Lisa's Judaism Blog

Scanning over the 40+ years of my life, I feel proud of some of the deeds I have done. One such deed was helping to start a new kind of school in Israel.

The Yachad ("Together") School in Modiin, which aims to bring secular and religious children together and provide them with a pluralistic Jewish education (not offered in the existing State secular or religious schools), opened its doors in 2000 with 150 students. In 2008, over one thousand students in preschool through 10th grade attend the school.

But most importantly, the school's great success helped fuel a movement to create a whole new stream of schools in Israel. The Knesset recently passed a bill erecting a new State secular-religious network of schools.

September 1 is a happy day in Israel. After a long, hot summer, which hosts the troublesome combo of vacationing children and working parents, kids go back to school.

As my children excitedly described their first day back to school, they noted "and then he blew the shofar." The shofar, the world's oldest wind instrument and one of Judaism's most ancient rites, was blown for the new month of Elul, a prelude to the upcoming Jewish High Holidays.

The kids heard the primitive, stirring sound of the shofar before going to math class, coming home to watch The Suite Life, and playing basketball with the neighbors. Jewish experiences like hearing the shofar on the first day of school tie our religious and cultural heritage to our secular 21st century lives. These Jewish experiences add depth to our lives and wholeness to our identities.

If one has prepared physically for a race, the race experience is more likely to be positive. And if one has prepared spiritually for the Jewish Days of Judgment and Atonement, the High Holy Days experience is more likely to be positive too. What are the best ways to observe Elul?

Summer is ending, school is starting, and the holidays are just around the corner. The Hebrew month of Elul - a time to get spiritually prepared for the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) and Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) - begins at sundown on Saturday night (August 30). Elul is an opportunity for us to better ourselves, improve our relationships with others and move closer to God.

Last night, after giving an amazing "welcome to the neighborhood" party for her friend, my sister invited 18 kids from the neighborhood to sleep over. If hospitality is a mitzvah, then is inhospitality a sin?

As I walked around Disney World with my family this week, I was amazed at the number of Modern Orthodox Jews I saw mingling with Disney characters from Mickey Mouse to Stitch. Everytime I spotted a kipa or bandana, I would poke my 18-year-old daughter and whisper "tribe members on your left." By the end of the day, she was bruised.

While the liberal branches of Judaism welcome modernity, Orthodox Judaism shuns the modern world in favor of tradition. In between these two approaches to Judaism, Modern Orthodox Jews in America today strive to find a way to live traditionally in the modern world. How have Judaism's Modern Orthodox succeeded simultaneously to embrace modernity and cleave to tradition?

While visiting my sister in Atlanta, I read through Atlanta's local Jewish newspaper. About 70,000 out of Atlanta's 125,000 Jews are unaffiliated according to the newspaper. This made me wonder, “Why be Jewish?” in America today when it is so comfortable to just be American. Why drive to the Jewish Community Center rather than the local Fitness Center, why celebrate Hanukkah when your co-workers are having Christmas parties, and why enroll your kids in Hebrew school when the neighbor's kids are going to soccer practice?

Anti-Semitism, the Holocaust, and Israel used to be effective motivators, but they no longer speak to young, unaffiliated American Jews. Do you think that a “new story” has to be uncovered and marketed to invigorate Jewish life in America today?

The Mourner's Kaddish, one of a few types of Kaddish prayers, expresses the mourner's love of God and acceptance of God's will, even while the mourner is feeling great loss and sorrow over the death of a loved one. Why do you think Judaism wants people Jews to focus on their love of God while they are feeling grief and perhaps even anger?

After death, there is only a spiritual (not a physical) world, according to Judaism. Our bodies turn to dust, but our soul (neshama in Hebrew) is eternal. If we lived a good life, we are rewarded with a spiritual closeness to God in the afterlife. If we sinned in our life, we are punished after death by a spiritual detachment from God. Read more about the Jewish concept of the afterlife.

Dear Rabbi,
I am becoming more religious and turing pro as an athlete. Does Judaism have a prayer that requests success in sports?
Thanks, David