Parents are the primary teachers for their children. We are often told to utilize age appropriate materials and methods. What is “age appropriate”? Cornell Law School of Education states: The term “age-appropriate” means suitable (in terms of topics, messages, and teaching methods) to the developmental and social maturity of the particular age or age group of…
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Teens! Did you ever read that a teen given a sanity test meant for adults would would be found to be insane because that’s where their brain is during this critical age? I would remind myself of that when my teens were completely without adult reasoning. Still teens are deep thinkers and do ponder the…
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Has anyone mentioned that Life is Hard? Yeah, I thought so. But we are now in the month of Adar. The Talmud states that Jews are to “increase our joy” during this month. We are urged to find happiness and celebration. So where does happiness come from and can we “pursue” it? According to the…
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I just received permission to share Rabbi Chayva Lehrman of Am Tikvah in San Francisco’s message to her congregation. It is about Shavuot, but a question we can ponder throughout life. “Why was the Torah given in the desert?” asks the midrash. One might think that the Torah, the wellspring of Jewish tradition, should have…
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The Torah portion T’rumah is about the building of the Tabernacle in the desert. This could be read at face value as a rather boring set of building instructions. But we are never limited to the simple meaning in Torah. Rabbi Josh Weisman of Temple Beth Sholom in San Leandro sent this beautiful message to…
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(A Torah scroll laid out for repair by a sofer, a Hebrew scribe) One of the things that bothers me a great deal is the believe by many (Jews and non-Jews) that there is a single true Jewish belief on everything from God to food. You can image how happy I was to see this…
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