Last night JWCAtlanta hosted an amazing Challah bake.
300 women came together to make Challah in anticipation of the upcoming Holiday season.
One of the themes we discussed was the power of prayer that is the purview of the Jewish woman.
We related the story of the Chofetz Chaim, venerable sage of the early 20th century,who was deeply concerned about the tragedies and tribulations that were occurring. He decided to bring out a powerful weapon at his disposal to combat the difficult circumstances.
He asked the women of his community to gather at the synagogue to pray.
He recognized that the highest level of prayer needed to be unleashed.
The women gathered and opened the holy ark and the congregation of women lifted their voices in personal prayer and supplication.
They used their own words in an unscripted appeal for mercy.
The holy Chofetz Chaim understood the secret of the power of women and the power of their prayers.
It’s our focus and our responsibility.
The above story took place during WWI.
The next is from WWII.
R Yosef Friedensohn was a Holocaust survivor, journalist and historian.
He shared a story that occurred to him during his incarceration in Auschwitz. At one point he was assigned the dreadful job of emptying latrines around the camp and bringing the refuse to the dump. This awful job did allow him to move around the camp more freely than most.
On one freezing day, he and his friend were pushing the cart near the fence of the women’s barracks. They noticed a young girl waving frantically at them trying to catch their eye. This in and of itself was a dangerous situation because they were not allowed to speak to the female prisoners. Nonetheless they tried to understand what she was screaming to them.
The wind was howling and they thought they made out her request. It seemed she was asking for a sweater.
This was a ludicrous request and one totally beyond their capabilities to fulfill. Yet a short time later the friend, had the opportunity to enter a warehouse, found a sweater and conspired how to get it to the girl.
Eventually, in their walking around the camp doing their disgusting job, they were able to deliver the contraband sweater and throw it over the fence.
The girl was perplexed.
She asked them why on earth they had brought her a sweater.
They yelled back, you asked for a sweater, to keep you warm in this freezing weather.
She replied that she didn’t want a sweater, she had desperately wanted a “siddur”, a prayer book.
“Please, I need a siddur! It’s almost Rosh Hashana and I need to a prayer book so I can pray”
The young men were so inspired. They had been focused on their physical survival and lack of warmth,
“it never crossed their minds that anyone would need a siddur to warm their soul”.

We are in the month of Elul.
It׳s the precursor to the High Holiday season.
We need to be prepared.
The Jewish year is comprised of the holidays which mark the seasons.
Each year as we traverse the year we may have the tendency to say to ourselves, it’s Rosh Hashana again?
Wasn’t it just Rosh Hashana?
How did we get here again?
We may feel we are like the hamster on the wheel, mindlessly running as we pass the same markers over and over again.
The Chassidic Rebbe, the Kotzker Rebbe, teaches us that when we pass each station again we should not feel that we are just going round and round. Rather we should view it as an upward spiral. Yes we are reaching the same station again, but this time I’m just a bit higher on the journey than I was last time I arrived at this station.
The Rebbe says there is a special energy available to us at each station, and we can use that positive energy to provide a boost.
For example, when we arrive at Passover, freedom is in the air.
We can use that energy to help free ourselves from the shackles that bind us. It may be freedom from a physical incarceration, or it may be a time to free ourselves from things that hold us back in our hearts or minds.
So what is happening on Rosh Hashana?
I asked a few people their opinions.
They answered that it’s a time to wipe the slate clean, it’s a time of reJEWvenation.
All great answers.
But how do we do that work?
Rabbi Moshe Shapiro teaches us that on Rosh Hashana
“Gd sets the reset button in creation.”
So when we arrive at the station called Roah Hashana we go back to the first Rosh Hashana when it all began, to the time when Gd asks the question of the angels
“Shall we make man?”
On Rosh Hashana Gd is asking should we make this woman/man again?
As the beautiful prayer Unesaneh Tokef details, each and every individual is the subject of Gd’s focus.
Just as Gd created the first man on Rosh Hashana, so too it will be decided if we will be created, or be given the chance to remain creative, for the year to come.
As Rabbi Shapiro says “this is both terrifying and elevating without parallel”.
Gd cares and focuses on me.
We are given the days of Rosh Hashana to plead our case.
“We are given 48 hours to justify our right to life”.
Anyone who stands before a judge knows that in order to be successful in court, you need to prepare.
We are given these precious days to work on wiping the slate clean, to reJEWvenate, so we have a case to make before Avinu Malkeinu, our Father our King.

