There is hardly anything more universal than the desire to love and be loved. It doesn’t matter what country you live in, what religion you are or what family you come from — love unites us all. One thing we’ll never tire of reading is a great love story. Everyone wants to know how the […]
One of the hardest times in the Jewish calendar is the period of the three weeks, culminating in the fast of Tisha B’Av. It’s a time when we do things to actively reduce our joy, as we mourn the destruction of the Holy Temple. But as we try to connect, it can often be quite […]
The holiday of Shavuos celebrates one of the most famous converts in Jewish history – Ruth. When it comes to becoming a Jew, she is all in. She famously tells her mother-in-law, Naomi, “Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God […]
I wasn’t expecting my declaration of ‘it’s time to clean the car for Pesach’ to be met with a cheer of delight from my 4 year old. It stood out to me, in stark contrast to what I had been hearing from some of the women that I teach about how much they dread the […]
During the maggid portion of the haggadah, we recite Rabban Gamliel’s tripartite obligation of retelling our redemption from Egypt. Rabban Gamliel says one must refer to three symbolic elements of the seder: pesach, matzah, and maror. Pesach, as represented by the zeroa [shankbone], refers to the korban pesach [paschal lamb] that the Jews sacrificed in […]
Kadesh, urchatz, karpas…tzafun, barech, Hallel, nirtzah. Kiddush, washing, karpas…afikomen, grace after meals, Hallel… Many of us have been singing the steps of the seder for as long as we can remember – which is great if we want to remember what to do, but not so great if we want to think about why we […]
