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...
by Webmaster | Sep 9, 2015 | Holidays, Identity
With joy we share our family tradition of “Lavar la Cara” (washing our faces in the ocean). It seems that this tradition combines many elements of two ceremonies. The first is “Tashlich” from the Hebrew “to cast off,” referring to the custom of tossing bits of bread...
