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  Today started like any other day, my thanking HaShem, asking Sid how he slept last night, checking my messages. That’s when life spun out of control.   The night before I had been texting with my daughter-in-law finalizing plans for an upcoming visit but I had fallen... Read More →

Below is a Shabbat encouragement that I sent in November 2020, the first year of COVID. In a way we have recently experienced trauma at that level, a worldwide reckoning of epic proportions, providing us another opportunity to react, heal, and grow.   I have tweaked parts of... Read More →

  This morning I decided I should try to practice some of my dance kickboxing routines that I will be teaching in my class when we go to Florida in January. It’s a fun workout anyway and given the cold temperatures, doing the class provides a great opportunity for a good... Read More →

  This week Sid and I returned home to Maine after an extended time at my sister’s house in Westford, MA.  It is a blessing beyond words to be there!! Yet we had been there since before Rosh Hashanah (!) for a variety of reasons that were challenging, mostly car issues, but... Read More →

About six months ago, I shared this story about a couple who are friends with us when we are in Florida:   “In the last couple years we’ve begun to know another Jewish couple who live closeby. We’ve had lovely Shabbat dinners together, enjoyed movies, play regular music jams... Read More →

  Last week we (chicken) noodled Aviva Joiner’s story of their chicken named “Joy” who was lost one day and then amazingly found alive the next morning under a bucket. This simple tale was the inspiration for many thoughts of the hidden joys in our lives and their miraculous... Read More →

  Last Shabbat at Oneg Aviva Joiner shared the following story with those blessed to be at her table:   “Last week, we let all of our chickens out to free range. When we went outside to bring them back to the coop for the night we noticed one was missing, a small white... Read More →

Has there been a day, or night, this week that our thoughts have not dwelt on the situation in Israel and Gaza? What will tomorrow bring as the hatred pours outward across the globe into our individual communities? Where can anyone be safe, especially we Jews?   Life has its... Read More →

Given the horror in Israel, I couldn’t wait until Thursday evening to share some thoughts and feelings. I hope they are helpful.   I, like many of you, awoke Shabbat morning to the terrifying headlines of war in Israel. It was an unprecedented surprise attack by Hamas and... Read More →

  This past Sunday I had the opportunity through a ukulele group I’m in to provide music at an Episcopal church. Our group led several songs (“This Little Light of Mine”, Amazing Grace”, and “Simple Gifts”), the rest of the music from the traditional hymn book. It was a... Read More →

  Last week I shared our experiences at Ruach Israel of first day Rosh Hashanah services as a springboard to recognizing the uncountable ways God is in our lives. As if to punctuate the point, our Yom Kippur services were a truly larger than life example of that reality, not... Read More →

  Hard to believe we can noodle on Spotify song selections for three weeks straight, but . . .   How is it that the recent selections under the search on Spotify for Messianic Jewish music now include Paul Wilbur songs as well as those of Israeli mainstream musical... Read More →

  One of the pitfalls of travel is the difficulty in maintaining my regular jog time, i.e. my special time with God. Our home in Maine is conducive to these times offering multiple picturesque options to immerse in His grandeur. This past week has been exceptionally a... Read More →

  Today’s jog brought a new view of a neighborhood that I’ve seen hundreds of times, and yet, never “seen”. At one place on the route to my right is a pristine forest. Its beauty is in its silent majesty, vernal ponds, streaming sunlight through shaded overhanging branches,... Read More →

Last week I shared with you our experience in Alaska, so breathtakingly beautiful, and yet also my feeling that something was missing. As I was away from my spiritual routines, so too, I did not feel God’s Presence as I otherwise so often do.   One of my readers reminded me... Read More →

  As most of you who know me know, I love to live life fully. Sid teases me that my motto is “Why live one life when you can live two?” Actually it often feels like many more than that, and it is by choice. I am blessed to be part of so many worthy initiatives and... Read More →

  As many of you know, Sid and I live in Maine. Our home is situated on a cove at the bottom of Casco Bay so we have a lovely view of water, both the ocean and the river that empties into the ocean at their juncture near our home. Since our area is completely rural, a small... Read More →

  This week I had the opportunity to see the movie “Barbie”. I actually have a special attachment to the Barbie doll since I was just the right age to play with dolls when the original Barbie was introduced in 1959. I still have my original Barbie from that year, complete... Read More →

  Recently, my sister redecorated and no longer needed some furniture. Sid and I have a room at her house so I claimed one of the discarded chairs to try in our space. At first it looked really out of place. Put by the door as you walk in, it overwhelmed the room. It was way... Read More →

  Sid and I truly enjoyed life as Jewish gypsies in the Pugabego n/k/a Mitzvah Mobile for the month of July, culminating in the UMJC conference in Columbus, Ohio, my old stomping ground. Beth Messiah was my home during my first years as a new believer in Yeshua, now over 20... Read More →

  This year’s Camp Or L’Dor, our 15th year (!), did not disappoint. Rabbi Nathan and Raina’s incredible work before camp even started, not to mention once there, Mary’s medical support, Cheryl’s amazing Challah and child care, Ken’s driving the trailer, Sid’s multi shleps... Read More →

It has been an exceptionally busy week, not just volunteering at camp, but also, attending a work meeting in NYC while the campers were on their overnite camping trip for three days. As a result I did not have time to write a Shabbat encouragement. Instead, below is one I wrote... Read More →

How can it be that this is the 15th session of Camp Or L’Dor? The concept of a Messianic Jewish teen camp with a challenging outdoor adventure component was just a dream to Sid until Rabbi Nathan came to Ruach those many years ago. The two of them joined forces, with a couple... Read More →

  This past week Sid and I were blessed to have our 4 year old granddaughter from Denver stay with us while my son and daughter-in-law vacationed at Bar Harbor and visited spots along the Maine coastline. It’s purely magical to see the world through the eyes of a child,... Read More →

  The TV show “Jeopardy” is known for having contestants who are exceptionally smart. The show’s questions range from less hard to harder in different categories, the choice of question chosen by the players. Recently on that show there was a surprising missed answer.  ... Read More →

Recently we marveled together at this blessed life we have been given, bathing our thoughts in gratitude, feeling His Love of us. Some additional inspirations later sprang from that for us to noodle further together.   Here is a paragraph from that week’s Shabbat... Read More →

  This week I had a new experience. I can’t say it was on my bucket list. As a matter of fact, it was an activity that was w-a-a-a-y-y-y outside of my comfort zone. Perhaps that is the point.   A month or so ago my favorite radio show Chagigah Radio on Sunday morning... Read More →

  We often hear claims that God is not real. The positions range from those who may consider He was at some point during the days of our early ancestors but surely not today, to those who do not entertain the possibility at all. Some may feel He is around but doesn’t make... Read More →

  Tuesday morning I woke up and said to Sid, “I don’t have an encouragement for this week.” We had just arrived at midnight on Saturday night to our home in Maine after being gone from here since mid December since we left for Florida from my sister Wendy’s house in... Read More →

  I was blessed to be at the Ruach Israel Shabbaton last weekend, the climax being a very special Mother’s Day breakfast on Sunday when the men in our community treated us literally as queens for the day. I have been at many retreats over my life, and yet, this one was so... Read More →