Some Reflections on Loss and Renewal
The night of my brother's funeral, the moon was full - enormous and hanging low in the sky.
An Omer Meditation
Galilee Diary: Sustainability
When the Holy One Blessed be He created the first humans, he showed them all the trees in the Garden of Eden, and said to them: See how wonderful and pleasant are my creations! Everything I created – I created for you.
Cause for Celebration in Israel: Tu B'Av, the Jewish Festival of Love
When I moved to Israel, it was easy for me to forgo some of the holidays that I grew up with in America that I knew had a distinctly non-Jewish origin. It was also a pleasant surprise to discover other holidays here that unite Israelis across the spectrum – such as Tu B’Av, also known as the festival of love.
Galilee Diary: Balancing act
Everyone will sit under their own vine and under their own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid… -Micah 4:4
Galilee Diary: The Melody of the Heart
Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart.
-Deuteronomy 6:4-6
Galilee Diary: Redemption and Independence
Blessed are You O Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who differentiates between light and darkness, between Israel and the nations, between sadness and joy, between war and peace, between Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaAtzmaut; blessed are You O Lord, who differentiates between the holy an
Galilee Diary: Non-collective memory
In recent decades, trips to Poland for 11th graders have become de rigueur in high schools in middle class communities.
Galilee Diary: Old Time Religion
Rabbi Shimon fled to the cave to escape a death sentence for publicly criticizing Roman culture. According to folk tradition, during his twelve years of isolation, he engaged in mystical meditation and wrote the Zohar, the central work of Kabbalah.
"The Rabbi and the Rosary": on Parshat Vayetzeh (Genesis 28:10-32:3)
All stories that teach a lesson are "true,"but some are also factual.This story is true and factual...Based on an event that occurred in 1999
Although my role as Program Chair of the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations (IJCIC) placed several resp