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Rebbitzen’s Reflection Toldos
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
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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Rebbitzen’s Reflection Chayei Sara
“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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Pulse of the Parsha – Vayeira 5787 | Beyond Goldilocks: Widening the Welcome
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
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
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
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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Pulse of the Parsha – Bereishis 5787 | Preach What You Practice: The Wealth of Wedlock
In what may be a new twist on the age-old practice of marrying for money, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis recently reported that married couples aged 25-34 have net worth nine times that of single households of the same age[1]. The gap only widens with time: sociologist Brad…
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Rebbetzen’s Reflection Bereishis
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…