Lonye Debra Rasch, at The Blogs

Sep 9, 2024, 7:19 AM

Grandparenting: The Exhilaration, the Responsibility and the Tricky Parts

The author and her husband Steve with their two daughters, two sons-in-law and grandchildren. Photo courtesy of the author.

With Grandparents’ Day 2024 on Sunday, September 8, I’ve been mulling over the dynamics of grandparenting --a phenomenon I’ve been lucky to have in my life for over seven years now. My three grandchildren—two girls, age 7 and one boy,...

Aug 7, 2024, 9:55 PM

Why are eyewitness accounts of Hamas’ brutality not enough?

I was privileged to be at a showing of Sheryl Sandberg’s documentary, Screams Before Silence, which, through multiple interviews, reveals the extreme sexual violence committed by Hamas on October 7th, 2023, and beyond. The showing was hosted by Hadassah...

Jul 22, 2024, 11:50 PM

Confessions of a Baby Boomer Zionist

The author (left) with her cousin Yael (right) and Yael's daughters Ariel and Ravid (center) on the Tel Aviv Boardwalk. Photo courtesy of the author.

Though I attended New Jersey’s Yeshiva of Hudson County through eighth grade, I didn’t fall in love with Israel until I joined the Young Judaea youth movement while in high school. When I danced the Israeli folk dances and sang...

Jun 28, 2024, 12:57 AM

Bearing Witness to Joy in Israel and Savoring It

The author with her husband Stephen with cousin Doron and his wife Ronit. Photo courtesy of the author.

Many people—you may be one of them-- have traveled to Israel to bear witness to the atrocities of October 7th and its aftermath. I admire the courage it took to bear witness to this continuing nightmare and I very...

Apr 17, 2024, 1:18 AM

It’s Surreal to See a Certain Big Birthday on My Horizon

I’m approaching a “big birthday” that will make it impossible for me to think of myself as not-yet old. Which big birthday? I’d rather not say since, to be honest, some people I know may think I am younger than...

Mar 27, 2024, 2:55 AM

Jewish Continuity Reimagined

If an original Steinway grand piano is completely rebuilt, is it still an original Steinway? Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, senior rabbi of New York City’s Central Synagogue, posed this question during a recent meditation session. She had been telling the story...

Feb 2, 2024, 3:04 AM

Pharaoh, Hamas, Israel and Me

Recently, I was asked to give the d’var Torah at a national Hadassah shabbaton. The Torah portion for that week was Parshat Bo. When I discovered it was about the 10 plagues that G-d unleashed on the Egyptians because...

Jan 31, 2024, 7:17 AM

Where Has All the Admiration Gone? Antisemitism Unrecognized?

I have never chosen to look at Israel’s raison d’etre as a refuge for persecuted Jews. For me, Israel has always been a source of admiration for the Jewish people, a Jewish homeland whose citizens share their expertise and...

Dec 19, 2023, 7:45 AM

An Unwarranted Accusation

A short time ago, I read an opinion piece in the Forward by a Hebrew University professor emerita that really upset me. It keeps floating in and out of my mind. The author begins by telling her readers, “My...

Nov 29, 2023, 1:19 AM

A Single Candle in the Darkness

One recent Tuesday morning, I began my day with a meditation led weekly by Senior Rabbi Angela Buchdahl of Manhattan’s Central Synagogue. She always introduces her meditations with words of wisdom either from the Torah, historical figures or her...

About Me

Lonye Debra Rasch is a member of Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America’s National Assembly and editor of the Hadassah Writers' Circle. Married to an international attorney, she is the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three small children. She is a big advocate of practicing yoga, being a member of a book club group with smart, kind women, and spending time laughing and sharing life’s little sagas with family and friends. She lives Short Hills, NJ, and New York City and is the past president of Hadassah Northern New Jersey.