By Robin Jacobson. When a longtime crime reporter decides to try his hand at fiction, he might just discover that he has a talent for writing murder mysteries. This is what happened to Harri Nykänen. After 20 years covering the criminal underworld as a journalist for Scandinavia’s largest daily newspaper, Nykänen began penning murder mysteries, …
By Robin Jacobson. As Moses might have said, “You can take the Jews out of Egypt, but you can’t take Egypt out of the Jews.” It is hard to shed a past life and homeland, even one of misery and persecution. This is the theme of two outstanding new books by Jewish émigrés from the …
This week 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. Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz is an Orthodox rabbi in Phoenix, AZ. In 2012 and …
Question- and stay with me here- have you ever hung out with a group of Cantors? You might be thinking “ Wow, I’m imagining a bunch of people talking over each other, singing over each other, comparing Tfilah and Trope styles and their favorite old time Hazzanim.” And you’d be somewhat right! Or, well, kind …
I love skee ball. My family and I have made this frivolous summer activity into a competitive, ticket hording sport. Rehoboth’s Funland costs .25 cents per game for 8 balls and a long runway before the jump to the targets. Zinky’s, also on the boardwalk, is .10 cents per game with 6 balls and a …
This week 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 entering summer, I offer the Jewish Journal’s summer reading list. …
As I sat in on the final rehearsal for the Bima To Broadway To Beltway concert listening to a rendition of “Gesher” by Judith Silver, I couldn’t help thinking how cool this concert was going to be. Yes “cool” is absolutely the word for it. Hazzanim Arianne Brown, Elisheva Dienstfry and Hinda Labovitz created this …
In parenting, it is too easy to forget the ‘big picture.’ The immediate overwhelms the senses and focuses my attention on the messy room or the homework assignment not yet begun. Maybe the fabrication of short term emergencies causes an adrenaline surge reminiscent of our ancestors’ ‘fight or flight’ responses… except they were fleeing wild …
Tomorrow night I will be teaching a class for Tikkun Leil Shavuot on the beauty of Nusach ( The Soul of Jewish Music) as I call it. Before we continue, some definitions are in order. Like many concepts in Jewish practice, Nusach can have a few different meanings. It can refer literally to the text of …
This is the fifth week of the month and allows for another outside blog. This 2011 post in eJewishPhilanthropy was written by Rabbi Michael Comins, the founder of TorahTrek: The Center for Jewish Wilderness Spirituality. As we are shifting to summer, we will have many opportunities to enjoy the outdoors. Make sure to appreciate the …
This week 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 entering the Memorial Day weekend, this blog was originally posted …
I once had a colleague that said- tongue and cheek- the reason he became a Rabbi was to make the service seem faster- since it always seems to progress more quickly when one is on the Bima. True, it does. But I quite like it in the pews as well, where I don’t have to …
Hate has no home here. I cannot repeat this statement often enough, forcefully enough or loudly enough. As we recognized Yom HaSHoah, Holocaust Memorial Day, this week, cried at the anti-Semitic terror attack on Chabad of Poway last Shabbat, were disappointed by two students at Whitman High School who posted a picture of themselves …
By Robin Jacobson. On a London train platform in the late 1930s, future children’s author Michael Bond noticed a sad huddle of Jewish refugee children with identity tags dangling from their necks. These vulnerable children inspired his beloved fictional character, Paddington, a young refugee bear who alights at Paddington Station wearing a tag with the …
This week is the fourth week of the month. For Reflections Off the Bimah, the fourth week features thought leaders from throughout the Jewish world. These special posts give you the opportunity to consider important opinions you may not readily encounter. As we are in the midst of Passover, I am bringing a piece by Rabbi …
Rabbis and Cantors are known for reusing material for sermons, songs, teachings, concerts, what have you. I usually try to avoid that if I can absolutely help it; sometimes, though, if I get in a bind, I will bring something from one presentation and use it with another group. That being said, this throwaway line …
Gratitude is a very Jewish act. Too often, being grateful is lost in the business of life, the noisiness of expectations and the hubris of accomplishments. Our very name though, Jews or Yehudim, derive from a moment of extreme gratitude. In Genesis 29:35, Leah names one of her sons Judah as an act of praise. …
By Robin Jacobson. The Passover Seder is a night of questions – questions about the stories we inherit, the nature of Jewish identity, and what we owe to strangers who are oppressed or suffering. To stretch your mental muscles on these questions in advance of Passover, take a look at two compelling new memoirs: Inheritance: …
This week is the fourth week of the month. For Reflections Off the Bimah, the fourth week features thought leaders drawn from throughout the Jewish world. These special posts give you the opportunity to consider important opinions you may not readily encounter. This week is a piece from Sarah Tuttle-Singer who blogs from Israel for The …
When I was growing up in Baltimore, I had a lot of family most of whom were somewhat observant and one side of my dad‘s family that were ultra orthodox. In Jewish Baltimore, it is not uncommon to see black hatters walking down the street on Shabbat and see women with their heads covered, wearing …
We live in a time of personal searching. Bookshelves are full of titles encouraging us to find our true path, inspire our soul or discover our inner resilience. We are in a time which Dr. Arnold Eisen, Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary calls, a search for “our sovereign selves.” (The Jew Within by Steven …
By Robin Jacobson. The holiday of Purim sparkles like a fairytale – costumes and carnivals; wine and song; and an age-old tale of a foolish King, a brave Queen and an evil-plotting courtier. What a perfect month for reading fantasy fiction. The two bewitching books described below – one for adults, one for children – …
This week is the fourth week of the month. For Reflections Off the Bimah, the fourth week features thought leaders drawn from throughout the Jewish world. These special posts give you the opportunity to consider important opinions you may not readily encounter. February is designated as JDAIM or Jewish Disability and Inclusion Month across the country. …
If you are a regular shul goer, you may not have been surprised to hear the recent Pew Study. Essentially, it says that shul goers are 11% more likely than their non going counterparts to be happy. Read more here. I could spend some solid time here breaking down the reasons that this may be …
I have learned disabilities are sometimes obvious and other times hidden. Crutches and wheelchairs are external indicators of physical differences. As a community we have been diligent to design spaces to be accessible through wider doorways, a ramp in the sanctuary, door assist mechanisms and other intentional features for our physical spaces. We have allowed …
By Robin Jacobson. In March 1939, Max Brod fled his home in Czechoslovakia, just ahead of the Nazi invasion. Boarding the last train out of Prague before the borders closed, Brod clutched a bulging, cracked-leather suitcase containing the manuscripts, letters, and diaries of his late friend, Franz Kafka, the Czech Jewish author of 20th Century …
This week is the fourth week of the month. For Reflections Off the Bimah, the fourth week features thought leaders drawn from throughout the Jewish world. These special posts give you the opportunity to consider important opinions you may not readily encounter. This week’s blog is written by Yiling Shen, a frequent blogger at ArchDaily.com We …
A few days ago, we observed the birthday of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. His vision for America and humanity continues to resonate even as we continue to fall too short of his dream. Of the many quotes attributed to Dr. King, I have been thinking about one in particular – ‘We may have all …
Meditating with Teens A couple of teens rushed up to me at the last second and asked if I still had space in the class. Pleasantly surprised, I scribbled their names down on the same day registration form in my hand. They wanted to sign up for the Yoga and Meditation as part of the …
I want to share good news. I expect some will read this blog and respond as doubters and find exceptions – it is the times we live in today. Good news is just that… good news, not perfect news. Sometimes it is appropriate to see fears and divisions but we cannot lose the ability to …
By Robin Jacobson. A perennial source of fascination to physicists, philosophers, and poets is the nature of time. Does time progress along a straight line? Perhaps it ripples outward, like the rings on a tree trunk? Or maybe time is tiered, like an archaeological dig? The Maze at Windermere (2018), by Gregory Blake Smith, takes …
This week is the fourth week of the month. For Reflections Off the Bimah, the fourth week features thought leaders drawn from throughout the Jewish world. These special posts give you the opportunity to consider important opinions you may not readily encounter. This week’s blog is written by Elisha Frumkin, Beth El’s education director, while chaperoning …
“If you will it, it is no dream.” These words of Theodor Herzl from his book Altneuland, Old New Land (1902) resonate with me today. Herzl had a vision of establishing a political state for the Jewish People. He wrote at a time of rising nationalism and anti-Semitism. Herzl’s solution to the pogroms and hatred …
By Robin Jacobson. Fans of British mysteries, especially of the Sherlock Holmes variety, will relish Conan Doyle for the Defense by Margalit Fox. This is a true story about Arthur Conan Doyle (the author of the Sherlock Holmes tales) and his successful pursuit of justice for a Jewish man wrongly convicted of murder in early …
You know, I heard that Aretha Franklin’s funeral was eight hours long. EIGHT!!!!! To be fair, the program was scheduled for 6 hours, so they were only over by 25% or so. I guess they needed time for: Faith Hill, Ariana Grande, Jennifer Hudson, Stevie Wonder Ron Isley, Chaka Khan, Yolanda Adams, Marvin Sapp, the Clark Sisters, …
The fifth week of the month is a wildcard in our blog schedule. As Hanukkah begins this Sunday night, let’s think about the holiday from a new angle. Jewish service members are deployed around the globe this Hanukkah. Hopefully they will be able to enjoy a jelly donut, light the candles and appreciate their role …
This week is the fourth week of the month. For Reflections Off the Bimah, the fourth week features thought leaders drawn from throughout the Jewish world. These special posts give you the opportunity to consider important opinions you may not readily encounter. Judaism is filled with traditions. Some are public events in synagogues while many more …
The other day, Rabbi Harris came into my office during a rehearsal and said, “please quiet down, I think people are having way too much fun in here!” Some of you may know that back in Connecticut I ran a teen choir for 9 years that performed locally at Shabbat services and traveled nationally as …
By Robin Jacobson. This November marks the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht (“Night of Broken Glass”), considered by many to be the night the Holocaust began. A violent turning point in Nazi Jewish policy, this wave of orchestrated, anti-Jewish riots swept across Germany, Austria, and parts of Czechoslovakia on November 9-10, 1938. This fall, commemorations around …
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