Lauren B. Lev, at The Blogs

May 5, 2023, 8:16 PM

The Teaching Power of ‘Never Forget’ and ‘Never Again’

On the evening of Monday, April 17, our temple and our community joined many around the world to commemorate Yom Hashoah, the day of remembrance of the Holocaust and the heroism of those who fought against it. For our memorial...

Apr 4, 2023, 12:20 AM

L’Dor V’Dor: Three Generations in Education

I should have seen the generational signs. All the indications were there. My mother was a New York City school aide working two hours a day for $1.75 an hour in the 1970s. Today, I am an adjunct instructor teaching marketing...

Jan 31, 2023, 9:52 PM

The Momentum of Hadassah’s Training Wheels (Al Galgalim) Program

One child’s need for Jewish education became an inspired opportunity for a community to learn in Long Island, New York. In 1996, my daughter arrived home from secular nursery school with a pseudo-seder (paper) plate carefully covered in paper Passover...

Dec 16, 2022, 5:02 AM

By the Light of the Hanukkah Menorah

Can our hanukkiahs’ lives be divided into eras? That is, can we divide Hanukkah’s most important symbol into childhood memories, adult compromises and familyhood responsibilities? Sharing the spotlight with latkes, dreidels and sufganiyot, I think those candelabras can. As a...

Nov 15, 2022, 9:14 PM

God as a marketer

At my recent adult bat mitzvah, I had the honor to read Exodus 19, verses 18-20 which opens with the dramatic scene at Mount Sinai. I was taken aback by the powerful divine and natural forces. Mount Sinai is...

Oct 21, 2022, 11:12 PM

Remembering Valerie During October Breast Cancer Awareness Month

At this time of year, it is always bittersweet for me to embrace October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Although it is a month to help save lives, making awareness the key to early detection and survival, I feel...

Oct 19, 2022, 11:18 PM

Adult Bat Mitzvah 1.0 and 2.0

It was Friday night candles and Passover matzah. Chanukah menorahs and dreidels and fasting for Yom Kippur. Quite simply, our family wasn’t just culturally Jewish and wasn’t just religiously Jewish either. There must be a phrase for this in-between status...

Sep 23, 2022, 12:42 AM

The Call of the Shofar

Howard, Lathan and Lauren Lev at Shofar Drive-Through. Photo courtesy of the author.

For me, two words sum up Rosh Hashanah. The shofar. That’s because my Rosh Hashanah tradition started in the most unexpected place many years ago in the early 2000s: the basement recreation room in a local synagogue a few weeks prior...

About Me

Lauren B. Lev is a Life Member of Hadassah Nassau (Long Island, NY). She is a New York-based writer and direct marketing/advertising executive who teaches marketing communications at the State University of New York/Fashion Institute of Technology. Lauren writes personal essays and features that have appeared in New York Newsday, Patch.com and the East Meadow Herald under the weekly column "eLEVate the Conversation" from 2012 through 2022. She has written for the book, “Real Stories of Hadassah Life Changing Moments” and is the honored recipient of the Hadassah Nassau Region Woman of the Year Award for her work in developing the Special Needs version of the Hadassah Al Galgalim/Training Wheels program. This hands-on, inclusive program helps to ensure that young children nationwide can learn about the richness of their Jewish heritage.

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