by Webmaster | Jul 16, 2015 | Identity, Jewish Ritual
“’…But, mother, I won’t be alone. Other children will go with me, And march the streets of Birmingham to make our country free.’ ‘No, baby, no, you may not go, for I fear those guns will fire. But you may go to church instead, and sing in the children’s choir…’ The...
by Webmaster | Jul 7, 2015 | Identity
My maternal great-grandfather was a German Jewish immigrant named Adolph Altschul. His wife was a freed slave woman, Maggie Carson. She was so light-skinned she could have passed for white, and one of Adolph’s and Maggie’s daughters did when she grew up. In the 1870...
by Webmaster | Jun 29, 2015 | Identity
Week after week, I light two small candles. I move behind my children and put one hand on each of their heads and I begin my prayer: Y’varech’cha Adonai V’yishmerecha. I ask that they be blessed and kept safe, favored and granted peace. I kiss each child on the...
by Webmaster | Jun 24, 2015 | Identity
For they (the teachings) are our life source, and what lengthen our days, and so we meditate on them day and night.” — Siddur This past week I arrived at Camp Yavneh in New Hampshire. It is my first time at a summer camp. Not knowing anyone or what to expect, I was...
by Webmaster | Jun 22, 2015 | Identity
This piece is being published on the yahrzeit of Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi of blessed memory, may his teachings endure. It begins like an old Hasidic story. A reluctant maskil (a defender of the rational reform of Judaism, an “enlightener”) is strong-armed into...
by Webmaster | Jun 15, 2015 | Identity
“Hey Buddy!” Whenever I hear that term, so common coming from the lips of dads in my generation, I invariably pause to reflect on the Fifth Commandment which instructs children to honor their parents (“kibbud av va-em”). Will a child whose father calls him (or, almost...
