Rabbi Jon  Bloomberg   Rabbi Jon  Bloomberg  taught limudei kodesh at Maimonides School from 1985-2011. He and his wife made aliyah in 2012, joining their three alumni children in Israel. Rabbi  Bloomberg  spends most of his time learning Torah, attending shiurim, and visiting his grandchildren. He is about to complete Shas for the second time. In reading  Parshat Zachor,   Devarim  25: 17-19, we fulfill the command of remembering the hostility of Amalek; we remember, we do not forget, we erase the memory of Amalek. For some, Rambam for example, the obligation relates to war against this nation. For others, including Rav Soloveitchik, the message is more universal, expressing broader religious messages, not necessarily related to war.   The obligation to read the  Torah  in the synagogue is rabbinic. The obligation to read  Parshat Zachor , however, is  min ha'Torah , biblical. As a result of this, women may be obliga...

Over the past two weeks, I had the pleasure and privilege of teaching the eleventh grade Life-Cycle Seminar at Maimonides. In our study of  "A Life in Full," our first session focused on Jewish birth rituals and blessings, as well as end-of-life practices and contemplations. We studied how our tradition asks – both prospectively at the beginning of life and retrospectively at its end – "What makes a worthy life?" And we investigated how  Chazal  envision the Jewish life course – that is, which milestones and markers help chart the worthy life.   We explored the Jewish lifecourse through the multiple dimensions of different  bein adam le-  relationships: with  Hashem,  with other people, with oneself, and with one's society, people, and world. We focused particularly on marriage and family, discussing the relationship between spouses, parents and children, and the place of family within the fabric of society. All our sessions were grounded in inter...

Rabbi Charles Savenor ('87)   Rabbi Charles E. Savenor ('87) is the Executive Director of Civic Spirit, which provides training and resources in civic education to Jewish and Christian day schools to prepare students to be informed and engaged members of American democracy. He also serves as the co-executive producer of "We Are Here – The Music of the Holocaust," and sits on the Nefesh B'Nefesh U.S. Board of Directors, the international board of Leket Israel, and the JNF Adult Education Committee. Rabbi Savenor's articles on parenting, civic education, and Judaism in the 21st century have appeared in many publications. He is currently writing a book called What My Father Couldn't Tell Me. As a child, the Blizzard of 1978 was a dream come true. The damage to power lines and the treacherous driving conditions meant that school was canceled for three weeks. This meant ample time for sledding, drinking hot chocolate, and continual shoveling. The snow drifts we...