An Omer Meditation
A New Year, a New Opportunity for Jewish Learning
Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish new year, is a wonderful time to assess the past year and consider what we hope to achieve, spiritually speaking and otherwise, in the year to come.
The Shofar Blasts as a Metaphor for Life
If, as the Talmud tells us, the blasts of the shofar are meant to remind us of crying, (Babylonian Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 33A – specifically of Sisera’s mother – but that is another subject!), then I would offer the following.
New Rituals for your seder
Every spring the celebration of Pesach enters the homes of Jews around the world.
Rethinking the Holy Days
I’ve come to the conclusion we need to change the date of Simchat Torah. Our Jewish festivals must be re-envisioned as inspirational community gatherings of joyful spiritual Jewish celebration. Every single festival needs to be a time of great community involvement and meaning.
Galilee Diary: Pesach in the Galilee
The mountainsides were festooned with multicolored wild flowers. The Bedouin shepherds led their flocks to graze along the lush valleys.
Galilee Diary: The season of our liberation
And when you enter the land that the Lord will give you, as He has promised, you shall observe this rite.
Galilee Diary: Non-collective memory
In recent decades, trips to Poland for 11th graders have become de rigueur in high schools in middle class communities.
Galilee Diary: And a Happy New Year
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the Israelite people thus: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe complete rest, a sacred occasion commemorated with loud blasts.