by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 14, 2022 | Community, Happiness and Joy, Ki Tavo
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz I can’t stand when people tell me to cheer up. How dare they tell me to be happy. It is infuriating. If I want to sink into a deep and dark depression, I will do so. And I generally do, at every party and celebration. You can’t...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 5, 2022 | Community, Ki Teitzei, Kindness and Compassion
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz Joseph and I did not get along and it caused my boss no end of grief. One day, the company hired a new Human Resources manager, a former hippie named Sarah. She smelled of patchouli and her beaded necklaces clashed with her requisite business...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 2, 2022 | Community, Covenant, Education, God, Israel, Leadership, Shoftim
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz Since I was a young boy, I have loved reading books. I became intimately familiar with every book in my parents’ library, treating each like a dear friend. Each book had its special place on the shelf and the library, in its entirety,...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 22, 2022 | Community, Kindness and Compassion, Light Unto the Nations, Re’eih, Tests and Trials
Usually, it is only the significant events that we remember decades later. But I still remember every detail of what happened 23 years ago. I was on my way home from reserve duty and anxious to get home. It was evening and I had missed dinner. I had about half an hour...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 21, 2022 | Community, Re’eih
I learned more about being a soldier from Moshe Bachar during my reserve duty than from any other officer I encountered in the IDF, and he taught me a huge lesson. One of the other soldiers in the unit was constantly intimidating me. He had served in a really tough...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 11, 2022 | 15th of Av, Community, Happiness and Joy, Israel, Marriage and Relationships, Ninth of Av, Psalms, Temple, Yom Kippur
The fifteenth day of the Hebrew month of Av is a post-biblical holiday. According to Jewish tradition, it is one of the happiest days of the year, as the Mishna states: “Israel had no holidays as joyous as Tu B’Av (the 15th of the Hebrew month of Av) and Yom Kippur...
