How to commemorate the two interrelated fast days of the 4th and 5th Hebrew months (the seventeenth day of Tamuz- Yod Zayin Tamuz and the 9th day of Av- Tisha be’Av), and the days between them (‘ha’yamim ben ha’meitzarim’) on one hand, and how to celebrate the newly-founded State of Israel’s Independence day on the other hand.
by Marc Silverman

The following article assumes the subjectivity and particularity of each historical construction, affirming the notion that the destruction occurring on the 9th of Av cannot be perceived in the same way by Romans, Jews, and historians. From there, the author looks at a famous Talmudic text on the historical consequences arising from the Temple’s downfall, and shows how, sometimes, theological descriptions can be the proper conduits for discussing human paradigms.

by Rabbi Joshua Kullock

The High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur afford us a fantastic opportunity for spiritual growth. Although they are opposites in the sense that Rosh Hashanah emphasizes judgment and Yom Kippur mercy, we can build from one to the other to create a spiritual strategic plan that will help us develop our character throughout the year.

By Rabbi Micha Turtletaub

What is the relationship we establish with G_d? Do we establish a relationship at all? Do we even take the necessary time to reflect on this point? In this article, the author seeks to incite us to rethink the bonds that unite us with G_d, by making us aware of the metaphors and paradigms used by the tradition de Israel to describe this union. In this sense, the notion of the covenant becomes of vital importance to anyone interested in maintaining a healthy bond full of meaning that is based on dialogue.

by Rabbi Joshua Kullock

It is time to broaden our approach to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur from apples and honey to include the story of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar. There are lessons to be learned from each of these characters and from the ways (positively and negatively) they interacted with each other. Emotions rage, dreams are dashed and fulfilled, messages are misunderstood.Using the story as the vehicle, these lessons can be referred back to throughout the year.
By Maxine Segal Handelman

In the hope of enriching our own practice and understanding of Teshuva and education as persons and professional Jewish teachers, educators, and counselors who will soon take part in the practices and processes of the Days of Awe, Professor Marc Silverman explores the features of the remarkable educational approach of the humanist and educator Janush Korczak(1878/9-1942).
By Marc Silverman

The High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur afford us a fantastic opportunity for spiritual growth. Although they are opposites in the sense that Rosh Hashanah emphasizes judgment and Yom Kippur mercy, we can build from one to the other to create a spiritual strategic plan that will help us develop our character throughout the year.

By Rabbi Micha Turtletaub

What is the relationship we establish with G_d? Do we establish a relationship at all? Do we even take the necessary time to reflect on this point? In this article, the author seeks to incite us to rethink the bonds that unite us with G_d, by making us aware of the metaphors and paradigms used by the tradition de Israel to describe this union. In this sense, the notion of the covenant becomes of vital importance to anyone interested in maintaining a healthy bond full of meaning that is based on dialogue.

by Rabbi Joshua Kullock

It is time to broaden our approach to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur from apples and honey to include the story of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar. There are lessons to be learned from each of these characters and from the ways (positively and negatively) they interacted with each other. Emotions rage, dreams are dashed and fulfilled, messages are misunderstood.Using the story as the vehicle, these lessons can be referred back to throughout the year.
By Maxine Segal Handelman

In the hope of enriching our own practice and understanding of Teshuva and education as persons and professional Jewish teachers, educators, and counselors who will soon take part in the practices and processes of the Days of Awe, Professor Marc Silverman explores the features of the remarkable educational approach of the humanist and educator Janush Korczak(1878/9-1942).
By Marc Silverman

Inviting ushpizin and ushpizot each day elevates and expands the joy of Sukkot. Sukkot is the ultimate opportunity to engage in the mitzvah of hachnasat orchim – hospitality. But on Sukkot we do not just invite friends and family. One Sukkot custom that became popular in the Middle Ages, based on the mystical text known as the Zohar, was to invite "invisible" guests to the sukkah along with "visible" ones. Following the article you will find a list of ready-to-tell stories for each of the traditional ushpizin and ushpizot. Bring these stories to life in the sukkah, and give children the tools to act out the stories further on their own and to act out the mitzvah hachnasat orchim. And it will truly be z’man simchateinu – the time of our rejoicing.
By Maxine Segal Handelman

