by Webmaster | Nov 12, 2015 | Identity, Jewish Ritual
As a youth, I often felt as if I had two worlds and two cultures that were always with me (Genesis 25:2). Born and raised in Monsey, NY in a context of the Chabad Lubavitch community, with an African-American and Dutch mother who so deeply felt connected to the Jewish...
by Shekhiynah Larks | Nov 10, 2015 | Arts & Culture, Identity
My name is Sandra Lawson, and I am rabbinical student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. I’m spending this semester in Israel studying at the Conservative Yeshiva, in Jerusalem. I’m having a great time studying Talmud, Jewish spirituality and Hebrew. I’m...
by Webmaster | Nov 3, 2015 | Identity, Jewish Ritual
When I was 6 years old I told my parents I was going to become a rabbi. I was blessed to grow up with extremely supportive parents and a community full of great Jewish role models. Nonetheless, there is no one person who inspired me to be a rabbi. I wanted to be a...
by Webmaster | Oct 27, 2015 | Identity
Since I was a little kid growing up in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, I’ve always known that I was somehow different in the Jewish community. I didn’t look like the other kids in Hebrew school. I was the only one to have Black family members at their bar mitzvah ceremony....
by Webmaster | Oct 12, 2015 | Identity
I remember the exact moment when I realized I’d never be the Jewish James Bond. It was right after our son was born four years ago. We were still in my wife’s hospital room, and I thought to myself: “well, there goes the globe-trotting, the international intrigue, the...
by Webmaster | Oct 7, 2015 | Arts & Culture, Identity
When my then fiance and I were planning our wedding, I told him that I didn’t want to circle around him under the chuppah (wedding canopy). His reaction was not what I expected. Instead of him saying, “Okay” or “Why not?,” I got something along the lines of, “What are...
