We Teach Who We Are: A Practical Guide for Classroom Educators
Teaching About Israel in Times of Crisis Table of Contents Introduction: The Educator at the Center Chapter 1: Understanding the Changed Landscape The New Reality The Ripple Effects Opportunities Within Crisis Chapter 2: The Educator’s Journey—Personal and Professional Integration Acknowledging Your Own Experience The Professional-Personal Interface Modeling Resilience Chapter 3: Rethinking Educational Objectives Core Questions…
The Global Jewish-Israel Syntheses Imagine: We Are All Israeli
I was thinking, growing up, my world was a tapestry of hyphenated identities. There was my Russian-American friend, my Italian-American…
Colonization vs. Decolonization
Historical Patterns of Conquest and Return in the Middle East The narrative of colonization and decolonization has become central to…
The Voice That Calls: Jewish Awakening in Our Time
Imagine being awakened at 4 AM by a voice calling you to something urgent, something that cannot wait for a…
To Occupy or Not To Occupy Gaza
The morning of October 7, 2023, marked a watershed moment in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Hamas militants breached the Gaza-Israel…
The Jewish Lens announced today the hiring of Rabbi Leor J. Sinai as its first Executive Director. The Jewish Lens is a non-profit educational organization that uses the photography of Zion Ozeri as a stimulus for exploring Jewish values, identity, and tradition. The ground-breaking curriculum program has been taught in more than 100 educational institutions…
Tradition teaches us that Moses ascended onto Mount Sinai on the first of Elul, forty days later the People of Israel received the Torah. Throughout these forty days the Israelites’ faith was tested, their level of spiritual connectivity and faith weakened by their unanswered cries to Moses and to God – in a way mirroring…
Send yourself forth. A year ago this week’s Torah portion Sh’lach L’cha (Numbers 13:1) was my younger son, Cahlev Aharon’s Brit Milah. I dedicate these words to him and all of our children as they begin to crawl, walk, and at the blink of an eye – send themselves forth. The Torah portion describes the…
Today, Jews from New York to Jerusalem and across the world, have their eye on the next few hours. It is around this time of the year that we go through old items, consider opportunities, conduct some spring cleaning around the house, and look forward to the changing of the seasons. Pesach, Passover, is on…
The vision I have of the rabbinate has grown out my diverse upbringing and exposure to Jewish life in the United States and Israel. Judaism and Israel have always played a role in my life and influenced my decision making process. As a child I attended a Hebrew Day school and was involved in other…
In the midst of environmental, financial, and political uncertainties – today is Tu B’shvat – the New Year of the Trees. It is a time when vegetation all around is awakening from dormancy, shaking off the dust and beginning to stretch, mother earth is preparing herself for another cycle of creation and life. It’s nothing…