As Sukkot, the Jewish harvest festival, begins, I present “Stories in the Sukkah” a video of three stories about food, generosity, appetite, scarcity and plenty. The tradition is to spend time in a temporary dwelling, open to the elements, acknowledging the fragility of shelter, and the cycles of seasons, growing and harvest. My experience with growing food goes back to when I was a teenager. … [Read more...]
Children Wonder about Trees and Torah
March 5, 2020 by
“How are we like trees?” I asked a group of third graders at Temple Shir Tikvah* in Winchester, MA. “Trees are unique, like us,” one child pointed out. “Trees take showers when it rains. Then they dry off in the sun,” another child laughed. “Yeah, the sun is like their towel!” We were off to a great start. I had wondered: would 8 and 9 year olds be able to think metaphorically? “Let’s … [Read more...]
Journey to America
April 10, 2017 by
“Right away we made plans to go to America,” my Grandpa told me. “Your Grandma and I, we met, we fell in love. We wanted to go join our brothers in New York.” My grandparents, Markus Horowitz and Mania Alter, were born in Poland at the turn of the 20th century. Like many of their generation, they dreamt of immigrating to America, a land that offered more opportunity and less … [Read more...]
Have Fun Telling the Exodus Story
April 12, 2016 by
“Waaa...!” I hear a baby wail and look across the room. I see the rabbi, curled up on the floor. He is playing the part of baby Moses. “Look!” shouts an eight year-old girl playing Batya, Pharaoh’s daughter. “There’s a baby in a basket floating on the river! I want to help him.” I am visiting a congregation in the southwest. I was invited to work with families to prepare for Passover. … [Read more...]