Mystics tell us that in each of these special guests there is a specific prominent quality connected to one of the ways in which G_d makes himself manifest on Earth (the Sefirot). By studying in greater depth some of the stories involving these personalities that became Ushpizim we will reach an understanding of whom and what we should make room for in the sukkah. And of course we will cover the subject of with what attributes we should prepare ourselves so that, should they happen to drop in, we can make them feel at home.
By Guido Cohen

In the progression of any calendar there are specific moments at which time would seem to condense, taking on volume and density. This transformed dimension, this condensed state of time, can gradually establish itself to various degrees and on various levels, producing a multitude of vectors of meaning that sometimes follow parallel paths and at other times are interwoven and strengthened. If we look at our calendar, we can see that the festivals are signs that invite us to participate in sacred moments, moments that are different and separate from our daily routine. Sukkot, among all our celebrations, is one of those moments of convergent density. But what does this really mean? What are the origins and the scope of such assertions? In the next paragraphs we will attempt to find the answers.
By Joshua Kullock

If at Rosh Hashanah we rethink our relationship with G_d, on Yom Kippur we attempt to renew the bond connecting us to ourselves, and at Succot we find our place within the community anew, then Simchat Torah is the Jewish holiday on which we again reflect on the relationship we establish (or fail to establish) with the Torah as a significant text for our identity and our tradition.
The author compares and contrasts academicist paradigms with the significant study of the Biblical text in communitarian environments, inviting us to set the “objective” approach aside—if only for a moment—in order to achieve a focus that, instead of dissociating us from the text, places us in a dialogical relationship to it.

by Rabbi Joshua Kullock

Am Yisrael – the People of Israel. We Jews come in so many varieties. We believe different things, we live our lives in different ways, we speak many languages, we dwell in many lands. It requires an incredible amount of tolerance and understanding,more than we have been able to achieve so far across the board, to get along with each other, and appreciate and value all of the differences that make up Am Yisrael. Not only must we “get along” in the Jewish world, but we live immersed in a greater world filled with differences which we must navigate every day. The tools to do this successfully should be nurtured even in our youngest children. As teachers, we may not only teach our children what it is to be a Jew, as separate from other peoples. We are called upon to teach our children about their responsibility to the stranger, their obligation to tikkun olam, their legacy to learn from all people. While young children do not need to be taught to notice .differences, they do need to be shown how differences are beneficial to their world. More than just learning to tolerate differences, our children need to recognize stereotypes, to question them, and to correct them. Our children need the tools to fight injustice in their world, to be able to act. Only then will our children be able to become fulfilled as people and worthy as Jews; when they have been empowered to act, and to do mitzvot
by Maxine Segal Handelman

Can religion contribute to the edification of a pluralist, democratic, and fraternal society? Here, the author's intention is to share some ideas concerning the value of respect within the framework of the Tradition of Israel. The ability to respond, or the responsibility to give the other an answer, articulates itself as a basis for respect and acceptance of the other by means of a genuine dialogue, and not by means of the imposition of one’s personal ideas while turning a deaf ear on the ideas of other. The equality envisioned is not the equality of ideas; the desired equality is the equality of possibilities, based on a shared encounter in which we allow ourselves the possibility of learning from difference.
By Rabbi Joshua Kullock

On November 16 the international community observes the International Day of Tolerance. The leaders who have “constructed” this day bestow central importance on the role of education in the overarching task of ridding the world of intolerance: Teachers worldwide should teach tolerance to their students, and their students worldwide should learn and internalize the value of tolerance.

By Marc Silverman

Universal Children’s Day is grounded in Jewish values such as Tedakah, Shalom and Kesher. As early childhood educators, our responsibility to each child is quite serious, since Jewish tradition places significant obligations on parents with regard to their children. Long before the United Nations stepped in to guard children’s rights, the Torah and Talmud had covered the topic. Therefore, we must model, and we must teach parents, the Jewish way to care for children.
by Maxine Segal Handelman

In this article, the author attempts to delve into and interconnect the Jewish traditional texts with that of the Universal Declaration of the Rights of the Child issued by the United Nations. Light is shed on the right to education, as well as on the challenges posed by filling in the blank spaces left open by the declaration of those rights; on the significant learning that comes of pluralist teaching; on the equality of opportunity that comes with the duty towards growth based on difference; on the role of parents and teachers, given the promise of redemption borne within each child. Within this connective interpretation, it is proposed that we elucidate on those universal and particular themes entailing challenging points of contact in the future.

