Last year on this week's Torah portion, I was in Cancun, Mexico for a vacation. I was at a crossroads in my life and unsure how to move forward. I was deciding between two professional avenues and had been debating internally to no avail. Read more...

Last year on this week's Torah portion, I was in Cancun, Mexico for a vacation. I was at a crossroads in my life and unsure how to move forward. I was deciding between two professional avenues and had been debating internally to no avail. Read more...

Periodically, when drinking from a paper cup, I catch myself lifting the cup up and down. I see my hand, my fingers grasping the cup's base. I hear the sound of the cup as it's set back upon the table. A simple act, a habit, and a forgotten image of my Papa comes blowing over me like a soft summer's breeze blowing in the nights long ago. I recall at this moment that my Papa, my maternal grandfather, used to do this same thing. While we sat in his apartment he would often drink from a paper cup and he would lift his cup up and down, over and over again. Read more...

If you are acquainted with someone who is of a particular traditional bent and/or knowledgeable of Jewish sources - or if you are such a person - you may have heard a sentence like this: "I'll be there at 9 am sharp, bli neder," or this: "I'll pick up a dessert for Shabbos dinner, bli neder." "Bli neder" means "without [making] a vow," and is meant to indicate that the words that precede it should not be considered a religious commitment. Read more...

I am always in awe of people who can learn and speak multiple languages. As a high school student I spent four years learning Spanish. And, despite how it might seem today, I was really quite proficient. The problem was that when I entered college and returned to learning the Hebrew I had begun in elementary school, my words kept coming out in Spanish. Over time, I found myself blocking more and more of the Spanish to the degree that while I can still understand some basic conversations, it is far more difficult to formulate full sentences to have a meaningful conversation. Read more...