By Teri McGuire My first memory is the number tattooed on my grandfather’s arm. The first school I attended was the preschool at my home synagogue. The first time I traveled on a plane, I was flying with a group of 70 other young Jews to United Synagogue Youth (USY)’s International Convention. The first time I left the country, I was headed to learn about the history of my people—on a five-week journey to Poland and Is...
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The Camp, Woolsey and Hill fires that raged through California in early November are the latest in a series of events that the local and national Jewish communities have faced. A little more than a week after the tragic Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, shooting at Tree of Life synagogue and less than 24 hours after the mass shooting at Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, California—a place where many families and friend...
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By Rabbi Yael Hammerman As a child, I imagined a mikvah to be like the pit into which Jacob’s sons threw their brother Joseph—bur rayk, an empty pit—dark and deep underground. Ironically, my image of a mikvah was waterless—ayn bo mayim—born out of touristy Israel trips to see the ancient mikva’ot on Masada and the Burnt House in Jerusalem. These mikva’ot may be archeological wonders and historical goldmines, but as a c...
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Plus, What You Can Do to Feel Safe and Secure Whenever something happens—whether it be the most recent shooting at Tree of Life in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, or the one several years back at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City in Missouri, or even further back at the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills, California—safety comes more clearly into focus and sparks many a debate. How do ...
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Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Yom Tov 6:18 "And when you eat and drink, you are required to give food to “the stranger, orphan and widow among the other poor and unfortunate ones” (Devarim 16:11). However, one who locks the doors to his courtyard and eats and drinks with his wife and children, and does not give food or drink to the poor and indigent this is not the joy of a mitzvah, but rather it is the joy of his s...
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