By Rabbi Debra Smith This is definitely a month to think about trees and the environment. We recently celebrated Tu B’Shevat, the New Year of the Trees. This has gotten me to think about what a favorite or memorable tree story might be for me. I have always loved trees, and moving to Florida, I’ve Continue Reading »
By Nina Fondiller Woldin It was 11 degrees when I woke up this morning. I can stand on the ice in New York Harbor, but today I am celebrating the beginning of spring! Not because I am counting the days until the ice thaws, but because, like Yehudah Halevi, my heart is in the east. Continue Reading »
by Nina Fondiller Woldin It’s 4:30 in the morning, and I am wide awake! I am enveloped, like a cloud, in worry. I visit different solutions in my head, but none of them guarantee success. All of them remind me of how I could have done better – planned better, reacted better, solved my problem Continue Reading »
By Jennifer Saber I live with regret. A 35 plus year old regret. When I was in elementary school, my childhood synagogue, Park Synagogue in Cleveland, Ohio, loaded up buses and headed to Washington, D.C. for an event connected to Soviet Jewry. All these years later, what I remember most is not the cause, which Continue Reading »
Audrey Lichter, Chai Mitzvah’s Executive Director, was interviewed on The Orthonomics Podcast by host Mark Trencher. It’s a great half-hour listen! The Orthonomics Podcast explores issues of importance to the Orthodox Jewish community, through the dual lenses of data – drawn from a wide range of sources – and informed conversations with knowledgeable and often Continue Reading »
By Rabbi Debra Smith I visited the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg this past week. The museum had a special exhibit on the life and work of Elie Wiesel, who has been a longtime hero of mine. Years back, I had the pleasure of seeing Elie Wiesel honored at the North American Choral Festival Continue Reading »
by Nina Fondiller Woldin My birthday is on December 30th, the day before New Year’s Eve, which gives me twice as many reasons as most people to reflect on the past year and to try to prepare for what might be coming in the year ahead. It feels as if my personal passage intertwines with Continue Reading »
by Nina Fondiller Woldin Yesterday marked the winter solstice; the sun set at 4:30. We have been noting the winter solstice since ancient times, so I did what we have been doing since time began – put on my PJs and drank hot chocolate. In the Talmud, the winter solstice marks Tekufat Tevet, the start Continue Reading »
by Audrey Lichter This weekend I saw the Nuremberg film with Russel Crowe as Hermann Göring (the second in command of the Nazi regime) and Rami Malek as Douglas Kelley, the psychiatrist asked to make sure the high-ranking convicted Nazi leadership imprisoned would be fit to stand trial. The performances were magnificent… but what really Continue Reading »
by Jennifer Saber “Oh, super,” I said sarcastically under my breath accompanied by a deep sigh. I was on an international overnight flight across the Atlantic and I was settling in for a choppy night’s sleep at best. Nine hours and change squashed in a chair in Basic Economy. My best fighting chance was a Continue Reading »
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