by Rabbi Joshua Kullock

Recalling Umberto Eco’s claim that texts are “lazy machines” requiring a good deal of human work to function productively, what meaningful messages can we derive from these words about Hanukah, our festival of lights? Bearing in mind another incisive remark, made by our sages of the Talmudic era--hafoch ba v’ hafoch ba, ki kula ba (“turn the Torah, and turn it, for all is contained in it”)--in this essay I will limit my search for such messages to the light(s) Hanukah can shed on Jews’ relationship to political and military power. Using selected traditional and modern interpretations of Hanukah, I will explore the nature and meaning of such power in Jewish historical and present-day understanding.

by Marc Silverman

The author, finding inspiration in the idea of the oxymoron, proposes a tour highlighting some of the contradictions between the Maccabean feat and the way in which the latter has been recuperated over the generations. Heroic deed and violent revolt, preservation of traditions and intolerance of differences, Jewish customs and gentile motives: these are concepts that clash when we study the origins and present condition of this chapter in our identity.

by Guido Cohen

Is adding one candle each night of Chanukah the only way to go? Shammai didn't think so. What can we learn from considering the reasons behind the disagreement between Hillel and Shammai over the Chanukah candles, and how can this enlighten the celebration of Chanukah in our classrooms?

by Maxine Segal Handelman

Beginning with one of the most recent resignifications of Chanukah, based on secular Zionist thinking, the author proposes to return us to the primary sources that report on this celebration, with the aim of establishing renewed links and meanings for the present day.
This framework relies on the inclusion of Sukkot in the interpretation, as well as the role of water and fire in both festivals, in order to conclude with the articulation and overcoming of these elements in the Torah.

By Rabbi Joshua Kullock

People, situations, contexts, identities and cultures are constantly changing. And with them, the festivities that make up the calendar change too. The author takes this opportunity to try and show how the emergence of Zionist thinking helped to rescue and renovate the meaning of Tu Bishvat, emphasising some of the writing of the thinker Aaron David Gordon. In this context, the themes that will be tackled deal with the return to the land, the dilemmas of negotiating the rebirth of Jewish life on its own land and with the challenge of sharing community work in a people engaged with their values and ideals.

by Rabbi Joshua Kullock

The author proposes taking a look at the festival of Tu B’Shvat, which has grown and developed over the years, undergoing changes like a tree that evolves over time. It has had its periods of coming into bloom, of subsequent neglect, of suffering from centuries of harsh winter, and finally, of definitive development as a rich and fruitful festival in itself, and a source of joy for mystics and lovers of nature.

By Maximiliano Shalom

Most preschool aged children are quite adept at saying no. So what might these children have to learn from Vashti, who said “no” to dancing at the king’s party? Should young children only learn from “brave little Esther,” or are there valuable lessons to be learned from both these women of Purim?
The article suggests addressing a few valuable lessons that these two women, the Purim heroines, incarnate.

The author departs from the interpretation of Rashi concerning the destinies of Beruriah and Rabbi Meir (Avodah zarah, 18b), and the journey focuses on that exegesist’s modus operandi in his interpretative method. She invites us to discover the bearing the precedent of the Beruriah case has had on women’s organic access to the scholarly world of our people. By sharing some paradigmatic portraits of this exceptional woman, she supports a question concerning the original intention behind the parshan: Could it have been to draw attention to conflicting aspects of Rabbi Meir’s behavior towards his wife? Or would it have been to sanction Beruriah on account of the complexity of her persona? Perhaps we still had a few centuries and sufferings to go for attention to shift away from Beruriah’s supposed guilt and onto Rabbi Meir’s responsibility.
“In any event”—she tells us—“it is not clear to me which side of the moon is the dark one, and this perush’s richness lies, perhaps, in awakening us enough to be capable of assimilating its change of light.”

By Judith Golimstok

Research tells us that young children do not find nearly enough positive female role models in the books they are read, on TV (even with the introduction of Dora) or in their daily lives. During Pesach, our children learn all about Moses and Pharaoh, but what do they learn about Miriam, Yocheved, Shifra, Puah, Bat Paroh or the Israelite women that wereinstrumental in helping to gain our freedom from Egypt? What do you knowabout these women?. Learn about these women and why and HOW they should be part of your classroom’s curriculum of Pesach.

Maxine Segal Handelman

Jewish tradition teaches that G_d created the world through his word. We, created in His image and likeness, design, structure, and modify the realities in which we find ourselves immersed by means of the social languages we use. In this context, the author invites us to submerge ourselves in some of the classic Jewish texts, with a special emphasis on their semantic structure for the purpose of showing the ways in which the relationship between our rituals and women’s’ roles in them are established. Discussed are opportunities in the norms, contextual impositions, and the responsibility of taking part and, consequently, acting.

