by Webmaster | Dec 6, 2016 | Identity
When I was eight years old, our family began looking into adopting a child. I was nervous and excited about the possibility of becoming a big sister. During the adoption process, I had a feeling that we would get to adopt an African American baby boy. It turned out I...
by Webmaster | Dec 1, 2016 | Identity, Jewish Ritual
It is interesting to grow up in an old world family with new world ideas. My childhood dinners were created by eyes looking back at recipes thousands of years old, but also forward toward the wonders the future might bring. I was told from a very young age that I was...
by Webmaster | Nov 17, 2016 | Identity
Dear Maia, Remember when you were in day care? (Of course you don’t.) I was in grad school and, back then, I was still really new to this parenting thing. I was trying to figure out how to raise a small-but-mighty Black-and-Jewish feminist, a girl who was not just...
by Webmaster | Oct 13, 2016 | Identity
At Sukkot the custom of Ushpizin, offers us a chance, to be as welcoming and as inclusive as we would like to be. Traditionally, the Ushpizin are biblical figures who we symbolically invite to join us in the sukkah, bringing their legacy in to guide us in the here and...
by Webmaster | Sep 26, 2016 | Holidays, Identity
מִן-הַמֵּצַר, קָרָאתִי יָּהּ; עָנָנִי בַמֶּרְחָב יָהּ Out of the tight place I called to the LORD; God answered me with great enlargement. -Psalm 118:5 Rosh Hashanah is more than a New Year. It is the beginning of the Aseret Y’mei Teshuvah, the 10 Days of...
by Webmaster | Sep 21, 2016 | Identity
What is Jewish music? For some it is the violins of Klezmer. For others it is Leonard Bernstein. For Sarah Aroeste it is contemporary tunes in Ladino. For Reuben ‘Prodezra’ Fromey it is hip hop with Torah values. Aroeste and Fromey have very different musical...
