I lived in a tent in Nepal as a refugee from Bhutan in the 1990s. And so it broke my heart this month, when I traveled to Nepal in the wake of the recent earthquake and witnessed Nepalese families living in a sea of plastic tents, much like the ones my family and I lived …
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Originally published in The Huffington Post. I lived in a tent in Nepal as a refugee from Bhutan in the 1990s. And so it broke my heart this month, when I traveled to Nepal in the wake of the recent earthquake and witnessed Nepalese families living in a sea of plastic tents, much like …
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AJWS’s Director of Disaster Response & International Operations, Samantha Wolthuis, and Associate Director of Risk Management and Administrative Services, Aaron Acharya, traveled to Nepal last week to lead AJWS’s response to the earthquake. This is the fourth on-the-ground update from Samantha and Aaron. Read their first, second, and third updates. Yesterday, we headed east to the Kavrepalanchok district, …
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AJWS’s Director of Disaster Response & International Operations, Samantha Wolthuis, and Associate Director of Risk Management and Administrative Services, Aaron Acharya, are in Nepal this week leading our response to the earthquake. This is the second on-the-ground update from Samantha and Aaron. Read their first update here. Today, Aaron and I went on a site …
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It has now been 10 days since Nepal was struck by the deadliest earthquake to hit the country since 1934. The death toll has exceeded 7,500 and the United Nations reports that millions are affected. AJWS set up our Earthquake Emergency Relief Fund within hours of the earthquake and we’re providing immediate support and humanitarian relief to six organizations …
Read MoreThis week, we are pleased to welcome guest writer Rabbi Brent Chaim Spodek. Everybody wants something. There are very few of us who have reached the level of equanimity that we are happy with what we have; the rest of us want things that are still out of our reach. For oppressed peoples, the most …
Read MoreDuring his journey to find a wife for his master Avraham’s son, the servant Eliezer[1] turns to God for help: “Let it be that the maiden to whom I will say, ‘Please tip over your jug so I may drink,’ and who replies, ‘Drink, and I will even water your camels,’ her will You have …
Read MoreIn Parshat Ki Tetze, the Torah describes the mitzvah of yibum, the levirate marriage, which is invoked when a man dies without children. Yibum requires that the man’s eldest brother marry the widow and father children that will bear the name of the deceased, in order that the lineage not be lost from Israel.[1] Acknowledging …
Read MoreParshat Masei opens as the wanderings of the Israelites are coming to an end. The land east of the Jordan has been conquered and divided, and God is commanding Moshe regarding the procedures to be followed upon entering Israel. Included in these commandments is a verse that dictates that when the Jews enter Canaan, they …
Read MoreParshat Masei opens as the wanderings of the Israelites are coming to an end. The land east of the Jordan has been conquered and divided, and God is commanding Moshe regarding the procedures to be followed upon entering Israel. Included in these commandments is a verse that dictates that when the Jews enter Canaan, they …
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