August 2016

OAD: On Another Derech

I recently heard Rabbi Joseph Telushkin speak about the Lubavitcher Rebbe. The Rebbe believed that words mattered so much that ...

Reasonable Risks

Reasonable risk seems like an oxymoron. I checked a list of examples to see if it appeared, beside “open secret” ...

This I Believe… About Belief

In college I was tasked with writing a “This I Believe” essay about my guiding beliefs and values. This assignment wasn’t ...

The Gender of Our Clergy Need Not Dictate Where Women Breastfeed

In her JOFA post, “I Wasn’t Asking for Your Opinion,” Rabbanit Sharona Halickman rightfully criticizes the Orthodox Union for “only now ...

Tisha B’Av: Transforming Victimhood, Accessing Our Most Powerful Selves

The great challenge is learning how to honor the past while being able to create a future based on fresh ...

Plans for a Successful Inclusive Southern School Year

 Each year all of the religious schools that make up our ISJL education network gather in Jackson, MS for our ...

Tu B’Av and Saying YES to love

Dear Rabbi,I’m getting married! And I’m wondering if you’ll officiate. The wedding will be before sunset on Saturday and, well, ...

Snapchat’s Top Rabbi

When the list of the top ten Jews you should follow on social media platform Snapchat came out this week ...

Judaism After Orthodoxy: Insights into the “OTD” Movement

Many of us have read some of the recent memoirs written by people who have left their Orthodox community of ...

Arrived: First of Our Long Awaited Refugee Families!

Or Shalom, Vancouver’s East-Side Shul, the synagogue I serve as spiritual leader, is a community of 200 households that has ...