Ilana Fodiman-Silverman

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Dec 26, 2024, 3:23 PM

Even though… We thank

Even though as I open my eyes in the morning and recite the ‘mode ani’ prayer filled with appreciation for a new day, my heart now skips a beat mindful of the possibility that the morning may reveal new...

Oct 10, 2024, 3:38 PM

It is God’s turn to blow the shofar

Blowing shofar. (iStock)

The shofar is the sound of a civilized world disturbed, but its promise is more: It is the sublime sound of mercy on Yom Kippur

Apr 18, 2024, 11:55 AM

Rockets’ red glare, bombs bursting in air: Passover 2024

Pexels/Cottonbro- Israeli flag

As we approach the seder, the night of many questions, I am struck by the one question that has haunted the last six months. It has choked us for air, narrowed the passage of the esophagus, magnified the racing...

Mar 20, 2024, 6:13 PM

Purim’s other half begins today

pixabay

The Fast of Esther adds introspection and mindfulness in the range of emotion of the holiday, as we face the nation’s profound needs

Dec 8, 2023, 12:10 AM

If those Hanukkah lights could speak

After walking up the stairs and into Orit’s home, I sat down beside one of the most patient, sensitive and wise women I know as she shuddered with fear. Her 25-year-old son Roi, a major in the IDF, stationed...

Sep 29, 2023, 11:49 AM

Be the wheel: The capacity to grow, after Yom Kippur 2023

Be the wheel. Zichron Yaakov's Moed community holiday food packaging, September 28, 2023. (courtesy)

"A little learning makes the whole world kin." -- Proverbs 32:7 In thinking about an elusive sense of kinship in Israel just about now, I was reminded of this Mark Twain quote. Bible scholars or anyone with a phone app...

Sep 11, 2023, 11:43 PM

Rosh Hashana, a triggering day

(Pexels)

Of the 63 tractates of Talmud, one is bestowed the illustrious title "Rosh Hashana." The eager student to crack open the text and reveal the essence of the day will undoubtedly feel quickly deflated and confused by the opening lines...

May 25, 2023, 11:42 AM

Vitriolic WhatsApps and the messages they contain

I’ve been living in Israel for coming on 17 years and each year I continue to learn. Learn how to conjugate words, what words are female or male, that nearly everything has an abbreviated acronym and that it is...

Feb 1, 2023, 9:18 PM

Tu BiShvat’s visual recalibration

A huge tree punctuated the backyard of my grandparents’ home in Kew Gardens, New York. Its height matched that of their house. My grandmother strung a clothesline from its sturdy branches to the red bricks outside of her second-story...

Jan 19, 2023, 5:22 PM

Taught by royalty: Rabbi Moshe Kahn z”l

Rabbi Moshe Kahn z"l. (via Facebook)

He dedicated his life to women's education, with humility, integrity, patience, and scrupulous demand for clear understanding. He was our model of divine service

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About Me

Ilana Fodiman-Silverman is Director of Moed, a community organization in Zichron Yaakov, Israel that brings together secular and religious Israelis in Torah study and innovative social action programing to create vibrant and compelling Jewish lives together.