I have never really had an “ear” for languages. When I was growing up, I began Hebrew School in 3rd grade and although we were being taught conversational Hebrew, I never really could get the hang of it. The same thing when I was in college and I took two semesters of Hebrew, but it neve…
Although Camp Gan Shalom began last week, due to my schedule I was not able to visit our summer youth program until yesterday. As I walked into camp, fond memories of how much fun it was to be a camper and the joy I felt as a camp director flooded back. The smiles and the look of sheer joy o…
Over the last number of years, as I sit down to write either my monthly From Where I Sit column for JLife SGPV or this weekly column, I work very hard in sharing my perspectives in a fair and balanced way. I have rarely dipped into politics. The reason for this is that as the Executive D…
I did it… and it felt great! And, I hope you will do it. What am I talking about? Voting. In case you have been under a rock or haven’t gone through your mail in the last several weeks, today, June 7 is Primary Election Day. While a lot of focus typically is placed each year on the first…
In case you have not been looking at a calendar lately, I wanted to let you know that this coming Monday is Memorial Day. Now, when you hear the words Memorial Day, what comes to mind? Are you picturing sale ads for things like appliances, mattresses, or cars? Or are you thinking about a…
Like so many of you, I have been reading and watching in horror as new information continues to pour out of Buffalo following the tragic mass shooting that took place at the Tops Market on Saturday. There are so many parts of this tragedy that make me cringe and question what would lead some…
About six years ago, when my oldest daughter was about twelve or thirteen, she looked at me one day and said, “Daddy, I have finally figured out what you do for a living.” Now, let me preface this by saying that I started working at the Jewish Federation shortly after she was two years o…
In all of my almost forty-eight years, I cannot remember a time when so much was happening all at once. From COVID and all of the various impacts it has continued to have on our lives, even as we are now at the start of the third year, to the turmoil and devastation in Ukraine over the last …
Whether it is because of the war raging in Ukraine, the unbelievable rise of antisemitism being felt all over the world, its juxtaposition to this past weekend’s Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day (April 24), or any number of other reasons, I feel that this year’s Yom HaShoah is drawing m…
Freedom is defined as 1) the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint; 2) absence of subjection to foreign domination or despotic government; 3) the state of not being imprisoned or enslaved. I have been thinking a lot about this word, freedom, the…
As you might imagine, security has been at the forefront of my mind as of late, and for good reason. Actually, it has never really left my mind. You might say it comes with the territory as a leader within the Jewish community. However, let me ask you a question, and be honest… how often …
I hope your Passover has gone well for you thus far. Although we are only at the halfway point of the holiday, I want to turn my attention to the next event on our calendar… Yom HaShoah. This year’s Holocaust commemoration will begin next Wednesday, April 27 at sundown and run through Th…
I am going to start this week’s column off with a pop quiz. Name the Jewish holiday that is celebrated by more Jews, based on percentage, than all of the other holidays. If you guessed Passover you are correct. While it may seem that Hanukkah would be the one Jewish holiday that more peopl…
Growing up, I distinctly remember hearing people talk about how fast time goes. As a child (or even as a teen), I didn’t quite understand it because to me, time moved very, very, very slow… or at least so it seemed. Partly that was because my attention was on things that seemed to always…
I often think back to my experiences growing up in my small hometown of Danville. There were not many Jews living in any one specific area in the cities east of Oakland. It was similar to the experience I know many of us feel. I remember packing extra matzah during Passover so my classmates …
