Related Blog Posts on Arts and Culture, Jewish Values, and Parenting

A Bittersweet Reunion with the Shtisel Family

Rabbi Sharon G. Forman
Sometimes the acting ends in joy and other times the results are devastating. Ultimately, the writers and actors draw us into their stories so that we cannot deny that art can elicit understanding, peace, and even deep love.

7 Movie Stars Who Have Played Israeli Prime Ministers

Gabe Friedman (JTA)
Just a month after it was announced that the Israeli star Shira Haas would portray Meir in a TV series, The Hollywood Reporter revealed this week that Oscar winner Helen Mirren would portray Israel’s only female prime minister in an upcoming biopic.

On Yom HaShoah, Hear the Message of the Saved Remnant

Aron Hirt-Manheimer
My mother’s answer to hate is love. When I asked her what she wishes for herself and for the world, she said, “For myself good health, so I can be good to others. For the world, peace not war. No bad person wins in the end. What did Hitler achieve?”

Meet the Man Amplifying the Sounds of the Borscht Belt

Andrew Silow-Carroll

Growing up, Aaron Bendich would spend lots of time with his grandfather Max in the North Bronx, in a house “filled to the brim” with records, videotapes, and CDs. Among Max’s collection were recordings of Yiddish songs and other Jewish music.

Fast forward a

My Big Question: God, The Milky Way, Miracles, and More

Richard Reiss
The enormous question for me, then, has always been: Is God watching? When I began to understand computers, I realized that, yes, one thing could follow billions of people if those people were nothing more than data points on a revolving planet with polar icecaps.

Ghetto: A Poem

Samantha (Sami) Silk
the path that we now follow / is the Exodus our ancestors never chose / flooding with pain they died not to swallow / the past spills into the river and flows

Don't Call Me a Female Rabbi

Rabbi Liz P.G. Hirsch
When we celebrate the ascension of women to positions of authority and prominence, it is easy to tokenize women in power by qualifying their professional identity. My congregants are proud to call me their rabbi, not their woman rabbi.