Today I had the opportunity to have a reunion lunch with a group of interfaith Clergy who recently traveled together to Israel. (I had...

Our siddur has lots of instructions related to dates and times - additions for Shabbat, special lines for holidays, versions of prayers...

Bereshit spends a noticeable amount of time talking about names and why someone given a particular name, such as in our parsha when each...

This learning is dedicated in memory of my mother, Sharon Decter Brendzel, who died on Parshat Toldot in 2006. I will forever associate...

Over the past few parshiot there's been a lot of talk of age and the passage of time. We get the genealogy list that tells how many years...

As we'll find througout the parshiot of Bereshit, there's a LOT that happens in our parsha. In Vayera two babies are born. The first is...

I’ve been a Starbucks Gold Rewards Member since 2018. Back when I went into a store to order, I kind of loved that my order would roll...

Lech Lecha has a strong start - a meaningful and impactful command from God to Avram. "Adonoy said to Avram, Go from your land, from your...

Noah is one of those parshas where you really feel like you know the story. I mean, we've heard children's songs ("God said to Noah,...

I have a few favorite books and I have read and re-read them, each time finding something new in the language or story, but even with my...

LA Story is one of those movies that I watched a LOT of times. It's not quite up there with Grease (1 or 2, really), or my all-time...

So, this is it - the final parsha of the Torah. We won't have a regular Shabbat when we read this parsha, since we read it on Simchat...

If you're just totally done with cooking after Rosh Hashanah....I hear you. For 2 of the last 3 days, I've spent the vast majority of my...

As part of the regular cycle of matching Torah readings to the number of Shabbatot available for regular readings in a year (which takes...

We've been eating a lot more fruit in the last few months. Partially that's because we're trying to add more fruits and veggies to our...

I enjoy the activity of thinking and planning menus for Rosh Hashanah. This year I started even earlier...I started the Sunday after we...

Our parsha this week has a long list of do's and don't's and they cover a wide range of topics. As we near the end of D'varim, Moshe has...

Today I was treated to a wonderful drash by a bar mitzvah boy, the son of two people are dear to us. It was an especially sweet moment of...

Parshat Re'eh is one of the parshiot most densely packed with halacha. As Moshe prepares the Israelites for their entry into Eretz...

When going through the parsha with a fine tooth comb, as I do when looking for inspiration for #parshainspiredmenus, I find new words,...