Last Friday, I got to witness something so beautiful. We had grandparent’s Shabbat in our Early Childhood Center. As I looked out at the children, who were so excited to have grandmas and grandpas and other special friends with us, I realized that so many of the grandparents joining us were once bar/bat mitzvah parents. Their children have grown up, right before so many of our eyes and have started their own families. Once b’nai mitzvah at Ramat Shalom, they have continued to make our community their home. In doing so, they have brought their own babies to our Early Childhood Center, giving them the gifts of love and community that lie at the foundation of who we are. In this week’s Torah portion, Jacob blesses his son, Joseph, saying, “I will make you into a congregation of peoples…” (Genesis 48:4) He blesses his two grandsons, Ephraim and Menasheh (Joseph’s…
There are a reported 15,166,200 Jews on the face of the earth. While this might seem like an impressive number, we all know that we Jews make up a tiny…
Another school shooting, this time in Michigan. Too many murders in cities and towns across our country. So much violence undermining the sanctity of life. The sanctity of…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmBibh16vUQ&t=4s As events at home and abroad, including the court cases that are making headlines, the attack in Wisconsin and the murder of Eli Kay z”l in Jerusalem,…
Father Charles Coughlin, a Canadian Catholic priest who worked at a church in Michigan, was a virulent anti-Semite who, throughout the 1930s, was one of the most powerful…
A glimpse of the damage of KristallnachtUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons The words of Sofoni Herz, an educator at the Jewish orphanage in Dinslaken, Germany, written on…
Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Satanov (1749–1826) was a highly respected teacher of Mussar – the Jewish movement that focused on teaching people how to live ethical, moral lives. As part of…
According to Judaism, we each possess the wings of eagles. Have you discovered yours? Are you using them to soar to great heights?Every week, in addition to reading a section from the Torah on Shabbat, we read…
As we approach Halloween, some of you might want to be on the lookout for spooky stuff. Therefore, I thought I’d share directions contained in the Talmud that teach folks how to find…
Our son, Jonah, had a short break from college last weekend. We were so excited to greet him at the airport, wrap our arms around him and smother him with love after…