Bevis Marks Synagogue – London
I’m quite glad that I took a detour to London for a final stop during my trip to Europe. It gave me the opportunity to visit the historic Bevis Marks Synagogue. […]
Category Archives: Travels
My Odyssey to Discover and Touch Past and Present Spanish Jewish Life
Beth Haim Cemetery – Ouderkerk, Amsterdam
I don’t know of any other Jewish cemeteries depicted in 17th century art. This one was by the Dutch painter Jacob Isaacksz van Ruisdael in his aptly titled “The Jewish […]
Talmud Torah & The Esnoga – Amsterdam
To pray and teach at the Esnoga was extraordinary. The Esnoga and Portuguese Jewish community of Amsterdam are the things of lore. Ever since I began serving at Shearith Israel, […]
Ets Haim Library – Amsterdam
It is a humbling experience to walk into the library of the Ets Haim yeshiba. Surrounded by sefarim, many from the 17th century, one can only imagine the Torah immersion […]
Amsterdam
Amsterdam means something quite different to me than it does to most other visitors, I suppose. When I think of Amsterdam, I immediately think of Portuguese Jewry, and how in […]
Polonies Talmud Torah School – New York
The position of Educational Director at Shearith Israel (Manhattan, New York) includes a variety of responsibilities. The aspect that I was most intrigued about when interviewing was that of Hebrew School principal. Prior to […]
Chatham Square Cemetery – New York
The most deeply meaningful service that I’ve conducted as a rabbi at Shearith Israel is the annual memorial service at the congregation’s colonial-era cemetery. I had the pleasure of conducting […]
Santa Fe, New Mexico
How I came to teach a class at Congregation Kol Beramah in Santa Fe, New Mexico is a story which kind of spans 400 years, but more personally, the past […]
Pondering Portugal
As I walked Portugal’s medieval streets, and spoke to its people, I began to understand Portuguese Jewish history. I now ‘get’ the Portuguese Jews of long ago. I more fully […]
Shaare Tikva, Lisbon (& Tomar)
I ended my visit to Portugal in Lisbon, where Jewish life first resurfaced in Portugal during the early 19th century. Fittingly, I first went to see Portugal’s oldest remaining synagogue, […]
