The following responsum (teshuvah) was written by Rabbi Israel Isserlein, an Austrian luminary who lived from 1390 – 1460, and author of the Terumat Ha-Deshen. Along with his rabbinical duties, he was known to dabble in money lending, an important piece of information for this particular piece. This is the fifth responsum in his collection. Translator’s … More »
As I prepared to attend a conference at the Frei Universität in Berlin two years ago, my family took to teasing me. “How long is going to take them to say your name? Frau Rabbinin Doctorin Professorin…” But while it may have been meant in jest, the family joke actually speaks to a question I … More »
My office doesn’t have a mezuzah on the doorpost, or a family photo on the desk. It is a fairly functional space which maintains my professional identity and from which my personal life is absent. Yet this balance between the public and private is disrupted every year on the first day of class, which is … More »
At 6:30 a.m., my eyes open and search for the tantalizing snooze button. As I struggle between gaining a few more minutes of sleep and reading online sermons, the clock ticks away—I eventually lose the opportunity to do both. This pattern repeats every morning. Is it easy to be a full-time Jewish student? In New … More »
It’s a typical work from home Friday. I futz with the challah, started and refrigerated the night before, help my husband feed the girls breakfast and get them off to daycare, start to go through the pile of emails that have magically appeared overnight. Eventually I shower. While at the dry cleaners, with the clock … More »
Last year I visited six New York Jewish Day Schools and met with administrators to discuss the institutions’ maternity leave policies. And in all of these schools, I noted something troubling. Despite the ethics taught in Jewish studies classes, administrators crafted institutional policies that didn’t meet the health and financial needs of their employees. There … More »
Where does the Jewish workplace lie? Is it in the heart or high in the sky? Does it begin with morning’s bell? Or was it when Goliath fell? Can it be found on hearth so warm? Can we skip out when feeling forlorn? Does duty extend to every man? Or just those in the Jewish … More »
After a series of rejections from jobs as a rabbi and/or Jewish educator, I finally received some feedback as to what I might have been doing “wrong”. The senior rabbi (who had been present at all three of my interviews for that position) kindly shared insight that I’ve come to see as an important turning … More »
I teach a ‘Melton class’ at my synagogue – the Florence Melton Mini-School four-part curriculum of Jewish studies for adults; it originates in Israel and it’s a great course for what I think of as the ‘wilderness generation’ of Jewish adults, who – like me – had rather a bitty Jewish education. The class was … More »