Photo: Amy and Mom Spring has sprung, and along with the warmer temps and new sprigs of green comes the blossom of hope. For more than a year, COVID has limited our life choices; it has inhibited, and in most cases, prevented our prior, uninhibited ability to spend time with family, friends and colleagues….
The experience of celebrating Jewish holidays has been dramatically altered since the onset of the pandemic more than a year ago. From solitary Passover Seders to attending High Holiday services in our pajamas on zoom, we have tried our best to stay connected to tradition despite the precautions and restrictions COVID-19 has required. Last…
The Jewish High Holidays and Sukkot have come and gone and this year, unlike any other, posed new and significant challenges for all of us in different ways because of COVID-19. Yet it also offered new opportunities. So, on the spiritual report card of life, how did we do? In years past, we took for…
September 18, 2020, heralds the first night of Rosh Hashanah and the advent of the Jewish year 5781. But accompanying the traditional apples and honey this year is an unprecedented question: Why is this Rosh Hashanah different from all other Rosh Hashanahs? In years past, we took for granted that we could celebrate the holiday…
The job description might read something like this: “Looking for someone 24/7 with the patience of a saint, the wisdom of the Dali Lama, the goodness of Mother Teresa, and the ability to find the humor in the most difficult of situations. Must be fluent in the language of love.” How many of us will…
September in Tucson brings many things I love: cooler temperatures permitting long walks in Sabino Canyon, intermittent rains that drench my garden and the Jewish holidays that kick off the new year. A sense of optimism, of new beginnings and opportunities, fills the air. In stark contrast, I began September with a horrendous car accident….
Brazil was nothing like I had expected it would be. Lush, bustling and diverse, it was a thriving country of varied landscapes and cultures. My family’s primary reason for going was to visit our 17-year-old daughter, Lauren, who in 2004 was a foreign exchange student for the year. Despite the exhausting 20-hour trip from the…
“Knock knock!” “Who’s there?” “Me.” “Me who?” A silly childhood joke, right? Perhaps, but it could also be viewed as one of the most compelling questions of all time. Because, if asked differently, the question “Me who?” is actually: “Who am I?” Since the beginning of time, we have been attempting to understand and articulate…
My dad is a stand-up kind of guy. Well, actually, at 98, he is more of a sit-down, “I’m-tired” kind of guy, but his attitude reflects that of someone much younger. He has weathered business ups and downs, macular degeneration, colon cancer, a daughter who hitchhiked cross country after college hoping to “find herself” and…
Passover is the time of year when Jews retell the core narrative of the Jewish people, which goes like this: We were slaves in Egypt for over 400 years, then God brought us out of Egypt “with a strong hand and an outstretched arm” to become a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” The…
