by Webmaster | Dec 7, 2015 | Holidays, Identity
This year, Hanukkah has special meaning for the Abayudaya Jews of Uganda. Hanukkah is not a major holiday like Shabbat or Passover because it is not written about in the Torah. But its story is important to us. It is a story of the few against the many. It is a story...
by Webmaster | Dec 1, 2015 | Holidays, Identity, Recipes
As a convert, I have always felt a special responsibility to actively choose Judaism. Each new choice I make reminds me to live a Jewish life with kavanah, with loving intent. I have to make being Jewish happen. My fledgling faith was galvanized by the charge to make...
by Webmaster | Nov 24, 2015 | Identity
As I approached the Temple Sinai of Sharon, Massachusetts the words of King David’s Psalms could be heard from the street, and the pulsing prayers on Ezra’s behalf were rising skyward. Police and security were stationed every few meters, their faces somber and...
by Webmaster | Nov 16, 2015 | Holidays, Identity, Recipes
We fought the Greeks, and the victory was ours!” (Traditional Israeli Hanukkah song) Eating Greek at Hanukkah might seem like a contradiction. After all, at Hanukkah time, there is a stark dichotomy drawn between Jews (good) and Greeks (bad). According to the...
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...
