The Spring 2015 line up of Building Jewish Bridges workshops and classes! January What’s in a Jewish Name? Join B’nai Tikvah congregants for services on Friday January 9 at 6:30pm, when I will be speaking in the sermon slot. My subject is the special place name and naming rituals holds in Jewish tradition. This dovetails…
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Jewish Resolutions for the Secular New Year
A lot of folks will be making resolutions over the next few days. Why not make a Jewish resolution for the year 2015? Here are some ideas. 1. Increase your Jewish knowledge. The best way to feel confident is to know what you’re doing. Don’t suffer with a feeling of ignorance, learn. Take a class,…
Read More »Hanukkah Accessories
A big part of the fun of holidays — like Christmas — is the decorations, the spiffy seasonal accessories. GET CREATIVE! Hanukkah can come up pretty short in this regard and that’s natural since this minor Jewish holiday has nowhere near the glamour of Christmas. But there are still things you can do to decorate…
Read More »The Quiet Days of November
After all the high speed of the Jewish fall holidays we move into a quiet time until Hanukkah. It’s a good time to catch your breath. Use November to explore the Jewish community around you. Go to a lecture, a film, a musical service. You can also start thinking about how you’ll handle the December…
Read More »Halloween with a Jewish Twist
Halloween is the second biggest holiday in America according to KCBS News. Did you know that? I sure didn’t. Yes, I’ve noticed that Halloween has become dramatically more marketable than it was when I was a kid, or even when my own kids were little. Costumes are no longer homemade – with the hobo costume,…
Read More »Raising a Jewish Child in an Interfaith Home
You’ve made the big decision – we’ll raise our child(ren) as Jews. Now what? Does this mean no Christmas or Easter? How do we interact with our non-Jewish family’s holidays? What synagogue should we join and how can we ask for specific support in our process? Is a lot of the effort falling on a…
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