I wonder how many other Jewish kids in schools where there isn’t even a Jewish minority (Minority: Population One or Two) face Holocaust studies with trepidation. My wife grew up in a big Jewish community and counted Auschwitz survivors in the family. Me, I grew up aware of my Jewish background in a community with
“There is some factor in man, some form of special adaptation, which prompts a few individuals to exploits which, however purposeless they may seem, are of value to the survival of the race.” – J.L.R. Anderson, The Ulysses Factor
It’s been an eventful couple of months, and I haven’t been aggressive about writing for the blog. Passover was magical this year. Nezzie was a nightmare at the community first night Seder at our synagogue. Did we fulfill the halachic requirements? Yes. Was Nezzie tedious and embarrassing? Also yes. The second night was even better.
“And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not do him wrong. The stranger that sojourneth with you shall be unto you as the home-born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.” I have
It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for, happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support. ... May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants—while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid.
A week ago, Amelia came home with a social studies assignment. Given that Thomas Jefferson was on a three month four of southern France and northern Italy during the Constitutional Convention, how did he influence the document? Enter the Historical Acknowledgment Du Jour – “Religious Freedom Day.” Today’s historical significance talks about our First Amendment right,
The 8 days of Chanukah this year were busy for my family On the second night, my wife invited a family from the Hampden Library children’s story group. My wife made her exquisite latkes, and it marked the only night of the week we sang Maoz Tzur, with the Israeli-born grandmother of Nezzie’s little friend. For
The ice atop our wooden deck crackles as I venture out to the woodpile. The night is quiet, but the cracks are loud, intrusive, and it feels like a violation. I kneel down in the snow by the shed, lifting up the blue tarp and grabbing what remains of the wood left by the house’s previous
Is the order to pursue justice in Torah a collective or individual mandate? Does the mandate to take care of the stranger of the orphan imbue them with rights, or merely that we must meet our obligations to them under the Law? How does that gel with modern society? Should we necessarily be looking to
Dear G-d, I believe in You. You know I do. But you know, I get kind of tired of reading the news. If I try and fail at being human day after day, and if that’s happening with each and every person out there, if we’re all falling down, and that stuff escalates to the
I was not lonely when Portnoy’s Complaint came to mind, apparently. Out of fear of “The Goyim Know” set of anti-Semites, perhaps, we tend to back away to discussing our community’s problem with this, even amongst ourselves, and definitely not in public. I know when I’ve seen non-Jews express curiosity about the Jewish component of this,
Writer, President of Bangor's Congregation Beth Israel, soon-to-be-retired-soldier, programmer, father, musician, Heeb, living in the woods of Maine with three ladies and a dog. Brian is also a rabbinical student with the Pluralistic Rabbinical Seminary.
Director of Education for Congregation Beth Israel in Bangor, Maine, runs joint religious school with our sister congregation, special educator and former school board member, mother to Avi and Nezzie.
