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From the CEO

What’s in a name?

When it comes to naming our children, Jews follow many different customs. Sephardic Jews often honor living grandparents by naming their babies after them. Ashkenazi Jews name after deceased loved ones, with the idea that we will remember the departed from the actions of our children as they…

Day of Learning

Annually, members of our Capital District Board of Rabbis and Cantors spend a day learning together. On Wednesday, for this year’s gathering, my colleagues Jane Ginsburg of Jewish Family Services and Mark Koblenz of Daughters of Sarah and I were privileged to be invited to join them.

We s…

Kindness and cheesecake

Starting tonight, we celebrate the holiday of Shavuot. Agriculturally, we celebrate the barley harvest, and spiritually, we celebrate receiving the Torah on Sinai. We listen to the reading of the Ten Commandments, read the Book of Ruth, and eat cheesecake. Several explanations are offered fo…

Yom Yerushalayim

“Har Habayit Beyadenu, Har Habayit Beyadenu!”—the Temple Mount is in our hands, the Temple Mount is in our hands.” Today, on Yom Yerushalayim, we celebrate the reunification of Jerusalem and remember these words of Colonel Motta Gur as he made his way through the winding alleys of th…

My trip to Israel—Part II

I am in the relationship-building business, and as such I try to avoid ever publicly expressing a political opinion. With that said, I’m going to try to walk that fine line and discuss Israel’s government and the proposed judicial reform from the perspective of an observer, and share wit…