Back to Summer Camp

December 8, 2009

Our kids have been attending a Bnei Akiva-style summer camp for the last several years. Kayitz b’Kibbutz is based at Kibbutz Shluchot in the Jordan Valley, a few kilometers south of Beit Shean. The camp doesn’t have visiting days during its sessions, so we’ve been forced to use our imaginations to picture what our kids […]

Read the full article →

Gilad, Amir and Marla

December 2, 2009

With negotiations heating up over the release of Gilad Shalit in exchange for up to 1,000 hardened Palestinian prisoners, debate on the merits of the deal have been all over the news for days, as well as in discussions within our own family. Two recent events have made it particularly personal. The crux of the […]

Read the full article →

My Son in Greens

November 25, 2009

On his way back from Tel Aviv, 18-year-old Amir called to ask if I could pick him at the Jerusalem Central Bus Station. He was carrying a heavy bag and didn’t want to schlep it all the way home. Fair enough. I arrived at our agreed upon meeting place but I didn’t see my son. […]

Read the full article →

Introducing SiddurWiki

November 18, 2009

When my father died in March, I posted an article on how it has been difficult for me to say Kaddish on a regular basis. Instead, I proposed to sponsor a series of events that over the course of the 12 months of mourning would serve the goal of “ilu’i nishmato” – to “elevate the […]

Read the full article →

Oud v’Rikoud

November 12, 2009

The annual Jerusalem International Oud Festival has become the leading event of its kind on the ethnic music calendar. Now in its tenth year, the festival, which kicks off tonight, lasts for 16 days and includes shows in both Jerusalem and Nazareth. But those of us fortunate to have attended last week’s “Boogie Nights” dance […]

Read the full article →

A Mohel in Jerusalem

November 4, 2009

Last week our mohel, Rabbi Chanan Feld, passed away in Berkeley. I say “our” mohel – he presided over our now 18-year-old son Amir’s brit mila (ritual circumcision) in 1991 – but he really belonged to the entire northern half of California where he touched the lives of literally thousands of new parents and their […]

Read the full article →

A Night in the Desert

October 28, 2009

Feeling stressed out? Need to get away from it all? Here’s a travel tip that will take you so far off the beaten track, there’s barely a road to get there. Succa Bamidbar (Succa in the Desert) is about as distant from civilization as you can get in Israel. Located 5 km from the already […]

Read the full article →

Cleaning up After Desert

October 19, 2009

We recently joined a group of 30 friends for an inspiring hike in the Judean Desert. We started at the Dragot Cliffs just south of the checkpoint on the Dead Sea highway, and ended some 7 hours later at the Mitzpeh Shalem kibbutz. The hike itself was stunning, with plenty of steep climbs up, down […]

Read the full article →

Sexuality and Orthodoxy

October 13, 2009

Sex sells. And in Jerusalem, with its large religious population, a session on if Orthodoxy can come to terms with sexual activity – both in and out of marriage – drew an overflow crowd at the recent Gateways Festival of Jewish Learning and Culture. The festival is a remarkable event: two days of pluralistic learning […]

Read the full article →

Wacky Rabbi

October 7, 2009

What non-leather footwear did you don this Yom Kippur? Crocs, you say? Oy va voy! You just violated the latest fashion halacha from none other than esteemed Lithuanian leader Rabbi Yosef Sholom Eliayshiv who banned the popular rubber shoes for being “too comfortable. “ The ruling, according to an article in Ynet, came in response […]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →