Day 61 - Afterword

Day 60 - Our Israel: A Youth Perspective

DAy 59 - Dona Gracia: An Inspring Example

Day 58 - Listening to your Inner Voice

Day 57 - A Modern Day ' Dayeinu' Song

Day 56 - Kids: A Public Commodity

Day 55 - Chevron: Connecting Heaven and Earth

Day 54 - Behind the Mask

Day 53 - Chesed and Gemachs

Day 52 - Mezuzah: Faith and Conciliation

Here's my contribution to the many stories of how mezuzahs protect our homes. We just moved into a new home a few weeks ago. Although there were mezuzahs on our doors, we had to replace them. There was no urgency so I left it for a while. During that time my wife and I were occasionally woken up in the middle of the night by strange noises. At first we put it down to getting used to the new sounds of the house. But it was nerve-wracking. Finally last Friday I had Rabbi Wolf come in to put up new mezuzahs. As it turns out, we needed a number of mezuzahs in places where there hadn't been one before, one or two were on the wrong side of the door and one needed to be replaced. Needless to say, after we put up all 20 mezuzahs! we had no more problems with strange noises.

Day 51 - Aliyah: Making the Move

Day 50 - Succot: The Joy of a Restored Relationship

Day 49 - My name is Esther Wachsman

Day 48 - Making it Happen

Day 47 - Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk

Day 46 - Destination and Destiny

Day 45 - Hide and Seek

Day 44 - The Kotel and the Gate of Prayer

Day 43 - Pesach: One Great Jewish Community

Day 42 - Black Fire on White Fire: The Sanz-Klausenberger Rebbe

Day 41 - The Jewish Family

Day 40 - To Listen and to Do

Day 39 - The Land and its Unique Mitzvot

Day 38 - Jewish Identity: Let's Make it Positive!

Day 36 - Chanukah: Accepting Others

Rabbi YY is one of my favorite rabbis. I met him many years ago in Israel and we have stayed in contact. What I most like about him is he has the ability to get you to think outside the box. (He also has a great sense of humor and a great Scottish accent).

In this essay, he again gets us to think about how we deal with people who are different to us. In the work I do, I am constantly moving between two different worlds - the secular and observant worlds. I believe one of my missions is to try bridge the gap between the two worlds.

So for example, we love inviting people who have never observed Shabbat to spend Shabbat in West Rogers Park. We introduce them to great families, some who have kept Shabbat all their lives. It's a beautiful thing to see how friends can be made at a Shabbat table.

If you have any other thoughts to share about building bridges between people who are different, I'd love to hear them.

Day 37 - King David: Our First and Greatest CEO

Day 35 - Delivering in Dallas

Day 34 - A New Look at the Shemoneh Esrei

Day 33 - Pride in our Judaism

Day 32 - A Divine Document

Day 31 - Successfully Meeting Life's Challenges

I had started this blog with good intentions, aiming to write every day (or at least every couple of days) and this way motivate myself and others to keep reading this great book. However, I fell behind. Then one day I got inspired to continue again. I picked it up and opened to where I was - day 31. The essay was by Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis - and 'coincidentally' I had just heard her speak the night before in West Rogers Park to an audience of over 500 people! If I had told her the story, she would not have been surprised.

Day 30 - Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach: Torah Leader of the Modern Age

Day 29 - A Diaspora Yearning

Day 28 - Coincidences: G-d's Way of Saying Hello

Day 27 - An Inspirational Shavuot

Day 26 - Love, Relationships and Parenting

Day 25 - The Blooming of Israel

Day 24 - Jerusalem: Peace and Beauty

Day 23 - Luggage versus Baggage

Day 22 - What does the Shema Really Mean?

Day 21 - The Tzaddik Reb Aryeh

Day 20 - Yom Kippur, Repentance and the Land of Israel

Day 19 - The Nobel Prize for Literature

Day 18 - Science and Religion: Partners or Adversaries

Day 17 - Esther Cailingold - A Jewish heroine

Day 16 - Some thoughts about Jewish memory

Day 15 - The Mystical City of Tzfat

No words can describe this city. I have spent many Shabbats in Tzfat and the place is quite simply the most spiritual place in the world. I love going there and please G-d, in a couple of weeks I'll be back there with a group of Russian students and young professionals on a first ever trip of this kind for JET.

Day 14 - When breaking the law was breaking my word

This story resonated with me. I do my very best never to cross on a red light even if there is no traffic in sight, and no one around to see. And especially when there are people around, who might be crossing, for example downtown. The reason is a class I once heard from Rabbi Cardozo in Jerusalem about keeping the laws of the land we live in. Before I really knew the extent of the concept, Rabbi Cardozo introduced me to the idea of 'chilul Hashem' (desecrating G-d's name). How can an observant Jew who keeps G-d's commandments not keep the laws of the country that everyone else is expected to keep?

Your thoughts?

Day 13 - The Essence of Purim

Purim is my favorite holiday to celebrate in Israel. It's not because we get drunk (I never drank very much on Purim in Israel). What I love about it is seeing everyone running around on Purim giving everyone shaloch manos (gifts of food), one of the mitzvos of the day. It is an outer expression of the unity of the Jewish people and the love we have for each other. Unfortunately, (and for many reasons), that expression is lost for most of the year. But at least on Purim we can see our true colors. It's a beautiful thing to see.

Day 12 - Living in Israel

Here are some musings from someone living in Israel. I lived in Israel for 6 years and I think about it every day. Any opportunity I get to go back, I do. Fortunately, since I've been working with college students I've been back every 6 months. And I would move back with my family tomorrow if I could (that's a much longer story). I love this book because it gets me thinking about Israel, the place that will always be home.

Day 11 - Living Peacefully - A Simple Guide to Life

Rabbi Abraham Twerski has got to be one of the most amazing Jews alive. He has written literally dozens of books and keeps on coming up with great ideas for writing. For all of us who have had a 'book in the back of my mind' it is astounding how prolific he is. And to top it all, his advice is so good.

My favorite is:
I'd Like to Call for Help but I Don't Know the Number: The Search for the Spirituality in Everyday Life

It's a great introduction to spirituality