Community is The Binding Agent

Many of the healthy snacks I make at home tend to fall apart until I perfect the recipe. Healthy snacks, especially on a grain-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free diet, require a delicate balance. The importance of binding agents in baking often leaves me pondering how to perfect the science of creating...

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Eternal Fragrance

There are so many Jewish smells that I love- the baking of challah being my favorite, especially before I became Gluten-Free. Scent is extremely important in our spiritual life because it changes our relationship with time and place. A scent can bring us back to memory. I remember my grandmother...

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Celebrations

Next week, I will reach a huge milestone birthday!!!! When I came to KI, I was 30 years old. Next week I will be 50, and also this year we are celebrating our 20 years together. There is so much to celebrate and so many events and opportunities for you...

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How Long, Not Long

In the beginning of this week’s Torah portion, Vaera, we have doubts about ever being freed from the bondage of Egypt, and God reassures us by telling Moses: “Say to the Israelite people: I am Adonai, I will free you from the labors of the Egyptians and deliver you from...

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These Reminders

We all have enduring reminders of our ancestors whether in the form of stories, songs, ritual objects, art, or memories. I have 3 sisters, and we all have an heirloom or two, but mine is extraordinarily special. My grandmother gave me my great grandmother’s Shabbat candlesticks that were brought over...

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A New Soundtrack

With the pain and terror in Israel and in our hearts, it is difficult to find a soundtrack besides the horror in the media. Our hearts are aching, and this heaviness, emotionally, is challenging. Many of you are asking what can you do and how can you help? Here are...

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Beautiful Blank Slate

As we start this New Year, we ask for the opportunity to begin with a “blank slate.” I found myself using this language of “starting again” with my two teenage daughters as well. The new start includes simple routine adjustments such as going to bed earlier, establishing a homework routine,...

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New Beginnings

This week we wish Liz Z. Sussman, all the very best as she enters into retirement and her next adventure. She has been the Early Childhood Education Director of the Richard E. Rudolph Jr. Preschool at KI for the last eight years. With all of her many gifts, Liz grew...

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From Spices to Spirituality

As I start my 20th year as your Cantor, I would like to share with you one major way I have grown (dramatically) since I started. In my first couple of years as your cantor, I would come to the office with an Iced Carmel Macchiato and a Blueberry Scone...

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