It’s Day 335.
So much has happened in the last week.
On Day 328 we could not imagine what the next days would bring.
We are shattered by the loss of six more worlds.
Each and every one of the six hostages who were murdered last week was such a precious soul.
And as the days pass we learn more about their bravery, their compassion and their humanity.
A hero who returned to the killing fields to rescue more souls. Ori Danino had escaped only to turn his car back to save strangers. He was so filled with kindness. His mother says this was his character, he was always the first to help in any situation. She is sure that if he had a chance to do this, he would choose to behave the same way and do it again, having the chance to help someone is what defined Ori.
A heroine, Carmel Gat, used her skills in yoga and meditation to calm the children while in captivity. Carmel was an occupational therapist who dedicated her life to helping others.
We will never know the extent of their greatness.
The question we are left with is how to move forward.
One can smile through the tears as we hear of babies being born who are being named for these extraordinary people.
A baby girl called Eden Carmel
A baby boy called Tzvi Hersh.
The Jewish response to tragedy is to build on the legacies we have inherited, to learn from those we have lost and teach our children about who they were and what they represented in this world.
We had the privilege of seeing the funeral of Hersh.
Is there anyone amongst us who was not moved to our core by the faith, strength and deep faith that was expressed by this family and so articulated by Rachel.
“Rachel weeps for her children”
Jeremiah 31:15
Rachel our matriarch, was buried in the side of the road as Jacob was returning home. She is not buried in the Cave of Machpela with the rest of the patriarchs and matriarchs in Hebron.
She is laid to rest in Bethlehem.
Jacob later explains to Josef, his son together with Rachel, that it was Divinely ordained that she be buried there.
As later in history when the Jewish people will be exiled from their Homeland, Rachel, will console them on their journey, she will come out of her grave, so to speak, and weep and and plead for mercy for her children.
And Gd will answer her and say “there is hope for your future…the children will return to their borders”.

The legend of the plates:
The gift that keeps on giving.
This is a true story that began a few years ago.
Two of our kids were newly married and living in the same city.
A dear friend of the family was living in that city as well and had sold her condo and was preparing to move.
She invited my daughter and daughter in law to come and see if they wanted any of the items she was not planning to take to her new home.
The girls really didn’t want any of the things but they didn’t want to hurt her feelings so they each took one item.
Our daughter in law took a picture frame and our daughter took one of those classic Israeli plates that you see in every kitschy gift shop in Jerusalem.
My daughter really didn’t want that plate.
But she was loathe to throw it away, because it was a gift.
So she baked cinnamon buns, arranged them daintily on the plate and sent them to her sister in law as a treat.
Her sister in law is no fool.
She knew the motive was “passing the plate”.
And so began a years long career of sending that plate back and forth in the sneakiest of manners.
It was the gift that never stopped giving.
When one of the couples moved the leave taking was emotional and dramatic.
It was all a distraction.
When the couple in transit arrived at their new home they were shocked to find amongst their belongings, you guessed it, the dish. It had been secreted amongst their belongings only to be found months later when they completed unpacking.
The saga continued.
The next maneuver happened when the newly arrived couple hosted their siblings for a weekend. At the end of the visit, the homeowners went down to the basement and found they had been left a gift. Not one, but two dishes hanging on the wall of the playroom.
This was war and the sorties continued.
When the next interaction between the two couples occurred, the retaliatory event manifested itself by dishes being left behind and discovered after the guilty parties had left.
You read correctly. The dish multiplied as a few miniatures were added to the equation.
The dishes were multiplying and the game of gifts continued apace.
As I said it was the gift that kept on giving and the hilarity it created and the ingenuity it engendered was a delight.
This continued for a number of years. Right now the dish(es) have gone missing, and we are waiting for their reappearance when we least expect them!

