News and Reflections
Reflections on Yom HaShoah
April 2009 Today is Yom HaShoah- Holocaust Memorial Day. It started last night at sundown when a siren blew. The siren blew again this morning at 11 A.M. All over the country, radio stations broadcast a minute long siren, both at night and in the morning. Schools,...
Reflections on Songs in Israel
May 2009 On my way to work today, I heard the song that Israel sang in this year’s Eurovision contest, which took place this past week. It’s called “There Must Be Another Way” and it is sung by a popular Israeli singer and an Arab singer. Part of it is performed in...
Reflections on Simchat Torah
October 2009 Two weeks ago we celebrated “Sukkot”- our beloved Feast of Tabernacles. But there’s a one day holiday tagged on to the tail-end of that week long festival, which I feel, sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. In Hebrew it’s called “Simchat Torah” and it...
Reflections on the New Moon
November 2009 This past Shabbat I sat in synagogue, listening to the Blessing of the New Month, Kislev, which will begin tomorrow. “May it be Your will, our G-d and the G-d of our forefathers, that You inaugurate this month upon us for goodness and for blessing....
Reflections on Prayers Upon Rising
February 2010 I lay in bed in the morning, trying to decide, through transparent eyelids, whether daylight has truly dawned or whether I have a few more minutes to burrow back under the covers. But then the alarm clock rings and all sense of illusion is gone and I...
Reflections on Prayers for the State of Israel and Her Armed Forces
April 2010 These past two days have been a roller coaster of emotions. Monday was Israel’s Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terror. Every school, every city, every small community, had a ceremony commemorating the country’s heroes -- those who fell...
Reflections on Ushering in and Bidding Farewell to Shabbat
May 2010 In my home, as in many Jewish homes around the world, Friday afternoon, as Shabbat approaches, tends to be hectic. I call a five-minute warning upstairs to my girls who are putting the final touches on their Shabbat finery and remind my boys to turn off...
Reflections on Rosh Hashanah
September 26, 2006 - Reflections on Rosh Hashanah I hosted seven people at my home for the two day Rosh Hashanah holidays. Add that to me, my husband and our seven kids, and we were quite a house full. Sixteen people to house, feed, and keep happy. The basement was...
Reflections on Anim Zemirot
October 2010 The Shabbat morning services were coming to a close and I peeked through the partition separating the men’s section of the synagogue from the ladies’ section. I wanted to see which little boy was being given the traditional honor, this week, of leading...
Reflections on Blessings
November 2010 The Jewish Liturgy is filled with formal prayer services, performed three times a day, every day, with even more added on Shabbat and festivals! But there are also mini prayers—blessings, actually—which we sprinkle steadily throughout our days, adding...