By Rabbi Joshua Kullock.

The ideal of romantic love – that each of us has a perfect life partner - is rooted in the biblical story of Adam and Eve. G-d built Adam’s partner Eve from a part of his very body. But is finding our soul mate an end in itself, or is it a means to something else? Can the story of Eve’s creation shed some light on the Torah’s concept of romantic love?

By Micha Turtletaub

Most preschool aged children are quite adept at saying no. So what might these children have to learn from Vashti, who said “no” to dancing at the king’s party? Should young children only learn from “brave little Esther,” or are there valuable lessons to be learned from both these women of Purim?
The article suggests addressing a few valuable lessons that these two women, the Purim heroines, incarnate.

The Book of Esther, could easily be just another of those many other legends that inspire our passion in childhood and of which we only remember vague images once we have grown up. Yet year after year, amid all the fancy dress and noise of the Purim festivity, the theatre posters keep billing this legend of powerful kings and evil villains, of gorgeous princesses and heroic salvation. The present author proposes an interpretation that focuses on around the profound significations hidden in the Megillah text and the insinuations that lie behind the veil of this children’s story.

by Guido Cohen

Purim is the Diasporic holiday par excellence. In their discussions of the Megillah text, our sages asked themselves how to articulate the functioning of a dispersed community in an effective way. In this context the author stresses the central role of remembrance and of memory, and the dangers of forgetting, apathy and lethargy. And perhaps, all things told, everything rests on our not falling asleep …

by Rabbi Joshua Kullock

Young children are bombarded with good guys vs. bad guys by the media every day. The Jewish holidays from winter to spring provide their own list of bad guys out to defeat the Jews. How do we help our youngest children understand that being Jewish is not ultimately about the fight for our survival, but about striving to constantly make the world a better place? A closer look at the story of Purim helps to address this question.

by Maxine Segal Handelman

When we think about the Pesach festival, we can trace a trajectory stretching from Shirat HaIam, the song of the People of Israel sung upon their crossing the Sea of Reeds, all the way to Shir ha Shirim, the Song of Songs, which is nothing less than the text chosen by our tradition to be read in mid festival.

Departing from the dichotomy both poems represent, the author attempts to show how music has played a fundamental role in Judaism for many years, while taking an in-depth look at the various paradigms that can be gleaned from analyzing the texts. This being the case, models are constructed among lyrics and melodies, which govern man’s relationship to people and the people’s to G-d.

by Rabbi Joshua Kullock

Research tells us that young children do not find nearly enough positive female role models in the books they are read, on TV (even with the introduction of Dora) or in their daily lives. During Pesach, our children learn all about Moses and Pharaoh, but what do they learn about Miriam, Yocheved, Shifra, Puah, Bat Paroh or the Israelite women that wereinstrumental in helping to gain our freedom from Egypt? What do you knowabout these women?. Learn about these women and why and HOW they should be part of your classroom’s curriculum of Pesach.

Maxine Segal Handelman

The powerful “Seder experience” and its transformative potential perhaps explain why, of the rich array of Jewish holiday celebrations and traditions, the Seder ritual is the one most prominent and widespread among Jews today.

By Marc Silverman

Then Eliahu remembered the words that a prophet, called Malachi, had said about him some years back: “Look! The prophet Eliahu is before you...." Apparently, some could not see him. As legend has it, he simply gave the impression of being like any other person and allowed himself to be invited. Thus, those who opened their doors to receive him, without knowing it, were opening the doors of the transcendental.

Focusing on the custom of receiving guests at the Seder table, the author proposes accompanying a very special personage as he stops by at three Sedarim in three different ages. Let’s pull up a chair and see how this mysterious visitor is received!

by Guido Cohen

In this article, the author seeks to demonstrate the ways in which the Pesach Haggadah is structured like a rhetorical text that enables readers and Seder night participants to take a position and construct their identities in a dynamic way and always by means of dialogue.
In light of these considerations, and assisted by the writings of Mikhail Bakhtin, an integral part of the present work consists in responding to the question of what it is that makes a wicked son into a wicked son so far removed from the spirit that Pesach, as reflected in the Haggadah, celebrates.

by Rabbi Joshua Kullock

The reemergence of the national state of the Jewish People in the land of Israel calls us both to shared joy and to reflection on certain crucial points in the Jewish thought of all ages.

