Nothing says Shabbat like the smell of freshly baked challah. There is something so soothing about the aroma wafting through the house, the texture of the bread, the silence after netilah as we wait, impatiently, for our portion. Challah becomes more than just food,...
The comforts of modern technology have all but eliminated our need for fire. Fire, in our lives, is mostly relegated to the lighting of candles or summertime campfires. Whatever the source, fire is mesmerizing. One cannot help but be drawn in by the sway of the flame,...
This past week, a friend’s son donned his tefilin for the first time. She sent me a picture of her husband lovingly showing him how to wrap the straps over his fingers. It is a special moment that never fails to strike a strong emotional chord within me. Not simply...
None would argue that the past fifteen months have been an incredible trial, a rollercoaster of highs and lows with barely a moment to catch our breaths, with the most recent “low” being the surge of violence in Israel. This has been and continues to be a time of...
One of my favorite things to do in my teens was to go through a cupboard in my parents’ room where my mom stored all our childhood keepsakes. From macaroni necklaces to construction paper birthday cards, my parents kept a small collection of these mementos that told...
Years ago, a group of friends and I went to Florida for Spring Break. We were nineteen and all excited about going away, alone, for the first time. How sad we were to discover that most places would be closed to us as the legal age in the United States is twenty-one-...
For the third consecutive year, Hebrew Academy Grade 6 students are among 50 finalists of an international contest run by Israel’s Museum of the Jewish People. Twins Gabriella and Chaim David Friedman’s project, “La méguila retrouvée”, depicts...
When my children were very young, as most young mothers, I did everything I could to protect them: bumpers on coffee table corners, gates on the stairs and locks on the cabinets. There were no limits to the measures I would take to keep them safe. They were little and...
From its top-notch speakers and fascinating topics of discussion to students’ enthusiastic reception, Hebrew Academy High School’s first-ever Media Literacy Week was a tremendous success. “Media Literacy ‘is the ability to identify different types of media and...
Did you know we have some budding 7- and 8-year-old engineers at HA? That’s right, English teachers Renee Pervin and Alanna Korman introduced a unit on Engineering Design this week for the first time in the Grade 2 classes! “We will be practicing reading,...
