Jewish Voices, Jewish Lives

It’s what we do every day. Whether it’s the food we favor…a bagel with shmear… or the drive to repair the world…tikkun olam, we Jews are there, especially in Rockland County. We plan to bring Doing Jewish to you every Friday. Sometimes it’ll be fun, sometimes it’ll be serious.

Three Capitals

Over the last month, I spent almost the entire four weeks away from home. First, I was privileged to bring a group of our Federation Allocations Committee members - for the first time in over ten years - to meet with nine vital organizations in Israel to help us determine how the Federation …

We Give Thanks

In Jewish tradition, there is a core belief that recognizing what you are grateful for should be an integral part of your daily living and your daily prayer. Here at the Jewish Federation and Foundation of Rockland County, we’ve asked three of our staffers what gratitude they are feeling a…

Tragic Complacency

When I think of Hadar Goldin Z”L, I think about the terrible price we pay when we let ourselves become complacent. On August 1, 2014, at 9:00 A.M., just after the ceasefire during the 2014 conflict began, Hamas launched a surprise attack. They killed Hadar and two other soldiers, Major Ben…

Clarity

It has been a privilege to spend the last week and a half in Israel, first bringing members of Federation’s allocations committee to meet with a number of Israeli amutot (charitable organizations) to inform our decisions on how we help support and meet the needs of Israeli society in the c…

Politics Aside

Tuesday night, November 4, 2025, New York City elected the first millennial and Democratic Socialist Mayor of its time: Zohran Mamdani. He won with over 50% of the vote, beating out Republican Curtis Sliwa and disgraced former governor turned Independent Andrew Cuomo. As a Rockland resident,…