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MICHELE HIRSCH - IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCES 

Michele grew up with strong Jewish values that included doing for others, treating people as equals and the value of financially supporting the causes you believe in.  She chose in her professional life to become a geriatric social worker, which allowed her the daily opportunity to help families and individuals during their final years of life.

Michele has pursued many volunteer opportunities. serving on the board of Social Services agencies, actively teaching exercise to older adults, and she volunteer actively with many different agencies and always looks for more ways to help others.

Her primary professional focus over the past few years has been serving as codirector of the Hirsch Legacy Fund.  They offer grants to many Jewish causes and agencies, their primary focus is Pediatric Mental Health.

What are 3-5 unique gifts you bring to the table?

• Seeing things from a different perspective than others.
• Open and supportive of people. 
• Experience with other nonprofits and how they function.

What do you hope to bring to (or accomplish on behalf of) JWC Atlanta this year?

I don’t know about you, but the image of Rachel Goldberg Polin begging for the release of her son, will be seared forever in my mind.
She looked so tiny on that vast stage, tiny but resolute.
I was amazed, as I always am when I hear her speak.
She is emotional, articulate and heart stirring in her words.
How did this woman whose life was defined by family, find the courage to take to the world stage to argue on behalf of her child?
It’s love.
The eternal love a parent feels for their child.
No matter what.
In this week’s portion which is entitled Eikev. It is a portion which contains some threats against the Jewish people if they do not behave properly. But it is also a parsha which mentions often the word Ahava, or love.
Rabbanit Yemima Mizrachi points out that the portion opens with a verse exhorting the Jewish people to follow in Gds ways, then Gd will love you and bless you.
It is interesting that the verse delivers the message to the Jewish people to follow Gds commands in the plural form, but the second part of the verse which describes the reward, the word for love is written in the singular.
Our Sages teach us that love is personal. It’s a unique relationship. Therefore the love that will be felt will be personal.
This is evident in the portion as Moses lists some of the miracles that happened in the desert which prove Gd’s love for each individual.
For example, during the wanderings in the desert the clothing the Jewish nation wore did not wear out.
That is such a small detail.
It harks to the love a parent has for a child to care for their every need and make sure that not only are they dressed, but the clothing is immaculate and fresh.
No child was left behind.
No one was forgotten.
Rabbanit Yemima shares that one of her childhood fears was that her mother left her behind on a bus.
It’s not an uncommon feeling.
My mother was delayed once and came just a few moments late to pick me up at the bus. I was in first grade and I can remember the incident so clearly, the panic of abandonment so firmly embedded in my mind.
(And the whole drama lasted no more than five minutes!)
We may have a fear of being forgotten not only by our loved ones, or maybe existentially, we may feel overlooked by Gd Gdself.
But the Parsha reassures us that Gd is faithful in love to us, as long as we don’t forget about Gd.

MELINDA COBB - FINANCE

Melinda is a CPA who started her professional career at Deloitte.  She has since worked with her husband in his business with project management as well as helping clients with property tax appeals and other consulting matters. Melinda and her husband, Gavin, have two children, Justin and Nicole.

What are 3-5 unique gifts you bring to the table?

• Financial skills
• Likes to listen to others ideas 
• Strives for efficient implementation of projects and workflow.

What do you hope to bring to (or accomplish on behalf of) JWC Atlanta this year?

As I am new to the Board this year, I hope to listen a lot to understand the innerworkings and to share ideas to help maintain and improve the wonderful mission of this organization.

CHARLA WEINSIER - PROGRAMMING

Originally from Erie, Pennsylvania, Charla has called Atlanta her home for over thirty years. After graduating from the University of Florida, Charla worked as a Fulton County middle school teacher. When she became a mother, she left teaching to stay at home with her children. Charla has remained actively involved in the Atlanta Jewish community including synagogue educator and committee member, MJCCA member/volunteer, and You Plus 2 founding committee. In her spare time Charla loves scrapbooking and gardening. Charla and her husband David live in Johns Creek and have two children.

