It might just be the perfect storm. And in Israel, a whole lot of people wedded to the status quo are going to get swamped. First, Prime Minister Netanyahu cobbled together a new government that empowers secular and Zionist parties and disenfranchises the ultra-Orthodox who have called the shots for as long as anybody can [...]

I had the honor last week of attending a Catholic funeral mass for somebody I hardly knew. I know that sounds strange – but I felt like I had to be there. The funeral mass was for Eileen Becker, who died at Garvey Manor at the age of 89 after a long battle with cancer. [...]

Most of you know that Don and I recently escaped the cold and snow for a week or so, and started settling into our new vacation cottage in Camden, South Carolina. It’s a quaint little town of about 7,000 people. It dates from 1732 and is considered the oldest inland city in South Carolina. These [...]

Rain, wind, floods, mudslides, plummeting temperatures, and snow – welcome to winter in central Pennsylvania? Actually no, welcome to winter in Israel. The nastiest storm in 20 years is inflicting trauma throughout Ha-aretz this week. The military had to pluck 15 people off of rooftops up north after they were caught in the flooding. Tel [...]

by Rabbi Audrey R. Korotkin   “Thus says the Etermal; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping: Rachel, weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, for her children were no more.” In the past week, since twenty young children and six adults were slaughtered in Newtown, Connecticut, we have all started [...]

So there I was, kvelling like the proud aunt I am, watching my youngest nephew read Torah flawlessly and give a wonderful, thoughtful d’var Torah at his service of Bar Mitzvah in September. Watching – but having trouble hearing. It wasn’t Daniel. He spoke eloquently, of course. It was the two women sitting in front [...]

Let me start this morning by acknowledging that I hate to clean house, and I try to get out of it every chance I get. I don’t mind doing dishes, I don’t mind washing the dogs. But dusting? Vacuuming? Ugh. I let it go so Don will do it. Sometimes I invite people over to [...]

It’s no surprise to anybody here tonight that we live in a stressful world. We wake up stressed, thinking about everything we have to do today. We go to bed stressed, thinking about everything that didn’t get done. We stress over our commuting and our carpooling, we stress over grabbing meals and coordinating schedules. Everybody [...]

So, you know how when somebody really famous gets arrested for embezzling, or money laundering, or using and abusing undocumented aliens in his business, or stealing millions of peoples’ retirement money, you sit there in front of the TV and say, “Oh, please don’t let him be Jewish, Oh, please don’t let him be Jewish”? [...]

It was my only truly meaningful moment ever at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, where the thought police patrol to make sure women aren’t praying too loud, and the shmata police throw a rag over your shoulders if they think you are not dressed modestly enough, and the tourists snapping photos everywhere make it impossible [...]