Raising walls and hope

In early December, I woke up with sore muscles and blistered hands, yet I never felt better. On my first trip ever to New Orleans, I spent two days working with Habitat for Humanity.

Judgment day

Everyone can fit into a stereotype: “dumb blond” or “greedy Jew.” A stereotype is a generalization made about a certain group of people, a label that some think can apply to every person in that group.

Flower braider

The flower-braider, her fingers
Moving at magical speeds, blindly
Twisting and turning and creating
Beautiful strings of flowers

Flashes of hope

As Jews, we say a prayer for the sick called a “misheh-beirach.” We pray for the health of our family, friends, and Jews throughout the world. In various prayers, we thank God for our own health and well-being.

Abba in India

The rooftop is flat and covered in stone. I walk up two flights of stairs from my grandmother LaliKoch’s apartment. A group of people are gathered there, a special place that looks upon Bangalore, India

Chain reaction

Earlier in the year in my tenth grade rabbinics class, we read an article by Rabbi Elliot N. Dorff comparing the act of praying to baseball, America’s great pastime. Then we were asked to find our own  prayer analogies, and write about them. Here’s mine.

Hiding place

Looking out a small window onto the Prinsengracht Canal in Amsterdam, it finally hits me where exactly I am.

I am in the “Secret Annex,” home to Anne Frank, a small hidden apartment in which eight Jews hid during the Holocaust, helped by three Righteous Gentiles. This group hid for over two years before being arrested by the Gestapo.