A Time to Cry Out [1] Imagine if three or four jumbo jets were to fall from the sky in a single day. The crash of one mid-sized jet can dominate the news for days or weeks. Such is the magnitude of shock and grief when so much innocent life is tragically lost. 9/11 punched more Continue Reading »
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a tremendous impact on just about everything around us, and IHN (Interfaith Hospitality Network) is no exception. When the pandemic hit hard in March 2020, the Somerset County Board of Social Services, which sends 99% of the clients to IHN, shut down. There were two families in the rotation (moving Continue Reading »
The COVID-19 pandemic is motivating us to develop new coping skills to be healthy in body and mind. Togetherness helps us to do that. Our members sharing what is going on in their day-to-day lives brings us together: Lines of Your Life Gayle Skolky: I spend my time reading and folk dancing, and dance along Continue Reading »
Sure, it’s fun to come up with new ways to gussy up latkes: beet latkes, cauliflower latkes, even ramen noodle latkes. But what I love more than adding other veggies and ingredients to the pancake itself is taking the classic potato latke and using it as a canvas for complementary and creative toppings. You can Continue Reading »
Every year at our Yom Kippur Reflections Service, several members of our congregation speak about how Judaism, and the experience of being Jewish, has affected their lives, their perspectives and their character. Here, three of the speakers from this year’s service offer their thoughts on how being Jewish has impacted them. Rande Aaronson – When Continue Reading »
Over the summer, I was struck by the timeliness of a teaching from parsha Ki Teitzei in the Book of Deuteronomy. I was intrigued by how relevant the first three verses of Chapter 22 seemed to be in our current circumstances: (1) If you see your fellow’s ox or sheep gone astray, do not ignore Continue Reading »
I recently purchased the Robert Alter translation of the TaNaKh, the Jewish Bible*. This award-winning translator offers a fresh look at the Biblical text, seen so often in less dynamic and precise language. Reading Alter’s translation gave me a new motivation to reread the texts of the Psalms, the 150 tehilim. These are poems from Continue Reading »
Thanksgiving and the pandemic sound like a contradiction in terms. A plague is ravaging our country. What have we to be grateful for? A lot, actually! And, it is precisely when we are beset by troubles that it becomes all the more important to practice gratitude, if for nothing other than our mental health. Giving Continue Reading »
A Message for Shabbat Chayai Sarah and World Kindness Day: What is the essence of the Torah? For some, like Rashi, the Torah is a book of law – the vessel through which God gave us commandments to guide our lives. He argues that the Torah should have begun with Exodus 13, where we learn Continue Reading »
A Message for Shabbat Vayeira: Let Us Reclaim the Vision of Abraham When Abraham heard of God’s intention to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, he didn’t ask if its citizens were Jewish. He didn’t ask God to save his friends. He didn’t make distinctions based on faith or race, ideology or affiliation. Abraham did not discriminate. He Continue Reading »
