of America's founding - the narrative many of us learn as children in the United States. I've recently learned a different version of that story - one that I now recognize intertwines with my own. My identities as Cuban American and Jewish have been shaped by Indigenous stories in America and in Cuba; particularly the themes of beginnings, loss, transformation, and change.