Most Jewish families celebrate Passover by sitting around a table with family and friends for a seder. Unfortunately, some Jewish families can’t afford the special foods that we eat at the seder. On April 10, Milwaukee’s Teen Day of Social Action, Jewish teens gathered at the Jewish Home and Care Center to help ensure that those who could not afford Passover food would not be left without it. Read More.

The Pesach seder is packed with questions. Near the beginning, the Ma Nishtana has the youngest participant ask five questions: Why is this night different from all other nights? Why tonight do we eat only matzoh? Why tonight must we eat maror? Why tonight do we dip our food twice? Why tonight do we all recline? A little later, three of the four sons ask more questions: What are all the parts of the laws G-d has commanded you? What good is this service to you? What is this? And even later, there are three more questions: Why did our ancestors eat the Passover offering during the time of the Beis HaMikdash? Why do we eat this matzoh? Why do we eat this bitter herb? And near the end of the seder, there are 13 famous questions, starting with “Who knows one?”  (“Echad Mi Yodeah?”). Read More.

In grade school, I had a small obsession with ancient Egypt. I checked out books about pharaohs and pyramids from my school library. I sat for hours reading about mummies and tombs. I was fascinated by stories of Cleopatra, Imhotep, King Tut and other rulers of the time.

So when I found out that the Milwaukee Public Museum was to host an exhibit on ancient Egypt one April, I insisted that my family go see it. When we arrived, I was in my element. I scurried from one artifact to the next, reveling in the history in front of me while excitedly chattering about this earthen jug and that hieroglyph.

Then, somewhere among the broken pottery, the shriveled mummies and the weathered statues, I had an epiphany of sorts. Read More.

On March 31, the women of the Milwaukee Jewish community celebrated Passover with the bi-annual Women’s Seder at the Jewish Community Center. This tradition, which was started in 1997, was a fun and enjoyable experience for women of all ages. Glancing around the room, I saw many mother-and-daughter groups enjoying the unique experience of an all-women’s seder together. Read More.

Felix Bandos was born in Lodz, Poland, in 1921. He was very happy when he was a young boy, until the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939. He and his family were rounded up with other Jewish families and forced to live in one part of the city. In 1940, they had to build their own walls around the area, turning it into a ghetto. There the young man worked very hard, chopping wood, building railroad tracks and doing other jobs. Hunger was never far away. Read More.

Sometimes, I wonder about journalism.

An aspiring journalist myself, I wonder if the truth can survive the twisting and bending of corporations with agendas or political leanings. I wonder if objectivity has limits, whether political correctness hinders or helps news to be communicated and understood. But lately I’ve wondered about the American media’s treatment of a crime that was unbelievably heinous, gruesome, anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist.

You didn’t see it on CNN, you may have spotted it in the crawling news bar on Fox, but if you were in Israel, it would have been impossible to miss. March 11 was a normal Friday night in the Israeli community of Ithamar. The Fogel family had finished the traditional Shabbat meal and gone to sleep. But this tranquility was shattered when terrorists breached the security around Ithamar, entered the Fogel home and attacked. Read More.

For us Jews, education is deep inside our heritage. And nothing is more fundamental to education than teachers. The original purpose of rabbis, our spiritual leaders, was to serve as teachers of Torah. Traditionally, our Jewish community holds teachers in high regard. But some others, apparently, do not.

Under a new bill proposed by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker to ease the state deficit, the livelihoods of public teachers would be hurt drastically. The bill would force teachers to pay more for insurance and pensions, and remove most of the collective bargaining rights of teachers’ unions, effectively crippling them. Many teachers and other public employees, who are also affected by the bill, have risen in protest, causing some schools to shut down temporarily. Students have also protested, opposing legislators have left the state, and everyone seems to have an opinion on the issue. Read More.

One of the many things that has had an impact on me was my Bat Mitzvah. On this day I became an adult and started my new life as a different person.  When I turned 12, I accepted all the Halachos that are obligations to me. My Bat Mitzvah had a great impact on me because it was a day I felt close to Hashem more than ever before.  Read More.

Two great people in American history are Jackie Robinson and Martin Luther King Jr. Both of them were against racial hatred, political oppression and riots. They made a major impact on my life.  Read More.