Brian had just finished lunch when he popped the question: \”Do we get dinner too?\” He was almost holding his breath. I smiled, nodded and watched his eyes widen in elated disbelief. Lunch and dinner! I felt both shocked and sheltered by his question. I had never met anyone who couldn\’t afford food before.
My advice to teens and adults alike is to take advantage of every moment you can learn, whether through speaking to someone knowledgeable, reading a book, or even taking a quick peek at the explanation of the week\’s Torah portion online. You will be surprised how quickly these fragments influence your daily life and improve the foundation of your faith and Jewish identity.
Yael Rabin didn\’t feel any symptoms until it was too late, but if she had, she would have had Jewish law on her side in breaking her fast.
A summer without camp? The thought was incomprehensible. I had my life ahead to travel and explore the world, yet only childhood for camp. Soon, I would be inundated with the stresses of being an adult, and it felt as if I was being forced away from my youth. I wanted to be in Malibu; I wanted to be a Jewish camper.
As I, along with millions of others, sped through \”Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,\” I found myself picking up on more than a few new spells and the ingenuity of J.K. Rowling\’s enthralling writing (don\’t worry — it\’s safe to read on. No spoilers here).
Survivor. No, not the television show, as I wish were the case. A young Jewish woman and personal friend, Amy Farber, is a real survivor who was diagnosed with LAM (short for the fatal lung disease lymphangioleiomyomatosis) a few years ago, when she was 35.
When I finally got behind the wheel of a car myself, conceit and self-importance set in. If ever I saw someone with that familiar awe-struck gape staring at my car during one of my innumerable driving lessons, I would think, with a shameful amount of pride, \”I am cooler than you because I am operating a motor vehicle right now.\”
When I started Milken Community High School\’s middle school after finishing the sixth grade at Abraham Joshua Heschel Day School, I further realized how unacquainted I was with my own feelings toward my religion. Although we had Judaic studies every year, I felt unable to drift away from my parents\’ beliefs and create my own.
When I first arrived at the homeless shelter, I was scared. I didn\’t know what to expect, and I had to admit to myself that I had never really been out of my element. But I was open to the new experience — and completely unaware of how the day would turn out.
You are a good kid. You get good grades, take AP classes and get along with your parents. You never drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes or do any drugs. But every so often, you smoke hookah, because your friends do and it\’s fun. What you don\’t realize is that hookah is not only harmful but illegal for minors.
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