Author: Congregation Beth El

Building A Bridge

September 21, 2020

By Robin Jacobson.   Goldie Goldbloom’s novel On Division is a rarity among books about the Hasidic world. Unlike many books on Hasidic life, it is not a bitter exposé by …

Masada Backstories

September 21, 2020

By Robin Jacobson.  Two thousand years ago, on a mountaintop overlooking the Dead Sea, 967 Jewish men, women, and children faced down the military might of the Roman empire. When …

This Month in Jewish History: September

August 30, 2020

By Tiarra Joslyn. Over the summer, British rapper Wiley faced backlash – including permanent bans from Facebook and Twitter – after he made several anti-Semitic tweets, which included common anti-Semitic …

Loss and the Shofar

August 7, 2020

I miss you.  I miss coming together as a community.  I miss chatting over tuna after services.  I miss the amazing banana bread with chocolate chips from Sunflower Bakery after …

High Holidays in New Ways

July 2, 2020

Zochreynu l’chayim melech chafetz b’chayim v’chatveynu b’sefer hachayim l’ma’ancha elohim chayim “Remember us for life, Sovereign who delights in life, and write us in the book of life, for Your …

A Salute to Local Authors

May 6, 2020

By Robin Jacobson. We proudly present three new memoirs by DC-area authors Judith Heumann, Esther Safran Foer, and Ron Hoffer. Each book speaks to the Jewish and human experience and …

Songs of Comfort

May 6, 2020

By Robin Jacobson. What to read during a pandemic?  Since the Book of Psalms (Sefer Tehilim) is the traditional Jewish prescription for times of crisis, I opted for a new …

Lying and Truth-Telling: New Israeli Fiction

April 2, 2020

By Robin Jacobson.  Even people who think of themselves as essentially good and moral can become enmeshed in lies and deceit. That is one of the themes of Ayelet Gundar-Goshen’s …

NYC Cops and the Case of the Lamed-Vovniks

March 3, 2020

By Robin Jacobson. Best-selling author Steven Pressfield was in Israel researching a book when he first heard the legend of the lamed-vovniks, the 36 righteous individuals upon whom the fate …

Risking Death to Rescue Strangers

February 1, 2020

By Robin Jacobson. One day, anthropologist Maggie Paxson suddenly decided to “study war no more.” Weary and dispirited from fieldwork in violent, strife-torn countries, Paxson resolved to switch her research …