Yiddish, English, and the Languages of Our Lives
I found myself looking over a list of words from my husband's first Yiddish class with growing unease. Rather than standard language lessons, the class featured more of a story-and-culture format, with sprinklings of Yiddishisms thrown in.
This Year's Best Passover Parody Videos
Last year's Passover parody videos were almost universally set to the tune of Frozen's "Let It Go." It doesn't get more Passo
The Passover Seder: A Night for Love
If I invited you to do a Jewish program for Passover and asked you to please bring a mattress, a bottle of wine, and some kind of aphrodisiac, you would probably look at me askance – maybe even consider having me investiga
The Meaning of Passover: A Boxing Match Between Gods
To understand the Exodus narrative, we must view it as a war – a boxing match, if you will – between gods.
Passing Down the Dishes for Passover
A dim light appeared from above and only my dad’s face was visible, peering down reassuringly at us. Then one arm appeared, and with great care, one by one, each of our Passover dishes was handed down, passed from one girl to the next in a sort of human Passover chain that started our family’s preparations for changing our dishes and cleaning out the chametz for this fun holiday.
Freedom and Responsibility
…I will free you from the labors of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and through extraordinary chastisements.
A Reflection on Yom HaShoah: What My Mother Taught Me About Spiritual Resistance
Holocaust Remembrance and Heroism Day (Yom HaShoah v’tag’vurah, commonly called Yom HaShoah) not only memorializes the six million Jews murdered but honors those Jews who took up arms against the Nazis.
Fighting Malaria with My Whole Soul
A couple of weeks ago, we read one of my favorite Torah portions, Ki Tisa. In this parashah, all of the Israelites are told to give a half-shekel to the building of the Tabernacle.
More Than Words on a Page: Social Justice in our Prayer Books
When I left for college my freshman year, I was nervous about exploring a new Jewish community. However, I immediately felt at home as I walked into my university’s Hillel’s Conservative Friday night services and saw the Siddur Sim Shalom, the prayer book I had grown up with.
Maxwell House and the Haggadah
It is perhaps fitting that in the United States, where Jews have found unprecedented freedom, Passover is the one holiday that a vast majority of American Jews celebrate.