Torah
On Passover, remembering the past means imagining the future
In 1990, a Stanford University graduate student named Elizabeth Newton earned her Ph.D. in psychology by studying a simple game in which she assigned…
Passover
Is this Berkeley seder ‘plate’ the world’s largest?
Berkeley artist Judy Massarano has an ongoing disagreement with the people at Guinness World Records. She believes that she has created — with the help of…
Mixed & Matched
Readers offer alternatives for 11-year-old who wants bat mitzvah
I received a number of comments on my March 26 column about an 11-year-old who wants a bat mitzvah but would be starting from scratch because she has not…
Passover
After Israeli election, what do I mean by ‘next year in Jerusalem’?
L’shanah haba’ah biYerushalayim – Next year in Jerusalem. This last line of the traditional haggadah challenges me this year more than ever. What does it…
Passover
Why this S.F. man’s seder features a Pharaoh piñata
To say that retired San Francisco lawyer Al Rosen is a fan of Mexican folk art would be an understatement. The Inner Sunset home where he and his wife,…
Passover
Passover is a time to practice empathy for ‘the stranger’ among us
The Passover seder is a brilliant teaching mechanism in which we not only retell the story of the Exodus but relive the story with ritual foods and…
Northern California
Live from Petaluma, Rabbi Ted is on the air
“Good morning, Petaluma.” Ted Feldman, the longtime rabbi at B’nai Israel Jewish Center, leans into the mic and continues. “This is ‘Talking with Rabbi…
First Person
The benefits of unplugging on Shabbat last all week
The reality for Jewish families today is that screens are our newest members. They sit at the dinner table. They go to sleep with us. We worry if we can’t…
Torah
Women must be free from stigma. Period.
Metzora Shabbat HaGadol Leviticus 14:1 – 15:33 During 20 years of shepherding 12-year-olds through the bar/bat mitzvah experience, I can’t think of…