What are 3-5 unique gifts you bring to the table?

• Organization
• Detail oriented
• Friendly and kind
• Works well with others
• Loves learning new things

What do you hope to bring to (or accomplish on behalf of) JWC Atlanta this year?

I hope to help provide educational and social opportunities for women in the Atlanta community to come together and learn from one another. Atlanta is full of talented and caring women, who can help create positive and productive relationships with one another.

KIRA BARON - RETREAT PROGRAMMING

Kira was born in Russia and immigrated to the United States with her family when she was 4 years old, she speaks Russian fluently. She is a real estate broker and has been selling homes for over 20 years.  Kira has two sons from her first marriage, and a stepson with her husband, Jimmy.  

What are 3-5 unique gifts you bring to the table?

• Creative
• A problem solver
• Very resourceful
• Kira likes to tackle challenges head-on, find innovative solutions, and ensure things runs smoothly.

What do you hope to bring to (or accomplish on behalf of) JWC Atlanta this year?

I hope to bring value by contributing my skills and experience to help the organization grow.  I’m excited to meet and collaborate with other members to help support JWCA and continue making a positive impact on the community.

I want to tell you about one of the happiest days of my life.
The story began 14 years prior when I met a middle school girl who wanted to be tutored in Judaic subjects. We hit it off right away and so I studied with her for her Bat Mitzva and we continued studying together throughout her high school career.
As you can imagine she was like a little sister to me.
She went to study in Israel and returned to the States ready to take on the world. She got her degrees and became a therapist.
She was an intelligent, beautiful, sensitive and accomplished young woman.
And she wanted to get married and build a Jewish home.
That part somehow didn’t go so smoothly.
She dated many, many, many people. (I know, I vetted each and every one!)
While all this was transpiring life continued.
My husband was and continues to be involved in Jewish outreach and education.
For 25 years he conducted a Beginners Service at our synagogue where people who were interested in learning more about prayer could join an interactive service. A young woman started coming. She was a shoe buyer for a major department store. We hit it off immediately, having a love of shoes in common. (Her moniker was shoequeen!)
She often came to our house for Shabbat meals.
After becoming good friends, this young lady mentioned that she had a brother who was visiting, and she asked if he could join us for a meal.
Her brother came to us a few weeks later and the meal was not half over and I realized that the elusive husband of my student had been delivered to my door.
I played matchmaker and set them up.
The day they got engaged was one of the happiest of my life.
It was truly happy day.

There was a summer camp that embarked on a special project with its campers.
From the first day of the season, the campers began building a detailed model of the Bais HaMikdash, the Holy Temple, which stood in Jerusalem.
Each bunk was given a particular job and as the weeks passed the edifice began to take shape. The campers were deeply invested in the project and took great pride in its construction.
Every day they saw it coming together.
Then, it was finally complete.
The campers stood in a circle around their model of the Temple.
They were so proud of every detail and oohed and aahed over the magnificent artistry.
The camp administrator had the whole piece brought to the pool and everyone stood around as the beautiful structure was mirrored in the water around it.
All of a sudden someone yelled
“Fire”.
Unbeknownst to them, the model had been set alight. And before their very eyes, the outcome of their efforts, the work they had done so laboriously, all went up in smoke.
The campers cried some bitter tears.
The day
Tisha BAv

A noted Rabbi and judge who lives in Jerusalem was walking home with a friend. He was confronted by his neighbor. The neighbor accosted the Rabbi and charged him with owing him money.
The Rabbi asked, why do I owe you money?
The neighbor replied that the Rabbi had recently had his apartment painted and the process had caused the neighbor damage and he felt he was owed recompense.
The Rabbi asked why?
The man explained that the painter had poured the leftover paint down the pipes and that paint had stopped up his pipes and he had to hire a plumber to unstop the pipes to the tune of 600 shekel, approximately $200.
The Rabbi immediately reached into his pocket and gave his neighbor the money.
As they continued on their journey, the Rabbi told his colleague that he could prove in 3 ways that he did not actually owe the money.
First of all, the Rabbi said, paint does not clog pipes.
Secondly, the pipes in his apartment are on the other side of the building, and do not interface at all with his neighbor’s pipes.
And, finally, he had not done any painting in his apartment at all.
The colleague was dumbfounded. He wanted to understand why the Rabbi paid the sum without argument or defense.
The Rabbi responded that keeping peace with his neighbor is worth 600 shekels.
That is an inspired thought.
Especially at this time of year when we are experiencing the Three Weeks, the time when we mourn the loss of our Temple, the House of Peace, a loss that came about due to not seeing one another’s presence and worth.
If we would value peace with one another to the degree we would be willing to pay for it, we would be in a different place entirely.

