Category: Community
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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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Pulse of the Parsha – Chayei Sara 5787 | The Promise and the Price: Avraham’s Hopes and Fears Are Ours
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As we digest the alarming fallout of this week’s midterm elections—where a progressive blue wave swept radical figures like Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed into Congress—supporters of the U.S.–Israel alliance face a staggering turning point. This political shift threatens not only to dismantle vital bilateral ties, but to accelerate a global surge…
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Pulse of the Parsha – Vayeira 5787 | Beyond Goldilocks: Widening the Welcome
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In Brest (known in Yiddish as Brisk), the city in Belarus where he served as Chief Rabbi for twenty-six years, Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik (1853 – 1918) was renowned for his willingness to help people in need however he could, and his genial, liberal home hospitality was nothing short of over-the-top.…
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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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Pulse of the Parsha – Noach 5787 | Fruitarian, Famine, and the Fellow Jew
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When actor Ashton Kutcher prepared to play the role of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, he went to extreme lengths to inhabit the tech icon’s mind, including adopting Jobs’ famous, strict fruitarian diet, an extreme regimen consisting almost exclusively of raw fruits, nuts, and seeds obtained without harming the plant. However,…
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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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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…