By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
My first thought was that winter is definitely coming. That happened after seeing that the emergency message boards on Routes 17 and 81 had a new message. No, they weren’t warning me about an upcoming storm. Instead, they were trying to entice workers to apply fo…
By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
It’s become a holiday tradition. Once the countdown to Christmas starts, I send a Christian friend notices from e-mails and websites about how many days there are to the holiday. I’ve also been known to let her know when displays start going up in stores, espec…
By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
We read and study the Torah each year because every year we can discover new insights or new ways to appreciate the text. Sometimes that study informs our ideas outside of the study group or synagogue. When looking at the story of Noah recently, something interestin…
By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
I originally read the phrase and thought it meant something completely different. The phrase I’m referring to is “silent quitting.” My first thought was, “Oh, people are quitting their jobs without giving notice to their employer? That’s unprofessional. T…
By Rabbi Rachel Esserman
I did two unusual things in September: for the first time in at least 40 years, I did not attend services or pray during Rosh Hashanah. I also posted about the death of a relative on Facebook, something I’ve never done before. Both of these things occurred becaus…
