In the weeks leading up to Charli Goldstein’s Bat Mitzvah this spring, the family was busy finalizing all the last-minute details, from the photographer to the dresses. The year leading up to this moment had been incredibly trying for the Goldsteins, with Charli’s younger brother suffering a pediatric stroke from a head injury. He had finally recovered, and the Bat Mitzvah not only represented Charli’s transition int...
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Greta Loewenthal and Marcus Weller at Purim. It started with a dance. Greta Loewenthal knew there was something special about the young boy she met years ago at Am Yisrael Conservative Congregation in Northfield, Illinois. “Marcus Weller has been a part of my life since I was a child,” recalls Greta. “On Friday nights, we used to dance together during services because I thought he was a cute little boy, and I e...
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Elyssa is a certified instructor for Youth Mental Health First Aid, a program where adults help young adults struggling with mental health or substance abuse. According to the World Health Organization, mental illness afflicts 450 million people worldwide and half of all lifetime cases of mental illness begin by age 14. Left untreated, mental health issues in kids can lead to school truancy, suicide, incarceration, r...
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Ellis Corets, now 88, is a Korean War veteran who’s spent the last eight years researching and documenting Jewish service members who were killed or missing in action (M.I.A.) during World Wars I and II, as well as those M.I.A. in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Each of 3,560 soldiers he’s documented are buried or memorialized overseas. When Rabbi Jay Rosenbaum of Herzl-Ner Tamid Conservative Congregation in Mercer Islan...
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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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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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A lot has changed since the time Rabbi Adam Kligfeld of Temple Beth Am in Los Angeles, California, served as USY international president in 1990 and 2019 when his eldest daughter Noa stepped into the same role. Here, the two talk about the differences 30 years makes, plus what serving meant/means to them and how one another’s leadership inspires their own. https://youtu.be/9ll3s_Zunc8 Also, be sure to watch: A...
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From our strongest core values to our favorite holiday recipes, we’ve inherited much of what makes us who we are from our ancestors—but many may have passed down more than that. Approximately one in three Jews of Ashkenazi descent—the ethnic identity most recognized by people in North America—are said to carry at least one type of genetic disorder. In total, Ashkenazi Jews have a high carrier rate for more than 40 gene...
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