By Gwen Davis , Jewish Sound Correspondent You’re starving, you’ve been sitting too long, you’re overtired, and the baby won’t stop screaming. Sound like a familiar Passover seder scene to you? Tamara Pester thought so. So she invented Passover Bingo, which will allow seder-goers to become more engaged in theContinue Reading
By Jack Wertheimer, JTA World News Service NEW YORK (JTA) — With the new school year nearly upon us, Jewish educational leaders are scrambling to prepare their teachers to discuss this summer’s Gaza War. The most pressing challenge is to design age-appropriate conversations: At which grade level might classroom discussionsContinue Reading
By Michael Gerson, The Washington Post Several years ago, I attended the bar mitzvah of a friend’s son. Uniquely in my experience — and, I’d bet, most people’s experience — all of the boy’s four grandparents were Holocaust survivors. In the middle of the ceremony, one grandfather interrupted: “I haveContinue Reading
By Michael Fox, Special to the Jewish Sound Going back at least as far as 2001’s “Promises,” most recent documentaries that opted for an optimistic slant on the Israeli-Palestinian situation centered on children. The next generation, to be sure, is the universal embodiment of hope. But betting on today’s childrenContinue Reading
By Rita Berman Frischer, Special to the Jewish Sound The Holocaust is a difficult topic for parents or teachers to introduce to children so they often turn to books for help. At first, such resources were rare and indirect. For example, “Terrible Things” in 1980, a picture book allegory, emphasizedContinue Reading
By Melanie Notkin, JTA World News Service NEW YORK (JTA) — We had just closed our Haggadahs to begin the dinner portion of the Passover seder when the conversation abruptly, yet not surprisingly, turned to my singlehood. There is a curiosity to some about a single, childless woman in herContinue Reading
By Rabbi Elie Estrin, Chabad at the University of Washington A schoolchild approaches his father, who is deeply engrossed in his newspaper. The kid asks, “Dad, what’s the difference between ‘ignorance’ and ‘apathy?’” Responds the visibly annoyed father: “I don’t know and I don’t care!” That joke might be oldContinue Reading
Rabbi Rick Harkavy, Bet Chaverim Congregation of South King County Before I was ordained, my entire rabbinical class met and discussed the Jewish influences within our lives that encouraged us to become rabbis. My colleagues spoke about the positive difference Jewish camps and Jewish youth groups and trips to IsraelContinue Reading
