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Jul 3, 2026, 7:10 PM

Where the sky caressed the earth

The Yam Tso holy lake. Tibet, 2000.

I have been lucky enough to travel to many places, and in some of them the sky seemed distant, almost unreachable. But there is one place I still remember, even decades later, as the opposite experience: Tibet. I remember walking...

Robyn Fryer Bodzin

Jun 30, 2026, 5:55 PM

An Immigrant Story, A Jewish Story, A Canadian Story

As we approach Canada Day, I find myself thinking about my 80 year old father, Gerry, and about words he once wrote describing his arrival in this country. His story is personal. But it is also deeply Canadian and,...

Jun 27, 2026, 12:28 PM

Life In The South: Last Week In Merhavim

The view from the English room in Merhavim Elementary school, my photo

Last Tuesday was my last day teaching in Merhavim, but unfortunately, as has happened so many times over the last month, my lessons were cancelled. As I was leaving, I saw a group of sixth graders on the stage...

Jun 25, 2026, 6:38 AM

From Detours to Destiny: Finding the Authentic Voice in Parashat Balak

I am very proud to have my daughter be a “guest” writer this week. Avigail, is being ordained as a rabbi this Thursday afternoon, joining her brother, a Conservative rabbi and sister, a Reform rabbi. She is seen here...

Walter Estever Gonzalez

Jun 25, 2026, 5:38 AM

The Roof Where I Watched the War

An illustration inspired by childhood memories of watching the Salvadoran Civil War from the rooftop of a family home in San Jorge, El Salvador.

There are memories that return first as light. Not faces. Not names. Not even fear. Only flashes against the darkness. When I was a child during the Salvadoran civil war, I used to climb onto the roof of our house...

Jun 20, 2026, 2:53 PM

Teaching in June and the Future of Education

The conference is about to begin, my photo

There is a common saying in Israel that after Pesach, the school year is essentially over, so by June there is not much school anymore. That was also the reason I never liked teaching during the second semester when...

Kelsey Maurine Brickl

Jun 14, 2026, 7:14 AM

Where and What and When is Home?

I am originally from the suburbs of Chicago, and that place will always remain beloved and, fundamentally, home to me. But as my disabilities have become more complex, the logistics of reaching and staying in my childhood home have...

Hagit Zadok Fefferman

Jun 14, 2026, 5:07 AM

Was Grandpa Boris Holocaust-y enough?

Boris's Last Laugh: Boris Silberberg smiles as his wife Rose kisses their son at his bar mitzvah while their daughter wraps her arms around them. After surviving the Holocaust, Boris and Rose built a family that now spans four generations.

He thought nobody would want to hear his survival story, which featured black-market smuggling and daring escapes. I'm afraid he was right

Walter Estever Gonzalez

Jun 11, 2026, 4:32 AM

Before We Understood What a Grenade Was

A childhood memory from San Jorge, El Salvador, during the Salvadoran Civil War.

There are memories that remain suspended between childhood and catastrophe. At the time they happen, they do not feel historical. They do not announce themselves as trauma. They arrive disguised as confusion, as heat, as adults behaving strangely while...

Jun 10, 2026, 8:04 AM

Reading Texts Together: Service Year In Merhavim

A different kind of Sunday learning, my photo from a field trip to see the Gaza border and to hear testimonies about October 7

It’s almost the end of the service year, and I haven't written enough about one of our group’s most important activities: the Sunday meeting, held on the day we return from home to our service placement. Every Sunday, the Merhavim...

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