Shalom Ansche Chesed! I write from a chilly, wet Tel Aviv. I am staying a few days beyond our Ruach Nediva/”the Volunteering Spirit” service learning trip to Israel, after putting most of the group on the plane Sunday night. Rabbi Hammerman and I are so grateful for Carolyn Greene’s amazing volunteer leadership, and our professional partners… Read more »

סוף סוף בשורות טובות GREAT NEWS AT LAST On this morning of homecoming, as we greet living hostages whom we, perhaps, never dared to dream would return, let us follow the Sages’ teaching [Berakhot 58b]: אָמַר רַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בֶּן לֵוִי: הָרוֹאֶה אֶת חֲבֵירוֹ לְאַחַר שְׁנֵים עָשָׂר חֹדֶשׁ, אוֹמֵר: בָּרוּךְ מְחַיֵּה הַמֵּתִים. Said R. Joshua b.… Read more »

When Shabbat ends, Jews will begin the 9th of Av, our annual day of grief for the many destructions that befell our people. And surely our history warrants a day of fasting and dirges for all the suffering Jews have endured. But this year, let us add a healthy dose of grief over the suffering… Read more »

Shalom again my friends. Here is a third note from Israel, birat haMoledet, the homeland capital of the Jewish people, written in New York, birat haGolah, the capital of the Jewish diaspora. The post is pretty long, sorry, but it covers the final two days of Ansche Chesed’s Israel trip. We spent Wednesday in Tel Aviv, beginning with a… Read more »

My Friends – my “Notes from Jerusalem” are coming a little late: this note about our Tuesday is posting Friday – after I flew back last night. What can I say? Our days were long. I will add one more about our Wednesday and Thursday after Shabbat. Shabbat Shalom from New York! The second day… Read more »