Reform Really

10/26/2011 | | Jewish Week Online Columnist | Reform Really

 

Recently, a congregant told me about a wonderful program in which she participated as a teenager. While on a youth group retreat, the attendees were asked to reflect on big, defining moments for their involvement in Judaism. They were asked if they could identify one event which was a turning point, which led them to say to themselves, “Hey, I like this Judaism thing, and I want it to be a part of my life.”

10/12/2011 | | Jewish Week Online Columnist | Reform Really

“When a person eats and drinks in celebration of a festival, he is obligated to feed converts, orphans, widows, and others who are destitute and poor. In contrast, a person who locks the gates of his courtyard and eats and drinks with his children and his wife, without feeding the poor and the embittered, is not indulging in rejoicing associated with a mitzvah, but rather the rejoicing of his gut … This rejoicing is a disgrace…” 

09/26/2011 | | Jewish Week Online Columnist | Reform Really

Just a few more days….Can you begin to picture it? We will all gather together, in anticipation of the New Year, and the new beginnings that come with it. The melodies we wait for all year will be surrounding us. Our prayers and supplications will rise towards the heavens and we will pray “Sh’ma Koleinu” - that God will hear our voices. The Shofar will wake us from our physical and spiritual slumber. The sweet apples and honey will delight taste buds of all ages.

09/09/2011 | | Jewish Week Online Columnist | Reform Really
The slide was just silvery and shiny, and all the kids were doing it. We were in my friend’s backyard, playing on her swing-set, and all the kids were taking turns walking down the slide. Yes, it was slippery, and yes, it was most certainly not safe. But, as a six-year-old, I didn’t know how to say no. So, I climbed the five steps up the slide’s ladder, took a deep breath, and began my descent. I slid down on the soles of my feet, accelerating along the way, until, at the bottom, I realized that I couldn’t stop myself.

08/24/2011 | | Jewish Week Online Columnist | Reform Really

“When I was in junior high, and all my friends were having their Bar or Bat Mitzvahs, I just enjoyed celebrating with them. It didn’t really occur to me that I wasn’t having one of my own. It wasn’t until college that I really began to regret it…” With these words, Jessica Yanow, my best friend since we were eight years old, began reflecting on her own Jewish upbringing and education.

07/29/2011 | | Jewish Week Online Columnist | Reform Really
Extra! Extra! This week’s article comes to you directly from the Union for Reform Judaism’s Crane Lake Camp (http://cranelake.urjcamps.org/), in West Stockbridge, MA!