Carlos and his wife, Linda A few hours north of Mexico City, Mexico, lies the city of San Miguel de Allende, a popular destination named by Travel + Leisure magazine as the “World’s Best City” in 2017 and 2018. With many Americans and Canadians visiting the city for its remarkable colonial architecture, local Mexican cuisine and beautiful art scene, a growing number are staying for a much different reason. Nestled ...
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Valerie with friends When Valerie Weisler, now 21, was a freshman in high school, she saw a fellow student getting teased for being overweight. In an instant, the powerful messages she learned from Ramah Nyack summer camp, METNY USY and Orangetown Jewish Center inspired her to approach the boy and say two words that changed her life and the lives of thousands of others ever since. “I told him, ‘You matter,’” she says. ...
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By Rabbi Deborah Silver, Shir Chadash, New Orleans, Louisiana When we consider the centrality of Torah to our tradition—whether in the sense of the scroll in the Ark or our expanded use of the term to embrace the Tanakh and all of the literature of the teachers who came before us—it is interesting to consider the way we memorialize in community the time that Torah was given to us. In contrast to the Seder and the me...
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The Weinstein family overlooking Jerusalem When Gary and Dori Weinstein’s third child entered this world, they wanted to share their love of Judaism from the beginning. So, just as they did for his older siblings, they gave him a Hebrew name: Eitan. “We chose to give him a Hebrew name as part of a connection,” shares Gary. “His brit milah (circumcision) ceremony wasn’t ultra-traditional but my wife and I put a lot int...
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Wearing jewelry dates back to the Old Testament when Abraham’s servant—who goes looking for a wife for Isaac—gives the young Rebecca, who fetched water for him and his camels, a nose ring and bracelets (Genesis 24:47). In more recent times, jewelry has become a personal outlet for many Jews to proudly display their heritage, from necklaces, bracelets, earrings and rings bearing beautiful Jewish symbols, to those disp...
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Bob Leventhal, USCJ Kehilla Leadership Specialist, reflects on a road taken, answering the question:
What’s the most profound journey you’ve been on and how did it change you? Bob Leventhal When we sold our Springfield, Ohio-based family cleaning products business in 1993, I had the opportunity to consider a new path. I had been a driven businessman for 23 years. After five years with the new owners, and 23 years as a driven businessman, I began to consider the meaningfulness of my work, asking what is next and wh...
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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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