Rosh HaShanah Noodle Kugel
Here’s a delicious noodle kugel that incorporates all the symbols for a sweet and fruitful New Year.
Tart Pomegranate and Cherry Tonic
Behold the heart-healthy mojito mocktail. So brightly delicious and refreshing!
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.
Unless You Know: A Poem for Yom HaShoah
Unless you know
what it is to look
at black & white proof
at lambs led to slaughter
at herds of the lost
Getting to the Bimah in a Wheelchair
The bimah is the heart of a temple's sanctuary – a gathering place for life cycle events, the focus of our High Holiday worship rituals, and the site that draws us together when we seek comfort from pain.
In 2007, I was diagnosed with primary progressive multiple sclerosis. In my case, it has lived up to its name, and has progressively weakened my body from the waist down, leaving me wheelchair bound. With the loss of my mobility, I also lost the ability to be called for an aliyah, to see the open Torah scroll, to participate in Selichot services, and to join with family and friends for birthday and anniversary blessings. For those of us unable to be on the bimah because of a physical disability, it is easy to feel left out of the Jewish community.
What an Atheist Belgian Musician Taught Me about Judaism
As a teenager, I would sit on my bedroom floor listening to old records of Belgian singer-songwriter, poet, and performer Jacques Brel. I didn’t need to keep a journal, because his lyrics wove together everything I felt at the time. Brel had a fire within, and his anger, longing, passion, and truth blazed through every word he sang. His music, raw and real, transformed and fed my soul; it informed and shaped who I am today.
What I'll Never Forget about My Visit to Majdanek
I recently visited Majdanek, a concentration camp in Poland, with my classmates. Afterward, I wrote this piece - part poem and part essay - about what spoke to me there.
What We Can Learn from Holocaust Survivors About the Human Spirit
Following World War II, many Jews were confined to displaced persons (DPs) camps in Allied-occupied countries. Among them were my parents and parents-in-law.