The existence of the State of Israel can be understood from a perspective inviting us to stand up as an exemplary society that functions as a paradigm for other nations, but it can also be experienced as the attempt to be just another country, without claiming to be a light or compass to anyone, finding in the land the space to live in peace, without being persecuted by any other people. Thus, to begin with, Israel must be able to respond to the following: Do we accept the challenge of being a “light to the nations” (Isaiah 42:6), or do we prefer to be “like all the nations” in the land (I Samuel 8:5)?

In this sense, the article proposes we examine some of these points by means of questions that open up dialogues in an attempt to explore positions that lie latent in the Jewish texts, but which have taken on great relevance with the rise of the State and with the challenges generated by it.

Thus, the independence of Israel is seen in the light—for example—of the idea of the holiness of the land, the involvement of G_d in history, and of the relations to be strengthened between those who live in Israel and those who do not.

by Rabbi Joshua Kullock

On May 14th of 1948, during an armed conflict that had begun six months previously, and which would continue for one more year, the Jewish government of Palestine declared the independence of the new State of Israel. Thus began the story of a new country, which, though not accepted by all, was quickly integrated into the countries of the world. The history of the State of Israel, however, began long before. We would have to go back at least another sixty years in order to begin to understand why the Jewish state forever changed the identity, references, and customs of the majority of Jews in all four corners of the globe.
Up until the present day the majority of Jews in the world live outside Israel. Why then is it such a central point of reference for all of us? What is, what was, what would continue to be the difference between the existence and non-existence of a Jewish state for Jews who are citizens of other states?
In responding to these questions, a good starting point would be a world very different to the one we know today.

by Enrique Herszkowich

This article returns to the roots of Lag Baomer to explore the origins and reasons behind the ways in which the period of the counting of the omer is observed. By delving into the history of this time period (just after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E), in particular the path of Rabbi Akiva and his students the power of optimism, perseverance and most specifically respect are revealed.

by Rabbi Micha Turtletaub

In this article, the author attempts to present Jerusalem as possessing a double function; one spatio-geographical—to which the Jewish people were able to return after many years; the other as a symbol that was able to erect itself in a concentration of hope and longing, of redemption and utopia. Jerusalem, terrestrial and celestial, loses sight of the borders between the symbolic and the real as it becomes transformed by our actions into a place of paradigm, inviting us to strive not towards territorial quarrels, but in favor of sincere spaces for fraternal encounter and dialogue.

by Rabbi Joshua Kullock

We All Stood: Experiencing Sinai in Early Childhood The Rabbis tell us that each one of us stood and received the message at Mt.Sinai. Still, communicating this to young children is difficult. Concrete thinkers that they are, they don't remember standing at Sinai. With dedication and some flair, we can combine a playful experience of being at Sinai with an enduring connection to the Torah, mix in some opportunities to reflect and revisit the experience and truly bring children to stand at Sinai.

by Maxine Segal Handelman

Two love stories dominate the scene during the Shavuot holiday. God and the people of Israel make a pact of eternal love, wherein the “wedding ring” is a commitment to observe and transmit the Torah. In celebration of this alliance, each year the people make a gift of their bikurim to God on the day of its commemoration. On the other hand, the story of Ruth teaches us that a commitment to good actions is the ideal environment in which to enter into a solid and enduring relationship. For this reason, perhaps, this festivity is not only Chag Hashavuot, the Feast of Weeks, but also Chag HaShevuot, the Feast of Promises, of commitments.

By Guido Cohen

The Torah is God’s great objective gift to all of us; but its reception and application to our lives is the subjective personal response-ability of each and every one of us as individual members of the Jewish people; we commemorate and celebrate the gift; it’s up to each of us to make good use of it!
Following this rabbi’s cue, I want to share with you in this essay my personal reception, interpretation and application of this great gift lent to us at Mt. Sinai: realistic messianism. This pair of terms “realistic messiansm” may legitimately be perceived, certainly at first glance, as an oxymoron. I hope to demonstrate in the course of this essay, the two terms composing it are dialectically interrelated: The strong drive and resolute determination to strive to humanize the world is encapsulated in the noun messianism; and the means to head in the direction towards this humanization and to ever-approach arriving at it are encapsulated in the qualifying adjective “realistic”. Furthermore, this adjective is meant to serve as a powerful anti-dote to the dangerous pitfalls into which other types of messianism - unrealistic and other-worldly ones - fall.