We had a small but appreciative group of guests at our MESH Café this week. Preschool parent Melissa Elbaum whipped up dinner for 17 guests, assisted by Lynne Kurzweil and teen helper Jake. (more…)
Much of the September 25th workshop (Sex, Gender, & Orientation by Daniel Bahner from Keshet) was spent talking about definitions. You might not think that would be so interesting but it was. It was thought-provoking and mind-changing.
There’s a theory in linguistics – the Whorfian Hypothesis, also called linguistic relativism– that claims that the categories and usage patterns of our language influence our thoughts, feelings, and decisions. An implication of this theory is that our thoughts, feelings, and decisions can, therefore, be influenced by changing the way we use our language.
And so much of the workshop was devoted to the way we use words to talk about sex, gender, and orientation.
What do these words mean?
No longer on the front page, often not even mentioned on the television news, we move on to other stories, other crises … but the Syrian civil war continues.
Ten percent of the Syrian population have been killed or wounded since 2011 when the current civil war started. Over half of the population have had to leave their homes – about 4 million are refugees; another 6 to 8 million are internally displaced within Syria. Half of all these people – the dead, the wounded, the refugees, the internally displaced – are children.
They lack food and water and clothing. They lack access to healthcare and education. They are forced to work, long hours for little pay. They are losing their childhood. (more…)
Torah study this past Shabbat (May 7) was devoted to studying the new interpretation (targum) of Leviticus 18:22. To clarify, that does not mean we spent the entire time talking just about verse 22. We studied that verse in the last 10 minutes of the session. But first we had to consider the context.
If I have learned anything from my years of Torah study with Rabbi Greenstein it is that context matters. Verses, words, even the week’s parashah cannot be looked at in a vacuum but have to consider what occurred before.
So we started at the beginning of the chapter: (more…)
Kiddush happens every Shabbat morning service as well as after all of our holiday services. We take it for granted. It wasn’t until I met with Aileen Grossberg and Marge that I realized how much is involved in keeping our Kiddush program going. I want to share this information by answering questions that have been asked about the Kiddush program. I’ll start with this very basic question – Why do we even need Kiddush? Can’t people have Shabbat luncheon at home?
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