RJ Blog

Like many in the “broader Maryland” area, I watched and celebrated the Ravens’ Super Bowl victory this past weekend. I ate my requisite snacks, groaned at some commercials, and kvelled at Beyonce’s “throw-back” performance. For many, though, the Super Bowl is not the happy family occasion we might imagine – and I’m not just talking about disgruntled 49ers fans. For many years now, there has been a lot of discussion over the Super Bowl and domestic violence, and whether or not – as has been suggested by some journalists – there are higher rates of abuse amidst all of the [...]

by David Stanley and Rabbi Mark Goldfarb What image comes to mind when you hear the name Tim Tebow? Heisman trophy winner, maybe? Second-rate back-up quarterback for the New York Jets? Most likely, you get the mental image of someone on one knee, a la The Thinker, which has become Tebow’s signature “thank-you, Jesus” pose. The now-trademarked and widely aped posture is known as Tebowing. It’s fall, and we’ve just passed World Series time. What happens every time a player from the mainly Catholic Caribbean comes to the plate? He makes the sign of the cross. Fall also means soccer. [...]

by David Leichman and Rabbi Miri Gold A dream became a reality when the Israel Association of Baseball (IAB) received an invitation to participate in Qualifier 1 for the 2013 World Baseball Classic in Jupiter, FL. The World Baseball Classic is sponsored by Major League Baseball (MLB) and takes place every four years. The next Classic is set for March 2013 in Phoenix. MLB made the decision to add four teams to the twelve, including Team USA, which was already qualified from four years ago. The MLB “Heritage Rule” states that players have to be either a citizen of the [...]

by David Stanley I race bicycles. I started in 1979. I got pretty good, fast enough to earn my way to category II status, just below the pool from which USA Cycling draws the National and Olympic teams. Along the way, I competed against some truly world-class racers and became friends with a few of them. During my career, as all top athletes do, I had a momentary brush with performance enhancing drugs (I wrote about my encounters with them here). As I aged out of elite racing, I marveled, along with the rest of the sporting world, at Lance [...]

by Rabbi Barbara Symons and Rabbi Ron Symons We are writing to you in this special joint article from our modest room at URJ Camp Harlam, where we are now serving as faculty for two weeks of vibrant Jewish learning and living with 500 campers and another 200 staff in the beautiful Pocono Mountains. This is the seventh year that we have served at Harlam in this way. Our connections with URJ camping run deep. When Ron was entering 7th-9th grades, his parents sent him to the URJ Camp Eisner in Great Barrington, MA. As the child of a NYC [...]

Loving the Olympics? Get to know Israel’s delegation to the London Games! Here’s a quick by-the-numbers rundown: Israel has sent a team of 38 athletes to the London Games. Israel’s Olympic delegation includes 18 female athletes. Israeli Olympians will compete in eight sports, including gymnastics, swimming, sailing, tennis, and judo

The 2012 London Olympics begin this evening, and if you’re anything like me, you’ve been waiting for this Opening Ceremony since… well, since the last Olympics Opening Ceremony two years ago. Though I have absolutely zero athletic abilities of my own, I just can’t get enough of the Olympics. Today I found another reason to be excited when I learned that 18-year-old Aly Raisman, a member of the U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Team, is also a member of one of our URJ congregations! Raisman and her family belong to Temple Beth Avodah in Newton Centre, MA, just outside of Boston. Read [...]

by Rabbi Eric EisenkramerI despise packing and moving. I suspect that I am not alone in this feeling. Last summer I packed every item that I own to move from Queens to Ridgefield, CT to begin serving as Rabbi of Temple Shearith Israel. I quickly remembered how much I detest the process of making boxes, figuring out what to keep and what to throw away, and trying to get everything done before the movers arrive. Out of the dozens of boxes that I packed, I had three or four from childhood. I did not even bother to open those boxes. They [...]

Baseball is a great game. Often, a lot of attention gets paid to the phenom, the “kid.” As teams adjust and reality sets in, the reason returns and we often again celebrate the “crafty veteran.” It seems that in baseball, as in life, wisdom trumps knowledge.A recent piece in the New York Times titled “Older Brain Really May Be a Wiser Brain” sheds new light on the expanding research into the older adult brain. These studies are particularly meaningful for my work and our department’s major program on longevity and the baby boomers (Sacred Aging). The articles points out that, as we [...]