Author: Rebbitzen Rachel
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Rebbitzen’s Reflection Toldos
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Knowing When to Go, Knowing When to Ask This week, as I traveled to the Rabbinical Council of America’s (RCA) annual Rebbitzen’s conference in New Jersey, I found myself thinking about the many issues facing Jewish communities worldwide. It brought me right into this week’s parsha, Toldos, and the struggles…
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Rebbitzen’s Reflection Chayei Sara
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“I Will Go”: Rivkah’s Lech Lecha Many of us are familiar with the classic song, “Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me a Match,” and, in a sense, all Jewish matchmaking traces back to Parshas Chayei Sarah, where we encounter the foundational episode of the match made between Yitzchak and Rivkah. Two of…
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Rebbitzen’s Reflection Vayera
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When the Moment Calls I had a weekend packed with love, simcha, and nachas. My children were all home, family and friends joined us, and many wonderful community members stepped up to help us celebrate our simchas to the fullest. As I looked around, I felt surrounded by angels. When…
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Rebbitzen’s Reflection Noach
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Why Are We Building? When my children were young, our home was full of builder characters like Bob the Builder and Handy Manny because building is exciting and seems like fun. Repeatedly, to the extent that I still can hear it, the toy workbench played sage advice: measure twice, cut…
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Rebbetzen’s Reflection Bereishis
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A Fresh Start This week we begin the next phase of our year: the post-chagim stretch, when we either return to our routines or take the opportunity to create new ones. New beginnings are a chance to refresh, reset, and start again. And this week, we literally start again as…
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Rebbetzin’s Reflection Simchas Torah
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As we approach the end of our Chagim season, I think about the meaningful time we have spent in shul, the quality time we’ve enjoyed with family and friends, the festive meals, and the unique feeling of this time of year. We still look forward to what for many is…
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Rebbetzin’s Reflection Sukkos
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Survival to Celebration The abrupt mental and physical transition from Yom Kippur to Sukkos deserves explanation. On Rosh Hashanah, we stood before Hashem and asked to be written in the Book of Life. We had the ten days of repentance culminating on Yom Kippur, when we revisited the initial request…
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Rebbetzin’s Reflection Rosh Hashana
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The Head of the Year I recently asked a group of growth-oriented women what Rosh Hashana brought to mind. The answer, almost across the board, was menu planning, how to elevate our Yuntif tables to make it special. We spend a lot of time on Rosh Hashana eating and davening…