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Explore reflections, teachings, and community updates from The Jewish Studio. Whether you’re deepening your understanding of Jewish tradition or seeking guidance for everyday life, you’ll find something meaningful here.
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Spiritual Intelligence
In 1985, Guinness World Records accepted that a ten-year-old girl had answered every question correctly on an adult Stanford-Binet IQ test, a result that gave her a corresponding unearthly IQ of 228. Marilyn Vos Savant became widely known as the smartest person alive. Marilyn’s husband says Savant’s gift is to be able to approach questions…
September 8, 2021
Take a Rest
I’ve been sleeping more lately. Good sleep is healthful for your body and mind. I think that I’m sleeping more because I am so very busy during the daytime that I am exhausted at night. One-third of your life will have been spent sleeping. Rest is essential to your good health. There are other forms…
September 4, 2021
Who Wrote The Book of Life?
One goal of the High Holidays is to be inscribed in God’s Book of Life. Whether veritable or metaphorical, the imagery works. There’s an essentially Jewish approach to getting name-dropped into the Book of Life. The concept of a book of life comes from Exodus 32:33. In a dialogue with Moses after the Golden Calf apostasy,…
August 29, 2021
Homemade Happiness
I am a sucker for baked goods. My taste in pastries has been refined over the years, from Chips Ahoy to bakery made black and whites, to baking my own meringue cookies. No packaged cookie is as satisfying as sharing your home-made treats with family and friends. Sharing what we craft is a core element…
August 21, 2021
They Paved Paradise
A person I love called to ask if their adult son could attend Rosh Hashanah services and how much that single ticket would cost. I began wondering about the first time a synagogue decided to sell tickets to High Holiday services. That decision transformed the spiritual relationship into in a business transaction. Joni Mitchell understood…
August 14, 2021
Wholehearted High Holidays
The Jewish religion of today reminds me of a New York subway station with trains departing the station in opposite directions. Orthodoxy is focused on adherence to rigorous interpretations of Jewish law challenged by modernity. On the other track are progressive Jews who value the search for meaning over the hold of Jewish law and…
August 7, 2021
Spiritual Open Heart Surgery
You might think that difficult times make us likely to ask God for help. If so, religion would be a thriving business today. Perhaps Judaism offers an alternative response to crisis. Instead of reaching toward God, we might have to start within ourselves when we are frightened or challenged. In my lifetime, I’ve ducked and…
July 24, 2021
Purim Spiel 2020 – Trumpaverus Saves the Jews
Scene 1 Narrator: Long ago in a land not so far away, there was a lavish inaugural ball for President Trumpaverus. All of the lobbyists, political hacks, ambassadors and business moguls were in a banquet hall, smoking cigars and drinking Russian Vodka. Off to the side, a Presidential advisor is speaking with the Supreme Leader.…
July 23, 2021
Let’s Make Cavatelli with the Pasta Social Club
Potomac’s own MERYL FEINSTEIN, teaching us to make beautiful cavatelli pasta. Cooking with Friends!
July 21, 2021
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