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Jewish Voices, Jewish Lives

It’s what we do every day. Whether it’s the food we favor…a bagel with shmear… or the drive to repair the world…tikkun olam, we Jews are there, especially in Rockland County. We plan to bring Doing Jewish to you every Friday. Sometimes it’ll be fun, sometimes it’ll be serious.

“Now go and learn!”

This is the advice of the great sage Hillel the Elder, who lived more than 2000 years ago. Hillel was asked by a scoffer to teach him the entire Torah while he stood on one foot. Instead of rebuking his mockery, Hillel told him “That which is hateful to you, don’t do to others. That is t…

Reflections on a Year in Rockland

This week marks my first anniversary as CEO of the Jewish Federation and Foundation of Rockland County. It has been a busy year, getting to know this community, building bridges within and beyond it, advocating for it, and finding its hidden strengths.

I am grateful to all of those who have…

It's been a rough week

It has been a tough time these past few weeks for Jews in America. We are seeing antisemitism in every element of society, from academia to billionaires on social media, from sucker punches on the streets of Brooklyn to neo nazi banners on California overpasses. We've seen swastikas and vand…

Making Sense of it All

It’s that time of year when we see signs and banners, social media posts and TV ads. No, I’m not talking about Black Friday sales. Those will come soon enough. I’m talking about elections. This year, Israel’s election day will be followed about a week later by our local, state and fe…

A Time to Give Thanks

When my older children come to visit from Canada, one of our usual running jokes is how I am now pronouncing things differently, or spelling things ‘incorrectly’, or using Fahrenheit instead of Celsius. There are many overt and some subtle - and humorous - differences between Canadian an…