“It is forbidden to live in a town that has no garden or greenery.” —Talmud Yerushalmi, Kiddushin 4:12 Preparing our final culture unit in Spanish 3 led me to a book on the bottom shelf, one I hadn’t used in a while: Torah and Trails: A Photographic Trail Guide Connecting Judaism with Nature by Margery … Read more
Last night, I attended the live broadcast of the 20th annual Poetry & the Creative Mind gala of the Academy of American Poets. This celebration o f National Poetry Month doubles as a fundraiser to help underwrite the Academy’s education programs, which provide 60,000 K-12 classroom teachers each year with free resources—including online lesson plans—to … Read more
You’ve probably heard the adage that elementary school teachers love children, high school teachers love their subject, and university professors love themselves. I suppose there’s a kernel of truth to this, but I’m going to push back a bit and suggest that it’s even more important for high school and university teachers to love our … Read more
Here in the southeast we started school over a month ago, so this is a bit of a belated Back to School post. I waited until I could share some news from our first interdisciplinary lessons in Spanish 3, which we completed earlier this week. You may recall from a post from fall 2021 that … Read more
I’m guest blogging this week for two of my favorite Jewish homes, and I invite you to visit them: On Bayit Builders Blog you’ll find Magnifying Beauty: Tiferet and #ColorTheOmer which contains photographs and video artist statements of my four students’ work, as well as a link to my Artist Statement. Bayit’s Builders Blog is … Read more
What a busy week! After an extended Spring Break, we returned to school on Monday, nine days into the seven weeks between Passover and Shavuot. During this period in the Jewish calendar, some Jews adopt the spiritual practice of Sefirat Ha-Omer, the counting of the days and weeks in anticipation of the upcoming festival. This … Read more
I was surprised to see in my Facebook memories that it has been more than four years since my teacher Rabbi Neil Gillman z”l died, and four years since I wrote about his influence on me as a teacher for the Rabbis Without Borders blog. I guess my sense of the passage of time has … Read more
“Home is where the heart is.” —Pliny the Elder “If you go anywhere, even paradise, you will miss your home.” —Malala Yousafzai My spouse and I recently began our twenty-third year of living in Metro Atlanta. As we’re now empty nesters and beginning to think about where we might move when he retires, I’ve been … Read more
This week marks three months since the beginning of the school year at Congregation Bet Haverim Community School. When I reflect on everything I’ve learned and experienced serving as a rabbi at CBHCS since August, I have trouble believing it’s been only three months. My brain knows exactly how many days have passed—just a few … Read more
On the Rabbis Without Borders blog, a tribute to 3 rabbis who influenced me as a student and newly ordained rabbi and who continue to impact my teaching and my students today. Thanks to Micah B. and Micah R., rising juniors at The Weber School, who created the image and gave me permission to post … Read more