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Anna Urowitz-Freudenstein

Mar 24, 2021, 9:11 AM

Pesachim and Prayers, Public and Private

This year, Pesach is complicated. In the midst of a pandemic, we have to celebrate a holiday that has its own inherent complexities. This year, it is also immediately preceded by Shabbat, and therefore outside of Israel we have...

Dahlia Topolosky

Mar 23, 2021, 11:59 PM

Finding comfort in the matzah

The last three weeks have been a whirlwind, grieving the sudden loss of a friend in New Orleans, with my husband Uri flying there for the funeral — this just a week before the bat mitzvah of our daughter...

Mar 19, 2021, 4:04 PM

The Profundity of Love’s Simplicity: The Many Names of Moses

The book of Leviticus opens on a note of love and hopefulness after the tense and anxious conclusion of the book of Exodus, when Moses (Moshe) was unable to enter the Tent of Meeting, after the much-anticipated dedication of...

Mar 3, 2021, 5:28 AM

Building a vibrant and equitable Orthodoxy

Every fall I have the privilege of interviewing fourth year medical students who are applying for a residency position in neurosurgery at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. Sometimes an intrepid student will ask me, “What are...

Rachel Honeyman

Mar 3, 2021, 12:56 AM

I had a miscarriage while reading Megillat Esther

The heavy bleeding meant yet another setback, but even if I am never able to create the child I so long for, I’ve helped create something lasting

Elizabeth Shayne

Feb 26, 2021, 6:43 AM

Knowledge of the heart, knowledge of the hands

When I was 9 years old, my mother tried to teach me to knit. I say tried because, while she was a fine teacher, I was a terrible student. Truth be told, I only wanted to learn because my...

Daphne Lazar Price

Feb 22, 2021, 10:53 PM

On women and Judaism: A reflection

Co-authored with Zelda R. Stern* We are two women born in two countries, two decades apart. One of us grew up in Philadelphia to a Russian emigre mother and an American father, both of whom had grown up Orthodox but...

Feb 17, 2021, 5:35 PM

March 7th: What a difference a year can make

What a difference a year makes. March 7th, 2020 was one of the last “normal” days of 2020. I ran an Israeli movie night at Moishe House Philadelphia and was enthusiastically making plans with the Children’s Hospital to drop...

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