Bat Aliyah

In Israel, I am fluid in two rhythms, fluent in two idioms – in perpetual translation. Re-entry jars me. The landscape flattens. Col...

like a blowfish no! like an Arab womb, heavy with child but faster – like a balloon, the soul within me expands to fill the hills, san...

In Judaism, action is more important than belief. This idea is sometimes expressed by describing Judaism as a religion of “deed, not creed”....

Eight years ago, I went to Israel for the first time in my life. I spent exactly one day at She'arim College of Jewish Studies for Women...

By all accounts, the marriage between Avraham and Sarah was a marriage of equals. The medieval commentator Rashi teaches that Avraham and Sa...

Quick… picture an image of a Jew. Don’t read on until you’ve got an image fixed in your mind. If you’re like most, chances are you imagin...

(From a dvar Torah I gave at my older daughter's Bat Mitzvah on March 16, 2002) The Torah portion that Ariella will read today comes ...

(Written in May, 2001) A few weeks ago, I had a particularly fabulous Shabbos. I was in my mid-20s before I first learned about Shabbos. ...

(From a talk I gave in June, 2002 when everyone thought we were crazy to go to Israel) This week’s parsha, Parshat Pinchas, tells the sto...

I love Jewish books the way some women love shoes. When I was in the ninth grade, I told my English teacher that I was generally in the m...

In this week’s Torah reading, Moshe reviews a series of laws governing the eventual appointment of a Jewish king. Moshe is aware that the Je...

Although I can summon up a beguiling persona in a heartbeat, I know I’ll never be a blues singer. If I had been born with the voice of Nell ...

Parshat Pinchas presents the story of five remarkable sisters, the Bnos Tzelefchod, the daughters of Tzelefchod. Praises for the Bnos Tzele...

In this week’s parsha, Naso, we find the description of a ritual designed to test, through supernatural means, the guilt of a married woman...

There are four women whose stories are connected to Shemini. The first is the shadowy Elisheva, whose name means, “My G-d is my oath”. Li...

This week’s parsha reviews intricate details about the bigdei kehuna, the clothing the Kohanim wore while officiating in the Holy Temple. O...

When I first began to study Judaism in my 20s, I expected that my study would involve learning about Jewish ritual, holidays and prayer. Wh...

Who was Bilhah? Most believe that Bilhah was a maidservant to Lavan. When Lavan’s daughter Rachel married Jacob, Lavan gave Bilhah to Rach...

This week’s parsha (Torah portion) includes the story of Noah and the Ark, the Flood and the animals coming onto the ark two-by-two. It’s a...

September 20, 2003 Just a little more than a year ago, in July of 2002, I gave a talk here on the topic of “Why We’re Going to Israel Now...

I remember the first Yom Kippur service of my adult life. At the time, I possessed a hefty dose of youthful arrogance, coupled with a pauci...