The Omer is a path that takes us from freedom to receiving the Torah, all while building community. When the Book of Exodus ends, extensive laws about offerings to God begin. Embedded in them are powerful messages about individual and communal responsibility. When a ...
Counting the Omer is one of those mitzvot that has a particular resonance for me. The mitzvah of counting is unique in a number of ways. We count both the days and the weeks, making certain to draw distinctions between them. We must count ...
Rabbi Igael "Iggy" Gurin-Malous is the founding rabbi of T’shuvah Center, a new long term Jewish recovery community in NYC. He is a Talmud teacher, spiritual counselor, artist, and educator. Teaching about Talmud, Jewish text, spirituality, addiction, recovery, fatherhood and ...
Eliana Light offers professional development to educators, clergy, and lay leaders to elevate and deepen their prayer gatherings. She is also a sought-after songwriter and performer of catchy, content-rich tunes for all ages, and has put out three albums of ...
In a year with so little to smile about, few interviews I have seen on Israeli TV have brought me as much joy as the one conducted by Rafi Reshef with Effie Hercky, an 81-year-old American bubbe from Givatayim. When Israel reopened its gyms ...
Nechama Goldman Barash made aliyah from Philadelphia over 20 years ago. She teaches contemporary halakha and Talmud at Matan and Pardes. She participates in interfaith dialogue through Roots, based in Gush Etzion, close to where she lives with her family. ...
Source of the Universe, I praise You and offer gratitude for the gifts You have bestowed upon me. The highest of these is to serve as klei kodesh (holy vessel) for Divine flow. My sacred purpose is connecting people: to scout, discern, and share ...
In the past two years, I have been writing a historical novel about British Aden (South Yemen) in the late 1940s. Doing research and writing, I have learned three life lessons: 1. Empathy Dr. Daniel Elkana managed the Hashed refugee camp in Sheikh Othman, ...
The spring season brings to the Jewish and Israeli calendar several important holidays and dates. While Passover represents the unique Jewish redemption and exodus story, it is the universal messaging of the holiday that made it so well known and popular among non-Jewish audiences. ...
What I love about the Jewish holiday cycle, and the period of the Omer, in particular, is the way in which it invites us to live with an elevated consciousness. If we were to consider each holiday as a response to a human yearning, ...
