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.

Beep Beep…

There is a passage in the 24th chapter of Mishlei, or Proverbs, that reads “Do not rejoice at the discomfiture of your enemies, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles, lest the LORD see it and be displeased, and turn away his anger from him.” Often enough the ‘proverbial’ ad…

The Great Debate

You probably think from the title that this message will focus on the debate between former President Trump and Vice President Harris that took place earlier this week. I’m sorry to disappoint you.

No, the great debate I had in mind is the distinction between sweet and savory. In most pl…

Stepping Out of the Shadows

A couple of days ago, I was standing on a podium, addressing a group of about fifty people, talking about the current situation in Israel. I spoke of the very immediate feelings of shock and dismay at the news of the execution of six hostages by Hamas HYD.

Hersh Goldberg-Polin,
Eden Yerusha…

A Little Light Reading

In 1952, Life Magazine published Ernest Hemingway’s last significant work, his novella ‘The Old Man and the Sea’.

Many of us of course have read it, perhaps more than once. In it, the old and unlucky fisherman Santiago goes out fishing after 12 weeks without a catch.

When he finally …

How We Make the Sausage

As many of you now know, several days ago on August 9th, a sermon was given at a local mosque by an individual who was not the Imam or a regular speaker. The sermon was live streamed and uploaded to the website of the mosque. The speaker began in English, but when he continued in Arabic, the…