This week’s Parsha, Torah portion, is called Parshat Pinchos.
It is one of the longest portions of the Torah, clocking in at a whopping 168 verses.
Pinchos’s, the grandson of Aaron, stops a plague that is devastating the people. The plague is a punishment for promiscuous behavior by some of the menfolk.
Subsequent to the plague a census is enacted.
The purpose of the census is to lay the groundwork for dividing up the Land of Israel and giving each Tribe its portion.
The portions of the land will be awarded to each family.
There is however one family that has no father or brothers, no menfolk at all.
It is a family comprised of five sisters.
They are the daughters of a man named Zelopchad who has perished in the desert.
The 5 daughters question Moshe about the inheritance.
Their father did leave Egypt with the Jewish people, but he has passed on, leaving no male heirs to inherit when they enter the land.
They argue that his name should not be forgotten, and that they in fact should be allowed to claim his portion.
Moshe did not know the answer to their question, and he brings their claim to the final adjudicator, Gd.
Moshe is told by Gd that the daughters of Tzelopchad have a legitimate claim and indeed, they should receive their Father’s portion.
Rabbanit Yemima Mizrachi expounds on these five exceptional women.
She notes that we are now entering the period of the Three Weeks.
This is the time of year when the Jewish people mourns the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem.
The Three Weeks are bracketed by two fast days, one on the 17th day of Tammuz, which was this past Tuesday, and one on the 9th day of the month of Av which will be on August 13.
In her inimitable fashion, the Rabbanit notices the connection of the numbers.
Particularly the number 5.
Because on both of those fast days we commemorate 5 terrible events that transpired on those days.
Each of the fast days remind us of 5 things that transpired.
Chief amongst the 5, are the sin of the Golden Calf on the 17th of Tammuz, and the Sin of the Spies being one of the 5 awful events that transpired on the 9th of Av.
She makes the point that these 5 women did not take part in either of those crimes.
They should therefore not be included in the punishment.
What do these women want?
They want a future, an inheritance in the beloved Land.
And they are willing to fight for it.
And Gd says yes.
The future they dreamed of was indeed given to them.
There are not many details listed about these 5 sisters but our Sages teach us that they were intelligent and righteous women, after all the case they presented was accepted by Gd.

This week’s Torah portion is called Balak.
It describes the way the world viewed the Jewish people as they were marching through the desert.
The Jewish nation had experienced miracles coupled with great ups and downs.
Despite receiving the Torah at Mt Sinai, the acme of experiences, they sank to the nadir with the sin of the Golden Calf.
And when the opportunity arrived to enter into the Land of Israel, the spies sent to reconnoiter saw the greatness of the land and its inhabitants, but did not have the necessary faith in Gd or in themselves to enter the Land.
Due to their insecurity and feeling like they looked like grasshoppers in the eyes of the inhabitants, they feared to enter and shared a negative report.
This resulted in the punishment of marching through the desert for 40 years.
We know how the Jewish people felt about themselves.
But how did the other nations really see the Jews?
We get a glimpse of understanding from this portion.
It turns out that the other nations were actually fearful if the Jewish nation.
It turns out that a powerful king by the name of Balak, hence the name of the portion, was so fearful of the Jews, he hired a sorcerer to curse the Jewish nation.
That prophet was called Bilaam, and every time he attempts to curse the Jews, his words come out in the form of a blessing.
The words he spouts, are actually coming from Gd.
This is a curious phenomenon.
The last Torah portions are an accumulation of failures on the part of the Jewish people.
The track record is pretty abysmal and it would not be surprising if the Jews thought Gd had pretty much given up on them.
But they are given an insider’s peek when they hear the words of Bilaam, who is only a mouthpiece for Gd.

