Since I was born and until I was ten years old, I lived in the neighborhood of Palermo in Buenos Aires. Three blocks away from our apartment was, and still is, the Botanic Garden. I have fond memories of that park and even have some pictures of me as a child on the playground there. …
64 million. That’s the number of Americans with one vaccine shot according to the Washington Post, as I sit here writing this week’s clergy blog. I got my first shot a few weeks back and will complete my second in another few B’Ezrat Hashem. President Biden just announced we can all expect to have vaccines …
By Robin Jacobson. Like many, I’m a longtime fan of the historical novels of Geraldine Brooks – Year of Wonders, March, Caleb’s Crossing, People of the Book, and The Secret Chord. In this extraordinary year, these novels seem newly relevant. They encompass pandemics, racial justice, leadership, Jewish continuity – all topics that resonate in 2021. …
I was recently speaking with a dad about his son’s studies for his bar mitzvah. It was a conversation I have had dozens of times during the pandemic: how many guests are allowed in the sanctuary? Does everyone need to wear a mask? How does Zoom work? Should we postpone? Will it be meaningful? (The …
This is the fourth week of the month. For Reflections Off the Bimah, the fourth week features thought leaders from throughout the Jewish world and beyond. These special posts give you the opportunity to consider important opinions you may not readily encounter. As we are in the midst of a rabbinic search for our next rabbi …
Let’s party like it’s 2020! The pandemic was supposed to be 6 weeks long. That’s not scientific fact or some politician’s wishful thinking, it’s just what we told ourselves. “It’ll be 6 weeks” Then summer came. . “Well the kids HAVE to go back to school in the Fall” Then it was like “ oh …
By Robin Jacobson. As a child, learning in school about the American Civil War, I felt relieved that my family bore no guilt for American slavery. During the sad centuries when Americans brutally enslaved other human beings, my ancestors, thankfully (it seemed to me) were far away in some Eastern European shtetl. Hearing about the …
This is the fourth week of the month. For Reflections Off the Bimah, the fourth week features thought leaders from throughout the Jewish world and beyond. These special posts give you the opportunity to consider important opinions you may not readily encounter. Today is International Holocaust Memorial Day. January 27 marks the day the Auschwitz concentration …
By Robin Jacobson. To many Jewish families with memories of hard times, Meyerland in the 1970s was the Promised Land. This Jewish neighborhood in Houston, Texas, was home to big synagogues, Jewish schools, a Jewish Community Center, Jewish delis and shops, not to mention a proud display of high-flying American, Texas, and Israeli flags. But …
This is the fifth week of the month for Reflections Off the Bimah. Today ends a very long and difficult year. Tonight, we shift into 2021 with much anticipation of possibilities ahead and relief at gaining distance from the recent past. Pandemic, isolation, professional insecurities, anxieties, politics, injustices and more turned 2020 on its head. …
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