While there are only four questions posed in the haggadah, most seders struggle with the unasked fifth question, \”When are we going to eat?\” It is asked, not only by hungry children, but also by adults who feel disconnected to the rituals of their ancestors.
Passover is a time for remembrance, but it is also a time for making memories relevant, and at many seders in Los Angeles, there is a practice of incorporating meaningful events of the day into the ritual dinner.
I expected to be dealing with an empty nest when my daughter started college. I projected my availability to friends who had yielded my attention during my childrearing years. I dragged writing projects onto my computer\’s desktop to await the plane ride from NYU to the rest of my life. Instead, the levees broke in my hometown. I spent the next three months as a relief worker with the Red Cross and the New Orleans Jewish agencies in service to those displaced and/or traumatized by Katrina.
Having an open dialogue — about things like rap music, Xbox games or Polly Pockets — is essential for raising moral and ethical children. Creating the stage begins in infancy. There are no guarantees about the results of our parenting efforts, but there are ways we as parents can tilt the odds in our favor.
DREAM is an acronym for Developing diverse, Respectful relationships, Empathy and Action with Meaning through dialogue. The program is a youth leadership project of the ADL\’s World of Difference Institute, run by the ADL\’s West Coast office.
The three-part \”Walking the Bible With Bruce Feiler\” follows the recent documentary trend of sending a charismatic host to a series of dangerous or hard-to-get-to places. Accompanied on occasion by archaeologists, scholars, Egyptologists, and theologians, Feiler tracks his way through places in the Middle East where the biblical stories of Genesis and Exodus are assumed to have occurred.
Perhaps what\’s at issue is my own life: I\’m a word person. For more than 20 years I\’ve made my living by writing and editing. Getting the words right is what I labor to achieve, all day every day. It\’s a struggle that often leaves me in despair.
Moving from a familiar home and letting go of things owned for years can feel like an additional loss. It\’s not just the loss of the objects that has an impact; it\’s the connection with the past that these objects symbolize.
If you\’re Jewish, this is not for you to read. Please clip this editorial and hand it off to a close non-Jewish friend. I\’m certain some of your best friends aren\’t Jews.
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