RJ Blog

by Jacki Hart and Stephanie Rotsky Still relatively green as parents, choosing a school for our then-4-year-old and nearly-6-year-old felt like a major “grown up” responsibility. What would they learn; how would they be taught? Would the school nurture their nature? And could the school selection influence who they might become? The emphasis on social justice and the mission of tikkun olam, repair of the world, drew us to Rashi, a Reform Jewish day school in the Boston metropolitan area for kindergarteners through 8th graders. Little did we understand, six years ago, that Tamchui, Rashi’s unique annual community social justice [...]

Recently I had the good fortune to offer a workshop for educators that I called, “Parents as Partners: Working with Parents in Jewish Special Needs Education.” I was well aware, from the start of the workshop, that the educators assembled wanted pointers on how to handle difficult conversations with parents. They were eager to help their students, but seemed to feel great apprehension around how to potentially develop open and supportive communication with parents. Open and supportive communication with parents is essential for a successful Jewish supplemental school experience for any child, especially those with special learning needs. However, my [...]

by Jennifer B. Perlick Two years ago I realized, “Wow, my daughter’s bat mitzvah is coming up!” Of course, I wanted it to be special. I wanted it to be really meaningful for her – and for me and the whole family – but I wasn’t super-inspired by the b’nai mitzvah ceremonies I was attending at my synagogue. Don’t get me wrong, I love my congregation, Har HaShem in Boulder, CO. It offers the largest community of Jewish families in Boulder, its religious school is extremely well-run, and the rabbi and cantor are both young and hip. But the b’nai [...]

The past few days I have been thinking about the role that being alone vs. being with people plays in each of our lives and the importance of finding the right balance of social vs. solitude time.  This is true for us as individuals, this is true for us as parents, and this is true for us as educators and as synagogue leaders. There is a lot of noise everywhere. There are beeps, chirps, buzzes, rings, chimes – to say nothing of bangs, gongs, crinkles and more. The world is a veritable symphony of sounds. 

Elie Wiesel has written, “In Jewish history, a name has its own history and its own memory. It connects beings with their origins. To retrace its path is then to embark on an adventure in which the destiny of a single word becomes one with that of a community; it is to undertake a passionate and enriching quest for all those who may live in your name.”1 From the story of the Creation through the rest of Genesis, the giving of names has been a significant part of the biblical narrative. After creating the wild animals and birds, God “brought [...]

by Marcia Frezza Like me, most of my fellow congregants at Congregation Beth Yam, located on a Barrier Island in southern South Carolina, came to Hilton Head Island for the beauty of the location; we later found a true home here with a very active Reform congregation and a wonderful community., Today, this 200-plus member congregation, has a new building and recently celebrated its 30th anniversary. Just two and a half years ago, Beth Yam formed an Outreach Committee, making it the newest of our committees. Like most committees, it was formed when it became clear that there was a [...]

by Rabbi Elias Lieberman Like many congregations within the Reform Movement, our community of 310 households has many interfaith families. Some 65% of the children in our education program have a parent who is not a Jew. In every case, however, these interfaith couples have made a decision to raise their children as Jews and have turned to our synagogue to help them in that process. In the 22 years that I’ve been privileged to serve as rabbi of the Falmouth Jewish Congregation, I have witnessed firsthand a generation raised by interfaith parents come of age with strong Jewish identities. [...]

by Rabbi Evan Moffic An episode of The Simpsons inspired this article. The entire Simpson family is seated around the dinner table. Bart is asked to say grace. He offers the following words: “Dear God, we paid for all this stuff ourselves, so thanks for nothing.” Bart’s words capture what so many often feel. We’re entitled to what we have. We earned it. Why should we thank anyone for it? A consumerist culture reinforces this message. “Buy this product,” we are told, “because you need it. You deserve it.” As a parent, I think a lot about how to cultivate [...]

By Dr. Madelyn M. Katz In raising my two daughters, I had always hoped they would have courage to face life challenges with confidence and character. When they were young, I anticipated that those challenges would be the normal – difficult teachers, college rejections, and boyfriends who dumped them. Little did I know… My husband and I have two wonderful daughters, ages 21 and 17. They are caring, funny, insightful, respectful, and, yes, courageous. They have had courage in the face of a whole host of their own mental health and addiction challenges – any one of which might have [...]

As the High Holy Days approach, parents of young children are no doubt scouring the Internet for creative, kid-friendly ways to celebrate the holidays. Past issues of our publication The Jewish Parent Page, though now defunct, offer fun and appropriate ways to involve youngsters in meaningful High Holy Days observance. Here, we’ve reprinted a few of the Rosh HaShanah- and Yom Kippur-related crafts and activities from The Jewish Parent Page for your family to try. You can also check out our Rosh HaShanah board on Pinterest for a round-up of our favorite ideas from across the web. Tell us: What [...]

Tomorrow, my oldest child begins kindergarten, and I’m not sure who’s more nervous. My sweet, sensitive, 95-year-old-Jewish-man-trapped–in-the-body-of-5-year-old son has expressed numerous concerns, ranging from: “What if I don’t make friends?” to “Where will the bathrooms be?” I tell him not to worry, that it won’t be so different from his cherished preschool in my synagogue (where everyone knows him, where is he most comfortable outside of our home) – but I know it will be completely new and very different.

by Rachel Kasten Despite being a Jewish educator, I have never felt a strong, personal connection to our sacred texts. I read the Tanakh as one reads literature, though this particular series of books had way too many underdeveloped characters and a very loosely held-together plot. It certainly didn’t invoke the kind of emotions that, for example, the Harry Potter books did. These stories were never my story. Last year, I took a course in Hebrew Bible at a local university, as a refresher to better my own teaching of the topic – and then, I saw myself everywhere in [...]

As in many families, we found that the grip of electronics in the lives of our children was becoming tighter. This was not a good thing. In the mornings, our children would claim that they were not hungry for breakfast so they could watch TV. Invariably, this led to a struggle to get everyone out of the house in time for work and school. When they boys returned home, they dropped their bags and ran straight to the family room to turn on the television. To their credit, our sons are multi-taskers: While watching TV, they would also play with [...]

The month preceding the High Holy Days is called Elul. It is a time of reflection before we “officially” begin the important process of teshuvah. In some ways this time of the Jewish calendar reminds me of Havdalah – the short but sweet service in which we say good-bye to Shabbat, but not before we have paid tribute to the fabulous 24 hours of rest and renewal we experienced. The goal of Havdalah is to think back, so we can gratefully and gracefully move forward into the new week. Elul has always been a time for me to think back [...]