Pursuing Immigrant Justice this Sukkot
Sukkot in a Time Of Pandemic: A Poem
It's Sukkot, Let's Vote: The Letter I Wrote to My Neighbors about Our Sukkah
Stop Cuts to Family Planning
Putting Down Roots: Why Our Jewish Family Needs a Yard Full of Trees
We celebrated the holiday of Tu BiShvat – the “Jewish Arbor Day” – way back in February, and we won’t celebrate it again until January. But no matter: I need to talk about the trees now.
Why Tot Shabbat is Great for Kids – and the Whole Family
Tot Shabbat is important for our daughter and for us. Each week, it helps us integrate Judaism and its values into her life and build our own Jewish community.
Coming Full Circle: The NFTY in Israel Tikkun Olam Experience
A Time for Building Up
Each year on Sukkot, we read these famous words of Ecclesiastes (Kohelet): “A season is set for everything, a time for every experience under heaven. …a time for tearing down and a time for building up.” (Kohelet 3:1,3). To speak of building during a holiday dedicated to erecting a temporary structure seems fitting. And yet, the order the ideas in this verse is at odds with our Sukkot experience. Surely, “a time for building up and a time for tearing down” would align more closely with sequence of the holiday. So why this order? And what exactly are “we tearing down and building up”?