Monica Engel My Mother became a widow when I was four years old. She always viewed my childhood as negative and felt I was cheated. I, on the other hand, remember and cherish my childhood memories. I lived on my grandparent’s farm every summer. I learned table manners and cooking from my grandmother. I learned […]
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Echoes of Elul Day 8: Sharing the Light
Nancy Silverman “Disabled Mom Needs to Furnish Apartment.” The header grabbed me as I was scrolling through the Nextdoor app on my cell phone, as most of what appears on this ap is much more mundane. A woman named Leanne posted that she had a disabled friend with 2 daughters who were leaving a homeless […]
Echoes of Elul Day 7: Hebrew Letters
Risè Kirbo I don’t know Hebrew. Not the words, not the alphabet, not the punctuation. But when I see the written words in a prayerbook or on a screen, something happens to me. My grandparents were Orthodox. They had newspapers in their home written entirely in Hebrew. A Jewish calander from the kosher butcher hung […]
Echoes of Elul Day 6: Nature is Calling
Marci Endless Bruffey Both my mother and father were raised orthodox. My parents were cultural Jews. I was a Jew by osmosis. My Jewish life included attending Bar Mitzvahs, standing outside the temple with the gang on high holidays, and attending Shabbat and holiday dinners with family. Judaism did not play a part in my […]
Echoes of Elul Day 5: Seize The Day
Elizabeth J. Cohen The older I get, the more I appreciate the days of my youth; the time in my life when there were clear cut boundaries. I knew every rule as set out by my parents; I knew what season we were in just by looking out my window and most importantly, I thought […]
Echoes of Elul Day 4: It’s Alive!
Scott Friedman In the past, my echoes started with an event I experienced and then I wrote about the experience. Today’s story is a little different. The story begins with a picture given to me, and ends with my offer to explain why the picture deserves a place among stories for Elul. My first thought, […]
Echoes of Elul Day 3: Random Acts of Kindness
Anonymous I was sitting in a restaurant enjoying a quiet Sunday morning breakfast with my husband. The server seated a family of four next to us. They were a mom, a dad, and two kids about 7 and 9 years old. After they were settled in the young son began acting out by shouting and […]
Echoes of Elul Day 2: My Mother
Sarah B. Schweitz My mother’s name was Alice. She was born into a healthy, smart, well behaved and beautiful family of nine children. My mother was 5’3” with brown curly hair, smiling eyes, straight white teeth and a dimple on both cheeks. When I was fourteen years old we were told that we looked like […]
Echoes of Elul Day 1: Shiny Wrappers
Did you hear an echo?? Welcome back to our popular program Echoes of Elul. The echoes are pieces of work submitted by people just like you! They are thoughts, insights, and memories presented in writing, art, music, or poetry. As we prepare for the High Holy days, we put aside time for introspection and reflection. […]