First, I’d like to give you a little background about how I learned to leyn as an adult, more than 20 years ago. Avrom and I moved to North Carolina, and not knowing anyone, we started going to Beth El, a small Conservative congregation, figuring it was a good way to meet other people. It […]
The first time I davened at the Kotel, I was 16 and with a group of girls from my teen tour. Our leaders brought us to the last vestige of the Temple, the remaining western wall. The boys and men funneled down the path to the men’s side to do their thing and we were […]
I can remember the taste of a cherry Popscicle, mingled with chlorine from the pool water that dripped from my hair to my lips. It was the taste of summer, and it was delicious. Summer was flavored with more than the synthetic fruit of the icy treat, of course. Summer meant no school, blinding hot […]
Shavuot is for many a forgotten holiday. If you are not observant, it most likely isn’t on your radar. You might forget shul altogether. You may go to work. If you’re a bit more tuned in, you might eat cheesecake. But I’m guessing that would be it. I don’t remember doing anything special for Shavuot […]
Rabbis, community react to new hours Beginning Friday, April 1, JCC Rockland will be open for the first time ever past sundown and the beginning of Shabbat. That change, along with the addition of Saturday hours, was passed overwhelmingly by the organization’s board of directors in early March. It marks a new chapter for the […]
This September, on the second day of Sukkot, JCC Rockland did something it had never done before. It opened for business. The way in which it did business was qualitatively different than a normal weekday. No money changed hands. The Fit Café was closed. The vending machines didn’t operate. There were no art programs, classes […]
