Rabbi Ira Youdovin: Welcome to the Jewish New Normal Early in the current era of lock-downs, my friend and colleague Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin suggested that American Judaism was having a Yavneh moment. Yavneh, a small town not far from what is now Tel Aviv, was where the rabbis gathered in the late first century C.E [...]
Danielle Drossel: How the Pandemic Turned Me Into a Balabusta [Unofficially] A balabusta is a Yiddish word that refers to a Jewish homemaker of the finest quality – a person who loves to bring family together, to cook for them, and create a warm and comforting home. I come from a long line of balabustas [...]
Lorne Fienberg: A Note on Covid-19 Indulge me for a minute. Find a quiet place and read one of my favorite Walt Whitman poems -- out loud: I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear, Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong, The carpenter singing his as [...]
Allan Morton: "Man Plans; God Laughs" I retired from the practice of family law on June 30, 2019. After more than 50 years of litigation practice and having turned 75 on February 2, 2019, it was time for a change. I set up a family law mediation practice, a field in which I have been [...]
Marina Stephens: From Inside Out In my life, there were three periods when I found myself locked inside, while life went on in the world outside the limits of my confinement. The first one was when I was a teenager in the USSR working as a guide/translator with Italian tourists. When time came, we said [...]
Alvin Lever: Erev Shabbat Memories Walking towards CBB on Erev Shabbat hearing “Shabbat Shalom” from those you know and those you don’t. And then the evening progresses from the Oneg, to services, sermon, to the wonderful Kiddush afterwards. Just close your eyes and I’m sure you can see, hear, and enjoy the memory. I would [...]