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.

What We Want and What We Must

This week should have been a time to continue to focus on the celebration of holidays and the highlights of our New Year, including Simchat Torah, the Festival we look forward to as we begin the cycle of Torah reading anew. I’d have written about renewal, tradition, different ways of celeb…

We Don’t Do It That Way!

Many of us will be sitting in a Sukkah over the next week, eating our meals, enjoying time with family and friends, celebrating a festive time in the Jewish year. There are so many customs associated with the holiday. Some continue to use honey with their challah, while others return to usin…

50 Years On

50 years ago, I was a happy four year old, youngest of four children in a proudly Zionist household. When my parents got word of the Egyptian and Syrian attacks on Yom Kippur, October 6 1973, there was overwhelming sorrow and worry, as there was in so many households. My dad volunteered to g…

Shana Tova U’Metuka!

Ever since I was a boy, the experience of Rosh Hashanah has had both physical and spiritual hallmarks. Everyone eats challah and apples dipped in honey, but every year I also always had my mom’s refined onion soup, and helped her make roast duck for the extended family (If I can dig it up,…

Words and Actions

I’ve always loved to write. While some see it and foster it as an outlet for creativity and spirituality, I also see it in two other, very important ways. First, writing is a call to and an instrument of action. If you want to motivate others, to educate or enlighten others, or to express …