The Second Candle

Some other synonyms for light are  bright or brilliant.  We often become so caught up in gift buying and the children’s version of the Chanukah story, that we forget what the real history of this holiday is.  As I mentioned in last year’s Chanukah post, “The story of...

The First Candle

Last week, a group from our Women’s Club gathered to celebrate Chanukah (a little early).  As part of my teaching, I prepared eight meditations on the theme of light.  I looked up the word in a thesaurus and discovered that the many synonyms for this word made...

Synonyms for Inspired

I am writing these words onboard an Amtrak train returning from Washington DC where I attended the most moving, uplifting, and fulfilling URJ biennial conference that I have ever attended. At this largest URJ biennial ever, we heard inspiring words from world famous...

Journeys

This week, with Parshat Masei, we complete the reading of the book of Numbers. The parshah begins with a description of the journeys of the children of Israel as they make their way through the wilderness towards the Promised Land. The Torah recounts each stop on...