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The release of the hostages. This has been such a part of our lives for the last two years that there is no need to identify which ones or from where for our hearts spring with joy at the mere mention of the words. Last week I read an amazing story about a discovery in Toronto.... Read More →

  What a morning. . .   These truly have been Days of Awe, the time between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. I actually wrote the rest of this Shabbat Encouragement last Friday morning and I can only say each day since has been bursting with the manifestation of His... Read More →

  Being a fair-skinned blonde of the Coppertone ads era I now see my dermatologist regularly. Several years ago while waiting at one of my checkups, I had been on the phone with a Ruach member discussing her son’s upcoming bar mitzvah. Overhearing my call as I was finishing... Read More →

  When I went to sleep last evening my ankle was so painful from an injury that day that I had been unable to walk on it at all. Based on the injury I was anticipating several days, if not longer, of recovery time. I took two Ibuprofen and went to bed.   This morning... Read More →

  This writing is not about Charlie Kirk’s viewpoints. No matter where you stand on those, I hope you can hear the deeper promptings.   I seem to be the only person who didn’t know who Charlie Kirk was. Actually it’s quite embarrassing. I’m educated, well read, and keep... Read More →

  It all started with Tom Jones. . .   I’ve already confessed to you my love of Tom Jones’ voice, from my teen years through now too.  So yesterday as I was listening to him on Spotify, his version of “Danny Boy” came up. His voice on that song is amazingly beautiful... Read More →

Who would think that when I wrote this Shabbat encouragement on Tuesday morning that the “Oh God” title would have such a different meaning then than it does this morning, the day after the Mass/mass shooting in Minneapolis. On Tuesday morning the words welcomed His peace as I... Read More →

  Sid and I are so blessed to be able to live at my sister’s house when we come down from our home in Maine to be with family here and with our Ruach family. Our GPS when we say “Home” always has to ask which one since we are at home as much here as at our own home in Maine.... Read More →

  Parenting . . . What a journey. . .   Even if you haven’t had children, we all have experienced the relationship, either as a child, as a parent, or as in loco parentis – those times when we need to act as if we are the parents. Sometimes we are counselors, teachers,... Read More →

  Having just returned from Camp Or L’Dor and now expecting house guests at our home in Maine for the next ten days, I have been a bit preoccupied. So I decided to look at my collection of writings and share again the reflection below, as timely now as it was then over a... Read More →

  In our lives we experience seasons of trial and sorrow, challenges seemingly beyond endurance. This is a reality that all of us, all of mankind, know is true. Yet we often lose our perspective and think that we have it worse than everybody else. During these times, if we... Read More →

  For many of you who have been on my Shabbat encouragement list for years, you know that this is the time that Sid and I are at Camp Or L’Dor, the Messianic Jewish teen camp founded by Sid and Rabbi Nathan seventeen summers ago. Next year will be our Chai year! Can’t wait!... Read More →

  Last week we kvelled about Hal Slifer’s visit to Ruach Israel and how much we enjoyed him and he us. We went on to noodle my Bible study experience of the Jewish attendees seeing Yeshua with new eyes, and touched on the miraculous times of the late ‘60s and ‘70s.   As... Read More →

  For those of you at Ruach on June 28, you must have noticed how at ease Hal Slifer, the host of Chagigah Radio, his wife, and our other guests were with our Ruach community. Our Ruachites were not only welcoming, but also were able to fully engage in Hal’s presentation and... Read More →

  Last week had been overflowing, with health challenges on the one hand, but with joy beyond measure by Chagigah radio host Hal Slifer’s presentation at Ruach last Shabbat. It was “Wow” and “Wow”! Not only were we blessed by a wonderfully entertaining event but he, too,... Read More →

  As I write this Shabbat encouragement on Monday I am in the middle of a surgical procedure to remove a basal cell carcinoma from the side of my nose. No, I’m not under the knife at the moment! Rather, I’m in the nerve racking waiting period for the doctor to check the... Read More →

  Several days ago I was listening to an NPR show about Amanda Ewing recognized as the first Black woman luthier in the U.S.  It is a bittersweet title as she recollected for the listeners how violins and fiddles have been part of slave history for centuries and yet no... Read More →

  It’s a beautiful spring morning. Our home in Maine is by the sea and in view of the working waterfront. Watching the lobsterman (now only one since the winter storm last year wiped out the majority of the lobster pound wharfs) loading his traps brought a poignant sadness... Read More →

    For the past few weeks we’ve been pondering antisemitism, grief, loss, acts of hatred as we process the difficult world events teeming with such actualities. There is no lack of such suffering even as we reel again this past week from the antisemitic violent attack... Read More →

  How do we find hope in these times? So many places in Scripture describe days just as we have experienced and give us this answer for we know our God is with us and there will be days ahead when suffering will stop. We are to forgive too but it is so hard when not only... Read More →

I had just finished writing this week’s Shabbat Encouragement when I heard the horrific news of the murder of young Israeli embassy staffers Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim outside the Capitol Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. last evening. No words can describe the flood... Read More →

  It was the Nova festival in Israel, the date October 7, 2023. She heard gunfire and took refuge in a concrete bomb shelter at the side of a road with 50 or more people crammed in, lying on top of each other. There was no escape as she heard uncountable gunshots being fired... Read More →

  I have been grateful over the last several years to have developed a wonderful working relationship with Hal Slifer, host of Chagigah on WERS every Sunday morning. This is a show dedicated to three hours of playing Jewish American, Israeli, and Yiddish music, Jewish humor,... Read More →

  I know illness, suffering, and death are real.  That is the reality of life in this realm. Yet within this realm we are also given the opportunity to witness and experience the healing power of God’s Love. I capitalize the word “Love” for it is of a divine nature that is... Read More →

  We’ve been noodling the holiness of these days, the beauty of the “synchronicity” of Holy Week for Christians with the 8 days of Passover for Jews this year, the unmistakable multitude of examples of God’s Presence. These have been days of sorrow – adversity, illness,... Read More →

  Last fall during the High Holy Days of Awe between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the time felt more special than usual. It seemed that spiritually uplifting experiences happened daily, even unusual dreams. These days of Passover are turning into a similar experience.... Read More →

  “Passover” – the word brings to mind the amazing saving of our people as the Angel of Death passed over the first born of the Israelites, not sparing those of the Egyptians. It was a seminal moment for our people, so defining, that we are to relive it annually, viscerally,... Read More →

  Oh how God uses our mistakes . . .   Last September Sid’s daughter and I were on the phone discussing her recent pre-natal doctor visit. Although now we know that our youngest grandson is fine, back then in the sixth month of her pregnancy there was an issue that was... Read More →

  This past weekend and the days leading up to it were so much fun. This community has a Spring Festival in which I participate through various singing, line dancing, and clogging opportunities. The days are filled with pie eating contests, crab races, Singo (musical version... Read More →

  For the past several weeks these Shabbat encouragements have been dancing around a very sensitive topic, our world view differences that if we are not careful can destroy relationships and inhibit our own spiritual growth. Perhaps it is in these most basic differences that... Read More →