Leaving Lucy Pear
Award-winning novelist Anna Solomon’s second novel Leaving Lucy Pear, now out in paperback, is a masterfully woven web of ambition and lies.
What Is Jewish About Japan?
My family and I recently spent time backpacking through Japan. Witnessing people at their holy sites, we were struck by how familiar their customs were to us as Jews.
Honoring My Mom's Legacy, on Mother's Day and Every Day
Although it’s true that I don’t celebrate Mother’s Day with my own mom anymore, I do cherish and celebrate her love, her life, and her wisdom. In creating an ethical will for my sister and me, she plainly and thoughtfully laid out the values and ethics that mattered most to her, along with her hope that we will carry them on. She wrote, “We try to put our financial estate in good order, so how about our ethical estate? I’ve always told you the only thing of value you can leave behind is your good name…”
We Will Not Let Hitler's Legacy Rise Again
If you won't stand for Hitler's legacy to rise again, then I ask you: When hate is screeched from the airwaves, you must stand on higher mountains and call out words of love and affirmation.
Youth Professional Development 101: About Us
Mimouna, a Unique Moroccan Jewish Tradition
Need a New Way to Teach Jewish Values to Your Kids? Shaboom! Is the Answer
Last spring, the team at BimBam (formerly G-dcast) approached the URJ’s Families with Young Children staff in their effort to ensure that Shaboom!, the company’s new videos for families accurately reflect Reform Jewish values and philosophies. My colleagues and I were happy to help.
Don’t Yuck My Yum: Life Lessons from Summer Camp
When I feel the judgmental emotions or FOMO (fear of missing out) rising inside of me, I remind myself of a lesson I first learned as a counselor at URJ Camp Harlam, a Reform Jewish summer camp in Kunkletown, PA: “Don’t yuck someone else’s yum.” In other words, if someone else likes doing something and it makes them happy, then let them enjoy it – no matter whether or not you like it.
How We Can Embrace Those Struggling with Severe Depression
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, a time to consider how we can help prevent and treat mental illness – including the agonizing scourge of clinical depression. It’s also the month leading up to Shavuot, when we read the Book of Ruth. The story of Ruth and Naomi includes powerful lessons about how relationships and community can restore and sustain those facing difficult times.
Discovering the Jew I’m Meant to Be: A Letter from NFTY’s Immediate Past President
While I was busy becoming a Jewish leader, another transformation was happening just below the surface: I was becoming the Jew I’m meant to be.