by RabbiOlivier | Nov 21, 2016 | Adult Learning, Interfatith, Israel, Torah Reflections
There was a time in my life when I was powerfully attracted by the possibility of living on a kibbutz. When I was 16, I spent a summer in Israel working on a kibbutz in the northern part of the country called Beit HaShitah. I fell in love with the place and the way of...
by RabbiOlivier | Nov 20, 2016 | Adult Learning, Greater Community, Interfatith, Israel, Torah Reflections
How do we heal our world? How do we move past what divides us to create, together, a tomorrow that will be richer because of the pain of yesterday? How do we stand strong for what we believe in without demonizing those others who stand strong for what they believe in?...
by RabbiOlivier | Nov 18, 2016 | Adult Learning, Interfatith, Israel, Torah Reflections
Is it possible? After spending time in Tel Aviv this morning both at the Independence Hall where David Ben Gurion declared the State of Israel’s existence, and walking through the artists’ market of Nachalat Binyamin and the Carmel Suk; we drove north to the Galilee...
by RabbiOlivier | Nov 17, 2016 | Adult Learning, General, Greater Community, Interfatith, Israel, Torah Reflections
Tel Aviv, Israel; November 17, 2016 What a miracle! I am re-reading these first few words—the date and the place where I am writing from—and I am moved by a sense of awe. Don’t get me wrong, my zealous Zionist years are far behind me. As an Israeli citizen, I have...
by RabbiOlivier | May 26, 2015 | Adult Learning, Holocaust, Poland, Prague, Shoah
Before you start reading today’s post below, I must admit that I didn’t think I would write another blog entry about yet another difficult place to be. I was feeling pretty done. I was looking forward to sharing the other side of Poland, its sheer natural beauty, its...
by RabbiOlivier | May 24, 2015 | Adult Learning, Community, Greater Community, Holocaust, Poland, Prague, Shoah
Treblinka is an impossibly beautiful memorial. Absolutely nothing is left of the camp that once stood there. It is hard to imagine it being the case, but we have to remember that the Nazis were masters of deception and made a point of dismantling these camps to allow...
