Bar/Bat Mitzvah

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Feb 6, 2025, 7:55 PM

Inches to Metric: The Magic of Hebrew # 1

The Magic of Hebrew... Part one in a three part series is a brief overview of the creation of Modern Israel and Hebrew, how the two are interconnected and essential to who we are as a People. One of my...

Dec 19, 2024, 4:06 PM

A Prophecy, A Coat of Limited Colors and A Trip to the Moon

I have never been keen on the biblical prophets or their prophecies but I do believe in miracles. I didn't even know there were 63 prophets in the Old Testament. You see, I'm not much of a believer in...

Oct 23, 2024, 10:27 AM

Jewishness and Agatha All Along

As I was watching Disney’s Agatha All Along with my family, we were hit with something truly unexpected—a bar mitzvah scene. My son, eyes wide, turned to me and said, “That gives me so much pride.” I almost spit...

Sep 23, 2024, 6:22 PM

A shofar call to family and tradition

Max Alperstein and Jerry Alperstein blow shofar together at Park Avenue Synagogue on September 19, 2024. (courtesy)

When my grandfather gave me my very own shofar, it reminded me of how Harry Potter's wand chose him: the shofar itself empowered me to keep at it

Ronnie Katz Gerber

Sep 21, 2024, 3:59 AM

My Friend Steve’s Second Bar Mitzvah at Age 83: Today You Get a Fountain Pen!

Photo courtesy of the author.

On a recent Saturday night, we celebrated a bar mitzvah in my living room. There were only six of us, all long-time, very good friends. The Wednesday before, I received a text from a dear friend’s daughter, who lives with...

Aug 21, 2024, 10:01 AM

B’nai Mitzvah, and then what?

Now that summer is winding down, the annual family battle for post-b’nai mitzvah education will begin. While the majority of American Jewish families want their children to have a bar or bat mitzvah, for many that ceremony has evolved...

Aug 5, 2024, 3:57 PM

The absence of accountability

To my dearest eynikl (grandson) Ze’evi, You will have reached your thirteenth birthday by the time you read this, and in the eyes of Hashem you have become an adult. And, yes I know, you are both excited and terrified...

Jul 17, 2024, 9:11 AM

When it gets you

It’s never the moments you expect it to get you. Not when you’re sitting and thinking about him, about how it won’t be the same, about how much you’re going to miss him, about how you’ll get by without...

Michael Feldstein

Jun 24, 2024, 7:44 PM

Teens, Rabbis, and Shuls: Connecting the Dots

When I was 12 years old, like most of the young boys in our Orthodox community, I began practicing leining my parsha for my bar mitzvah. I also was taught how to lead the Shabbat mussaf service. As I...

May 20, 2024, 2:10 PM

Now is the time to visit Israel!

(Courtesy of author)

Before October 7th, tourism to Israel was booming (wrong word?). Tourists from around the world wanted to see all of the elements that made up the Startup Nation, with startups from the last 4,000 years, including (and in no...

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