Displaying 1 - 10 of 93
Sukkot in a Time Of Pandemic: A Poem
This year, even if you do not have a sukkah to visit, you can still experience the kavanah (intention) and the ruach (spirit) of Sukkot.
It's Sukkot, Let's Vote: The Letter I Wrote to My Neighbors about Our Sukkah
Known as z’man simchateinu (season of our rejoicing), Sukkot is the only festival associated with an explicit commandment to rejoice.
Family and Medical Leave Denied to Same-Sex Couples in Non-Marriage Equality States
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was signed into law 22 years ago to allow workers to take a maximum 12 weeks unpaid time off of work to care for a new child (including adopted and foster children); care for a sick child; act as a caregiver for a parent; address personal serious health concerns; and care for wounded service members. After the decision in United States v. Windsor, in which the part of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) defining marriage as between a man and a woman for federal purposes was struck down, the Department of Labor announced that FMLA would apply to eligible employees in same-sex marriages if the employee resided in a state that recognized their marriage. Rachel Laser, Deputy Director of the Religious Action Center, submitted comments last August to the Department of Labor in support of this change when it was proposed.
Drive Thru Judaism: An Antidote to Quarantined Community
Craving personal connection to actual people? Missing in-person contact with your clergy and community? Consider “Drive Thru Judaism” as an antidote to quarantined community.
Camp Jenny: Impacting Lives Year After Year
By Richard Rosenthal
Partaking in annual traditions are what highlight family values to me. For example, watching the annual Thanksgiving Day Parade together, using the same afikoman cover year after year, and preparing a special meal for Rosh HaShanah are some special traditions that come to mind. Along that continuum, there is a tradition that blossomed over 25 years ago at URJ Camp Coleman in the North Georgia Mountains called Camp Jenny. This tradition happens every year, when camp organizers come together with 125 NFTYites to share their values, and to offer their love, leadership, and guidance to approximately 150 under-privileged children who engage in camp activities over Memorial Day weekend.
It’s Hard to be a Jew at Christmas, But Even Harder on Tu BiSh’vat
It is a truth universally acknowledged that it can be difficult to be Jewish at Christmas time. It has seeped into North American cultural consciousness so thoroughly that South Park even wrote a song about it, complete with trademark expletives.
How PJ Library® Helped Our Congregation Engage Families with Young Children
Congregation Children of Israel is a 150-family congregation in Athens, GA. As a small congregation, we were looking for creative ways to welcome and engage families with young children, one of our target membership demographics. The answer came in the form of PJ Library®, which enables us to offer book subscriptions to local families raising Jewish children ages six months to 8 years. Our congregation joined the program in 2007, and it has been a huge success.
What Are the Numbers of Shavuot?
This year, Shavuot starts at sundown on June 3rd. Aside from what happens in synagogue, your home celebrations can take so many forms — decorating with fresh greens and flowers, making special foods, and so much more.
Perfect Weather for a NFTY T-Shirt: Chance Encounters and Shared Humanity
“I was in NFTY!” a stranger told me, spotting my years-old T-shirt. This feeling of knowing all of us, that we truly did meet at Sinai, or at least a camp, provides comfort during uncomfortable times.
Double Booked Through the Lens of JDAM: The High Price of Autism
This post originally appeared on June 3, 2014 as part of the RAC's blog series, Double Booked: A Conversation on Working Families in the 21st Century.
By Rabbi Rebecca Einstein Schorr
In November 2010, after more than a decade as a congregational rabbi, I sent my congregation the following letter:
A story is told that before a child is born, his soul peers down from the Heavenly Abode and selects the parents who will be right for him. Having voiced his choice to the Holy One, Blessed be God, the soul is then dispatched to his eagerly awaiting parents.
It is a great responsibility, then, to live up to the expectations and needs of our children who, as this legend teaches, have chosen us because of the belief that we will be the best parents for them.