How many emotions can one heart simultaneously hold? Love, joy, gratitude, sorrow, hope, apprehension, yearning…all these and more are swirling in mine. Tuesday evening my husband and I enjoyed the great delight of attending—and my husband officiating at—our grandson’s wedding in the land of Israel. The last time so many members of our immediate family
Celebration of Life Read More »
You may have never heard of the word ‘machateinesta’ and probably can’t figure out how to pronounce it. You have certainly never heard of a ‘shvort’ since our grandchildren made up that word. But those two words encapsulate our family’s Chanuka. I would appreciate hearing from those of you who speak many languages and straddle
Mourning and Celebration Read More »
Many parents are grieving today. Mothers who sent their daughters to summer camp, often the one they themselves went to, are reeling in shock. Fathers who anticipated their little ones growing physically and spiritually over the summer face the knowledge that these precious girls’ ages will forever be frozen in time. Any human with a
For years, one phrase from ancient Jewish wisdom has troubled me. Here’s a literal translation: “If you are kind in place of being cruel, you will be cruel in place of being kind.” I’m not the only one that this millennia-old statement disturbs. I have seen many English translations that inaccurately soften these words, such
A Time for Cruelty Read More »
You may not be familiar with Omri Lavi, a 25-year-old redhead whose life was cut short on October 7, 2023. You probably do know of two redheaded boys, Kfir and Ariel Bibas, who were abducted that same day and buried this past Wednesday, despite having been strangled to death over a year earlier. I don’t
Dear Rabbi and Susan, In the process of working through my five Fs, I’ve been reading the Bible with a group of friends. One of the things I find disturbing is the genocide in the Torah. Can you help me with the concept of conquering a people and killing every man, woman, and child? Fred
It is easy to be an armchair hero. We prefer to picture ourselves as sheltering an escaping slave rather than closing our door to a desperate runaway. We lecture our children about coming to the aid of a bullied classmate, and we imagine ourselves intervening when we see an animal being beaten. Yet, until tested,
Heroism is Not Instinctive Read More »
Solomon & Socrates It would be difficult to overstate the reverence with which Jews who try to be faithful to the Bible’s teachings treat a Torah scroll. It is hand-written in carefully scripted Hebrew, on meticulously stitched together parchment sheets, by an expert known as a ‘sofer’. A Torah scroll is treated with the tender
Two of the most common misperceptions about Judaism are that kosher food means food that has been blessed by a rabbi and that Judaism does not believe in an afterlife. One of the reasons so many Jews mistakenly assume that their faith ignores existence after death is because the Hebrew Bible, known as the TaNaCH,
Why I Leave the Cheese off that Burger Read More »
My wife has stage 4 cervical cancer and is not healthy enough for the standard treatments. We are preparing for the worst but praying for the best. She has expressed a desire to be cremated. It’s cheaper, and when I pass I will be interned at Arlington as I am a veteran. It sounded OK
My Wife Wants to be Cremated Read More »
