Can Confirmation Slow the Exodus of Students from Jewish Life?
Do you ever wonder why almost all Jews celebrate Passover but when it comes to Shavuot, the numbers are usually meager? Is it because Passover is all about freedom while Shavuot is about responsibility? Or is it because the creatively elastic ritual called seder takes place at home while the more conventional Shavuot is synagogue-based? Or maybe it’s that Pesach focuses a lot of attention on young children? The first ritual act our little ones perform is to ask questions of their elders and then later we count on their sense of the possible as they open the door, believing that Elijah might in fact be there. For too many, bar and bat mitzvah lead to a modern day exodus as young people take their leave of formal Jewish learning before they’ve even had a chance to swim in the proverbial “deep water” of the Jewish tradition.
Three Ways to Involve Your Congregation in Getting Out the Vote this Year!
Taking Hillel’s instruction “Do not separate yourself from the community” to heart (Pirke Avot 2:5), Reform Jews have a long history of active participation in campaigns and elections.
Acknowledging Mental Illness in Our Community
An important way we can support those living with mental illness is to change the scope of the conversation around these issues from private to communal.
When Did Stress Become the Norm for Seventh Graders?
“She, both of us…and tutors…are up until midnight every night doing homework. We can’t handle anything more.” Learn how one congregation is helping teens and their parents address the stressors in their lives.
Why I Chose to Embrace Judaism and How I Did It
Walking into that first Introduction to Judaism class, I was nervous. For the last five years, I’d become increasingly immersed in Jewish culture, attending High Holiday services with my girlfriend's family, exchanging Hanukkah gifts, reading books on Judaism, and consulting “Rabbi Google.” Still, I felt like an outsider – self-conscious and keenly aware of my “other-ness.”
Close Encounters of the Worst Kind: Melanoma on the Rise
In his first book, Melanoma: It Started with a Freckle, Jewish author David L. Stanley tells the story of his battle with melanoma. His humor comes through – yet he never minimizes the seriousness of this frightening disease. Stanley, a science teacher, is the son of a physician and the husband of a nurse, and he writes about the intricacies of human anatomy and biology in an understandable, engaging way. His descriptions of the interplay of skin muscles, capillaries, arteries and nerves are as engrossing as his description of his emotional state upon learning of the dreaded diagnosis of what he calls the “rat bastard” cancer.
Where We Find the Best Stress Relief for Teens
Teens today are coming of age at a time of intense competition. The pressures they feel to be successful at school, in sports, in pursuit of their passions, in their social lives and in romantic relationships, as daughters and sons, and as leaders – are at an all-time high.
Helping Teens Embrace the Journey Up the Mountain
How can Judaism help both parents and teens slow down, showing them that the journey up the mountain is more meaningful than reaching the top? Learn how one congregation is designing experiences that help teens slow down enough to live in the present.
What Do Jews Have to Do with Jazz? Plenty!
If you love jazz and Jewish culture, as I do, it seems only natural to seek out connections between the two. That’s exactly what a select group of jazz lovers in New Jersey did this past fall and winter, bringing to the fore the exceptional exhibit, Jazz, Jews and African Americans: Cultural Intersections in Newark and Beyond. The show was a collaboration of the Institute of Jazz Studies (Rutgers University-Newark), New Jersey Performing Arts Center, WBGO, the Jewish Museum of New Jersey, New Jersey City University, and Congregation Ahavas Sholom, an historic synagogue in Newark that houses the museum.
How My Jewish Values Inspired My New Business
When I think of the many factors that helped shape me into the woman I am today, I think, in particular, of lessons from my mother. Her wisdom inspired me and imbued me with a strong voice and commitment to social justice. That commitment led me, in part, to the business I recently started.