The Jewish calendar as we know it today was designed by Hillel II. The name was really Hillel, but we add or call him Hillel II so as not to confuse him with the famous Hillel, who lived several centuries before him.
We don’t speak enough about domestic violence in the Jewish community. This is true of all Jewish communities. Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twersky, one of the foremost experts and advocates in the Jewish community regarding mental health and the issues of domestic violence and substance abuse, saw mental health issues, and relationships in particular, through spiritual care lenses.
After reading the review on Johnathon Metzl’s recent book “Dying of Whiteness” written by Lacey Storer, I was curious to read his book and learn how “whiteness” is now impacting the death rate of mid-western white Americans. What I found was not only disturbing but patently false.
Having mostly “retired” from official government capacities, I am afforded the luxury of freedom to “speak my mind”, (more or less) albeit not withstanding consequences, (i.e., accusations/scrutiny for “heretical thinking”- as was with Aristotle and Galileo). I wish to raise concerns about potential consequences of future technology:
“Flowing upward through a confusion of dreams and memory, …I surface. My eyes open. I am awake.” So, begins a day in “Crossing to Safety” by Wallace Stegner. We awaken these days with anxiety that presses from multiple directions. Each day, too, we live with the hope of crossing to a safer place in our lives.
Todah rabah to the dedicated volunteers who delivered Purim simcha gift bags to more than 500 Jewish seniors in our community. Organized by Chabad House of Overland Park, simcha gifts are prepared by women from the community five times each year — for Rosh HaShanah, Chanukah, Purim, Passover, and Shavuot.
I was moved to read the article “'This is the dream’: Israeli Diaspora Minister praises HBHA as global model.” I attended Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy and our two children are students there now, and one of the most cherished aspects of the school is how students of all levels of Jewish observance find a home there and learn in ways that resonate with their own families’ traditions.
I enjoyed reading about Jonathan Metzl’s new book, “Dying of Whiteness,” but he seems to have missed the point as to why those people who are “dying of whiteness” have decided to take that self-destructive path in their personal lives.
As we inch closer to our son Michael becoming a Bar Mitzvah, it is nothing like I ever imagined it would be. Looking forward to this Jewish milestone, I can’t help but look back to 1989, the year of my Bat Mitzvah.
While looking through a past copy of the Jerusalem Post on the internet, it saddened me when I happened upon an article about the death of Prairie Village resident, Esther Levens. I knew Esther quite well and actually helped her organize a group called “Voices United for Israel” – later to be renamed “Unity Coalition for Israel.” Here’s how my relationship with Esther began:
