(JTA) — When the war came, Galina Chornobyl fled so fast she left her teeth behind.
That’s one of the first things she shared with me when I met Galina at the Siret border crossing in Romania late last month.
Kyiv had become untenable —...
(JTA) – Exactly 100 years ago, in April 1922, my great-grandparents emigrated to the United States with their four children, fearing for their lives in Kremenets, a Russian city in present-day western Ukraine.
My great-grandfather, Aaron Shimon Shpall,...
As a rabbi and spiritual mentor, I am frequently approached by community members who are struggling with making important life decisions, whether in their personal or professional capacities.
These can be small things or some of life’s greater challenges:...
(JTA) — Olives. Tomatoes. Oranges. Artichokes. Dates. Cotton balls. And, now, sunflowers.
This list might seem like a setup for a logic puzzle or a grocery run. But it is, instead, a (non-exhaustive) list that I have seen of additions to the seder...
How did she know
That on this journey
There would be
Cause to sing
— “Ashira Lashem” by Ashira Morgenstern (1983)
Sometimes, it’s about seeing the bigger picture.
It’s about taking a step back and zooming our focus out, off...
Lately, the news media has been full of coverage on whether schools should “teach” children about sexual orientation and gender. Like so many issues in front of the country right now, it has become politically charged where nuance is rarely heard....
When it comes to language, clichés are so yesteryear. They’re the convenient fast food of communication; something to fall back on when we are trying to make a point. They pop out of our mouths like bread in a toaster—ready to serve and digest with...
Those who decry Hungary’s Orbán for his party’s past while cheering on Ukrainian nationalism are being inconsistent. It illustrates fallacies about defending both Jews and democracy.
As I am writing this op-ed, Ukraine is the No. 1 subject occupying worldwide media attention. We do not know how the Ukraine conflict will end. Predictions range from Russia annexing Ukraine to its settling for regime change to its willingness to restore...
AMY FENSTER BROWN, Special to the Jewish Light
• Published April 3, 2022
As an homage to the great Marcia Brady, I’ve been keeping a diary, or as the cool kids call it, a journal. Articles and podcasts aplenty tout the benefits of journaling. Apparently, it’s good for you.
Plain journals come with blank pages,...
(JTA) — In a good year, the annual conference of the Jewish Funders Network functions like a Jewish Aspen Institute: The Jewish fundraising elite, from private and family foundations that represent about $6 billion in annual philanthropy, gather...
(JTA) — As a Jew growing up in Poland, I participated in the Polish democratic opposition of the 1970s, then the pro-democracy Solidarity movement and finally the anti-Communist underground of the 1980s. I was very painfully aware that some of...
