To Err is Human

To Err is Human

by | Nov 15, 2018 | Blog, Messages from the Head of School

While I deeply venerate our forefathers Abraham and Isaac, I find it difficult to relate to them.  Abraham, at the age of 75, gives up everything he is familiar with in life to follow God to an unknown land, and is willing to sacrifice his only son.  Isaac is obedient...

When Life Imitates Art

by | Nov 8, 2018 | Blog, Messages from the Head of School

I walked into our Kindergarten class while they were completing one of my favorite art projects, the Shabbat Box.  A Shabbat Box is a shoebox-sized receptacle containing all of the basics for making Shabbat: A Kiddush cup, challah cover, booklet of blessings, candles...
To Err is Human

You Belong

by | Nov 1, 2018 | Blog, Messages from the Head of School

I echo the words of the Psalmist, imo anochi b’tzarah—I am with you in your sorrow.  I join the voices of the people of Pittsburgh, Jews and decent people everywhere, in pain and distress over the events of this past Shabbat.  Imo anochi b’tzarah, I am with you in...
To Err is Human

Shabbat has kept the Jews

by | Oct 25, 2018 | Blog, Messages from the Head of School

“It may be said without exaggeration that more than the Jews have kept the Sabbath, it is the Sabbath that has kept the Jews.” So wrote Asher Zvi Ginsberg in his celebrated 1898 essay, “Shabbes and Zionism.”  This quip became the writer’s most famous quote, but what...
To Err is Human

History Repeats Itself

by | Oct 18, 2018 | Blog, Messages from the Head of School

In this week’s Torah portion we are introduced to the first Israelites—Abraham and his family.  Abraham and these early Israelites go down to Egypt because there is a famine in the Land of Canaan/Israel; when they get to Egypt, Abraham is afraid that he, being a male,...