KIM KOPELMAN- DEVELOPMENT

Kim believes that it is a labor of love to help organizations she believes in and that change people for the better.  Her professional expereince has always been in the consulting and analytical fields.  Kim and her husband have three sons.  

What are 3-5 unique gifts you bring to the table?

• Analytical - look at past trends to predict future success
• Logical
• Lots of work with various nonprofits from schools to large organizations.  Historical experience with successes and some growing pains.

What do you hope to bring to (or accomplish on behalf of) JWC Atlanta this year?

Hoping to help increase fundraising or at least share the ‘story’ of JWCA in a different manner which speaks to participants and drives attendance to events and hopefully increased donations follow. 

During the Holocaust, a rabbi by the name of Rabbi Ephraim Oshry was asked some horrific questions. Jews came to the rabbi for guidance and rulings on Jewish law that were reakky ghastly and grim.
One question he received came from a father whose son was destined for death. The father asked if he was allowed to bribe the Nazi guard to have his son released. The question stemmed from the repugnant reality that if the guard agreed, he would simply take another person in place of the son. Therefore the bribe was effectively murdering someone else.
Rabbi Oshry wrote his rulings on scraps of paper, most of which were torn from the bags of cement he carried as a forced laborer.
He buried his rulings which he was able to retrieve after the war.
He published all the legal opinions he wrote on those heart rending inquiries under the title “Responsa from the Depths”.
Rabbi Oshry said that the maintenance of Jewish life in the face of such horror was an integral part of Jewish resistance. Many who asked those questions did not survive, but their souls would live on.
He said “their souls were in the questions”.
Just the other day, a venerable rabbi by the name of Rabbi Asher Weiss, was also asked some difficult questions about how to maintain Jewish life and Jewish ritual, in the face of tremendous adversity.
A recently wounded year 20 year old soldier had some practical questions to pose to the rabbi.
In his recent deployment in the IDF, he was seriously wounded, and had lost both legs and his right arm and had injured his left hand. He asked about how he should don his Tefillin, and how he should ritually wash his hands, issues that are vastly complicated by his injuries.
But it was his last question that brought Rabbi Weiss to tears.
He explained that he would be receiving prosthetics for his legs and hand and he wanted to know when is the appropriate time to make the Shehechiyanu blessing. Should he recite the blessing when he receives the prosthetics, or when he puts them on for the first time.
Rabbi Weiss had never heard such a query.
The blessing of Shehechiyanu celebrates gratitude to Gd for sustaining us in life till that moment. It’s a way to express to Gd appreciation for arriving at this moment and celebrating new possessions or special experiences.
This soldier wants to know when to make this blessing?
Over the loss of three of his four limbs?
He is still blessing Gd?
No wonder the Rabbi was brought to tears. As Rabbi Weiss shared the experience he said in wonder, these are Tzadikim, these are holy and righteous people.
As Rabbi Oshry had once penned, the shining soul of this young man is revealed in his questions.
It is humbling.

