
The story of Baruch de Spinoza's excommunication
LEFT: Young haredi men clash with police in the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh, Dec. 26. | Kobi Gideon / Flash90 / JTA
Barbara Stein captures 2011 Mirror Ball
Posted on 26 January 2012
By Laura Seymour In discussing God and faith with our children, they sometimes ask questions we can’t answer. There is a good reason for this: Judaism is a religion with a lot of guidelines. There are, for example, 613 commandments we’re required to follow. That’s a great many things to do. Fortunately, throughout our history, [...] Continue Reading
Posted on 26 January 2012
By Rabbi Yerachmiel D. Fried Dear Readers, We are returning back to our series on the 13 Principles of Jewish belief: Maimonides writes in his commentary: “The fifth principle teaches us that God is the only One whom we may serve and praise. We may sing only of His greatness and obey only His commandments. [...] Continue Reading
Posted on 26 January 2012
By Amy Wolff Sorter Congratulations go to our own home-town group, The Jewish Federation of Fort Worth and Tarrant County, for its recognition of “meritorious cooperation and mutual support” from the Union for Reform Judaism Synagogue-Federation Relations Committee’s Shutafim program. This is a mouthful, but suffice it to say that the Fort Worth/Tarrant County J-Fed [...] Continue Reading
Posted on 26 January 2012
By Sharon Wisch-Ray It was with a great deal of pride that Alex and I watched our son Sam, a Levine Academy fifth grader, participate in the school’s Middle School Geography Bee last week. Sam was a last minute contestant. As runner-up for his class, he filled in for Sammy Silber, son of Sandy Silber [...] Continue Reading
Posted on 26 January 2012
By Laura Seymour “I learned to make brachot at the dining room table. I learned to pray on the ballfield.” — Joel Lurie Grishaver In his simple statement, Jewish educator Joel Grishaver admirably outlines the differences between blessings and prayer. Blessings are easy to learn and to say, time and again. Prayer, not so much. [...] Continue Reading
Posted on 26 January 2012
By Rabbi Yerachmiel D. Fried Dear Readers, By popular request we are resuming our discussion of the 13 Principles of Jewish belief. Before we discuss the fourth principle, let’s take a look at the Hebrew word used by Maimonides for all 13 key principles, which is “ikar.” The literal meaning of the word ikar is [...] Continue Reading
Posted on 12 January 2012
By Amy Wolff Sorter As I write this, I’m looking out my window at a cold, dreary, rainy day, wondering if I should brew another cup of tea to warm up. To read this, you’d never know that I was born and raised in Chicago, a city in which a 45-degree rainy day would be [...] Continue Reading
Posted on 12 January 2012
By Laura Seymour A number of years ago I received an e-mail from my son who, at the time, was studying music at Rice University in Houston. A world-renowned teacher had visited and conducted master classes for students, and my son told me all about it (and of course, sent pictures). What struck me, however, [...] Continue Reading
Posted on 12 January 2012
By Rabbi Yerachmiel D. Fried Dear Rabbi Fried, I have been outraged by the Haredi attempt to rule Israel through violence and coercion. Israel is not Iran. People cannot and will not be forced into behaviors that they do not espouse. How could the Haredim, who are supposed to represent Torah values, resort to such [...] Continue Reading
Posted on 12 January 2012
By Sharon Wisch-Ray I am experiencing a bit of déjà vu. It seems like just yesterday that I had moved to Dallas after college and volunteered to coach in the JCC’s youth basketball league. I’m proud to say that my group of second graders won the championship that year, but most importantly they learned about [...] Continue Reading