Reflections

Leisure

Gold medal for Jewish-Belarussian émigré

Steve Lipman -
Standing on the podium last week in Paris’ Grand Palais, a gold medal hanging around her neck, fencer Jackie Dubrovich was also walking in the footsteps of many successful US Jewish athletes.
Columns

Repentance is optimistic

Amy Lederman -
The High Holidays are around the corner and it’s hard to believe that we are once again facing decisions on how, where and with whom to spend them. With the recent COVID resurgence, we are left feeling disappointed, scared,...
Columns

‘Let the heavens rejoice . . . ’

Amy Lederman -
Last month, I hiked through fields of flowers in Montana, framed by a backdrop of the snow-covered Bridger Mountains. Several weeks later I rented a car in Portland and passed through lush vineyards and flourishing hazelnut orchards in the...
Columns

Stories of our lives

Amy Lederman -
My father passed away almost three years ago — just a few months shy of his 100th birthday. As goal-oriented as he was, I am certain it bothered him that he never reached the “three-digit milestone.” But for the...
Columns

Frail body, amazing mind

Amy Lederman -
Spring has sprung and along with the warmer temps and new sprigs of green, comes the blossom of hope. For more than a year, COVID has limited our life choices; it has inhibited — and in most cases prevented —...
Columns

Purim and Passover: a tale of two tables

Amy Lederman -
The experience of celebrating Jewish holidays has been dramatically altered since the onset of the pandemic over a year ago. From solitary Passover seders to attending High Holiday services on Zoom, we have tried our best to stay connected...
Columns

Relationships are the essence of Judaism

Amy Lederman -
Human beings are born into relationship. It is our natural way of being — a state of need coupled with desire — without which we languish physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. In the Jewish tradition, being in relationship is regarded...
Columns

How COVID has changed our Jewish outlook

Amy Lederman -
The Jewish High Holidays and Sukkot have come and gone this year, unlike any other, and posed new challenges for all of us because of COVID. Yet, COVID also offered new opportunities. So, on the spiritual report card of life,...
Columns

Sukkot teaches us to live with uncertainty

Amy Lederman -
The Jewish New Year of 5781 began with a serious COVID challenge: How can we, as Jews, celebrate our traditions and participate in holiday services during a pandemic, which requires us to limit gatherings and to physically distance at...
Columns

A meaningful Rosh Hashanah amid COVID

Amy Lederman -
Sept. 18, 2020 heralds the first night of Rosh Hashanah and the advent of the Jewish year 5781. But accompanying the traditional apples and honey this year is an unprecedented question: Why is this Rosh Hashanah different from all...
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Latest News

IntermountainSteve Mark -

Professionally Speaking: Eliav Bock, Ramah of the Rockies

It is lunchtime at Ramah in the Rockies, which is considered a sacred time for its camp director. Only a phone call from the supplier of a commercial vacuum cleaner can tear Rabbi Eliav Bock away from his campers. “We just got it, and it’s not the right thing,” says Bock.