Facing Mortality and Choosing Life
You stand this day, all of you, before the Eternal your God – you tribal heads, you elders, and you officials, all the men of Israel, you children, you women, even the stranger within your camp, from wood chopper to water drawer – to enter into the cov
It Shouldn’t Take a Pandemic to Return Us to Ourselves
How to Raise Spiritually Healthy Jewish Kids
In Jewish Spiritual Parenting: Wisdom, Activities, Rituals and Prayers for Raising Children with Spiritual Balance and Emotional Wholeness (Jewish Lights), husband and wife team Rabbi Paul Kipnes and Michelle November, MSSW, draw on Jewish ethical and mystical teachings as well as their own experiences as parents of three children – Rachel, Daniel, and Noah – in creating a valuable resource that is intentional, inclusive, and well attuned to the realities of Jewish life today.
Seeing Through the Darkness: Inside Charlottesville’s Synagogue One Week Later
May we continue to be inspired by Congregation Beth Israel to turn darkness into light, to turn fear into resolve, to turn xenophobia into acceptance, and to turn hatred into hope.
In Charlottesville, the Local Jewish Community Presses On
After the nation moves on, we will be left to pick up the pieces. Fortunately, this is a very strong and capable Jewish community, blessed to be led by incredible rabbis.
6 Areas of Incredible B'nai Mitzvah Innovation
For the last three years, the URJ 'nai Mitzvah Revolution has supported more than 150 congregations in experimenting in areas that inspire b’nai mitzvah students to express what matters to them in the experience. Here’s are six areas of congregational innovation.
A Kinder, Gentler Nation
This week brings us Yom Y'rushalayim (May 8 / 28 Iyar), one of several Jewish holidays commemorating events of war in the modern State of Israel. This one recalls Israel's "recovery" of the Old City of Jerusalem during the Six Day War in 1967.
Teach (and Practice) a New Jewish Value Each Night of Hanukkah
Galilee Diary: Suburban Sprawl
On a recent perfect early spring day (warm sun, cooling breeze, brilliant wild flowers) we took the children and grandchildren on a short hike to the mountainside adjacent to Shorashim, picnicking under an olive tree. On the way, we encountered toads, lizards, a scorpion, and caterpillars; our lunch was serenaded by the muezzin of the village of Shaab, with the backup chorus of the jackals that live in the open areas.