Kids at the JCC of the East Bay summer camp Last week I talked about Jewish community as a bit if an oddity sandwiched inside American culture. If you put on your anthropology hat and look at the many cultures that you encounter everyday it all begins to make sense. But for a child it’s not…
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Jewish community in America
What is Jewish community in America? One of the confusing things about Jewish community is the feel of it – it’s different from mainstream American community. For folks who aren’t Jewish it can seem to make sense that Jews are different – even if they can’t quite put their finger on why. But for American…
Read More »Spring Holidays
Holidays just ahead: Lag B’Omer and Shavuot Lag B’Omer One-day suspension of the traditional mourning period during Sefirat HaOmer (“The Counting of the Omer”). On this day, a plague afflicting Rabbi Akiva’s students ceased. Also commemorates Bar Kochba’s recapture of Jerusalem from the Romans. Celebrated with picnics and nature outings. Sefirat HaOmer is a seven-week…
Read More »Passover Mid-week
A Shmuroh matzah An update to the Haggadah Rabbi Ferenc Raj, rabbi emeritus of Beth El in Berkeley, is a Rescued Child, rescued by Raoul Wallenberg in Hungary. From him I learned the following blessing that can be added to your haggadah. You can open your front door and say it out into the world or…
Read More »Passover Food
Let’s begin with the non-traditional dishes. I took a cooking class with a friend on Moroccan Cooking, here in Oakland from a gal named Dara who has The Sage Table. (You can find her online at www.thesagetable.com. I think she might be Jewish.) When I looked at the recipes she had taught us every single…
Read More »Participating in Jewish Life!
How can the engaged Jewish community reach out to the unaffiliated and invite them to explore Judaism? Building Jewish Bridges has a wide range of opportunities. For synagogues In February Building Jewish Bridges partnered with Project Welcome to offer Increasing the Warmth of Your Welcome, a workshop that helps synagogues enhance their websites, bulletins, membership…
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