Today is July 4, Independence Day in the USA.
Today is also Day 272.
A day we pray for the independence of our brothers and sisters who are trapped in Gaza, trapped behind the gates the terrorists have imprisoned them behind.
We want to celebrate their independence so desperately.
We know miracles happen. They have happened to the Jewish people from time immemorial.
48 years ago on this day, we witnessed such a miracle.
On July 4,1976, 100 Israeli commandos, were able to rescue 100 hostages who were being held at the airport in Entebbe.
The story is a miracle in our times.
This past week was also the 5th Yahrzeit, anniversary, of the passing of a great educator and mentor of thousands.
Rabbi David Trenk ztzl believed in miracles too.
He believed in the miracle that is you!
He would focus on the strengths of each person to the degree that they would start to believe in themselves and overcome the adversity that might be holding them back in any way.
There are hundreds of stories told by his students regarding this trait of positivity and how his outlook changed their outlook on themselves and how others viewed them.
Rabbi Trenk would take his car to a mechanic. There was another regular customer who frequented the same mechanic, a trucker, who was apparently extremely intimidating. Whenever he entered the mechanic’s shop everyone took a step back. Once Rabbi Trenk happened to be there when this burly gentleman came in. Within a moment he jumped up, hugged the man and said “my brother it’s so nice to meet you”.
The man literally melted before everyone’s eyes. He was so touched.
Afterwards one of the other customers asked Rabbi Trenk, why he called him “my brother”, after all, he was anything but.
Rabbi Trenk replied, he is my brother, did you not see the Magen David necklace he was wearing?
The truth is no one did see it.
They saw the persona of a truck driver. They couldn’t see beyond. No one else saw who he really was.
This week’s Torah portion is called Korach.
It speaks of jealousy amongst “brothers” that goes terribly wrong.
In the portion is a verse where Gd says to Aaron
“bring close, your brothers, the Levites, they will assist you and they will serve you”.
Rashi, the Torah commentary, explains what the role of the Levites, would be in the sanctuary and later on in the Temple.

Day 256
Many years ago our family had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of another family here in Atlanta.
One of the children, a teenager, was searching to find meaning in his Judaism, and became a regular visitor.
He brought his parents to meet us, and we became fast friends.
Each of the above had limited Jewish background, and they were intrigued to learn more.
They had another daughter who was attending a prestigious law school out of state. This daughter became alarmed as she heard about the Jewish journey her parents were embarking upon, and was afraid they had lost their compass.
To allay her fears, the mom suggested she join us on her next visit home.
To her credit, she came.
In perfect lawyerly fashion, she peppered us with questions about Judaism.
To me it seemed she was not very interested.
She was not connecting personally to the Jewish wisdom that was being shared.
As the meal progressed, my husband began sharing a Torah thought. It centered around the laws of Loshon Hara, the prohibition to speak slander about others.
I was astounded to see a complete change in the demeanor of our budding lawyer. She was dumbfounded to hear that Judaism forbids gossip, speaking badly about another.
It turned out that this precept was hers as well.
She was known amongst her peers as someone who would not speak, or share, or listen to Loshon Hara.
This decision on her part did not make her very popular with some of her friends, and it was at great personal sacrifice that she continued her practice.
Learning that there are many laws regarding proper speech and the respect the Torah requires us to show one another, was an eye opener for her.
Today, this young woman is a successful attorney, plying her craft while she carefully keeps the laws of Loshon Hara, and many others as well.

Behaalotcha.
When you go up.
This Torah portion is the one where the preparation to enter the Land of Israel is completed and the trek forward begins.
It is the point of transition from theory to practice.
If we would stop the narrative here the story would be pollyannish, a fairytale.
Gd took us out of Egypt with technicolor miracles, proceeds to present us with the Torah, establishes the Tabernacle, the nexus of Divine and human, and then gives us the commandments-the blueprint of how to live life in a spiritual manner while living on earth.
It seems just so perfect.
But life isn’t perfect.
Our lives aren’t perfect.
If we look at our lives they are often quite messy.
Difficult relationships, illness, loss, financial challenges and that is just a small sliver of the aforementioned mess.
If we would try to relate to the Torah, it would not jive.
The Torah perspective seems perfect, how can we relate?
But the portion just not stop with the theoretical.
Because this Portion has more complaints than any other portion.
The Jewish people are dissatisfied with so much, they even long for Egypt and it’s misery for goodness sakes.
The portion details the anger, frustration, complaints which seem so petty - real life on steroids.
It is Gd saying to the people, people you are complicated.
You are a mix of resentment, jealousy, weakness and even boredom.
Gd is very real about humankind.
Gd created us in our complex nature.
Our job as human beings is to live real life with all its challenges while simultaneously working towards reaching to the ideal.
In the words of Rabbi Reuven Tradburks
“Behaalotcha assured us that the ideal is to aspire to, while the real is to manage.”
This week our family suffered a devastating loss.
A very dear family friend passed away.