Dreaming at Sea
Posted by Anna Burnstein Gilette on 5/27/2021 to
Life Events
37 Days at Sea: Aboard the M.S. St. Louis, 1939 tells the story of Jewish passengers aboard the luxury ship, The M.S. St. Louis, fleeing Nazi Germany. The story, told from the perspective of twelve-year-old Ruthie Arons, is written in prose that captures the fragility of her family’s limbo, Ruthie is both a playful child and a keen observer of the shifting dynamics of the larger world around her....
People Plan, and God Laughs. We Should Laugh Too
Posted by Anna Burnstein Gilette on 5/20/2021 to
A year ago, Covid-19 turned the world upside down. We retreated into our homes and schools, stores locked their doors, and the streets were suddenly empty. Human right activist and former politician Natan Sharansky understands isolation, fear and uncertainty more profoundly than most of us....
Mount Sinai—The Little Mountain That Could
Posted by Anna Burnstein Gilette on 5/13/2021 to
Shavuot
When the Israelites reached Mount Sinai, where Moses famously received the Ten Commandments, they were at a spiritual and existential juncture....
Happy Mother’s Day (And Don’t Forget To Call!)
Posted by Anna Burnstein Gilette on 5/6/2021 to
Jewish Values
The “Jewish mother” is a cultural icon. Her overbearing love
and constant fretting over her children are staples of late-night comedy. If
the Jewish mother stereotype tells the story of Jewish assimilation in America,
it casts women as secondary