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A Lawsuit with God

One of the most beautifully haunting pieces of cantorial music I have ever sung was called A lawsuit with God. An old pious Jew by the name of Berdeshever stands at the Western Wall and begins by…

Prose

T'shuvah

T'shuvah is the Hebrew word, for lack of a better term, meaning return. The Jewish writer Erich Fromm, who was also a practicing psychoanalyst, uses the word…

Prose

Great Bad Timing

I was rushing to go to work since I started driving later than I would have liked, but I knew I had to stop to get some gas eventually.

Prose

Bolster Your Memory

One special evening many years ago a small group of family members began sharing memorized passages from their school days.

Prose

And They Lived Happily...

Author Richard Paul Evans has written many novels that carry the theme “and they lived happily ever after”.

Prose

Havdalah

I’ve written in a previous article about Reuben Caplin (Ruby), my voice teacher and choral conductor at the reform temple that I sang at many years ago; well here’s another Ruby story.

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The Bar Mitzvah Boys

Bobby and I were friends for as long as I can remember. We not only had a bond of close…

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Rachmonis

Rachmonis (the Yiddish word for mercy and pity) I remember coming home from school many…

Prose

Rabbi Arthur Lelyveld

Rabbi Arthur Lelyveld came into my life in the early 1960’s. He was then the senior rabbi…

Poetry

In Passing Hellos

That’s all we can afford to give.We've been made to feel afraid of each other.They tell…

Poetry

In Those Days

Many will claim his name.In those days.

Prose

The Power of the Book

A few years ago, in the confusion of transferring multiple pieces of luggage from one…

Joshua Sink

From as early as Joshua Sink could remember he had a passion for flying. While children typically change occupational dreams a dozen times, Josh was settled from the moment he could walk that one day…

Prose

Hidden Blessings

When my family moved we picked a house surrounded by some trees. The trees along one side of the house were pretty interesting.

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Surges of Hope

As I write this, not only do I write it for you, but for me as well. This has been a particularly difficult week for me in many ways. Yet, I feel surges of hope; because without hope I would be…

Prose

Complaining Bears No Fruit

My beloved adonai, i know that you love me.My beloved adonai, i know that you care.But when you hear me complain each day, your heart and hand are withdrawn from me. My complaints are an afront to…

Poetry

Donna Anthes

Donna Anthes is the director of nursing at Wildwood Lifestyle Center and Hospital in Wildwood, Georgia. Wildwood Lifestyle Center and Hospital encourages its patients to live their lives according to…

Prose

Correct Terminology

Throughout the years of my marriage (almost twenty) I've tried to make my wife Yiddish savvy. She was born and raised in Florida so it's hilarious to hear her struggle to pronounce Yiddish words and…

Prose

I am Joseph

I see them as in carriages,Of stately royal hue,They're borne away, their task fulfilled,They're purses, stomachs, too.

Poetry

A Zionist Muslim

It's rare to find a Zionist Muslim, rarer yet to see one speak publicly about his support of Israel.

Prose

Rehearsing for the Jewish High Holy Days

Some years ago I sang as the tenor lay cantor in a Reform Jewish temple. My then voice teacher was the choir director, and there were five voices which made up the lay cantors. He loved the different…

Prose

First They Came for the Jews

First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.

Poetry

A Leaf Like Me

The last fall colored leaves touch the earth,Another year is unswervingly ending.A warm evening mist caresses my cheeks,I cannot ignore our lives too are pending.

Poetry

Tanya

Tanya grew up in an Orthodox Jewish home in the Soviet Union. Her family's tea business was beginning to flourish when Stalin began his purges. When Tanya was 17, her father was taken by the secret…

Prose