Editor’s Note: This article discusses witchcraft, which is one of the three cardinal sins in Judaism. Tu B’Shvat and witches are an unlikely pair but the two have roots that go farther back than one may think. Interest in witchcraft has been rising in the last few decades, particularly among women, millennials, and minorities. There already was […]
It’s January, so “New year, new me,” is something you’re probably hearing a lot of pretty much everywhere. Whether it’s taking over your social feeds, circulating around office Slack chats or just among friends and family, it can get irritating to hear about resolution after resolution that most people tend to just break. So, let’s change the conversation. The […]
In every field and profession, there are the good guys, the bad guys and the mediocre guys. Rabbinics and Jewish education are no different. Our sages were very aware that not every rabbi will be the right fit for every person or frankly even qualified for the job. So they empowered we the people with […]
As 2021 comes to a close, there’s a lot of talk about what a difficult year it’s been. And it has been a difficult year in a lot of ways. A year filled with pain, disappointment and loss. Yet there have been many positive things that have happened this year, both on an individual and […]
During the Gaza attack on Israel this summer, as Jews around the world were being physically assaulted, I was concerned that my pre-teen son wasn’t paying much attention to the news or aware of what his people were enduring. I saw a powerful clip on Instagram of Hitler addressing Nazis over 70 years ago which […]
Turn away from evil, do good, seek peace and pursue it. ס֣וּר מֵ֭רָע וַעֲשֵׂה־ט֑וֹב בַּקֵּ֖שׁ שָׁל֣וֹם וְרָדְפֵֽהוּ׃ I always understood the verse from Psalms in a simple way: remove yourself from bad behaviors, busy yourself with good ones, seek peace, and pursue it. It seems pretty straight forward. Recently, under the guise of our Tikun […]
