My husband and I loved reading the beautifully written article by Rabbi Zalman Tiechtel, marking the 15-year anniversary of his arrival in Lawrence to start the Chabad House at KU with his wife, Nechama. (“A trip down memory lane … what a journey,” March 18).
Editor’s note: This message is reprinted from a weekly shabbat email sent March 19 to HBHA families and friends.
This week was the Grammys! For those of you who weren’t paying close attention, the winner of the Best Comedy Album went to Tiffany Haddish — the first black woman to win this Grammy Award since Whoopie Goldberg won it in 1986. The name of her show? Black Mitzvah (now available on Netflix!).
As we handed over our one way tickets to the agent at the gateway, we knew that there was no turning back. Here we are making that giant leap of a transition from a small town called Brooklyn, New York, to the big city of Lawrence, Kansas.
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.
