A little more than two weeks after lighting the candles for Yom HaShoah on May 1, Temple Israel in Sharon, Massachusetts, will be concluding an incredible Holocaust Memorial Scrolls Trust restoration project that will ensure a valuable piece of Jewish history will be cherished for generations to come. On May 19, the synagogue will officially bring back to life a more than 200-year-old Torah scroll rescued from the Holo...
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Conservative rabbis give their take on the question: How should we as Jews approach immigration according to the Torah? Rabbi David Russo, Anshe Emet Synagogue in Chicago, Illinois: “Time and again, the Torah repeats how we must treat the stranger: You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the feelings of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt. (Exodus 23:9) When a stranger resid...
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(Left to right): Couples Shmuel and Anat Carmel, Aviad and Tsion Raz and Sahar Malk and Ilia Rabkin traveled from Israel to Washington, D.C. to have their wedding ceremony. Shmuel Carmel was born in Israel, served in the Israel Defense Forces and devoted his life to Judaism. But because his mother was deaf and could not “hear” the words of Torah when she converted to Judaism from Christianity, the Chief Rabbinate didn...
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When people picture what it means to live in a diverse society, many envision individuals of all races, religions and genders coming together in harmony. But as 17-year-old Jordan Tralins recently pointed out to her synagogue Congregation B’nai Israel of St. Petersburg, there’s another component of diversity that can’t be overlooked—ability. During Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month in February, Jordan too...
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In honor of Mother’s Day, Rabbi Eve Posen, assistant rabbi with Congregation Neveh Shalom in Portland, Oregon and co-author of the book Pirkei Imahot,the Wisdom of Mothers, the Voices of Women, shares her two favorite “pearls” of wisdom gleaned from looking at Jewish texts from a woman’s perspective. Here’s some other great life advice from Jewish moms—as sometimes mothers really do know best: “Never judge people fo...
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When Joel Hertz had his Bar Mitzvah, he spoke so well that people said, “Oh, you should be a lawyer.” “I was good in history and social sciences and always interested in reading,” he recalls, “and I liked to argue.” Decades later, Joel, who lives in Toronto in Ontario, Canada, has built a career for himself doing just that—and then some. In 1979, he was called to another kind of bar—the Ontario Bar Association—and went o...
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