Galilee Diary: Galilee encounters
8 Tips on How to Be a Positive Jewish Role Model
What does it take to be a positive Jewish role model?
Celebrating Shabbat in Tel Aviv the Reform Way
Last Friday night, I celebrated Kabbalat Shabbat in Tel Aviv, but not in my usual manner.
Galilee Diary: Winter
It is life we want, no more and no less than that, our own life feeding on our own vital sources, in the fields and under the skies of our homeland, a life based on our own physical and mental labors; we want vital energy and spiritual richness from this living source.
In the Desert: A Poem for Shabbat Zachor
I remember
I remember slings and arrows,
Cruel fortune that cast me into the desert
No, no-
The first desert was freedom
And faith
And miracle.
So no: not that desert.
This was a desert of
An Unexpected Messenger on Shabbat
I walked to Jerusalem's Ben Yehuda Street toward the end of Shabbat, thinking that I was going to wait on a park bench until Shabbat ended and the stores opened, in order to try to buy a Spiderman kippah for our son.
Big Thoughts over Brunch in Baka
Pre-Shabbat in Jerusalem is digestion time. On Friday mornings in my neighborhood of Baka, the main avenue teems with voracious brunch-devourers eager to squish a weekend's worth of consumption into one extended meal.
Celebrating Commonalities: Why a Palestinian Muslim Sang at our Shabbat Services
One Friday evening, something remarkable and beautiful happened at my congregation. I’d never seen it before, but I hope I’ll see it many times again.
Shabbat in Israel: An Island in Time
Shabbat is an island in time. It is a chance to pause, reflect, and differentiate between the holy and the mundane.
"At a Good Hour": Waiting on My First Grandchild
At a good hour. At the right time. B’sha’ah tovah. That is the traditional Jewish response to learning about a pregnancy. Generally, in the United States, we say “Congratulations," "mazel tov," or "wonderful,” but Judaism says, “At a good hour."