As holidays approach we are often flooded by memories of prior celebrations. I remember the times when we used to travel to my grandparents’ home, I remember the year of the snow storm, I remember the year we got caught in hours of traffic heading on the way to Lido beach, and I remember the […]

It has been a busy week here at the JCC. As I watched our elevator vestibule and classrooms burst with clothing for our Baby Buggy drive, our lobby fill with school supplies to be donated to a community in need, and our common space filled with an alumni parent and professional photographer, Diana Berrent, taking […]

While many of you were together in classrooms with our amazing teachers for our fall Parent Nights, a terrible tragedy occurred just two blocks away. It is hard for any of us to wrap our minds around this tragedy or find our footing in a world that can feel so unsafe. This morning, around tables […]

It was so good to finally have a full week of school! It is amazing what can get accomplished in 5 straight days – providing children, parents and staff the opportunity to taste the rhythm of a routine. We are definitely off to a great start! Wednesday night I returned home from a late meeting […]

Last Monday, as I went off to synagogue for Shmini Atzeret (one of the least known of the Jewish holidays), I told my son that I was eager to get to synagogue because it was one of four times a year when we say “yizkor,” the service of memory for those who have died. “What […]

Is it going to rain this evening? Do we need to move our Sukkot celebration? Are the chairs still wet from last night’s storm? Throughout the week I was continuously checking and rechecking my “weather app” on my iphone, monitoring the hourly forecast, and wondering whether family meals and communal celebrations would be affected by […]

I hope you all had a meaningful Rosh Hashanah and that this short week of school has gone well for you and for your child. I woke up this Wednesday morning feeling refreshed, renewed, and grateful for the opportunity that our Jewish calendar provided for reflection and creating intentionality in our lives. I was relieved […]

Dear Families, “Do you realize that this is the first day my daughter has ever been in school?” a proud father asked me yesterday. “She may be in school for twenty years or more but this is her first day!” What an amazing week it has been to witness so many firsts. I had the […]

It is hard for me to believe that the time has arrived to write my last blog post of the year. Time has moved quickly, yet at the same time, so much has been accomplished, so many friendships have been built, such deep learning has been achieved. There is much to celebrate and so many […]

This weekend Jews throughout the world celebrate Shavuot, a somewhat unknown holiday as it occurs towards the end of the year (so often ignored in Hebrew School curricula) and before the summer (and thus not celebrated in Jewish summer camps!). But in fact, Shavuot is a major Jewish holiday. Shavuot, the “Feast of Weeks,” is […]