Reconstructing Judaism
Sinagoga Ner Tamid del Sud in Calabria Is Italy’s First Reconstructionist Synagogue Reconstructing Judaism is the brand new name given to the Jewish Reconstructionist movement, the fourth largest Jewish movement in the world, the only movement founded in the United States, and the only stream of Judaism that has offered the Jewish world a […]
Widowed Parents Find Love
When Our Widowed Parents Find Love Again Several years ago I opened the door to my rabbi’s study to find an elderly couple, both well into their eighties, hoping that I would meet with them. At first I thought something terrible had happened. The man hung his head and the woman began to cry. […]
Hava Nagila
Hava Nagila Ten Fabulous Facts for Bubbyes and Zaydes to Share Hava Nagila, a melody that originated more than 200 years ago, was born as a song without words (in Hebrew, “niggun”). During the era of forced inscription into the Czarist Russian army, young Jewish boys were taken from their families to serve 25 years […]
Interfaith Grandkids
Interfaith Grandkids and Crayola Crayons “Rabbi, I have to ask you something and it’s very personal,” said Ann as she wagged her finger in the typical “don’t tell,” motion. At the time of her question Ann was a relative newcomer on the Aviva campus, (formerly the Kobernick Anchin Campus in Sarasota, Florida). She was still […]
You’re Invited To A Jewish Event
You’re Invited … to a Jewish Wedding or a Bar or Bat Mitzvah! What You Need to Know If you find yourself invited to a Jewish wedding or the Jewish coming of age ceremony known as a Bar Mitzvah or a Bat Mitzvah there are social considerations that will make you feel comfortable and […]
Italian Jewish Roots in Squillace
Exploring Italian Jewish Roots in Squillace “Searching for the remnants of the historical Jewish presence in Calabria is my passion,” says Rabbi Barbara who recently applied her investigative skills to exploring Squillace, an ancient Calabrian village, known today as one of Italy’s most important archaeological sites. Located on the coast of the Ionian Sea […]
Italian Wedding
Planning Your Destination Wedding in Italy If you have chosen Bella Italia for your destination wedding, you’ve chosen one of the most beautiful places in the world to “tie the knot.” Whether it’s a Roman terrace with a Coliseum view, a peaceful setting on Lake Como, Florence’s Boboli Gardens, the rolling hills of Tuscany, or […]
Holocaust Memorial Day in Italy
Zachor! Memories of my first Holocaust Memorial Day in Italy January 27, 1945 marks the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp where one million Jews were tortured, starved and murdered.. Sixty years later, in November 2005 the United Nations General Assembly resolved that January 27 should be observed as Holocaust Memorial Day. A day […]
Simchat Torah
Simchat Torah – Facts About the Scroll Simchat Torah is the festival that celebrates, our two-spindled scroll that offers the world a plan for living an ethical life. In fact that’s why we have two spindles to secure the Torah. The spindles remind us that there are two ways to read the Torah. The first […]
Rosh HaShanah
Rosh HaShanah includes “Tashlich” Throwing Sins Away Back in the day, on one of the first two days of Rosh HaShanah, Jews traditionally walked together to a stream, pond, lake, river, or even an ocean. The idea was to find a body of flowing water, preferably filled with swimming fish, so that we Jews […]