Brad Kolodny One night in March 2015, I spent about 20 minutes inside the sanctuary at my synagogue, Midway Jewish Center in Syosset, New York. I was alone with my Canon T5i capturing images of the pews, the bimah and overall room configuration that in less than 12 hours would never be the same. Funds had been raised for a million-dollar renovation and demolition would begin the next day. I wanted to have a photo...
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With Tisha B’Av, the annual day of mourning for tragedies throughout generations, fast approaching, we asked two rabbis, “Where can God be found in response to tragedy?” Rabbi Jeremy Fine, Temple of Aaron of St. Paul, Minnesota “My response begins with a singular guiding principle that I quickly learned in the rabbinate; no two experiences are alike. When a family is in mourning, their reactions to that loss are ...
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Preparing for a wonderful Shabbat Most of us see it every time we go out to eat: young adults and families—sometimes even our own—staring at their phones around the table instead of engaging in meaningful conversation. With research linking depression, anxiety and loneliness to heavy social media and internet use among millennials and younger generations, more young Jews are seeing the importance of unplugging and con...
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Kabbalat Shabbat Circle For the first time in Jewish history, a unique, meaningful, egalitarian Kabbalat Shabbat service was held on a Friday night at Israel’s Kotel, or Western Wall, to welcome the Sabbath Queen. Jewish women and men, boys and girls, young and old, prayed together and celebrated the arrival of Shabbat without a mechitza on May 10th, in what was the first of a new Masorti tradition. Rabbi Yerach...
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USY Summer Travel Experiences Transform Young Lives The Pilgrimage Group There’s a quote that says, “Travel far enough, you meet yourself.” And it’s true. Just ask the parents of USYers who have been transformed as they have prayed atop mountains, visited concentration camps, danced with friends to local music and so much more as part of USY summer travel experiences. Robin Gilman and her husband, who live in Ne...
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Members of West End Synagogue and the local Muslim community In light of the devastating attacks directed at Jewish and Muslim communities in recent months, one synagogue saw an opportunity to bring both groups together in a powerful display of peace and unity. In late May, Rabbi Joshua Kullock of West End Synagogue in Nashville, Tennessee, invited the local Muslim community to the synagogue for an iftar, a meal th...
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