by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 20, 2022 | Community, Covenant, Kindness and Compassion, Parenting, Pinchas
My children are growing up. Long gone are the hectic mornings of breakfast cereal and desperately packing school lunches. My older son, now grown and living on his own, has inherited the habit of drinking a big cup of coffee (or two) before tackling his day. Though he...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 17, 2022 | Covenant, God, Messiah, Prayer, Redemption, Seventeenth of Tammuz, Temple
There are many days that are auspicious, commemorated for a powerful event that happened on that date, earning them personal or even national significance. Birthdays and national holidays are like this. The same is true for sad days commemorating tragic events. People...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 12, 2022 | God, Holiness, Micah, Revelation and Prophecy
“See that big guy over there? Aren’t you glad I saved you from him?” “What are you talking about? He never touched me.” “Yeah, but what he wanted to do to you was really awful.” “You mean he wanted to beat me up?” “No. What he wanted to do was much worse than even...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 3, 2022 | Amos, Holiness, Naso, Purity, Temple
The Book of Numbers describes the vow of the Nazir (Nazirite). The Nazir is not allowed to drink wine, cut his hair, or come into close contact with the dead. The meaning of the Hebrew word nazir is a bit ambiguous. It literally means ‘to separate’. Rashi explains...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 2, 2022 | Counting the Omer, Emor, Shavuot (Pentecost)
Shavuot is an annual Jewish holiday, one of the three Biblically mandated pilgrimage festivals when, in Temple times, Jews ascended to Jerusalem. It is observed after the Jews complete a seven-week count beginning on the second day of Passover: You must count until...
