What Children Can Teach Us at Rosh HaShanah
A deep spiritual life is hard to find. While opportunities abound for spiritual connections (yoga, meditation, retreats and the like), for most of us it doesn’t come easy.
Vodou Rock and Cherry Manischewitz: Reflections of a Jew Visiting Haiti
At the last count of the World Jewish Congress in 1997, there were 25 Jews living in Haiti. There is no native Jewish population to speak of in what is currently the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.
The Nudge of Selichot
After 10 weeks of swimming, biking, walking at the ocean's edge, and rationalizing that it's too hot for tennis, Saturday night Selichot services appear on my calendar as the call back from the freedom of su
Where I'm From: A Poem on Identity
I am from blintzes, from Crest toothpaste and kippot tucked into a dresser drawer.
I am from no eating in the bedrooms, singing all the time, comfy couches, a grandfather clock on the wall and challah French toast.
Finally Finding My Way to Judaism, the Faith That Beckoned
I was born into a Catholic family and given a Catholic education, but for as long as I can remember, Judaism has always fascinated me.
The Fate of France is Entwined with the Fate of its Jews
The kosher supermarket was chosen deliberately. Men, women and children were shopping and preparing for Shabbat.
The Song of the Sea and Shabbat Shirah
Shabbat Shirah is on January 30th this year, and is another name for the week we read the Torah portion called B'shalach. In this portion, the Israelites have just been freed from Egypt and we read about the splitting of the Red Sea.
And When I Leave: A Poem for Havdalah
I am not ready
To leave this place
this time
this rest.
I am not ready
for the separation that
must come, not while
I still smell
the sweetness
of cardamon and cloves.
I want to linger
in this holy time
this sacred promise
And be
Making Soup, Making Shabbat
When I was a kid, my family did not keep kosher. The closest we got was the story my mother told about how, when she was growing up, her father once yelled at her as she poured a glass of milk to go with her BLT sandwich: “We don’t mix milk and meat!”