RJ Blog

Next Wednesday, May 23, will be a big day for our family. That night, my wife, Dana Gershon, the outgoing president of The Rashi School’s board of trustees, will be honored at the school’s annual dinner. Dana has been president of the board for two years and, with four daughters, all of whom are Rashi students, we spend a lot of time at 8000 Great Meadow Road in Dedham, where we’re all part of the wonderful kehillah that is Rashi. Needless to say, between meetings, classes, sports, parent-teacher conferences, plays, t’filah, and more, it’s very often where our family hangs [...]

Confirmation is a reaffirmation of all that Congregation Or Ami is about. I wish you could have been there. On Friday night, 7 Or Ami teenagers – Jessa Cameron, Libby Coufal, Nathan Fried, Ben Ginsburg, Dakota Keller, Marissa Meyer, and Peter Young – stood on our bimah to articulate those values and experiences which bind them to our Jewish tradition and community. Listening to them speak, my eyes misted over. I remember watching each one of them grow up, some since they were infants. We rabbis and cantor have the unique privilege of walking the journey with our teens as [...]

So What Is Prayer? It doesn’t have to be services or words, though it can be both. It can be a feeling that God is present. It doesn’t have to include asking for anything. It can be just awe or wonder, or a wave of affection breaking over you. It can be like plugging into an electric current. It can change while you’re praying. It can be surprise. It can be… Fill in the rest from your own experience. — Rabbi Lionel Blue and Rabbi Jonathan Magonet On Monday, I taught a lesson on tefilah to the students in our [...]

by Hope Chernak, MARE, RJE Temple Shaaray Tefila has taken another step toward strengthening our congregation’s ties to the land and people of Israel. We have a new partnership with Kehilat Ohel Avraham, a Reform congregation in Haifa that is closely associated with the Leo Baeck Education Center. So, what is a partnership? According to Wikipedia, a partnership is an arrangement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. If you asked our two teen leaders who were part of our delegation that went to Haifa this past December about it, they would respond with, “our partnership is like [...]

By Catherine Rosing In September of 2011, 12 adorable stuffed bears departed from the URJ New York offices. Known as the “Traveling Mitzvah Bears,” the bears will visit more than 100 URJ Early Childhood Centers in congregations located throughout the United States and Canada, helping young children learn about the Jewish value of Hachnasat Orchim – hospitality/welcoming the guest. Learn more and see photos of bears’ travels. By the time Izzy the Mitzvah Bear arrived at Temple Kehillat Chaim in Roswell, Ga., the preschool students had already left for the day. Luckily, our Road to Confirmation high schoolers – many [...]

By Liz Piper-Goldberg As a student in the Rabbinical Program of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, I am supported by a generous scholarship from the Women of Reform Judaism. I am deeply honored to be the beneficiary of an organization that does such important and significant work for our movement and our congregations. I am so grateful that the contributions of the WRJ enable me to take the best advantage of all the opportunities afforded to me during my study at HUC-JIR in New York. I was also happy to learn that the WRJ has been supporting me [...]

This time of year, as we start to clean out the Chametz, pull out the Seder plate and get the timbrel down off its shelf – as I ready my home and heart for my favorite holiday – there is also a tinge of sadness to our preparations. Justin’s name, which comes up not infrequently all year, will be mentioned more in the weeks to come – by me, by my wife Tina, by our son. As we unpack the Passover boxes, I know there will be items in there that I will find myself just holding, as I stare [...]

by Emilia Diamant Sheila Goldberg David Sherman Fran Niberg Todd Markley Rachael Bregman David Wolfman These are only six of many Jewish educators who shaped me during my formative years. They taught me at Sunday School, in youth group, in my Hebrew High School program, as Principals, and as mentors. They are people who I see now at URJ Biennials, when I go to Shabbat services at my home congregation, or as they post on Facebook. I may be in touch with them regularly or rarely, by email or through my parents. What ties them all together is that I [...]

by Cantor Ellen Dreskin I had the honor and pleasure of serving as Scholar in Residence just this past Shabbat for the URJ Early Childhood Educators’ Kallah – what a treat, I hope for everyone involved.  We wrestled with God, studied Torah, tackled Talmud, sang, and worshipped – I think we were all surprised at the impact of our time together. We began with Talmud study – no kidding!  Early Childhood Educators took to it with ease, sharing with each other how, if each one was a letter in Torah, what our individual crowns were, and how we understood the [...]

by Dana Rosenbloom, M.S. Ed. We ask children approaching this milestone to consider their pasts: past actions, past decisions, past choices. We ask that they use these experiences to inform the lives they will lead going forward, as they become b’nai mitzvah and are responsible for their actions. So too does Early Childhood Educators of Reform Judaism, as we enter our 13th year. We are truly coming of age and solidifying our identity. Launched by the thought provoking text from Rabbi Meir, “Do not look at the jug, but what is in it” the board of the Early Childhood Educators [...]