Hidden Star
Stepping forward one night at choir practice, 11-year-old Talya felt her head spin. When it came to solos, Talya’s voice came out sounding like...
Be An Innovator
Back in the early 1950s, a large shoe consortium with stores across the U.S. and Canada decided to take its business venture into the...
More Than Just An Obstacle Course
In this week’s Torah Portion, Parshat Ki Tavo, we read something known as the tochacha. The tochacha is a long list of terrible calamities...
Self-Reflection, Teshuvah And Return
In the song “Gee, Officer Krupke” (“West Side Story”), Stephen Sondheim writes, “Dear kindly Sergeant Krupke, you gotta understand; It’s just our bringin’ up-ke,...
Say The Shema
Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad.
It’s the last thing my kids hear each night before bed … that is until they start hollering...
Opportunity for Renewal
Parshat Re’eh
As we enter parshat Re’eh, Moses reminds us of God’s words, as we prepare to cross into Israel. “I set before you blessing...
The Real Winner
I stood on our blacktop driveway holding my bike. My hands smoothed over the shiny black metal frame. Its high leather seat stood proudly...
No One Is Perfect
The Kotzer Rebbe used to say there is nothing more whole than a broken heart. You can also say there’s nothing more whole than...
Unity Begins At Home
This past Tuesday, Jews worldwide commemorated the destruction of the Holy Temple and the pillage of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 422 B.C.E. and...
Gratitude and Perspective
This Shabbat, we begin reading the book of Deuteronomy. Every year, this portion is read on Shabbat preceding the Ninth of Av, the singular...
